Frugality is a wonderful word, and it should not be confused with cheapness. Being cheap is not a good human trait, but being frugal can be very good. The cheap person will order something in a restaurant that he doesn’t even want, just because it has a low price, and he’ll drink water, even though he wants coffee, and he will stiff the waitress. It is never a kind or decent thing to stiff the waitress, meaning “not giving her a tip.” The frugal person will order what they want, but within reason, and will have the coffee, and give the waitress a decent tip, but he won’t go to a restaurant all of the time.

When shopping for a gift for someone, the frugal person will try to get some value for his money, by perhaps buying something that is on sale, whereas the cheap person won’t even get a gift or get the cheapest thing they can find. You get the idea.

Being frugal was a trait of good old Ben, and when he once was visiting a city where he had never been, he walked into a bakery, to buy an inexpensive (frugal) lunch. His autobiography mentions how he knew that in his own hometown, three cents worth of bread was the perfect portion for his appetite, but in this city with which he was unfamiliar, he ordered three cents worth of bread and received three big loaves.

So, he walked down the street with one loaf under each arm, while chewing on the third, thinking to himself that it must have been a funny sight.

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