While many websites suggest that being frugal means being cheap and thrifty, I’ve mentioned in my About page that there is a difference between being cheapskate, thrifty and frugal as summarised below:
Being Frugal
As mentioned on the page, being frugal is about spending money consciously and wisely with the understanding of the bigger picture so you don’t end up spending more money in the long run.
Spending less, or not spending more, with the understanding of the bigger picture are the keywords of being frugal.
Frugal people don’t necessarily want to have less. Some have more herbs and other ingredients in the kitchen, for example, because they want to cook restaurant-quality food at a fraction of the cost.
Frugal people may have a lot of herbs and ingredients, cluttering their kitchen in the name of restaurant-quality food while cooking simply, healthily, and with minimum time spent in the kitchen may be more ideal.
Being Minimalist
Being minimalist is about not having more, but not necessarily ‘not spending more’.
For example, I have some friends who are minimalists. They prefer having only 10 pieces of clothes, which cost $170 each. Yes, EACH. Which makes the total $1700. And these are only clothes. They spend more on furniture. Not many furniture, but each piece cost at least $800.
Another example would be people who do not want to have a car and prefer to rent instead. The reason for not wanting a car is because they live in small apartments in the centre of the city and those apartments do not have any car space. Having a car means having to rent a parking space which often involves a bit of walk from their apartments.
These people want to go out of the city every weekend and therefore, rent a car. Every weekend. And the places they visit often those with food costing at least $25 per meal.
If they are frugal people, they will prefer using public transport instead of renting a car. And certainly, choose to go to places where they don’t have to spend $25 per meal.
Which One Is Better: Being Frugal or Being Minimalist?
I’d hate to choose because being just frugal without being minimalist may often result in a lot of clutters, while being just minimalist may often result in unnecessary waste of money.
But if I really have to choose, being frugal is better than being minimalist for an obvious reason: money. Having extra/backup money is always important. For further details regarding why we should live frugally, read this post here.
Can We Be Both Frugal and Minimalist?
Yes, of course, we can. By focusing on spending less money consciously and wisely, and by having less for the purpose of minimising or even removing all unnecessary clutters, we can all be both frugal and minimalist, which should be a better option than being ‘just frugal’ or ‘just minimalist’.
Conclusion
We should not confuse the words frugal with thrifty and cheap and then use this confusing assumption to tell the difference between being frugal and minimalist.
Being frugal means not wanting to spend more than necessary, while being minimalist means not wanting to have more than necessary.
While those two are different, it’s also possible, and best to be both frugal and minimalist.
