Frugal Versus Cheap

The following is a guest post from Enza of Enza's Bargains.

What is the difference between being frugal or being cheap?  I had a good conversation about this just the other day.  I wanted to share my definitions with you.

Frugal is taking the things that you want and finding ways to save on those items.  Being cheap loses the value of the items you want and makes you replace them or find ways to lose quality.  Let me give you some examples.

Someone who is being frugal finds ways to save money on what they want.  If I thoroughly love a certain brand of soda I will find ways to drink that soda and not spend full price.  I will stalk the sales, save the coupons, and buy a couple extra when I find a good price.

If I were being cheap, I would forget the soda and just start drinking water.  I would do this because I was being too cheap to purchase the soda.  Besides the fact water is definitely the healthier choice.  I am losing the enjoyment and love I have for my favorite soda to replace it with something cheap.

There is a time to be frugal and a time to be cheap.  If you are serious about saving, you will want to first figure out where you money is going.

Make a list.  Determine which things you can be “frugal” with and which things you can be “cheap” with.  List things like cable, telephone, bills, food, & entertainment.  Then you can even be more specific.  If you need to save at the grocery store list off your usual list and decide.  Is the expensive brand of cereal really worth the extra cost?

Sometimes it is worth trying out the “cheap” before you determine the “frugal”. Sometimes I am just cheap.

Which items are you “frugal” with?
Which items can you be “cheap” with?

Enza Ketcham is the author of Enza's Bargains.  She is silly, cheesy, and loves to shop!  In order to buy the things she wants, she learned to be frugal!  If you like this post be sure to check out 15 Ways to Cut Expenses. You can also find Enza on Facebook and Twitter.