Ten Tips for Frugality In The Christian Life

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, `Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8)

The Book of Proverbs speaks of the many “traps” the disciple is to be on guard against: the snares of the adulterous woman (Proverbs 7); fear of men (Proverbs 29:25); laziness and deceit (Proverbs 26). Etc.

The wisdom of Solomon is in the order of things. Both he and his father David were entrusted with kingdoms and riches, yet he writes, “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” Of course, this squares with the example of the storing up (and rotting) of the manna in the wilderness in Exodus, and our Lord’s words in the Our Father to “give us this day our daily bread.”

Our Lord gives us the warning in the parable of the Rich Fool not to store up too much so that we can “eat, drink, and be merry”. We could be caught off guard at the Judgment (Luke 12:19).

Secular Thinking

This is very much the attitude in the secular financial blogs I read: work your tail off and make money early, let compound interest and investments build momentum, retire at forty, and then live the good life in travel and leisure, often at the expense of the decision not to have oh-so-expensive children.

Their strategies are often good from a purely practical perspective, but for Christians we have a different mindset. All we have is a gift to be used and given back to God for His glory and the benefit of our brothers and sisters in need. That doesn’t mean we “can’t have nice things,” but sometimes we take liberties with this to unwittingly entrap ourselves with lifestyle inflation that may put us in a pickle later on.

What do I mean? Well, often our difficulties in finances come down to the discrimination between wants and needs. We also need to balance our faith in Divine Providence with prudential stewardship and planning for unforeseen events, retirement, giving, etc. We are still expected to manage our finances, but in light of the Gospel.

For the family, this will look different than for a religious, who like St. Martin de Porres or St. Francis, may have more freedom to give away everything he has to the poor to follow Christ.

Christian Stewardship

This is not as much a theological post as a nuts-and-bolts primer on the sometimes touchy subject of finances in the Christian life. It’s also just my personal perspective: what has worked for us may not apply to everyone. One may find some useful bits here and there on the how and why of frugality in the Christian life. Here are mine:

1. True freedom is found in Christ, but prudent management of finances also holds a degree of freedom. 

Money is not a luxury but, rather, essential to our livelihood, and few can live without it. But since it is not money itself, but the love of money which is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), we can regard it like the internet–a tool, morally neutral in itself, to be used for good or, conversely, for selfish purposes.

My dad used to say, “Money means options.” There is some truth in this, as long as you are not ruled by it. We all know the psychological studies of “choice paralysis” that have been done in supermarkets–sometimes too many choices, too many options, inhibits and paralyzes our faculties. Limit choices to a few, and it becomes easier to decide. And, of course, as the Notorious B.I.G. said, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.” Again, I think this goes back to the sensibilities of Solomon: “Give me neither riches nor poverty.” We neither want to forget our reliance on Providence nor compromise our morals due to destitution.

2. Freedom in finances can free you up to exercise more charity, have more children, and gain more peace of mind. 

I have spoken to friends about this. It was our story that dual income/daycare is a kind of trap that helped them. Most people come to the conclusion that daycare is not worth it after three kids, so people will unconsciously panic at having more when that’s in the equation. Likewise, if you choose private school, you internally multiply tuition costs by how many kids, and it could have the effect of closing you off to welcoming life.

3. Hard work is a reward in its own right. 

What happens when you sit around all day, not working, living a life of leisure? You get soft. You get spoiled. You get isolated. There is solidarity in work and reward in labor. It feels good to put a hard day’s work in, either with the body or the mind, so we are compensated not just monetarily but also with the satisfaction of contributing, producing, and being pushed a little beyond just eating, drinking, and being merry.

Leisure is more appreciated, because it is partaken of in the shade provided by work. I have worked since I was twelve years old, and though none of my jobs were particularly high paying, I gained a lot of satisfaction in delivering newspapers, testing welds in a propane factory, editing blueprints for an architect, waiting tables and washing dishes, working as a bike courier, a teacher, a swimming pool cleaner, and probably twenty other jobs I can’t recall now. Work gives us perspective, and is central to a man’s identity and sense of self.

4. Living on one income as a family and budgeting accordingly is an admirable and necessary goal. 

This is an important one. It requires a good hard look at one’s finances, budget, assessment of needs versus wants, and everyone being on board. It provides a buffer, ironically, against unforeseen circumstances more so than when both spouses are working. Budgeting on one income can lead to a healthier emergency fund and frees one from other expenses and “convenience buying”, which equates to less stress, which is healthier for a marriage, and for one’s health, and for less financial precariousness.

Think it can’t be done, especially with a large family? This Catholic family of 15 is doing just that.

5. Adjusting one’s tastes and habits to acclimate to a lower threshold of expectation leads to greater enjoyment of the “little things”. 

Have you ever wondered why so many superstars and wealthy tycoons are so unhappy? After a while, it just becomes a matter of zeros (i.e., the difference between $100,000,000 and $1,000,000,000) and you lose perspective on the value of money. I remember reading a study that came to the conclusion that happiness does not increase after a certain salary; a kind of “sweet spot” for meeting needs and wants after which point the contentment factor levels off.

Over the years I have learned to tune out what the world wants me to spend my money on and have learned to decide for myself what I really want to spend my money on. I found that it doesn’t take much. Kids have been trained by the world to want certain things, but a trip to get ice cream can create as big a sense of enjoyment as a trip to the water park. Camping, a trip to the beach, or a hike in a local park can be as enjoyable as something more commercialized that might cost ten times as much.

Happiness is not dependent on money–probably one of the biggest lies we have been fed in our consumer culture. Which brings me to my next point.

6. Marketing will employ every means available, including psychology, to separate you from your money. 

Marketing is relentless, and you have to be attuned to it. We are trained to think we cannot have a good time without buying, financing, or traveling to such-and-such a place. We’re subtly led to believe that we love our kids more if we buy them nice things and shower them with gifts at Christmas, and that, conversely, if we don’t, we are depriving them – or worse, that we are bad parents. It’s all psychological manipulation and a huge lie. When you are separated from your money, the money itself cannot work for you, and a dollar spent today may be five dollars less you have a few years from now due to lost opportunity costs.

7. Buy used cars. 

Even sensible millionaires do this because they know that cars depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot. Let someone else take the hit. Don’t finance. You also save on insurance premiums because when you finance you don’t have the option to go liability (with high coverage) but have to add comprehensive and collision as well. Plus you don’t have to worry as much if the car gets dinged or nicked in the parking lot. Let’s face it, if you have kids, that “new car smell” will wear off pretty quickly anyway. They only come to pillage and destroy!

8. Tithe. Ten percent if you can, less if you can’t, more if you can.

Everything we have is God’s. Support your parish, support your brothers and sisters in need. No one says you have to donate to established charities (often with high overhead). We have written mortgage checks, electric bills, etc, for needy Catholic families with money set aside for this purpose. Many families may have trouble getting assistance through regulatory channels.

Remember, for everything you give, God gives back a hundred-fold. Worry less about who is “deserving” and just give it away like Zacchaeus. Be prudent, of course, but generous. You may be surprised at the blessings that a generous heart and a cheerful giver incurs in the spiritual economy (see 2 Corinthians 9:6).

9. Save, but don’t make money an idol.

You can’t spend or give money you don’t have. Learn to invest. There are options for moral investments if that is a concern. Passive, low-cost index funds are a good option. Use a compound interest calculator to teach your kids about the magic power of compounding (it’s just math!) and the importance of saving early. To incentivize saving, I told my kids that as soon as they get their first job, I would open up a Roth IRA in their name. If they max it out, I will give them twice what they invest, in addition to the money they have put away.

10. Money is not a “luxury” but a tool like all things to be used for good. 

Use it well. Give God control over your finances. Learn, watch YouTube videos, talk to other frugal people. Be on the same page with your spouse and don’t make money or finances a taboo topic. Cut out the emotionalism when it comes to spending and budgeting (this can be very hard for many people). Plan for worst case scenarios, but don’t become obsessed by them.

Above all, cultivate generosity early so that your kids can see what it looks like, and for the benefit of spiritual reward. Learn the difference between wants and needs. The things of the world are temporal. Marketers are relentless. Where your heart is, there your treasure will be. If you are given much, much will be required. But the more you have, the more you can bless others.  Invest in relationships and “human capital”. Who knows–at some point you may be the one who needs help!