Frugal living is all about being intentional with your money. It’s about balancing your financial goals while still enjoying life. Contrary to what some people think, it’s not about spending as little money as possible.

In fact, many people who are frugal will spend more money on each item they purchase. How do they do this? They buy high quality items that last longer, so they can buy less. In the long run, that will save them more money. Maybe the new motto for frugal living should be, “buy quality, save more”? Hmm, I think it needs a bit more spice. Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think the new frugal living motto should be!

Are you looking to get started on living a more frugal life? If so, here are 31 frugal living quotes that will help you thrive in your frugal living journey!

  • “Living a frugal lifestyle gives you the opportunity to invest more money towards your future.” – John Rampton
  • “Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste.” – Catherine Pulsifer
  • “I’m not real frugal or thrifty, I just don’t waste money on little things that don’t matter, but spend on big things that do.” – Brian O’Reilly
  • “People who are frugal understand the value of a dollar and make informed and thoughtful decisions. People who are cheap try to spend as little money as possible.” – Frank Sonnenberg
  • “Being frugal doesn’t mean slashing your spending or depriving yourself of things that you enjoy. It means knowing the value of a dollar and making every effort to spend it wisely.” – Frank Sonnenberg
“Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste.” – Catherine Pulsifer
“Being frugal does not mean being cheap! It means being economical and avoiding waste.” – Catherine Pulsifer
  • “I have always had a reputation for being frugal – less kind people might call me cheap. But my interest in building up a nest egg goes back to those days in Arnhem when I learned that money can grow, just like trees.” – Audrey Hepburn
  • “I’m frugal. I’ve always been this way. When I was young, my mom would give me my allowance, and I’d peel off a little each week and have some to spare.” – Tyra Banks
  • “I was always the frugal kid growing up because I was saving for college. Or I was always that kid that was like, ‘I’m going to save my babysitting money so I can eat an expensive dinner when I go to Europe.’” – Shailene Woodley
  • “To thrive in a frugal lifestyle, there are only two things you need – to know your values and have goals.” – Laura Tweedale
  • “Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.” – Elise Boulding
“I’m frugal. I’ve always been this way. When I was young, my mom would give me my allowance, and I’d peel off a little each week and have some to spare.” – Tyra Banks
“I’m frugal. I’ve always been this way. When I was young, my mom would give me my allowance, and I’d peel off a little each week and have some to spare.” – Tyra Banks
  • “We were very much a reading family, but we were a borrow-a-book-from-the-library family more than a bookshelves-full-of-books family. My parents valued books, but the grew up in the Depression, aware of the quicksilver nature of money, and they learned the hard way that you shouldn’t buy what you could borrow. Because of that frugality, or perhaps independent of it, they also believed that you read a book for the experience of reading it.” – Susan Orlean
  • “Only buy what you need. Think function not fashion” – Harken Headers
  • “My stove is old. My wallpaper is old. It’s the same wallpaper from when I moved here and I never changed it. Why would I change it? I just keep it clean. If you take better care of things, you can hold onto them longer. That’s how I still run things. If it works, I keep it. If it doesn’t, I see if I can use it for something else. If I can’t, and I usually can, I toss it.” – Clara Cannucciari
  • “The more things we accumulate, the more cluttered our lives become, and the more stressed we feel as we are compelled to think about them. Life is about people not about things.” – Natalie Vellacott
  • “How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness is a simple, frugal heart.” – Nikos Kazantzakis
“The more things we accumulate, the more cluttered our lives become, and the more stressed we feel as we are compelled to think about them. Life is about people not about things.” – Natalie Vellacott
“The more things we accumulate, the more cluttered our lives become, and the more stressed we feel as we are compelled to think about them. Life is about people not about things.” – Natalie Vellacott
  • “By sowing frugality we reap liberty, a golden harvest.” – Agesilaus
  • “It is great wealth to a soul to live frugally with a contented mind.” – Lucretius
  • “Deprive yourself on nothing necessary for your comfort, but live in an honorable simplicity and frugality.” – John McDonough
  • “A frugal lifestyle can be very rewarding way of life. Not only do you save money, you learn to enjoy life differently, or as Art Buchwald once said –’the best things in life aren’t things’.” – Unknown
  • “Thrift means that you should always have the best you can possibly afford, when the thing has any reference to your physical and mental health, to your growth in efficiency and power.” – Orison Swett Marden
“Thrift means that you should always have the best you can possibly afford, when the thing has any reference to your physical and mental health, to your growth in efficiency and power.” – Orison Swett Marden
“Thrift means that you should always have the best you can possibly afford, when the thing has any reference to your physical and mental health, to your growth in efficiency and power.” – Orison Swett Marden
  • “We are not to judge thrift solely by the test of saving or spending. If one spends what he should prudently save, that certainly is to be deplored. But if one saves what he should prudently spend, that is not necessarily to be commended. A wise balance between the two is the desired end.” – Owen Young
  • “I’m known for value for money. I was brought up to be frugal, and it’s definitely a factor in my success. I was born in the Fifties, which was a frugal era, and my family had to be very careful with money out of necessity.” – John Caudwell
  • “Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of.” – Vicki Robin
  • “Frugal living is about making the most of your limited resources. People who are frugal understand the importance of sticking to a budget, spending their money wisely, and avoiding an attitude of materialism.” – Amy Hoover
  • “Think of frugality as a game. Maintaining a frugal lifestyle will be difficult if you’re stuck in the mindset that saving money is something you must do because you’re poor. If you consider thriftiness a game and learn to view comparison shopping and coupon clipping as ways to stretch your creative thinking skills, however, the task will be much more enjoyable.” – Amy Hoover
“Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of.” – Vicki Robin
“Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of.” – Vicki Robin
  • “I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.” – Jeff Bezos
  • “Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, I love to go and see all the things I am happy without.” – Jack Kornfield
  • “I have come to realize that truly rich people are rich not because they are frugal or they chose to be frugal, but because they are so grateful, contented and full of self-worth that they don’t have to prove anything to anyone with material possessions. This way, they appear frugal.” – Jan Mckingley Hilado
  • “Without frugality none can be rich, and with it very few would be poor.” – Samuel Johnson
  • “Being frugal, conscious of making money, is not a negative thing. That sensibility of creating value and finding value and reinvesting in those customers is what separates great restaurants from the average ones.” – Joe Bastianich
  • “Frugal living is simple. Live on less than you earn and be happy with what you have! The rewards will fill both your life and your bank account.” – Unknown
“I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.” – Jeff Bezos
“I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.” – Jeff Bezos

Leave a comment below and let me know which frugal living quotes are your favourites!

Until my next blog post, here’s wishing you lots of joy and happiness!

With love,

Joanne

Hi! I'm Joanne. I’m a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA). Money management is a life skill that I passionately believe all people need to learn. As an accountant, I love helping people understand numbers and money. At BuildingJoyAndHappiness, I share my tips to money management and make understanding finances simple.

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