I posted a new poll this week, as usual, just for fun (on the right). If you are using a reader, please visit Keeping the Kingdom First for full content.
I was curious as to what frugal season of life you may find yourself in. The last option I added (what does “frugal” mean?) was just to be silly, so imagine my surprise when a few readers actually chose this!
Either they truly have no idea what frugal means, or they are simply not in the position of needing to be frugal. Fair enough. But, now my curiosity has been aroused!
I believe “frugal” means different things to different people, depending on their situation. Most personal finance bloggers agree that there is a distinct difference between being frugal and being cheap. A simple google search revealed thousands of hits on that debate alone. To read an excellent article about frugal vs. cheap, check out Frugal Dad.
My life has alternated between phases of frugality and phases of reckless spending. Thankfully, I am not in the latter phase anymore.
I tended to adopt a more frugal lifestyle out of sheer necessity. More Americans probably find themselves in that situation today, with the dreaded recession becoming more and more of a reality.
Other times, I would rebel against my frugal upbringing and waste lots of money on meaningless pleasures. Credit cards certainly exacerbated that behavior.
My true frugal journey actually began in September 2007, not all that long ago. Hubby and I sat down with a financial “counselor” from our church to figure out a new game plan. We were fed up with living paycheck to paycheck. So we implemented a debt reduction plan, and a real budget. It was truly painful! One of the biggest lessons from the entire experience was that being frugal is actually Biblical.
I heard for the first time that Jesus spoke more about money during his teaching than any other subject. Why was I not told this when I became a Christian? No wonder our finances were such a mess, we were keeping our financial life separate from our spiritual life! A true disciple of Christ will manage their finances while “keeping the kingdom first”. The two cannot be separate.
My frugal journey continues, and blogging about it keeps me accountable. Many people are uncomfortable even speaking about money, but I would rather my readers see the true purpose behind my blog.
Now it’s your turn, readers. I would love to hear your input! I am shamelessly borrowing this idea from Crystal, a blogger whom I deeply admire. She often gets a lively discussion going!
What does “frugal” mean to you?
Do you associate frugal with cheap?
When did your frugal journey begin?
Sound off!
Excellent post! To be perfectly honest, I’d never thought about money and God together before reading your blog. Maybe I’m in the minority or there or maybe it’s because I’m still new in my faith. Anyway, your blog sure got me to do a lot of thinking. To me being frugal is not about being cheap. It’s about not spending recklessly and spending the money we have the wisest way possible. Frugality is a must for us…if I couldn’t stretch ever last penny we have, well we’d be in bad shape. I think our frugal journey will eventually get us to a better way of life. Even if money wasn’t a problem, I think I’d still be frugal. I am very against paying full price for things now, but why would you want to pay full price for stuff even if you had an abundant cash flow? It just seems wasteful to me. I’ll stop rambling now, just wanted to throw in my two cents worth.
Alyssa, our journey really started last year too! It all hit me one day when I went past a church sign and it said “You are a servant to your debtors.” I only wanted to be a servant for the Lord and that’s when we really became passionate about it!
I think frugal is being smart about where and how you spend your money. If I can find somewhere to get my products at a lower price, then I’m going to take my time to shop around and get it.
God expects us to be good stewards of our finances. If I’m not doing that, than I can’t give when he calls on me and I want to be faithful and listen if someone needs something in addition to our regular tithing.
We recently had someone speak to us about mission trips. We really feel like it’s something we should do but we won’t incur debt to do it. And, since I feel we should pay for it on our own, we will be able to do that next year thanks to God’s many blessings and opening my eyes to what frugality is!
I like your blog and recently began my journey being frugal. I’m linking you on my blog under “Desiring to be a good steward”!
Thanks!
Thanks for mentioning my article at Frugal Dad! I like what you’ve done here at Keeping the Kingdom. I’m off to subscribe to keep up with your new posts, and I’ll be spending some time reading through your archives to catch up.
I found you thru Mom blogs. I enjoyed reading.. Neat site..
Nessa-
I agree, even if frugality was not a necessity, I could never give it up. Good stewardship should not depend on your bank account.
Becky-
Thanks so much for the link! Welcome to this crazy journey. It is wonderfully fulfilling.
I concurrent. DH and I took crown several years ago. It really hit us that when we owe money, it limits how God can use us. If we have to pay debt, we can use our resources towards other opportunities to serve. He wants me to be a good steward in all aspects of my life.
I tell people I got really frugal when DH got sick. And while it is helping rebuild our savings, we were as frugal as we knew how before. Thanks to you, I have now can stretch that dollar to a mile that was once stretch a few yards! Thanks!
Aprel
You “hit the nail on the head”, so to speak! My husband and I have also been known to “keep the financial and spiritual separate.” Now that we are trying to be faithful in both areas together, we have been amazed how we are changing as people! We feel we are becoming more authentic and truthful as we LIVE what we believe instead of trying to “present ourselves” as something different with our purchases. Does that make sense?
I’ll be visiting again! Thanks!