Frugal vs Cheap

[jpenme]

frugal is spending your money wisely. cheap is spending it on junk

[shanecurran]

Frugal is drinking bud light, Cheap is drinking keystone light.

[debtfreeme]

It seems to me that it makes frugal seem like a positive and cheap a negative when they are the same side of the financial coin to me.

[ua_guy]

It seems to me that it makes frugal seem like a positive and cheap a negative when they are the same side of the financial coin to me.

They really aren't though. Cheap implies the item/object/action falls short of what is actually required to accomplish the outcome (often still accomplishing the outcome, but to a degree of less feature or quality), where frugality uses the lowest-cost means to accomplish the outcome sensibly. Examples:

'Cheap' is packing 6 employees into a 5-seat car borrowed from an employee (not to mention, illegal) to save on a $50 cab fare.

'Frugal' is paying for a car service ($50) to transport all employees safely and efficiently to the work site.


'Cheap' is opting for the lowest-cost fare on an airplane that takes 10 hours to get to its destination. Meanwhile the employee is spending unpaid (salaried) time in multiple airports, accomplishing nothing, with the highest risk of delayed flights because the 'low cost' airline flies through a hub that consistently gets shut down because of weather.

'Frugal' is paying the extra $200 to pick the right carrier that goes through the right hub, to minimize down time and have the employee arrive safely and on time. Still utilizing coach fares and flying on the lowest-cost days, of course...