Being cheap is about spending less and almost never about quality; being frugal is about prioritizing your spending so that you can have more of the things you really care about. Those who are cheap are often afraid to spend money and will sacrifice quality and value in order to cash in on short-term savings. Everybody knows a cheap person, and probably dislikes them. But I think we often mislabel frugal people as “cheap”. In this article, you’ll learn difference.
Meet Your Average Cheapskate
If you enjoy saving money at least as much as you enjoy spending it, you may have endured being labeled a “cheapskate” on one or more occasions. But technically, this is neither accurate nor fair.
After all, people who enjoy saving money are also sometimes called “wealthy,” and this is nearly always viewed as a compliment (not to mention as a testament to their investing prowess and personal restraint).
But if you have ever chosen to save money at the expense of a friend’s wellbeing, a family member’s care or even simply doing what is the right and fair thing to do when it comes to managing money, you have discovered that invisible line in the sand that separates frugal people from cheap people.
A cheap person values money, or saving money, or not spending money above people, relationships or doing the right thing. This is why, in most cases, calling someone a “cheapskate” or saying “you are cheap” is not considered flattering at all. A cheap person will go to incredible, sometimes jaw-dropping lengths to save money.
Here are some examples of cheap behavior:
– Not washing your clothes – often or ever and even if they smell – to lower your water bill.
– Sharing toothpaste, toothbrushes and even floss. (Seriously, people do this! Just search Youtube.)
– Spending hours hunting for spare change in your home, car or city streets.
– Swiping all the extra toiletries from your hotel room before checking out.
In each of these examples, you arguably benefit by your actions, but you potentially put others in harm’s way or waste of a lot of time in the interests of saving money. Time that could be spent earning money. This is classic “cheap” behavior.
Meet Your Average Frugal Person
Frugal people don’t make for very good television. They don’t stand out when you look at them. You can’t smell them before you see them and they don’t leave a trail of stolen sugar packets or hotel toiletries in their wake.
Frugal folks are the ones who actually balance their check books and take the time to track down the origin of unknown expense items on their monthly bank statements.
Frugal folks buy in bulk for items they use a lot of and are even willing to pay for a big box store membership to do so, since it ultimately saves them funds every year.
If you are frugal, you may order water instead of wine when you eat out, but you know you have a delicious whole bottle of wine at home that cost you the same as a single glass would have cost you at the restaurant.
Here are some examples of frugal behavior:
– Jogging or biking instead of paying top dollar for a gym membership.
– Check out the community calendar for free events you and your family can enjoy instead of an expensive stay away from home.
– Learning to change your car’s oil so you don’t can save.
– Rearrange furniture in a room and pickup a few upgrades to spruce it up rather than buying all new furniture.
Frugal people do love to save money, and even more they love to treat money like the hard-earned commodity it is and consider carefully how and where they spend it. But one thing a frugal person will never intentionally do is choose pinching pennies over behaving fairly or safeguarding another person’s wellbeing.
Which One Are You: Cheap or Frugal?
In most cases, people already know which category they fit into. If you have ever heard someone announce (with a surprising amount of personal pride) that they are “cheap,” you have already witnessed this firsthand.
But sometimes, and especially when you are a cost-conscious, savings-focused person who has been unfairly typecast as cheap, it can be really hard to tell!
Here’s a short, helpful list you can use to figure out where you fit:
– A cheap person always thinks that they pay too much.
– A cheap person won’t buy necessities (medication, toilet paper).
– A cheap person is always talking about money, money, money (sort of like a drug addict might always be taking about where they will get the next fix).
– A frugal person knows when to spend and when to save (and how to tell the difference).
– A frugal person is willing to spend on quality to get more value for their money.
– A frugal person is still generous towards others with their time and their money.
Eight out of every 10 American adults is in debt today, clearly there is a valid argument for re-examining our daily relationship to dollars and cents. The difference arises in whether you live your life to save money, or saving money is a choice you make to better serve you and your loved ones. It is a subtle difference, but it also makes all the difference.
