If I’m honest, I don’t really like the words ‘frugal’ or ‘thrifty’ because I think some people (not all) hear those words and make a bit of an instant judgement that someone who’s frugal is a tight penny pincher who hates spending money, doesn’t have nice things or do fun stuff.
Clearly I know that’s not the case and I hope you do too, but there’s lots of people who would disagree.
So, what do the words actually mean?
Reading those definitions it looks to me like being thrifty is all about making the most of what you’ve got and being frugal is about saving money where you can – they’re both pretty similar aren’t they?
It doesn’t say up there that being frugal means you have to have your heating turned off when you’re cold and that you have to sit under 3 quilts with a hot water bottle rather than turning it on. It just means that you should make sure that you’re on the best deal that you can for your gas and electricity and that you don’t use it wastefully. I’m not sat here shivering in the cold because I won’t switch the heating on because I know that by being frugal, I pay as little as possible for my utilities. By being thrifty in other areas, I also have the comfort of knowing that we have extra money available each month if we get a higher than expected bill.
It certainly doesn’t say that you can’t go out for the day and have fun together. But it does mean that you should make sure that you should do a bit of research beforehand to make sure you get the cheapest tickets for wherever you’re going and that you should take a picnic etc to make sure that you don’t spend a fortune while you’re out. Believe me, we’re not sat at home while everyone else is out having fun because by being frugal I know that we’re paying the lowest possible price for what we’re doing. It’s probably the opposite and we more than likely do more than most families because we’re able to budget for fun things.
I haven’t missed out on anything (other than the odd handbag) since we made a concious decision to try and live more frugally and I have a much better quality of life as I can now afford to work part time and we have spare money leftover to do lots of fun things together. I do still have a some debts to pay off and a mortgage that I’d like to be reducing quicker than we are and we could be paying more to them but just at the moment, we’re enjoying lots of family fun while the kids are still young enough to want to spend time with us – it’s all about balance and I feel like we’ve got it right at the moment.
So please don’t judge me for being frugal.
Trust me when I say that Frugal is Fun – there’s nothing boring, penny pinching or tight about my version of frugal living 😉
What do you think?
I like "thrifty" as when someone says it I think of crafting, up-cycling and funking stuff up to look cooler without paying a stupid price. Frugal is actually a word I heard about AFTER Thrifty was used so often to me and always feel unsure which word is more well… me?
I think we should make our own word up lol although I love your definition of thrifty – it makes us sound cool 😉
Either words are fine by me. Any reason to save money, whether to take the children on holiday or save for them to go to uni is equally fine. We all have a our reasons and we don't have to justify them. P.S I refuse to be cold either and keep stocked up on wood.
That's exactly how I feel – everyone has their own reasons to save money and whatever motivates them is just fine. I just somehow feel a bit embarrassed when I say that I'm 'frugal' and I feel like people judge that.
Then again, maybe that's OK because at least I'm trying and when the kids are a little older, I'm going to try and do what you've done because that's genuinely amazing x x
As you know I completely agree with you on this
*High Five*