Janel has a wonderful post at Frugal Hacks comparing frugal living skills to gardening skills. The post title is “Look in somebody else’s flower box.”

A snippet:

So often we get intimidated by the “master gardeners” of frugality. We see how many amazing things they are doing, how much money they are saving, how many thousands of dollars of debt they’ve paid down or what great finds they nab. Sometimes it’s discouraging to those starting out. But like my friend Sally just picked one plant and put it in the ground, you only need to embrace and apply one frugal idea at a time. You also need to find someone with a garden you love to answer your questions and inspire you as you get started. The same goes for frugality.

When you read blogs on frugality, I encourage you to pick up hints and tips, but also remember that this person, like my master gardeners, may have spent the last 10 years learning how to be frugal. I also encourage you to find bloggers whose lifestyle is similar to yours. I don’t read blogs on serious portfolio building. That’s Rich’s thing. I read frugal blogs written by moms like me trying to be better homemakers. They inspire me, like Sally’s garden.

Yes, we are all at different life stages, have different talents, and live in different parts of the country. But if you keep reading Monroe on a Budget and other frugal blogs across the Internet, there’s certain to be a tip or idea that works fits your lifestyle, circumstances and talents.

Plant that flower in your garden, in following with Janel’s analogy, and then look for something else to plant.

(My analogy has been a box of crayons. Just as it takes more than one color of crayon to make the black and white depictions on a coloring page look good, it takes more than one money-saving tactic to create a frugal lifestyle.)