I have a 450 sq foot house for free (mortgage free). It might be the most frugal thing I’ve ever done.

I just wanted to post this to show people that there’s a huge variety of ways to be frugal. You just have to find something you might be best at relative to others. For my part, I’m good at saving and increasing my money. <br><br>I have two children and my mom died 2 years ago. I inherited my childhood home. Now it’s nothing special and I didn’t get any money, but I just wanted to show how my mom saved her money. <br><br>My mom was a typical Irish momma, lived in the same house her whole life, never drove a new car, always worked, was careful with money. I’m sure at the end of the day she was a multi-millionaire but she never flaunted it if she was (I think my dad left her a bunch of money but don’t know the specifics). She had paid off the house in 1999. The house was built in 1948, so she bought it new in 1960. We never moved, so she lived in the same house for 60 years until she died.<br><br>She lived through the depression as a kid. When I was young she would tell me stories of how my grandparents struggled and how we shouldn’t waste anything. We never went on a family vacation (although she would take us on just about every road trip in the northeast), and never had an in-ground pool, but we always had food on the table and we always had Christmas presents. <br><br>She was a saver. I remember in the 80’s she had a ton of certificates of deposits, which she later sold to my dad (he died in 2006). She also bought municipal bonds in my name (what a great mom, huh?). She had savings accounts, a couple of stocks. Then in 2008 she didn’t spend any money. I don’t think she ever used a credit card (she would pay them off at the end of the month) and she didn’t have credit card debt. We never had cable and we never had cell phones. We never went to a nice restaurant. <br><br>I think she lived like this because she didn’t want to worry about money. I think it gives her peace knowing that if something happens, she would be ready. She did spoil us, but not with material possessions but time. She always came to see us play sports and took us camping and on all sorts of trips. <br><br>So the house. It’s got a few tax liens on it and no updates, but I got a free house. I figure the tax liens are $50k and the house needs $50k in updates, but I have a free house. We could move in and live there for maybe $50k. <br><br>She also had a bunch of assets. She had a bunch of mutual funds, some retirement money, stocks, a couple of bonds, some life insurance policies. She did spoil us a bit, she paid for my college (I went to a small liberal arts school with no loans - $7k a year). She also paid for my kid’s college. She left my sister and I $750,000 each ($600,000 after taxes). She also left a small amount of money for her grandkids. I never knew this until she died. <br><br>She also left us about 8 cars (she would buy a car and drive it until it was done, so she had maybe 5 cars with under 50,000 miles on them). I was able to put 2 cars away for my kids and keep 2 for myself. I sold the other ones (I got $30,000 for two cars). <br><br>So I have a free house with no mortgage. A handful of cars and some money. I’m not rich, but I’m definitely ahead of the game. <br><br>My point is, my mom was frugal. She didn’t need to keep up with the Jones’, she didn’t want to. She was happy living in Boston with a small house and a small yard. She didn’t want to have a credit card bill and she didn’t want to have to worry about money. She didn’t want to have a mortgage. She didn’t want to have car payments. <br><br>I think a lot of people have this idea that frugal people are cheap and they do stupid shit, like save a couple of pennies on one item to be smug. Or people who do stupid shit for a dollar. Or people who buy shitty products and are ok with shitty products. <br><br>I don’t believe that’s true. I think if you want to save money, do it wisely. There’s a difference between being frugal and being cheap. My mom was frugal. She saved money but she understood there was a time and place for it and she saved her money for the right reasons.