Today is the last day of my first full year of frugality. I’ve only been blogging for about half of it, but we’ve spent all 12 months of 2008 cutting costs, saving, and pay down debt.

I’ve learned much more than I can confine to this post (you’ll have to head into my archives for some of the highlights). But here’s the big stuff I’ve learned in the past 12 months.

Budgets aren’t limiting — they’re freeing.

Before I started budgeting, I felt guilty about every extra penny I spent and stressed that I wouldn’t be able to cover the necessities. Now I know exactly what I can afford to spend, and I know what I need to leave for the necessities and savings. A little money goes a lot further when you budget.

We need much less money to live comfortably than I thought.

Before we moved here, our combined income was almost twice what it is now. But we always felt broke because we were blowing our money on restaurants and unnecessary purchases. I couldn’t imagine living on our current income then.

With a little discipline, though, we’re able to live a richer life on half the money. We still do all of the same things we used to enjoy (like movies, eating out, and books), we just enjoy them less frequently or find frugal ways to enjoy them for little or no money. Now we have money leftover for savings and debt repayment.

We actually “need” very few things.

Our ideas of needs and wants were severely out of whack before we started living frugally. Now we know that we don’t need two cars; we don’t need to own a house; we don’t need new clothes every other month. All we really need is each other, healthy food on the table, and a warm place to sleep. Once we recognized the difference between needs and wants, we were able to set priorities so we could still enjoy some of our wants without interfering with our long term goals.

Realizing how little we actually need also gives me great peace, especially in this economy. By eliminating extra wants, we could cut our monthly spending in half in the event of a financial emergency.

Stress free finances are the greatest luxury of all.

There was a time when I thought skipping weekly meals out and entertainment spending would mean getting less enjoyment out of life. Boy, was I wrong. I enjoy life so much more now that we’ve cut those things out, because I no longer feel stressed and scared about my finances.

It’s been a fantastic year, and I’m anxiously looking ahead to next year’s challenges and successes. I hope to learn even more!