Philosophers of Frugality

Frugal, Good - Cheap, Bad
Nov 29, 2002 – By Alex Wolf


There is a debate about the difference between cheap and frugal. The answer is quite simple.

Frugal people are not afraid to spend money.

They just insist on getting maximum bang for their buck. They shop around, either to get the lowest price, or to get the best price/value ratio. They time their purchases whenever possible, like waiting until September to buy a leftover new car. They plan ahead, and tend to be personally secure and confident. They are well organized, and understand that shopping doesn't mean spending, it means comparing prices and services received. To take roof repair as an example, the frugal person will know when the roof is getting old. They will take their time looking around for someone to do the job. They may find someone who is very good, and reasonably priced, but who has to be booked six months in advance.

A really organized frugal person will wait for a recession, when contractors are begging for work, and have roof and other renovations done then. Once a person gets the hang of being frugal, it does not take much extra effort to be frugal.

You only have to do the research once on where to get the least expensive staples of life in your neighborhood. Frugal people tend to feel less aggravated than cheap people, and have fewer crises, since they plan ahead. Frugal people have a sense of perspective, and therefore a sense of humor.

On the other hand, cheap people, who never seem to have a sense of humor, simply do not spend money unless it¹s absolutely unavoidable.

Even then, they spend the least that they can at that moment. Often, a cheap person will end up spending more money than a regular person would to get the same task accomplished.

This is because a cheap person often has to spend money on an emergency basis, or more than once to get a problem solved. A cheap person will also be dishonest with himself in a bid to not spend money. Let¹s look again at roof repair.

A cheap person will deny there is a leak until rain is splashing into the living room. Only then will he think about spending money on repairs. At that point, shopping around for the lowest priced, competent repairman is not an option. The cheap person will find the lowest cost retired handyman to do repairs.

The handyman, even if he knows what he's doing, will cut corners. This will lead to either having to call someone in again in a year, or continued leaks which eventually do thousands of dollars damage to the home. The cheap person may not ever pay to have those repairs made, but will ultimately have to sell the house for considerably less when the time comes.

Cheap people tend to feel much aggravation. They want what everyone else wants, but they deny themselves out of fear of spending money.