The Frugalmatic Philosophy: Getting More From Less

The great news is anyone can do it. It just takes becoming more frugalmatic. An activity becomes frugalmatic when it’s producing multiple benefits, both direct and indirect. Simply by questioning the so-called benefits of modern conveniences, you can start to exercise more, spend less money, and eat better. Opportunities are everywhere. You just have to apply the frugalmatic principles.

Try this for a little thought experiment. Consider one part of your daily routine and ask yourself these questions about it: Does this activity solve more than one problem? Does it create a future benefit? Does it replace an expense? Does it improve health or relationships?

If the answer is yes to at least one of those questions, there’s a good chance the activity is frugalmatic. Here’s a classic example: mowing the lawn. Many people consider mowing the lawn to be just that. But from the frugalmatic perspective, it’s not merely a chore. Mowing also brings you outdoors (away from screens!) and adds hundreds of steps to your day. All these steps over the course of several months can become part of a larger routine that allows you to bypass the gym, potentially saving you time and money.

Mowing can be frugalmatic because it’s offering multiple benefits. The direct benefit of mowing is a tidy lawn, while your health indirectly benefits from the exercise you receive by pushing a mower. And if you’re really in the mood for a workout, you can swap the power push mower for a reel mower. Along with benefiting your health, mowing might also save you money if the alternative would be to hire someone else to manage your lawn.

My point is to encourage you to be as frugalmatic as possible, especially when considering the health effects of everyday purchases and routines. The United States ranks as one of the wealthiest in the world, and yet it is one of the least healthy developed nations. One of the reasons is that technology has allowed Americans to become more sedentary. Convenience has engineered movement out of everyday life. It’s likely no coincidence that weight loss drugs are being mass marketed just as Americans are spending more time than every before in front of screens.

When less is more frugalmatic

In a consumption-driven society, the frugalmatic mantra is often that less is more. This is especially true when it comes to screens and screen time. We’ve reached a point that people are attaching devices to their devices to try to cutback on their screen time (The product is called the Brick). Others install apps on their phones to help remind them to put down their phone. Another strategy is to simply use a dumbphone. I’ve had one for many years, frequently passing up the chance to get a smartphone. The point is that people recognize that nonstop screens is a bad idea. They are instinctively frugalmatic, even if they’ve never used the term.

I spend the time gained from not being on a smartphone doing other things (including maintaining this website). I’m also a big fan of DIY projects and group sports. Perhaps my favorite frugalmatic activity is playing sports with our kids, which is frugalmatic because it’s not really about the sports. It’s about bonding with your children and creating memories. Meanwhile, neither of our kids have smartphones or tablets, which forces them to find things to do such as play with their dad. It’s a good example of the ripple effects of a frugalmatic decision. Who would have thought that I would have become more physically active by virtue of limiting our kids’ screen time?

There’s a term for physical activity that provides no benefit except to improve or maintain one’s health: offset. Any workout that’s done simply to avoid being sedentary for too long receives this label. And I’m not saying offsets are bad. But let’s face it, a lot of people don’t enjoy exercise for the sake of exercise.

That’s when being more frugalmatic can help you become more physically active. By doing physical activities with benefits unrelated to maintaining your health, it’s sometimes easier to find the motivation to exercise. That’s one reason why I created Frugalmatic Fitness. It’s a self-guided program designed to help people add movement to their daily routines, without having to go to the gym. If the ideas I’m discussing here are resonating, please make sure to check it out. 

Frugalmatic is a philosophy that applies to all aspects of life. You can experience it when saving money, cooking at home, avoiding social media, or doing a DIY project. At this site, you will find I’ve separated articles into four different categories: Digital Minimalism, Everyday Fitness, Simple Living, and Culture & Ideas. Each relates to what it means to be frugalmatic from the topic’s perspective.

Digital Minimalism

This category speaks to the link between spending lots of time on screens and a sedentary lifestyle. My own decision to not use a smartphone helps me avoid spending big chunks of unfocused time online. Yes, I spend time online when working on this website and at my full-time job, but most of my time online is intentional. I like using a dumbphone because I don’t reach for it unless I have to make a call or send a text, or unless someone calls me or sends me a text. If I want to use the internet, I go to a desktop or laptop computer. Essentially, the dumbphone acts as a firewall, safeguarding my time more than anything else. This system works for me, though there are many ways to become a digital minimalist.

When screens are no longer monopolizing your time, that’s when it becomes easier to move more and build physical activity into everyday life. In the Digital Minimalism section, you’ll find articles about the challenges you might encounter when using a dumbphone in a smartphone world. I’ve also included parenting advice on video games and smartphones. At Digital Minimalism, you’ll also find interviews with experts who share many of the same concerns about technology. My goal is to help anyone who wants to spend less time on screens and is looking for ideas on how to go about it.

Everyday Fitness

It’s one thing to want to become more physically active, but it’s another thing to do so without thinking about physical activity as exercise. I’m not naturally inclined to want to exercise, though I recognize the benefits. When I exercise, I want it to be either fun or practical. Possibly both. The problem with “fun” is that we often must carve time out of the day for this type of exercise. For me, it’s pickleball. For others, it might be basketball, tennis, soccer, or golf.

But you can’t play sports all day, right?

That’s why I also examine physical activity from a practicality standpoint. Walking to a store or work is a classic example. In this case, walking performs a practical function: transportation. Just as important, it’s providing exercise, which of course benefits your health. You enter frugalmatic territory when your activities have multiple benefits, which can compound over time. Walking to a job not only saves money, but it’s saving you the time you might need to carve out of your day to exercise.

Everyday Fitness articles examine how to create routines that guide you toward becoming more physically active, without having to upend your schedule. This category also features interviews with experts and examines studies that back up the claims that I make about the importance and benefits of being physically active.

Simple Living

Simple Living compliments Digital Minimalism and Everyday Fitness, with a focus more on the financial and health sides of what it means to be frugalmatic. You will find articles on gardening, parenting, and saving money. Many of our spending decisions affect us in ways that might seem disconnected but actually relate to each other.

Food is something that involves decisions with wide-ranging consequences, which is why I emphasize the importance of eating whole foods. What we eat and how much we eat has broad effects. For example, the decisions parents make about food inevitably affects their children. Raising children to eat a wide variety of whole foods yields many more benefits than raising kids to be picky eaters.

Here’s another example of the ripple effect of our seemingly small decisions: DIY projects are often popular because they can save a lot of money. But they also can involve a lot of physical activity, making DIY projects a perfect way for adding movement to your daily or weekend routine. Not to mention the knowledge you can gain from a DIY project.

Many of the Simple Living articles emphasize activities with multiple benefits. Articles that don’t have an obvious home in Everyday Fitness or Digital Minimalism often fit nicely in Simple Living.

Culture & Ideas

Sometimes I like to sound off on the issues of the day, and that’s for Culture & Ideas. Here, you’ll find some anti-consumerism commentary and my thoughts on economics. Criticisms of technology that don’t neatly fit under Digital Minimalism, such as internet gambling, also fall under this category. Many of the articles here are essays more so than blog posts, and I write them because I believe they need to be said.

Frugalmatic as a philosophy

Frugalmatic is my website, but frugalmatic with a lower case “f” is a philosophy. Being frugalmatic requires having a skepticism of  convenience and technology. I am often the last person on our block to adopt a technology, not so much because I’m behind the times but because I want to understand its full effect, including any unintended consequences.

When you learn to become frugalmatic, you question mainstream beliefs about what you’re supposed to buy, what you’re supposed to eat, and what device you’re supposed to use. Ultimately, you’re adding friction to the modern lifestyle, in an effort to slow things down and ensure that your decisions benefit your health and overall well-being.