by Arlene Hauben

Created on: August 22, 2010   Last Updated: January 05, 2011

To be frugal is to be wise. It's easy to overspend, to treat yourself to caramel lattes, and trendy clothes, but it is smarter to make a budget and stick to it. If you develop more frugal spending habits and save money for the future, you are doing yourself a big favor.

Often, the more we spend the more we want. Many people try to fill an emotional void by going shopping. We are constantly buying new clothes, make-up, fancy foods, or other stuff that we don't need. Make a conscious effort to be frugal with the money you earn, and your personal satisfaction will come from having money in the bank. 

Here is a suggestion: Try being frugal for one month and see how much money you can put aside. Keep the dollar bills, or $5's or $10's in an envelope or box. Once you have accumulated $100, take it to a bank and open a savings account.

Continue to fill that envelope with bills and stick to your objective. Eliminate unnecessary purchases, such as doughnuts and coffee, shoes to add to the shoes in your closet, and more tee-shirts and sweaters that you don't need. The American culture condones spending and encourages consumption, which gets you little over the course of a lifetime unless you save for an important purpose.

Being frugal can buy you security and inner harmony. Save for a goal, such as a vacation or a new car. Every day that we squander money puts us farther away from more important goals. By succeeding in saving money for purposeful reasons adds to your self-esteem and self-respect. Ultimately you will be more successful in everything that you do, because you will feel good about yourself.

So start being more frugal. You don't have to be a penny pincher. Just be a wise saver. Once you have $1,000 in your savings account, start to research solid investments that will pay off over time. One place to invest would be in stocks that pay dividends. You can find some of these on Helium or by using the Motley Fool. Spend a few dollars on magazines such as Business Week or Barron's.

Your frugality can make you rich. There was a woman in Manhattan who lived a very frugal life, stayed in the same job for over 40 years, and kept investing her money in shares of Schering-Plough stock. When she died in her 90s, her nest egg was $23 million, which she bequeathed to a college for women.

One last word of advice: this woman wore the same winter coat for 30 years. That is overdoing frugality. But I think you know what I mean.

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