Here is the dictionary definition of frugal: Careful or sparing in the use of food, goods, etc.; economical.
I don't know that the definition is much help in deciding whether one is frugal, as I consider myself to be. If someone said I'm cheap, I'd bristle at the comment. When I think of cheap, the adage "Penny wise and pound foolish" comes to mind. Frugal can be considered to be the opposite, "Penny foolish and pound wise".
Part of the reason I'm frugal is because I was raised by parents (both still living) who lived through the Great Depression. Another reason is that I have a modest, though adequate, income. Here are a few examples of my own frugality: I own a 1998 car that runs well and has the luxury of leather seats and other appointments. It gets me from point A to point B comfortably and economically. I often buy used items where new items offer no advantage (or even a disadvantage). I buy glasses at Costco because I can't abide paying hundreds of dollars for eyeglasses that go out of fashion and out of focus in a few years.
For some items I will pay what others think extravagant prices, because it is an item that has permanence rather than throwaway value. A case in point is shaving gear. When I made the decision to try DE razor shaving, I bought a quality razor, good soap and a well-made synthetic brush.
Luxury of some sort or other is something that all of us need. I've read many books about survivors of prisoner of war camps, deprivations, and other extreme conditions, and every one has talked about the value of some luxury in the midst of terrible conditions. I remember one story told by a man incarcerated as a prisoner-of-conscience in a Cuban prison, in which one chocolate bar was obtained by the prisoners. The bar was passed around to the prisoners, who each took a flake of chocolate, letting is dissolve luxuriously on his tongue. The chocolate bar made it around to the entire prison.
Hobbies are often luxuries, whether shaving, fountain pens, coin collections, model railroads, art, or any of the innumerable things that give us joy and, for us married men, can make a marriage (happy or unhappy) better as a result.
I don't know that the definition is much help in deciding whether one is frugal, as I consider myself to be. If someone said I'm cheap, I'd bristle at the comment. When I think of cheap, the adage "Penny wise and pound foolish" comes to mind. Frugal can be considered to be the opposite, "Penny foolish and pound wise".
Part of the reason I'm frugal is because I was raised by parents (both still living) who lived through the Great Depression. Another reason is that I have a modest, though adequate, income. Here are a few examples of my own frugality: I own a 1998 car that runs well and has the luxury of leather seats and other appointments. It gets me from point A to point B comfortably and economically. I often buy used items where new items offer no advantage (or even a disadvantage). I buy glasses at Costco because I can't abide paying hundreds of dollars for eyeglasses that go out of fashion and out of focus in a few years.
For some items I will pay what others think extravagant prices, because it is an item that has permanence rather than throwaway value. A case in point is shaving gear. When I made the decision to try DE razor shaving, I bought a quality razor, good soap and a well-made synthetic brush.
Luxury of some sort or other is something that all of us need. I've read many books about survivors of prisoner of war camps, deprivations, and other extreme conditions, and every one has talked about the value of some luxury in the midst of terrible conditions. I remember one story told by a man incarcerated as a prisoner-of-conscience in a Cuban prison, in which one chocolate bar was obtained by the prisoners. The bar was passed around to the prisoners, who each took a flake of chocolate, letting is dissolve luxuriously on his tongue. The chocolate bar made it around to the entire prison.
Hobbies are often luxuries, whether shaving, fountain pens, coin collections, model railroads, art, or any of the innumerable things that give us joy and, for us married men, can make a marriage (happy or unhappy) better as a result.
