Saturday, January 29, 2011

"The New Frugality" by Chris Farrell

On Thursday, I attended a talk and question/answer session for the author of, "The New Frugality:How to Consume Less, Save More, and Live Better," by Chris Farrell. Chris Farrell lives in Minnesota and also is economics editor for MPR's segment, "Marketplace Money." Read more about him here. I came across an ad for this while I was at work with many of the other Dakota County information that I receive and review. It sounded right up my alley for the period of life that I am in and so I googled information about the book and thought it would be worth attending. 
"The New Frugality" by Chris Farrell

The discussion by Chris Farrell was quite interesting. He talked about some of the changes in history that have occurred with lending and borrowing as well as people's ways of living. Chris discussed how he thinks that the general public will be borrowing less and spending their money in more wise ways. They will be spending it on experiences rather than "things." This also made me quite happy as the business I am working on is involved in an experience, one on which I hope consumers will be willing to spend their hard earned money. 


After a question/answer session, he had books available to purchase and for signing. Now, it wouldn't REALLY be frugal to just spend your money without checking other sources. Therefore, before purchasing my book on CD there, I did Amazon it and with shipping, it was about the same price. I decided to go ahead and purchase a CD which is currently my listening entertainment to and from work. I spoke with Chris just a bit. I did tell him about my new frugal ways and that I am blogging about it, he took down the URL. He had other people still wanting to chat with him, so I got my CD and went home, immediately plugging it into my player to listen on the way home.


One of the first aspects that I really liked about his book (and I am only on about Chapter 7 at this point) is that he initially distinguishes the difference between being frugal and cheap. That frugal people spend their money wisely and focus on sustainability whereas cheap people focus on the cheapest item they can get, without accounting for quality. I was quite happy to see that he included a discussion about the environment as I've been making changes in this area as well that I plan on blogging about later, such as cleaning supplies. From hat I have heard of the book so far, I highly recommend it. 


With regards to my frugal ways, I was able to accomplish two goals at one time on Friday evening. I invited my friend, Jessie, over for dinner and she had wanted to see my new place. We decided that instead of going OUT we would stay IN! I made pizza utilizing a  Bisquick crust and we enjoyed that over a beer each that I had in my fridge. Jessie brought dessert, Ben & Jerry's. Yum! Finally, trying to reconnect with some of those friends that I've been saying I would connect with for a while now. Here is a recipe to the crust and sauce that I utilized. The only difference with my sauces is that I added some diced tomatoes as well as I used regular salt rather than garlic salt as I didn't have garlic salt available.

Homemade Pizza with Bisquick Crust
I was really glad to have been able to catch up with Jessie. I felt that we've gotten out of contact in the last few years and it was so fun to catch up. We had a great time chatting and discussing what is currently going on in our lives. It was the perfect ending to a busy week and I hope that Jessie and I can get together again soon. 

This morning, Saturday, I also received an early call for an interpreting appointment. I need some more income to help achieve my Sally goal, so I took the job. I am not 56% of the way to my goal for the Sally Jar! :)

1 comment:

  1. Your pizza was the bomb diggity!! YUMM!! Nice recap! Maybe you could lend me the CD!

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