While digging through the I Will Teach You To Be Rich archives, I came across an interesting post about Cheap versus Frugal.
Although I am *MISTER* cheap, I’m actually quite hurt when someone I care about says something that implies I’m cheap. Amusingly, I actually don’t mind if they CALL me cheap. An insight about me that a friend once had was that I’m “generous to other people but not to myself”, which I think has a good deal of truth to it. I’m certainly not Mr. Stingy.
I agree with Ramit that frugal people focus on value, while cheap people focus on price. I *NEVER* expect anyone to foot the bill for me (and err on the side of giving more myself to be sure that this never happens).
Overall I think being frugal is one of the greatest virtues. It involves soul-searching and an understanding of yourself and your environment in an effort to ensure that your resources are distributed in line with your values.
Who could complain about that?
5 replies on “Frugal vs Cheap”
Well put.
I don’t know, I think there is nothing but the good feeling of spending a big pile of money! On the other side, saving money and building your net worth is fun too.
I guess the secret is to make enough money that you can spend on what you want and save money at the same time!
[…] Generous. Absolutely! […]
“Overall I think being frugal is one of the greatest virtues. It involves soul-searching and an understanding of yourself and your environment in an effort to ensure that your resources are distributed in line with your values.”
Just reading back in your blog – that is beautifully put MC…
*blush*