Live well without busting your budget

One reader makes spending her splurge fund mandatory, as a way to ensure she's having fun: "This is not money to spend on little things you'll like a little bit -- this is money to spend wisely on something you'll enjoy, a lot."

Cheryl in Ohio confessed to "cheating" on her budget by using "found" money -- such as rebates and coupon savings -- to pay for occasional movies and dinners out. "Sure, the money would help reduce the debt," she wrote, but "sometimes one night out at a restaurant helps in so many other ways."

Other suggestions:

• Have a picnic in the park

• Enjoy an ice-cream cone

• Buy a small bunch of flowers to spruce up your home

• Change your routine. "Eat something besides chicken," one reader suggested. "Get out of the house once in awhile."

• Explore your city. One mother made it a habit to find a different park to visit every Sunday after church. "We went to about 120 or so different playgrounds in three years," she wrote.

Laugh at your neighbors' overspending

To paraphrase one reader's post: Petty? Yes. Helpful? You bet!

After all, trying to keep up with the Joneses may be what got you into financial trouble in the first place. Realizing that the Joneses aren't as well off as they seem -- and are struggling with debt-related stress as well -- can make keeping up with them a little less attractive.

"The average family has $8,000 in credit card debt," one member wrote. "Once you only owe $7,999 in credit card debt, you become better than average."

A stay-at-home mother confessed to a little catty one-upmanship, such as deriding the neighbors for financing everything they buy or feeling superior for winning a better mortgage rate, thanks to lower debt loads.

"Never underestimate the power of bagging on someone to make yourself feel better," she joked, adding as a precaution: "In moderation. And not to their face."

One small-business owner says he compares his situation to that of others not as a way of "picking them apart, but . . . using them as a measuring stick."

"We discuss the debts they have and the lack of a plan to control their financial future," he wrote. And his plan is apparently working: "My accountant once told me that he has clients who have (incomes) two or three times ours but don't have nearly the equity or, better yet, the peace of mind that we do."

And peace of mind is, ultimately, what living frugally is all about. Whether you're paying off debt, saving more or simply living within your means, you're trying to avoid the fear and stress that plague people who aren't in control of their spending. Remembering that can help you avoid burnout, stick to your plan and get you to your goal that much quicker.

Liz Pulliam Weston's new book, "Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life," is now available. Columns by Weston, the Web's most-read personal-finance writer and winner of the 2007 Clarion Award for online journalism, appear every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions on the Your Money message board.

Updated Jan. 18, 2008

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