from left to right: Captain Mike, The Frugal Catholic, and my baby sister on my 76th birthday 2024
What is the importance of frugality? And likewise, why should one's faith preference be attached? Can't one be "The Frugal Methodist?" Or "The Frugal Presbyterian? Yes, of course, one should apply those Christian beliefs to frugality; however, when a person strives to combine a life of being a person of The Eucharist with modest living, then this can be said," Frugality gave me wealth, but The Catholic Church made me rich." And here is why.
As you will learn from this blog, Frugality is a viable lifestyle that adds up. Credit card spending makes one's life out of control. Whims too often are enacted upon where purchases are made without thinking ahead. When a family chooses to live frugally, all members are affected, and now that my husband and I have five grown children, I daily watch the ways their childhood lifestyle has left its effects. My five know that debt is no way to live, and all survive within their means. They might not own everything they want, but they have come to see that too often, everything we desire comes to own us.
Thriftiness also encourages creative alternatives. For example, "Why buy something new when something you already have will do?" Need something in particular? See what you already own that will work. When I apply this truth, I can always see God's hand working in advance of my needs. He most likely has already provided. I just need to look around the house. Also, when God is in charge of our finances, He stretches our money and food, and multiplication miraculously happens.
Finally, I've grown into "The Frugal Catholic" because I cannot live correctly without frugality. How can I give that ten percent back to God if I've already spent it? "Save it over here so you can put it over there," and that is precisely what good money management is about. I can honestly say that we have what we own today because God got our first ten percent by our tithing. And in giving him our first fruits, He has stretched the other 90 percent. To me, that is the best investment we have striven to make.
So why did I become "The Frugal Catholic," and why should you become one, too? Being your best version means learning to live on less to give and save more. And the beauty of this contentment is that it is a satisfaction that can't be bought; it is God-given joy that you have enough. You are rich in spirit, and that is a wealth no one can rob.
John 3:16--"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life."
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Martha Wild King, M.Ed., Author
The Frugal Catholic: Learn to live on less to give and save more.
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