Miser, stingy, greedy - it's all about them, people who are used to shaking over every penny. They wear old things and are reluctant to part with used things, even if it is a rusty knife from a meat grinder or a holey pillowcase. In order to save one ruble, they go to the other end of the city (and reprimand their family if they don’t do this), buy yoghurts on sale with an expiration date, finish the sausage, which has already become slimy: “Don’t throw it away, money was paid for it!” In short, they save on everything.
Article on the topic The Poverty Trap. Habits that prevent a person from achieving success
What is frugality?
What is frugality? When considering the difference between stinginess, greed and frugality, it is worth first understanding how these points differ and why for many years all of these were considered synonymous and had negative connotations.
Thrift is a skill acquired in social circles that implies responsible consumption of goods and services, as well as natural resources. As a result, money and natural resources are consumed measuredly and in the quantities that a given person really needs.
Please note that each person has individual needs, and therefore there simply cannot be a single formula for life and expenses.
At the same time, in our society there is an overabundance of goods and services, and there are also a lot of things whose value is prohibitively inflated. In order for everything to remain in its place, the rich to get rich, and the poor to obediently work for the benefit of the rich, false concepts are artificially introduced that make people uncontrollably desire something new as soon as they achieve something.
People are also taught that a happy life is synonymous with a wasteful life, so that stinginess and frugality are common nouns, and wastefulness and living one day at a time is the dream of millions.
A shining example of frugality
Let's give an example of frugality in the context of everyday life:
- A person takes a shower instead of a bath to save natural resources, as well as his budget. Moreover, if he is frozen on a frosty street, then he will probably be ready to run himself a hot bath to prevent a cold;
- In a store, when choosing kefir, a person chooses a product with a low price, but with conditions: short-term shelf life, freshness of kefir, and packaging in tetra-pack or glass (since he is careful with nature and refuses plastic, even if it is cheaper) ;
- Buys exactly as much clothing as is required to wear. The closet of such a person is not bursting with an overabundance of clothes, since there is no need for this. And even if there is an item in the closet that a person realizes that he does not want to wear (a fashion has passed, he no longer likes it, the size has changed), then instead of a trash can, the item will go for sale or to charity.
A thrifty person respects his money, does not throw it away, but also does not put it at the top of the pyramid.
In offices, thrifty people are the first to abandon paper documentation in favor of digital technologies, as this saves both monetary and environmental resources. At the same time, consumption remains reasonable, and if necessary, a person can easily bear the necessary additional costs, for example, for printing the necessary documentation upon request.
One of the brightest representatives of frugality is Steve Jobs. He spent most of his life wearing the same jeans and turtlenecks, believing that his thrifty attitude towards clothes, time and money freed up space for the discovery of new heights. His home was large, but modestly furnished, exclusively as required for the family.
Main differences between the concepts
When they say about a person that he is stingy, selfish or greedy, they basically mean the same thing. An image of a person immediately appears who is trying to gain control of as much wealth as possible and remain their sole administrator.
What is the difference between greed and stinginess:
- The miser and the self-seeker strive to accumulate funds. But, if for the first, accumulation and retention are an end in itself, then the second wants to own cash to feed his own egoism.
- A stingy person often denies himself anything: he wears things out to holes, even if he has money to update his wardrobe. A greedy person does not like to deny himself anything, so he is able to spend a large amount of material money, but only for personal needs.
- Both the miser and the greedy do not like to give things away, but if the stingy one simply seeks to preserve his own savings, then in the case of aggressive greed, the person will also want to take someone else’s.
A greedy person is a self-seeking person who does not want to give what is his, but wants to take what is someone else’s. And a stingy person is a miser who accumulates his own wealth, but basically does not lay claim to the benefits of others. Both of the considered character qualities are negative and if they are detected in the personality structure, it is necessary to work long and diligently on oneself.
What is stinginess?
So, we come to the second definition - what is stinginess? Many people do not understand the difference between stinginess, greed and frugality precisely because they do not understand the true meanings of these words.
Stinginess is an excessive desire to save on everything. Many people call stinginess excessive frugality, and this is also a true concept. Stinginess can be considered one of the steps down, thanks to which a person gives up the joys of life and turns into a slave of his own monetary illusions.
A stingy person buys clothes only after the existing items have holes in them. But even in this situation, he does not experience positive emotions from shopping, but, on the contrary, begins to experience stress.
A stingy person rarely goes on vacation, and then only under pressure from family or team. After all, these are “waste expenses,” and instead of the euphoria of a vacation, a stingy person experiences a lot of negativity and sees “evil” everywhere that wants to swindle money out of him.
The arithmetic of stinginess
At the same time, stingy people often suffer from their way of thinking, and even spend more money than thrifty, and possibly wasteful! One of the clearest examples of stinginess is purchasing expired or partially spoiled products. It is not only impossible to get aesthetic pleasure from such products, but you can also get poisoned, which will lead to deterioration of health and, of course, additional costs for treatment.
In the frugality section, we looked at the example of kefir. So, a stingy person is ready to buy the cheapest kefir in the store, and it doesn’t matter that the taste and composition of such a product will lag, and the plastic bag will not benefit nature. Here the desire to spend less drowns out all other thoughts and feelings.
One of the brightest representatives of stinginess is Michelangelo. The situation is simply odious - the sculptor lived in a cheap apartment, dressed poorly and often wore dirty clothes, because he claimed that he did not have money for a laundress. Worse, he was negatively inclined towards building a marriage and did not see the point in acquiring heirs, since he said that he simply had nothing to feed his family.
Even during Michelangelo's lifetime, there were rumors that something was wrong in matters of finance, since he received recognition during his lifetime and received huge fees for his work. Michelangelo's numerous relatives lived poorly, and often crossed the line of beggary, turning to a talented and successful relative with a request for financial help, but he said that he himself could barely survive in the realities of life. Moreover, after the death of the great creator, old moldy chests were opened, and what a shock the heirs had, since they were filled to the top not with paints or plaster, but with gold! With this money it was possible to purchase a palace and maintain it for many decades (certainly enough for Michelangelo’s life).
Please note that Michelangelo refused to spend money, saved on resources, but earned money through honest work, and never crossed the line of irrevocability and did not harm society with his behavior. Therefore, it can be classified specifically in the category of stinginess.
What is greed?
What is greed? In considering the question of what the difference is between stinginess, greed and frugality, the category of greed acts as the “cherry on the cake.” This is an indicator of how low a person can fall without the help of society, and possibly proper treatment from specialists. After all, a person’s consciousness, on the one hand, cannot be touched, and, accordingly, it is impossible to quickly understand that a person is sick, and on the other hand, it is very difficult to correct and treat. It is much easier to cure a broken bone than impaired consciousness.
Greed is an extreme degree of scrupulous fear of wasting money, time, and resources. At the same time, a person is so intoxicated by the desire to save (and note that this can be not only money, but the essence comes down to enrichment) that he is ready to commit crimes, both before relatives and before humanity. The sole goal of such a person’s life is to accumulate money.
A greedy person is ready not only to rarely take a bath, not to part with old clothes and furniture, but everything is much worse - a greedy person is ready to commit a crime in order to take possession of additional funds.
As an example of greed in a family - being sick yourself, or looking at sick relatives, having funds for treatment and refusing to spend, knowing that without treatment there can be complications and even death! Greed is refusing to support your own children, or keeping them below the poverty line. Do not pay for their development and education, while saving money for future use.
Greed at work is “pissing on” a colleague, only in order to take away his income, even with a huge chunk of work. A greedy business owner will pay meager wages, not update production technologies, turn a blind eye to the lack of security, and at the same time, in order not to pay fines, he will not only break the law, but also step onto the path of crime, just not to part with his money.
One of the brightest representatives of greed is the “Witch of Wall Street,” according to the documents of Henrietta Howland Green. Her lifestyle was not only a household name, but also horrifies the public today. Little Henrietta was born into a rich family and from childhood was surrounded by money, all the blessings of humanity and many excesses. Henrietta's family not only succeeded in business, but also actively gave back to the community. But the grown-up Henrietta had a different opinion, and as soon as she began helping her father in the business (as a teenager), the employees immediately felt a change. Perhaps if her father had given this behavior meaning, she would not have slipped into such an abyss of greed.
Henrietta Howland Green - the most greedy woman in history
The girl actively began to cut expenses and use free resources for business development. But even having reached heights, she did not improve the situation in the business, but only began active savings on the principle of “a dollar for the sake of a dollar.” But the first significant outburst was already in adulthood, when Green learned about the death of her aunt, and her decision to send her acquired wealth (which, by the way, was no match for Green’s income) to charity. Ms. Greene forged a will and tried to take money from a charitable foundation. The forgery was discovered and the lady was expelled. But if you think her views have changed after the shame and general condemnation, then you are mistaken.
Henrietta Howland Green married a multimillionaire and was able to assign all his money to herself, and after that new rules reigned in the house. They could afford palaces, but lived in cheap apartments without furniture or heating. The food was heated in the office on a radiator (no heating is required at home, because there are no clients to whom you need to show off in any way), and the children studied in regular schools for the poor (despite the fact that Greene studied with the best teachers). All her life she wore mourning black dresses, as they wore less and the dirt was less visible.
One day, Ned’s son broke his leg, and his mother flatly refused to show him to a doctor (these are expenses!) and treated him on her own. The servants took the boy to the hospital for the poor, unable to bear the child’s torment, but it was too late, and the boy lost his leg.
The icing on the cake was an argument with the cook, who bought supposedly expensive milk (what difference does it make if you are a multimillionaire?) and 81-year-old Green died of apoplexy.
The next time you want to give up something, think about whether it is a basic need? Will you lose your happiness by giving up a trifle?
Definition of Greed
Greed is an immoderate desire to enjoy all possible benefits alone, without sharing them with other people, even the closest ones.
Such a person (selfish person) is capable and even loves to spend money on things, services and entertainment, but only if only he is the owner of the pleasure of spending.
It seems unthinkable for a greedy person to help another person financially for free and remain without benefit. True greed stems from immense selfishness - the priority of one’s own desires and needs. This character quality can be aggressive or fear-based. The first is expressed in the desire to possess as many values as possible, even if they belong to others. The second manifests itself as a desire to preserve one’s material resources at all costs and is generated by the fear of losing them.
What is the difference between stinginess, greed and frugality?
And we come to the main question of the article, what is the difference between stinginess, greed and frugality? As you noticed in the analysis of the concepts of stinginess, thrift and greed - these are all derivatives of frugality. And if in the case of frugality, positive dynamics can be traced, but with stinginess and greed, grief and suffering, discontent and depression follow.
The main difference between frugality and stinginess and greed is balance and understanding of what is required for a happy, fulfilling life, and the ability to give up excesses, but without crossing the line of renouncing necessary things.
A thrifty person will always help the disadvantaged, support his family, and also lend a helping hand to colleagues and friends. Thrift and the desire to save helps to look for new ways to implement complex processes and develop new technologies in all spheres of life.
Thrift or greed?
Stinginess entails limiting the budget and blocking opportunities to develop one's potential. But greed! Greed entails loss of energy and denial of a full, happy life. And in addition to his own discomfort, a greedy person receives reproach from society, but a person is a social being and needs, more than anyone else, approval from family and society. Without this, he can exist, but not fully live.
Psychologists are confident that frugality and refusal to consume excesses are the healthy dynamics of our future, where all nations will reconsider their outlook on life and learn to maintain an ideal balance of needs and opportunities. But as soon as you see symptoms of stinginess and, even more so, greed in yourself or your loved ones, give up these vices, because the deeper a person plunges into the vice of greed, the worse his quality of life, as well as that of those around him.
