As much as I think of frugality as a positive way to live one’s life, I do have to admit that there are some ways that being frugal can be dangerous. Sometimes people who consider themselves frugal have dangerous practices from the beginning, and sometimes they just fall into dangerous areas. Here are some of the dangers of frugality and how you can avoid them.
Health Issues
Sometimes when you are doing something to be frugal, you really have to ask yourself if it is worth it in order to save money. Some practices are pretty obvious about leading to bad health, such as altering the amount of prescribed medicine to save money or avoiding the doctor visit when you are sick to skip the co-pay.
Other dangers to your health may be more subtle, such as eating leftovers that are too old and cutting mold off of food to not repairing something in your home that could lead to injury.
Stinginess
Stinginess used to always be associated with frugality, but there is a difference. A frugal person is usually wise with money but generous as well. A stingy person is stingy both to others and him- or herself.
Here is a simple example. If you skip on donating to a food bank to save money, or begrudging buy one item for the bank, you may be stingy. If you buy an extra bag of groceries for the food bank each week, but using very little money because you have combined coupons and sales, then you are using your frugal skills to benefit others.
And here is another example. If you lower your heat to save money, you are probably frugal, but if you lower it so much that your entire family is miserable every day, then you are probably stingy.
These are just two of the dangers that can come up as associated with frugality. Hoarding is another issue, which I can cover in a future post.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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