Does living below your means=Frugal? (father-in-law, respect, friends, relation)
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Living below your means I would think is not using all your resources to live your daily life or something similar.
What about the person making 200K in retirement and living like they make 150K? Still a decent life yet is that being frugal? What about the person making 25K and living on that 25K yet saying they are being frugal in doing so? Which is more frugal and which is living below their means? Is frugality a virtue in all circumstances? If you save more than the cost of the flat screen or BMW are you being frugal? Many of our posts in here have made me wonder. Can that person with a 200K cash flow but living on 150K be considered to be frugal? Why would they live on a lot less? Is there a reason when they have cash flow and great reserves? If a person has 5,000 being spent in discretionary income each month aren't they way better off and more secure than the person spending far less but only having $100.00 in discretionary monthly income?
I alwaqys consider those living below their income to be responsible. Those living much below when making a high salry are ferugile. Nothig wrong with living above the medium when making well above it.
There is a lot of temptation to buy things in this consumer culture. People want to be accepted and respected, and that often depends on having stuff. And if you're young now, you probably can't have any friends unless you have blackberries, iphones, etc., because that's how they communicate. Those things are expensive. And it all has monthly fees. I just have an old cell phone and a DSL internet connection, and that costs a lot every month.
I refuse to go along with the consumption mania. But you can easily get left out of the society after a while if you don't keep up. We need computers and internet, and cell phones.
I live way below my means, mostly because I am not constantly buying electronic gadgets. I never worry about pennies and I am not really cheap. Anything under $10 seems like spare change these days. I save on big things, like cars. I would never lease a car for $300 a month. People don't realize how those unnecessary status-related expenses prevent them from saving.
If I had started saving for retirement when I was young, maybe I wouldn't have to be frugal now. Or if I had bought a house in the 1970s when they cost what a car costs now.
Whatever you want to call it be it Cheap or Frugal,maybe if more people lived below/within their means we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now.
We have acknowledged that the discussion is about living below your means within the context of frugality. There is no mention of people living at or above their means. So why you are rolling your eyes and introducing the concept of debt is curious.
I live well below my means because I have no debts for one thing, and I have very simple tastes in clothes and food. I do not consider this being frugal, though. I have income enough to live in a more expensive style, but I have no interest in doing so.
I tend to think of frugal as econominizing when one would really like to feel able to spend more.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TuborgP
I am beginning to wonder how many people in this forum are using the word frugal and living below your/their means.
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Living below your means I would think is not using all your resources to live your daily life or something similar.
It may have no relation to income, as Warren Buffett may be considered frugal in his choice of abode, but I would not claim him to be 'cheap' due to that choice (still a nice place).
I will concur with a def: Living as conservative as reasonable within your economic circumstances. (There is room for subjective reason, and it is difficult to quantify) Many folks spend way more than they make, but live conservatively by necessity. On the other hand, many folks on food stamps spend way more than I do on food (which I tend to consider 'lavish' grocery spending). On the other hand... Long time ago in the village of Anatevka, there was a young tailor named Mot'el (mottle) who had a frugal father-in-law, tho many considered him to be Cheap. (so thought Tzeitel, Golde ....) To Life, To Life la kayim, La kayim, la kayim, to life.
I.e., your mileage may vary.
I don't see Mark Hurd or Jodie retiring to a frugal lifestyle, tho each just got a significant change in their net-worth / expendable income. So goes the retirement of nearly 300,000 ex-coworkers. (Carly (RIP... not) spent mine 'Doubling-Down' in Monte Carlo)
Thus I'm glad I was raised to be frugal, it's in my genes (jeans too, as in EMPTY wallet ) No cash, no waste
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) No cash, no waste 
