Ben Franklin's Virtue of Frugality

Benjamin Franklin’s Virtue of Frugality. 

Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself;

 i.e. waste nothing.

Frugality is defined as the quality of being frugal or prudent in saving. Saving in consumables such as food, clothing, gifts, money and time! Yes TIME is a consumable as it ticks away never to be used again.

Being fugal means to be lacking in wastefulness. 

Every man’s waste can be another man’s treasure. We discard food when there are hungry famished children, women and men. We discard clean water when there are people drinking dirty parasite infested water. We throw away clothes that don’t fit when there are naked and cold people wishing only for comfort and not brand labels. We toss away gifts such as books, cds, dvds, trinkets as sentimentless items that we can no longer use, when there are people who would love to escape to another world through reading, use a cd as a reflective decoration or a trinket as inspiration for an unrealized dream. 

With such commodities I encourage you to regift, recycle, reuse, and reduce your waste. Nothing is trash. 

But TIME, time can only be wasted or used by you. People can steal and rob you of your time. We all have a pile of books to read, archives on our Nook or Kindle, a list of movies or tv shows to watch on Netflix, a full inbox of email and voicemail awaiting replies.  Where somewhere there is a man with no concept of email, voicemail, Netflix or ereaders. His time is spent dreaming and surviving. 

Our To do list grows and when we try to do everything, we end up doing nothing.

Time is money. Cutting out many items on your to do list will enrich you beyond expectation so you can really do what matters. Last time I checked having watched every season of Breaking Bad did not get you a certificate, medal or job (unless perhaps the President of the Fan Club provides your meals)

How can we live a virtue of frugality? Prioritize. Cut off the meaningless. The meaningless will get you nowhere. The meaningless have no return.  Recyle, Reuse and Reduce in everything.

Live for your Priorities. 

When deciding your priorities remember a few rules of life;

1.       Thoughts become things.

2.       You get what you give.

3.       Love is the answer. 

If you wish for me to expand on these rules, leave a comment and we’ll chat!