Is Frugal Living for You?

Frugal living. What comes to mind for you when you hear the words “Frugal Living”?

You may think that frugality means being cheap, or going without, or never spending money. This is far from the truth.

Living frugally means choice. You choose how and when to spend your money wisely and spend it in line with your goals. It means that you will have what you need, and if you plan it right, and follow that plan, you will have what you want in your life.

It doesn't mean "to go without". It's just tweaking your lifestyle to match with what you really want in your life.

Definition

Let’s look at the definition of Frugal.

According to dictionary.com “Frugal” means:

Adjective

1. economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: a frugal manager
2. entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty: a frugal meal.

So if we take the meaning of frugal literally, it means to be economical. Really it is to not waste something. So in the case of managing your money (and in essence your life) it means to not be wasteful with your money.

Take a moment and think about how you may waste money. It may be with actual physical money (dollars and cents), like forgetting your change, losing money because you left in your car and it fell out, or could be paying interest and/or penalties because you didn’t pay your bills on time.

Where Could You be More Frugal?

You could waste money by buying things that you will never use, or only use once. Think about:

• Your clothes closet or drawers. Are there items that still have tags on them?
• Household goods? - try new products and don't finish them?
• Small appliances or tools that you have only used once?
• Memberships or subscriptions you paid for and only used once?
• How often you throw food out that you never finished or opened?

What about where or how you shop?

• Do you only buy brand names or shop in brand name stores – and won’t even consider the generic brands.
• Do you take the upgrade as it is only “a few” dollars more, when really you only needed the regular size or model?
• Do you take your lunch to work, but go out for lunch, and you throw it out?

Frugal living can be taken to the extreme and become incredibly restricting and turn you into living like a cheapskate. You may deny yourself of things that you really love or want in your life. You may deprive yourself of joy. Some people take it too far and end up regretting their choices or find it too hard and give up on it. Eventually you many become depressed or hard to live with. This isn’t frugal living. Frugal living is about choice not about deprivation.

To find out more Frugal Living Tips, a friend of mine, Kate, shares more great Frugal Living Tips on how to lead a less wasteful lifestyle without debt, and still to be able to enjoy all the good things that life has to offer.

Learn More about Frugal Living

To learn more about more about this type of money management and frugality see the articles below. More will be added regularly, so come back and check them out. To be up to date on the additions and changes to the Frugal Living section of Transform Your Money.com and the rest of the site. Join our newsletter or add us to your RSS, social bookmarks, Google, Yahoo or MSN (on the left hand side of this page).

These articles will outline how to live frugally day to day, tips on saving money, living frugally as a family, the benefits of living frugally, having awesome holidays while still living frugally, and my story of living frugally.

Best Ways to Save Money
Tips on how to save money with Food, Utilities, Finances, Entertainment - updated regularly - You can also submit your own if you don't see one of your favorites.

Frugal Food Tips
Tips on Buying and Preparing Food Frugally

Frugal Meal Tips
Tips on how to create frugal meals.

Active Frugal Lifestyle Tips
Living an active frugal lifestyle is possible. Check out some of our ideas for active and healthy frugal living!

Frugal Travel Tips
Great Tips on travelling frugally

Spending Plan
Frustrated with how to make a budget? Create a spending plan instead.

Frugal Living could be part of your overall money management plan.

Go to Top