7 Reasons to Be Frugal

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Being frugal isn’t easy, but it is important. Here are seven reasons why you should practice frugality.

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As we discussed not too long ago, it can be hard to maintain money-saving stamina. You know that there are greater goals at hand. You know that spending money wisely will pay off in the long run. You know you are modeling to your kids an understanding — good or bad — about money.

But, sometimes you want to just throw in the towel, ya know?

In reality, not a lot of people are mindful of money these days. It’s not as common place as it was when our parents or grandparents were young. The abundance of available credit has made us strangers to cold hard cash, saving money, and planning ahead.

My husband chatted with a cable salesperson at Costco the other day. She didn’t know the meaning of frugal. Literally. She didn’t know what the word meant. He had an opportunity to explain to her why he wasn’t interested in that fabulous cable package she was hawking and what the practice of frugality and saving money has done for our family.

The dictionary defines frugal as:

  • economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful
  • entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty

While some folks might not even know the meaning of the world, it’s still important for us to practice frugality. Here’s why:

  1. You are being a good steward of your resources.
  2. You will have a better chance of living within your means.
  3. You can save money and reach important goals.
  4. You can show your kids how to be good money managers.
  5. You can be ready for a drop in income, layoff, or other financial upheaval.
  6. You can splurge every once in awhile, knowing that you aren’t in over your head.
  7. You can be generous and give more, which will make you happier than hoarding or splurging, anyway.

Why are YOU frugal?

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This is Frugal Friday. In an effort to make these weekly financial discussions more interactive, I’m no longer posting a link-up. Feel free to leave a link in the comments. But better yet, chat with us on today’s topic.

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13 Comments

  1. We have been pretty frugal for the most part for the almost 15 years we have been married. The only debt we had was my schooling–which we paid off quickly, one vehicle was bought with a loan, and our house. We have just a few years left on it. Five years ago, when hubby was 30, we found out he had a genetic heart defect and he needed open heart surgery/valve replacement NOW! So we got that done. We also purchased a new to us vehicle, because we lived 3 hours from the hospital, and our van was dying. It worked out perfectly. We had money in savings to purchase the car, and enough left to pay for all the medical bills. We have worked to get it built back up for another vehicle eventually and whatever else is needed. Just 2 days ago, we found out that hubby now has a (most likely non-cancerous) brain tumor. We don’t know what all this will entail, but it is reassuring to not have to worry about money. We have some put back in savings, and it should cover any expenses we have. I have enough to worry about right now, without having money to worry about too! We are frugal as a general rule. It makes a huge difference when hard times hit… because you never know when that will happen.

  2. We are frugal in certain ways so that we can afford things for our children that our important to us such as a private, religious education. We coupon and eat at home so that we can take our children on one nice vacation a year and make amazing memories that they will treasure forever, this year it is the beach in ONE WEEK!

  3. I am frugal for the simple reason that I don’t want to fill my life with “things.” We live a simple, uncomplicated life. We do not need to be frugal. God has sovereignty chosen to provide for us abundantly. There isn’t anything wrong with having wealth, but it is important how you perceive it. We feel that money can feed the soul things that could potential bring one to destruction. So, we choose to be frugal. To not feed the human will to have more and to place value on the wrong things. I believe that humans are inherently selfish at the core and if not kept in check, can easily fall into the traps of this world and money can be a vehicle down that road. My kids complain that “so and so has this” “so and so has that.” They don’t know that we could buy them everything they ask for, and I want to keep it that way until they are old enough to understand and put money it’s proper place.

  4. Well, we are still climbing out of the debt hole, and we won’t see the end for a while. We are teaching our teenagers differently than what we learned from our parents and being honest about the pitfalls of credit card debt and rewards of saving towards things and choosing where our money goes so that they start off in a good financial position.

    Dave Ramsey is a great resource, but I found EEBA (free) to track virtual envelopes and not tied into the bank. I really like it a lot. I also recently found YNAB, and I really am learning a lot from their blog, but it seems a lot more complicated to me right now.

  5. I feel like being frugal honors God, it is He who provides and He clearly calls us to be wise stewards. Being frugal has allowed me to be home with my children these last 17 years. Being frugal has allowed us to help others. Being frugal has let us have awesome fun with no regrets.

  6. We’re frugal simply to make ends meet, to be able to pay off our mortgage, save some money for the kids’ schooling and eventual weddings (we’re not interested in funding the wedding itself, but would like to contribute to their house-keeping with a massive gift), and to be able to have some money put away for when we can no longer support ourselves, although we have no plans to retire onto the golf course like so many do.

  7. Being frugal is an important goal even at my age(60). My husband and I had our own business. We felt an;y pay we took from the business made it harder to grow it. It made a good life for us and our children. We have traveled and done many things, because we thought about the small purchases, that add up to big money.

    I am proud to say our children have learned the save for the future lifestyle. Our oldest finished college with no debt. He worked and went without to do it. He just finished his Masters and has minimal debt. He is married and has two children.
    Our second son, married with 3 children, last year was able to purchase a foreclosed house on 20 acres of land at less than half price as his credit was in great shape and he had much of the price saved. The house needs lots of work as the former owners stripped it, but the family has all kicked in and the place will be paid off in about 6 years.

    I don’t know if is “going without” as it is having a plan and being ready for the opportunity when it comes.

    1. I really like your story as it is inspiring…my husband and I are only in our early 30s with one child but your story is definitely what we did like to see in our future.

  8. We are frugal so that my husband can go to school full time and I can stay home with our babies. To do this, though, the frugality had to begin years ago; my husband began saving money as soon as he joined the military, with the knowledge that he would be incomeless when left the military six years later. Being frugal isn’t as instantly satisfying as spending money, but definitely worth it.

  9. I am frugal for several reasons. First my husband works on contract. His job can be gone in a few months. We don’t know our long-term stability in terms of income. We are always anticipating a drop in income. Second, despite that, we have committed ourselves to making sure our retirement funds are filled and our insurance is paid, should anything catastrophic happen. Third, we also believe in living our lives! Vacations and travel are important to us (travel especially so, as he is working out of state). Fourth, I’m in the middle of losing a significant amount of weight and I am planning on having plastic surgery next year to remove excess skin.

    Ten years back my personal finances were in a terrible mess but I am happy to say that I am a saver.

  10. My family is frugal because God gave us all of these blessings, monetary and otherwise, and we should be good stewards of our gifts. We don’t want to be in bondage to money, so we paid off my husband’s $38,000 in college debt, and now only have a mortgage to work on. When we got super aggressive about paying off his loan, we paid off $16,000 in 16 months. You can read how we did it here: http://practical-stewardship.com/2012/02/02/budgeting-for-2012-part-2-our-story-about-paying-off-college-debt/ . Blessings!