What exactly is Frugal?  Is it just saving money?  Or is it something more?

I like to quote Forrest Gump on this one:  Frugal is as Frugal Does.

To me, living a frugal life is about a lot more than just saving money.  It’s not about coupons or stockpiling or keeping as much money in my bank account as I can, though those are all elements of the frugal life.  No, instead, the frugal life is so much more!  The way I see it, a frugal life is one that makes the most of the opportunities before you.  Even more, its about reaching out and finding all the opportunities you can find, and then making them work for you!

It’s not about who accumulates the most stuff for the lowest price.  It’s not about having the most money in the bank–as in the end, we don’t get to keep it anyway!  No, it’s about making every moment, every dollar, every person in our life worth more than they appear to be.

It’s not about saving money just to save money–it’s about making that dollar work harder, stretch further, do more.  If I can take the $5 I used to spend each month on toilet paper and now get toilet paper for free and instead put that $5 toward a mission trip, then my $5 has gone a lot further!  That same $5 which used to be literally flushed away every month, now goes not only to making my family more comfy, but also to enriching my life and the lives of others through doing good works.  It’s all about being good stewards with our money and making it make returns beyond our own means.

See, that’s what Jesus’ parables were about.  The parable of the talents wasn’t about making monetary investments with huge returns like our stock market.  Instead, it was about taking what small things we have, and making them have multiple layers of returns.  Financial returns (we get a product for our home), personal returns (spiritual and personal growth through seeing God’s Kingdom spread) and the returns of helping others.  That’s a three fold increase on the value of my $5.  To me, that’s the frugal life!

One last note–being frugal with your time doesn’t mean stuffing it so full of ‘to-do’ items that your planner explodes.  It also doesn’t mean being stingy with your time.  No, instead it means balancing your time so that its most productive to the people in your life.  See, I don’t blog all day long.  I serve people through blogging, but I also take time each day to serve my kids and to serve my husband.  I serve my Lord through spending time with him each day.  I serve myself by scheduling in time for myself each afternoon.  I serve my body by scheduling exercise time every day.  I serve my church by volunteering a few hours each week.  I don’t spend 12 hours a day working–but by spending 2 hours here, and 2 hours there, I can serve many people and make great fruit out of my short day.

In this economy, so much is made out of the frugal life.  But so much is missed when it focuses on short term money gains alone!

Photo credit: Bah Humbug

Little Miss Know It All is a stay-at-home mom from Florence, KY. A former political hack, LMKIA turned her skills to living frugal so that she could spend all day with the two most adorable monkeys ever. She is passionate about teaching others to get maximum benefit out of every penny!