My friend Keith Burgess-Jackson is a philosophy professor. Not surprisingly, many of his blog posts address age old questions of the discipline - and more modern ones, too. Often, though, the good professor, like any curious philosopher, wonders about aspects of daily life. Today, "frugality" is examined.
Keith is often frugal, and I share his affection for it. To me, "frugality" is a desire not to waste - an inclination to make do with less rather than more. Of course, as the professor points out, each of us has our own beliefs as to what is and is not frugal behavior - and then our own preferences as to which activities seem "worth" frugal behavior and which do not.
I put a lot of value upon frugality. My underlying belief is that if we do not waste, then on those occasions when "more" is not a luxury, but a necessity, the odds are greater that what we need will be there. For instance, I try hard not to waste my financial resources. Though often I am capable of spending more on whatever I wish to get - be it large (automobiles, furniture or a vacation) or small (clothes, nail polish, meals) - I try to spend at little as possible to get what I really need. Whatever is left over then can be saved and invested. If I then find myself requiring more funds for an emergency - or perhaps something more frivilous, but something that I very much want - my frugality will have paid off. What if I find myself with far more than I myself need? Should I find myself in such a pleasant spot, then I can give my resources to an organization or individuals that I believe will do good.
Can frugality ever be wrong? For sure. One of my own personal silly examples is this. I always attempt to get the best possible price when I am shopping for gas. Why spend $2.97 a gallon if you can get the same thing for $2.91 somewhere else, I always figure. I stopped by one of the stations that I knew usually had good prices, but the prices seemed a bit high. Thus I drove a few blocks to another "bargain" station. It was slightly higher! Not wanting to pay an even higher price, I drove to another area that was usually good. It wasn't. I became engrossed in my quest for frugality. By the time it was all over, I'm quite certain that I spent far more money and actual gasoline driving around town than I ever would have had I simply purchased gas at the first station I'd seen.
Sometimes, it can be difficult to determine what really determines frugality. One of my first jobs was for a very large and very successful local corporation. A role of mine was to work on audiovisual needs; I and a co-worker ran all the equipment for board meetings. Prior to every meeting, we were instructed to replace all the bulbs in all of the machines we used for the meetings. At first, it seemed a little silly to me; the odds that any given bulb would burn out during the meeting seemed low, and there was the expense of all those new bulbs. What I came to realize, however, was that the time of these executives was quite precious. They were paid large salaries, and even 3 minutes of their time would be 3 minutes too many if they had to wait for a projector bulb to be replaced. So, though replacing 15 bulbs for an hour meeting might not seem frugal - in actuality, it was.
Am I frugal with everything? No. Sometimes I splurge on a bridge tournament, staying at a site close to or at where competition will be, rather than staying further away at a cheaper spot. I feel that it's worth the price to know that I can get rest when I need it, and be safe when I have to travel alone to my room at 1AM. My home is far larger and more lovely than a person could ever possibly "require" - yet I remain here as I love it so.
Like Keith with his beloved dishwasher (something I could easily live without, Keith!) - we all have our preferences and priorities with frugality. The bottom line, however, is that some frugality is a sensible habit!
People, in general, seem to regularly give their money away, buying stuff they don’t really need, helping other people become wealthy. How kind of them!
Posted by: James R Ament | Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 12:35 PM