Whatever you call it, the bottom line is living stingy or living frugally basically means finding creative ways to get things you want, learning to live with less (and being happy with it) and overall simply living within your means.
That all sounds pretty good, right?
The word’s definition is “unwilling to give or spend; ungenerous.” That’s no way to live. Simply looking at everything from a final cost perspective or not being willing to spend any money whatsoever is certainly not a great way to go through life.
However, living frugally can be great. When you live frugally, you learn good financial skills that will help you worry less about money. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice everything you like.
It means that you need to budget your money and identify specific things and experiences that bring you joy and you aren’t doing to keep up with the Joneses.
The truth of the matter is that if you aren’t making enough money to support yourself or your family, then you can’t be generous with others or your money. So you’ll need to cut back on spending any way you can.
For others, unfortunately, it’s just the way they are. It could be for one of a million reasons. Maybe they think their money will run out, perhaps they’ve seen what happens when you overspend, or maybe they are simply greedy.