What is the difference between "new frugality" and "old frugality?" Farrell says old time frugality is about saving money at all costs, while modern frugality is about saving money and "helping your community." Old frugality is about self sacrifice, while new frugality is about having fun saving money in creative ways that don't detract from a rewarding and socially-active life.
One example of saving money and helping others in your community is swapping baby clothes, furniture, and toys. Yesterday, I was at my sister-in-law's house and I noticed her 20-month old boy walking around in pajamas that seemed a little short. When I commented that he was growing out of them, she told me she was going to soon give them to a friend with a baby on the way. She reminded me that the pajamas used to belong to my youngest daughter before we gave them to her for her daughter, who wore them for a year. My sister-in-law saved the pajamas and when her son Joe was a year old he started wearing them.
When I told my wife about the pajamas, she told me that they were also worn by our oldest daughter, and our other niece and nephew. It's neat to realize that one pair of pajamas have been worn by six kids, and they are soon on their way to a seventh. We save our kids' outgrown clothes in plastic bins with a label on them, like, "Jane's 3- and 4-year-old clothes." When a friend or relative's kid reaches that age, we give them the contents of the box.
Farrell's take on people who complain that modern frugalistas are hurting the economy by not buying as much as they can mirrors my own sentiments. An individual's foremost financial responsibility is to ensure that his or her family is doing well. Spending money on stuff you don't need just to give the economy a shot in the arm is unsustainable, and it's a big reason our economy is in the mess it's in. Isn't it better to reboot the system in a way that promotes stability and frugality?
The gist of Farrell's book can be summed us as: Don't use credit cards, don't borrow money unless it's for something important (like education), and set up an automatic savings plan to establish a "margin of safety." The most important thing to remember, says Farrell, is that being frugal and green "is fun, and it's fun over a lifetime."
Mark Frauenfelder – Editor-in-chief of MAKE magazine and the founder of the popular Boing Boing weblog, Mark was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998 and is the founding editor of Wired Online.