Frugal to a Fault

I'll be the first to admit-- I'm proud of my frugal ways. Very. I love my coupon binder and show it to anyone who is interested. I like never paying more than $1 for body wash and shampoo. I like never paying for toothbrushes or toothpaste. I like never paying full price for diapers. Ever. But there is a limit to how frugal a person can be, right?

Last week I had a bit of a personal crisis. Crisis is a bit of an quite the overstatement. I blame these crises on being at home with a toddler all day. She's not big on conversation, at least not ones that are intelligible. I'm in my head a lot, but that's a whole other blog post (or series).

Crisis. Buying a new bath mat or making do with what we had. (Definitely a first world problem.) The bamboo mat in our bathroom was 3 years old and had exceeded its anticipated usable life. We bought it from TJ Maxx or Marshall's for a steal and had used it daily for 3 years. Though it was supposedly mold and mildew resistant, well, the backing looked rough and was growing all kinds of interesting stuff. Time to toss. So I took the too small white reversible mat from Goose's/the guest bathroom and moved it to our little shower. Perfect size for our shower.

I needed a big mat for Goose's bathroom (the kid loves to splash), but I found myself thinking that we could make do for a while without one, that we could just use a towel for her baths and bring the mat from our bathroom when guests came to visit.

Doesn't sound too crazy, right? I mean, I was trying to be frugal and not buy anything new. But why create extra work for myself by having to shuffle the mat (crazy!), and why not buy a new one? We use them forever. The relocated mat has been with us for more than 5 years. And why be so frugal? J-bird makes a good living, I save money for our family every chance I get, and we never run around and just spend money. We budget, we save, we plan

So I took the plunge and bought a new bath mat today. Reversible, white, machine washable. BIG. A lovely find for $19.99. Why did I fret so much over $20? In the end, it wasn't worth the worry I gave it.

I believe in being frugal when you can, but not so much that you're sacrificing your morals or not enjoying your current life.
You only get one go-around. You'd better enjoy it. Even if it means splurging on a $20 bath mat.