Money Quotes: Frugal, Not Miserly
Photo by Bill Ballantyne, under a Creative Commons license
From Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride, on frugality versus miserliness:
There is a vast difference between practicing frugality and being miserly. To be frugal is to set higher standards for your thoughts, behavior, activities, surroundings, and possessions. A frugalite (a word of my own making) is one who enjoys comfortable, attractive surroundings and endeavors to transform the simplest foods into a feast. You exult in keeping the bonds of family and friendship alive through simple and elegant entertaining. You enjoy quality accoutrements to daily living, although many frugalites have a (sometimes stringent) limit to their income. Frugalites prefer to make wise decisions on how to spend money and time … They know that money, saved by wise spending, can be used to enhance their lifestyle, contribute to worthwhile charities, or both.
Born from the Latin word for “wretched,” miserliness is the absence of generosity. A miserly person will spend money reluctantly and deprive himself of all but the barest of essentials, for the sole purpose of hoarding money. In my humble opinion, to live a miserly existence would truly be wretched. To wait for “someday” is the ultimate futile exercise.
Related article:
1. Money Quote: Joy vs. Stuff
Victoria E said,
August 7, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Finally, someone is making a clear distinction between watching how you spend your money and being annoyingly anal about it.
Gavrielah said,
August 7, 2007 at 6:43 pm
This looks like a great book. I know too many people who became totally miserly in the name of frugality and it is not attractive to see.
heather said,
August 7, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Wow, sounds like a great read, thanks for the excerpt. Seems along the same ideas of “Your Money or Your Life”, true?
Liz said,
August 8, 2007 at 7:02 am
I think most frugal people I know (including myself) fall into the first category. The problems arise when people who don’t *understand* frugality label us as miserly. How does one change public opinion of frugal people? Now there’s a book idea! ;)
Mel Rimmer said,
August 8, 2007 at 9:35 am
I agree. The trouble is that conspicuous consumption is a way of life for so many people that choosing to live frugally is an uncomfortable reminder to the mall rats of how shallow their existence really is.
Gavi said,
August 8, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Oh I definitely think that most people fall into the first category. But they (we) often go about it quietly. Miserly people tend to get themselves noticed because they can be obnoxious about it (not in a helpful wanting to inform people way) and yes it is often simply to hoard money, not because of the impact of consumption on the planet or some other altruistic purpose.
Liz said,
August 8, 2007 at 9:11 pm
It’s true that the misers can spoil things for the rest of us frugal folk, but even my dad says things like, “she pinches a penny so hard it squeaks” and kind of teases me for being frugal, acting as if I’m denying myself enjoyment. But I truly think I get way more enjoyment out of life than most people do. (Full disclosure: there *is* a little bit of hoarding of money going on…. otherwise I wouldn’t be able to be frugal on an ongoing basis.)
melanie said,
August 8, 2007 at 10:04 pm
My father also teases me about how far I can stretch a dollar - but really, I think he is just proud because, as Mel Rimmer mentioned, the trend (especially where I live) is towards conspicuous consumption right now and it is nice to see people who live both frugal and highly fulfilling lives - a category I like to think I fall into.