Simplicity vs. Frugality

Sometimes we confuse simplicity with frugality. Frugality is another term associated with owning. A frugal person is someone who makes wise decisions with money and food. “He is frugal in his spending,” proud mothers sometimes say of sons who use their chore money wisely. Simplicity is akin to frugality in that it involves being economical and thrifty in owning. People who practice simplicity are often frugal with what they have.

However, simplicity goes beyond frugality in one important sense: simplicity is a lifestyle, and frugality is an act. Frugality is a way of acting that can be applied to any lifestyle, but simplicity is a lifestyle that results in frugal actions. A lavish person could certainly be frugal with his resources and use them very sparingly, even stingily. But the one living lavishly cannot live simply. For that would be living the exact opposite of how he lives. To live simply is not to live lavishly.