Frugal lifestyle shouldn't vanish as the economy rebounds

Frugality. That was the buzzword of the Great Recession.

Sliding home values, stumbling stock portfolios and a shaky job market brought with them a consciousness about spending that many of us misplaced during years of consumer overindulgence.

Americans responded to the crisis by buying less, clipping coupons more, and increasing savings to nearly 5 percent of disposable income, up from near zero before the recession.

Blogs about frugality went viral. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama joined the frugality parade.

Now a new term is marching through the blogosphere: frugality fatigue. But I'd argue that if frugality is done right, there should be no such thing.

Being frugal doesn't mean being stingy, miserly or downright cheap.

The true spirit of frugality is to be mindful of how you use your limited resources. To be prudent with your money. To buy the best of what you need, but no more. To avoid waste.

That's why the new frugality aligns so well with the growing interest in living green, says American Public Media's economics expert Chris Farrell in his new book, "The New Frugality."

"A sustainable sensibility both saves money and does good," writes Farrell. The new frugality also means embracing a "margin of safety" in your money life, he says.

• Spend less than you make.

• Have months' worth of salary set aside in a savings account.

• Never charge anything you can't afford to pay off at month's end.

That's the new frugality.

But even more than smart saving and spending, the new frugality can bring freedom.

By saving money and keeping life simple, a job loss or a drop in income doesn't create an immediate catastrophe.

Low expenses mean having the freedom to take a needed break after a layoff, or to choose a job with more than compensation in mind.

The fewer expenses you have, the more you can spend on things that matter to you — family, hobbies, charitable causes.

My family deliberately keeps expenses low. We're staying in our 1,400-square-foot house with three kids and a big dog because it's close to our workplaces and we could afford the mortgage on one income (with some sacrifice).

A bigger house would mean a bigger mortgage payment, more electricity to heat it, more stuff to fill it.

Upsizing would probably move us farther from our jobs, making it harder to remain a one-car family.

Longer commutes and higher expenses would translate into less time spent with our children and fewer family vacations.

Living a frugal life is a work in progress, filled with compromise and contradiction.

Living that way is impossible for some. It's hard to raise a family on a single income these days.

Many people are locked into high expenses, and most won't walk away from an overpriced mortgage, even if it eats up most of their paycheck.

But if you can afford to live frugally, the troubles of others in recent years make it crystal-clear that living frugally is a smart choice.