The two great commandments of personal finance are to increase your income and decrease your expenses. Frugality is the fundamental principle behind the second. There are innumerable specific tips, hacks, and bargains - and more being created every day. You could numb your mind trying to fill it with each tidbit, but there is a better way, a better path. This path is the tao of frugality, and the three pillars of frugal being are Work, Reduce, and Give.

Work

“Find a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

-Confucius

Enough cannot be said on the virtues of work, especially in regards to frugality. You cannot save that which you do not have, and for most of us, getting a job to pay for the needs of life is the norm. Labor and your contribution to society are vital to your sense of well-being.

However, there is a compulsion in society to get better paying jobs so we can get bigger houses, more cars and larger debts. Frequently, higher paying jobs do not produce higher levels of happiness and being. Small incomes can help you tightly manage your funds and gain a healthy respect for your earnings, deterring you from squandering it.

Find a job you like and make do with it. When you enjoy your work you are less likely to seek expensive, egoistic ways to fill the void of satisfaction. Lao Tsu offers some profound advice, ” The Way of the sage is to act but not compete.”

Reduce

There is no calamity greater than lavish desires.

There is no greater guilt than discontentment.

There is no greater disaster than greed.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

- Lao Tsu

Ours is a consumerist society, and as George Carlin satiricially points out, life is about the acquisition and storage of more and more stuff. Remember, all physical things have two prices - the cost of getting and the cost of keeping them. Cars need gas, houses insurance, food refrigeration. Your attitude in life distinguishes “needs” from “wants”. Reducing unnecessary expenses is just a step along the way to not spending in the first place. Eventually, finding deals and avoiding frivolous spending is just an extension of an inwardly frugal person.

Interestingly enough, with the Tao there seems to be an inverse relationship with how much stuff you own and how happy you are. Lao Tsu acknowledges, “He who is contented is rich,” and “He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

Give

If you must take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.

The sage does not hoard. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself.

- Lao Tsu

Frugality isn’t about taking all you can and hoarding it like an unscrupulous miser, nor is it about being austere and starving yourself. The tao is about a balance of working, reducing your desires and giving back. When you manage money just for yourself, greed and selfishness cloud your judgment. When you structure your affairs with giving in mind, you’ll often find that you’ll have more than you thought.

If you approach your job or clients with the an attitude of ” how can I add value to your life?”, you’ll notice how much to gain you have by giving. Earl Nightingale states, “Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service.”

Frugality has a long term purpose of your choosing - greed or charity. To enrich the lives of people around you is a noble path indeed. It is the Tao.

For more information on the Tao,