Functional frugality is a way of life, a mindset. It doesn’t have to mean living without nice things or the comforts of life.
In fact, I would argue that we can have nice things because of frugality, not in spite of it! Functional frugality isn’t really a term you’ll hear anywhere else. That’s because I made it up! However, I think it’s a good term. I think frugality – being a frugal person is something people want to know more about but don’t really know what it means for them.
So let’s discuss that, shall we? The definition of frugality is:
“careful management of material resources and especially money : thrift.”
Frugality.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frugality. Accessed 1 Sep. 2022.
Careful management. I can get behind that! What the definition doesn’t say is “you can’t buy anything brand name!” or “no more lattes!” but instead, gives the power over to you. You get to decide how your resources will be used and what is important to you.
What is the Functional in “Functional Frugality”?
The second definition from Merriam Webster stood out to me most
used to contribute to the development or maintenance of a larger whole
“Functional.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/functional. Accessed 1 Sep. 2022.
My Definition of Functional Frugality:
“Carefully managing my material resources to contribute to the development and maintenance of my life.”
Having a frugal mindset, being a frugal person must add value to your life. Functional frugality must help us to develop and maintain the life we want. Our brand of functional frugality must be designed or developed chiefly from the point of view of what is the most important to us.
The cool thing is: that will look different for everyone.
We may have the same end goal as the guy next door: be debt free, take a vacation abroad, buying a home, etc. But how you get there may look different.
What Does My Brand of Functional Frugality look like?
One example from my own personal experience has been with our grocery budget: most experts recommend $100 per person per month. If you have a family of three, you spend $300 a month on groceries and household items. I haven’t checked to see if they’ve changed their tune with inflation. However, previous to the skyrocketing costs of groceries, that was the recommended formula for a grocery budget. I almost always spent $100 more than the recommended amount per month.
Why? Well, good quality food is important to me. If I have to choose between a $0.99 per pound chicken that was raised inside a nasty barn without sunlight and in stressful conditions or a more expensive chicken but it actually tastes good and was allowed to be a real chicken, then yes I’ll spend the extra money. It’s important to me. My brand of functional frugality is that I prioritize better quality food and cut back on other things.
I’m not saying you have to blow your budget for higher quality or to prioritize certain things. I found more frugal ways to buy higher quality food. The chicken I just talked about? I pay a family member to raise some for me when he does for his family. I help cover the purchase of chicks, feed, and butchering costs and end up with excellent pastured chicken for about $2.00 less per pound than if we bought it at the local health food store.
Things I do cut back on that others might prioritize are: entertainment, upgraded electronics, subscriptions, eating out, new kitchen gadgets, beauty treatments & supplies, disposable diapers, etc.
Functional Frugality Is Not Self Denial
Many people confuse frugality with being cheap or self denial. Although this is not my definition of being frugal, I understand why some people associate it with bare bones living.
Functional frugality is intended to be a mindset, a way to find how to achieve your goals while still enjoying your life and things you value. It doesn’t mean going without things you need (or even want)! An example from my own life is when I purchased my grain mill. To some people it may have seemed an extravagant purchase. Couldn’t I just buy my flour from the store?
It was important to me to buy a grain mill for many reasons. I did some research and found the mill I wanted. I looked for used grain mills and compared what I found on Ebay with the refurbished grain mills the company I liked had in stock. It took me a month to think through my purchase, research what I needed, compare different methods of acquiring a grain mill, and making sure the money was available. Milling flour at home has saved us money, improved our health, and added to my cooking skills. I’m extremely glad I made the purchase!
Functional Frugality is Sustainable
I think too that frugality is sometimes viewed as a means to an end. “If I can pull up my bootstraps and give up everything fun for a year, then I’ll be able to buy/travel to/achieve [insert goal here] and then I can go back to normal.”
I’m a goal oriented person and sometimes I get so excited about reaching the end result I forget that I have to live life along the way. A “bootstrap” mentality can sometimes be helpful to push through, however it’s not a sustainable way to go through life. There are times in life when we are forced to forgo things we need or want. My husband and I have been through lean times before and I’ve been there! My main point in saying functional frugality is sustainable is that we don’t always have to be in an intense goal achieving season. Remember that everyone has to go on their own journey when learning how to approach life through the lens of frugality.
Small frugal habits built up over time will take you farther than forcing yourself to give up everything overnight. It’s about learning what is truly important to you. What adds value to your life? Going back to my grain mill example: We were (and still are) on a debt free journey. Many people would have told us that spending $200 on a grain mill was a dumb idea. That money could have pushed us forward even more to our goal! However, I look back and I’m glad I bought it. It adds value to my life. I don’t spend money on things that don’t add value so that I can make calculated “splurges” on the things that do.
Functional Frugality Isn’t About Being Cheap
A truly frugal person isn’t a cheap skate. As I was developing my definition of what functional frugality means I read various articles about the idea behind being frugal. Frugality will have it’s own definition in some degree to each individual, but I’m wanting to really focus in on the misconceptions of frugality.
I really enjoyed this article from Bankrate.com which put it perfectly:
“Someone who intentionally shops deals at the grocery store is frugal, but someone who leaves a small tip at a restaurant is cheap.”
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/what-does-frugal-mean/
Another example given was that of buying items that will last longer in order to save money in the long run. I wholeheartedly agree with that! Taking time to think through a purchase and comparing brands, warranties, and up keep costs is very important! My husband and I are currently looking into buying a home printer. We’ve noticed that some of the less expensive printers use more ink and the replacement cartridges are really expensive. While some of the more quality printers are more expensive up front, they use ink much more efficiently and cost less to replace cartridges. That means we can spend less on the printer now and spend more in replacing cartridges over time, or we can spend more up front and buy less ink over time. We also have to factor in how long both of the printers may last.
Functional Frugality is About Valuing More Than Money
Frugal people also value their time and factor that into the total cost of a purchase (or lack thereof). For instance, I try my best to only grocery shop at one store each week. Let’s say I’m at Walmart and need to get some bagels, only I notice that they’re $2 more for a package than at Aldi. I need to make a decision about what is the best outcome for my money AND my time. I’m not going to drive 40 minutes to Aldi and spend $20 in gas to save $2. Do I have the ingredients to make bagels at home? Do I have the time to make them? Sometimes the answer is yes, I have the time and ingredients to make them. Other times I might spend the extra money to save me the time.
$2 isn’t worth the time lost if I have better things to do. Functional Frugality isn’t about saving money to the detriment of your free time. It’s about weighing the costs and finding smarter ways to get what you want or need. Instead of fretting over the extra $2 spent on bagels, I might buy less of something else. This is also applicable to clipping coupons instead of shopping what’s on sale. Or driving out of your way for the cheapest gas instead of using the gas station nearest you and utilizing their rewards system.
How To Determine What You Value
As I said above, everyone will place importance on different things. I place a higher value on quality food over lower quality, less expensive options. Someone else may place a higher value on a weekly date night, a gym membership, subscriptions, etc.
There may be a few ways to determine what adds value to your life, but this how I have decided for myself. I like to calculate what one particular activity, subscription, hobby, or “need” is costing us in one year. It’s amazing how just a few dollars every week or month can add up and take you either closer or further away from your goals.
We used to budget “personal money” for both my husband and myself. Dave Ramsey recommends finding room in your budget for money that can be used at your own discretion. It keeps you from feeling like you’re deprived and then going on a spending spree. When I added up how much we were budgeting for my personal money allotment, I decided to forgo that money for myself until we met a specific goal. We were budgeting about $20 a week for my personal money. By allocating that money to other goals we were able to pay off an extra $1,000 a year.
This example from my life might seem a tad extreme but I know myself. I was willing to sacrifice temporary enjoyment for the goal of paying off our car. I realized that I often used the money for things that could be worked into other areas of our budget. Money for my clothing comes from our clothing budget. If I need some new lip balm, that can come from our consumable goods budget.
What Works For Me May Not Work For You.
I’m not saying that having a budget for personal spending money is wrong or that it was even easy for me to give up. I am glad that I did it though because I’ve come to realize how quickly I spent it without a thought. $20 a week doesn’t seem like much until you add it up over time. We decided to keep our budget for my husband’s personal money. He uses his personal money for things such as antique tools and restoration projects as part of his hobbies. Without personal money, I know that his relationship with our budget would be a frustrated one.
Functional Frugality gives us the opportunity to use our money the way that suits us best. It doesn’t have to look like what all the experts say. People pick on a daily coffee run and use it as an example of a “wasteful” way to spend money. While I do know people who spend hundreds on coffee every month, which I don’t recommend, that doesn’t mean you have to forgo a favorite treat. Maybe you make a budget category for it and order something cheaper than normal. Perhaps you cut down to only going on Mondays and Fridays. Or maybe you use your personal money budget for your coffee shop trips and when it’s gone, it’s gone. There are many ways you can “work” your budget to still allow for fun things in a more frugal way.
Functional Frugality Allows You to Think Creatively
As I close up this article I want to highlight that frugal people are often very resourceful and out-of-the-box thinkers. I spent most of this article defining what functional frugality is and used examples from my real life to show what my “brand” of functional frugality looks like.
If you want to start being a frugal person, start by finding one area of your life that you know you could economize on. Perhaps it’s the amount of money you spend on convenience foods or take out or maybe how many streaming services you pay for. Thin those down and make sure you’re intentional about where that money goes.
If your budget is tight and you don’t feel like you have anything extra to cut or set aside, challenge yourself to try and come under budget and use the surplus money for extra goals. I’ve been trying to use whatever surplus we have at the end of the budget week to set aside for mine and my husband’s 10th wedding anniversary in 2.5 years. We don’t have the extra cash right now to make a trip a dedicated part of our budget, but small things add up over time. We’ll also pad that amount whenever we can.
I love the challenge of pushing myself to think creatively about how to achieve goals. I also enjoy the personal development of learning what is truly important to me in different seasons. Paying attention to what season you are in allows you the freedom to say yes to some things and no to others. Just because something was important to you last year, doesn’t mean that it should still take priority this year. Reassess your budget and goals often.
Remember: Functional Frugality is “carefully managing your material resources to contribute to the development and maintenance of your life.”
Go forth and start working those frugal muscles of yours! Make it fun and keep your mind open!
What is your brand of functional frugality? I’d love to know in the comments below!
Shalom,
Olivia
