Kanye West? He’s kind of controversial. Religion can be controversial. And the death penalty, should you bring it up at Thanksgiving dinner, is probably going to get everyone going, too.

But frugality? Nope. It’s boring. Straightforward. Not at all controversial. At least, it shouldn’t be, if you know what the word means.  

By definition, frugality is being prudent. Economical. Thrifty. Basically, those words mean getting the most out of your resources by not wasting any of them. I can’t think of a single controversial thing about that. Unless you like the idea of spending more time and money than necessary for something.

Yet some people are turned off by frugality because of a handful of dumb misconceptions. Frugal people spend hours making laundry detergent, for example. Or, we don’t care about making money; only saving it. Oh! And frugal people never buy anything, we just stay at home counting our money and stuffing it under a mattress. A mattress we found in a dumpster, naturally.

Frankly, these stereotypes annoy me. Brokepedia might be a tongue-in-cheek name for this website, but frugality isn’t about being poor. On the other hand, being broke did help me appreciate frugality. And frugality had a big hand in my transition from broke to financially stable to financially secure.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about this site’s larger purpose–why I want to keep up with it, what it’s all about. In defining this, it helps to have a better understanding of what frugality is all about. So here goes: the Brokepedia frugal philosophy.

Brokepedia focuses on the “spend less” part of building wealth

Here’s the thing. There’s a really basic formula for building wealth, and it goes a little something like this:

Spend less than you earn.

This is so obvious, it’s almost painful. If you want to keep your money, you’ve got to have more of it coming in than going out. The “earn” part of that equation is huge. Earning money is much more difficult, and less accessible, than saving it. Anyone can be frugal at pretty much any time. It takes a lot more effort to earn 100k a year. However, the two are not mutually exclusive. You can do both. In fact, you should do both. Here’s why.

Spending less and earning more work best when used together

If you don’t learn how to spend less, you’re simply going to keep spending the same amount you earn. Your lifestyle inflates, but you build nothing. Second, it’s rare to become a multi-millionaire overnight. On the way to having more money than you know what to do with, most of us will do well to cut back on our expenses.

But, okay. I’ll admit, if you’re trying to build wealth, earning more deserves more of your time and effort than spending less. And that’s partly why I launched this website. I wanted to create a database of easy-to-implement, practical tips for saving money.  I wanted to create a frugal encyclopedia to make “spending less” simple and not time-consuming.

Frugality isn’t about penny-pinching

Some people might assume I’m poor because I use coupons (automatic coupons, mind you) to save money on my groceries. And some people might assume I’m rich because I take a helluva lot of trips during the year.

Being frugal isn’t about scrimping in every area. It’s about making the most of your money. And my money makes me happiest when I use it for travel. So I cut back everywhere I can to make room for spending on the things I love.

While pennies add up, being frugal is less about scrimping than it is about using your money wisely, so you can use it in a way that benefits you most. This varies from person to person, so at Brokepedia, I want to encompass everything. Then, readers can pick, choose and search the expenses they want to save on, so they have more money for the things they need. Or want.

Frugality is about your time, too

Yeah, some frugal habits are more trouble than they’re worth. I don’t write about those topics at Brokepedia. I write about automating your frugality. And getting recurring discounts on your bills. And taking advantage of discount days or freebie days at movie theaters and museums. Those things don’t inherently require much time or effort.

Again, frugality isn’t just about spending less. It’s about getting the most out of your resources, time included.

There’s nothing “extreme” about frugality

There is no “extreme” frugality. It’s the opposite, actually. Frugality is about balance–the balance between resources spent and the value received. Or, as Your Money or Your Lifeputs it:

Frugality is something like that—not too much, not too little, but just right. Nothing is wasted. Or left unused. It’s a clean machine…that magic word—enough.

Heavy stuff here, man. I guess I never intended for Brokepedia to be too serious. I simply wanted a way to share all of the money saving methods I came across.

But I was surprised, in interviews and in writing about personal finance in general, that frugality needed to be defended. Criticisms about frugality started making me a little self-conscious. A little confused. But it’s good to have a sense of purpose, even if this isn’t exactly a philosophical site.

I try, and I’ll continue to try, to keep these ideas in mind when I write these not-so-serious posts.

(And if you like this sort of philosophizing, follow my personal blog, where I post more of this kind of stuff.)

Photo: fsecart.