Marilyn Zelinsky

Note: If you are interested in joining Marilyn’s Serenity on a Shoestring News group, you will receive more free personal growth gifts as she discovers the best ones out there. Join the group here, at this url: http://tinyurl.com/j5zlbjm and get in the flow of abundance…for free!

Marilyn Zelinsky-Syarto (1961-) was born in Norwich, CT. and has written and edited all of her life, from working on home design magazines to editing beautiful books and eBooks. Today, Marilyn lives in Fairfield, CT with her husband and two children, writes for "Two Frugal Fairfielders," a local blog, runs a writing and editing business, and continues to write books on frugal living and money-saving ideas, including "Dress for Less," "How to Buy a Boat," and "Serenity on a Shoestring," all part of the "Two Frugal Fairfielders Guide" collection.

Marilyn considers herself frugal…but not cheap! She is an advocate of living frugal, but her definition is different than other frugal people, as she explains here:

“Believe it or not, frugal living is a relatively new concept for me. Who actually introduced me to frugality? My husband, Steve! He grew up in a very frugal New England household, unlike myself (who grew up in a household that was always struggling with lack of money, relied on living cheap, but never caught on to the concept of frugality). Steve was the one that introduced me to The Tightwad Gazette books, cooking from scratch, watching our budget, shopping smart, using coupons, DIY projects and more. Luckily I was a quick student and caught on fairly quickly, and found frugality especially essential once I became a mom who freelanced from home.

So, how do I define frugality? First of all, it is not being cheap. It is not deprivation. Frugality is a way of life defined by quality, value and dignified restraint. Cheap, to me, is a way of life defined by mediocrity, meaninglessness and unnecessary over-indulgence. A step further, I define frugality as a framework in which I feel free to wisely choose where I allocate my money so that I can feel free to enjoy my life in the best way possible. (Except I feel like we allocate too much of our money to certain unavoidable expenses, such as a new water heater, new car tires, and all that other jazz we need to live!)

Even millionaires are frugal, but they are hardly cheap! They just thoughtfully choose where it makes the most sense to spend their valuable time and money. That’s the absolute key to wealth, in my opinion.”

If you are interested in joining Marilyn’s Serenity on a Shoestring News group, you will receive more free personal growth gifts as she discovers the best ones out there. Join the group here, at this url: http://tinyurl.com/j5zlbjm and get in the flow of abundance…for free!