Frugal Christian

On my website The Christian Woman, I try to offer some advice on frugality. I think it’s important for Christians to be as frugal as possible to be good stewards of God’s money. I also think that frugality is a difficult concept for many people in today’s world.

I’ll admit, over the past few months my frugalness has slipped as we moved to a new home and I started a new job. Frugality takes time and as a working Christian mother of two small children, time is not something I have in abundance. But now that we have found a church we like and I have started thinking about our giving, I have been inspired to put effort back into cutting costs.

Last weekend I cut the bundle of coupon sheets that have been stacking up and looked over the grocery circulars for sales. I realized that I had recently bought some toothpaste for which I could have gotten a better price and felt disappointed. That’s the fun part of frugality. It becomes a bit of a game to “hunt down” the best price.

I still have a lot of areas I need to improve on. For one, I need a better coupon organizing system and I need to start work on a price book (see my website for details on price books), but at least I’m trying. I don’t think I’ll ever get to the point of washing out every baggie to reuse, but that’s okay.

I wonder how many other Christians have a frugal mentality. And not out of necessity but in a desire to do the most with the money the Lord has provided. I wish I was more of a “frugal guru” so I could try and push this idea, but I’m just me.

Maybe someday I’ll have more time to spend on this topic on my website. I could start a movement and call it “Penny Pinching for the Lord” or “Divine Frugalness”. Hmmm.

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." Proverbs 14:31