The Virtues of Frugality

“He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”    –Socrates.

When I first started writing on this site, I didn’t appreciate that there are actually some real movements out there such as “FIRE” which stands for financial independence retire early or “Minimalism” or even the tiny house movement that all seem rooted in radical reductions in material spending with diligent saving for a better life.  Over the past months, I have become aware of these communities in a big way.  In ancient Greece, the philosopher Diogenes claimed that a simple life was necessary for virtue.  He lived in a huge used clay wine jar.  Jesus said “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  The Buddha said “Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have.”  The Koran says “The mutual rivalry for piling up of worldly things diverts you.”  My point with all of this excessive ancient and/or religious quoting is that financial independence is not a new thing and that frugality can be a virtue rather than a deprivation. 

Frugality in America

The American transcendentalist writers like Emerson and Thoreau talked a lot about self reliance or the virtues of living in a simpler life connected to nature. In many ways this echoes into today’s homesteading or minimalist living movements. In the 1960s, people were questioning everything and asking questions about what a true life really was. They questioned ownership all together asking “what if everything were free, even love?” The term “affluenza” was even coined to describe a disease that overly wealthy people suffer from which brings about a sort of psychological malaise.

A Truth Through the Ages

Be it hippies, or transcendentalists, or Jesus or the Buddha, every generation seems to “discover” the freedom of less materialism = more freedom.  We live in a hyper-materialist society where capitalism is often tied together with other American values such as freedom and independence.  There are more sales persons than any other occupation in the US and they are literally working to get you to buy more.  Despite this hyper-materialist culture in which we live, the idea of less being better may be a truth through the ages.

Is Frugality a Deprivation?

Despite it seeming like frugality might be a deprivation, many of those who practice it seem to praise it’s virtues.  There is a couple who blogs as the “frugalwoods” that wrote a book about achieving financial independence through simple living.  They left the city to homestead in a rural area.  I heard Mrs Frugalwood say in an interview something close to the following “people often talk of all we have sacrificed.   But I never saw it as a sacrifice.  All I see is a life that I enjoy and gratitude for what we have.”

Mr Money Mustache has a downright excellent blog about achieving financial independence.  While he lives a relatively frugal life, his point in this excellent blog post is that “this is not about being cheap, minimalist, or extreme.  It’s about using logic and science to design a Slightly Less Ridiculous Than Average Lifestyle in order to live more happily.”

My own take is that there is a strength to knowing that you can be content with minimal needs and with way less than our culture suggests.  Practicing this also gives you flexibility.  It is efficient to live simpler, it is better for the environment, and it can make you feel better such as exercise versus driving, or eating something you cook versus another restaurant pizza.

Is there Such a Thing as Too Frugal?

And with that, I want to provide a word of caution as well.  Frugality can be freeing but it can also be a cage if taken too far. If you keep the heat at 50 degrees, steal condiments or buffet food for later, and are toughing out a toothache for 8 months until next year’s insurance kicks in then can you really say that you are financially independent or are you just frugality dependent?  If frugality becomes compulsive to the point of preventing you from doing something that you want to do when your actual situation affords you doing it, then is it still freeing?  If you live in the USA and buying anything over $100 takes you a month of research and pondering maybe you’ve taken it too far?  If you can’t enjoy something that you have already purchased or has been given to you because it costs too much then that seems a shame.  When I was a kid, there was awhile when my dad was out of work.  I didn’t get new school clothes, and generally we penny pinched.  It made me the fiscally responsible man that I am today and for that I am grateful.  Among other things, it also made me feel weird at malls and at nice restaurants when I did get to eat there later in life.  After extensive travel, I understand that these are first world problems and I won’t try to tackle global distribution of wealth as that may be another article all together.  However, the advice that I am offering here from my personal experience is that it may be better to aim for freedom rather than ultimate frugality within the community that you live.