Frugality

[3] Common techniques of frugality include reduction of waste, curbing costly habits, suppressing instant gratification by means of fiscal self-restraint, seeking efficiency, avoiding traps, defying expensive social norms, detecting and avoiding manipulative advertising, embracing cost-free options, using barter, and staying well-informed about local circumstances and both market and product/service realities.

[6] Laws were enacted in colonies like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to regulate extravagant spending,[8] reflecting the religious belief that individuals should not indulge in luxurious living.

During the Gilded Age (in the late 19th century), a notable critique emerged of excessive consumption and the glaring wealth disparity prevalent in society.

Thorstein Veblen's critique in "Theory of the Leisure Class" highlighted conspicuous consumption as a means of social distinction, while authors like Edith Wharton and Charles Wagner advocated for a simplified life amidst growing materialism.

Posters promoted conservation efforts such as saving gasoline and automobile tires and encouraged Americans to recycle materials such as tin cans and waste fats for ammunition and explosives.

Newspapers, magazines, and private companies were also promoting frugal consumption, encouraging Americans to practice behaviors to conserve food such as meal planning and home canning.

[20] Due to increased military spending, consumers faced shortages and restrictions on goods as a result of resource redirection for raw materials and production.

[citation needed] Consumers changed the way they searched for products by implementing the concept of thrifting, through this expression environmental movements were able to gain momentum.

[citation needed] The economic shift from mainstream items to thrifting gave consumers a place to separate from the pressure of social stratification.

[22] In the context of some belief systems, frugality is a philosophy in which one does not trust (or is deeply wary of) "expert" knowledge from commercial markets or corporate cultures, claiming to know what is in the best economic, material, or spiritual interests of the individual.

"[28] There are also environmentalists who consider frugality to be a virtue[29] through which humans can make use of their ancestral skills as hunter-gatherers, carrying little and needing little, and finding meaning in nature instead of man-made conventions or religion.

[30] Degrowth movement advocates use the term "frugal abundance" to denote the enjoyment of a simple, yet culturally, emotionally and spiritually rich, life through which one's necessities are achieved through collective sufficiency respecting the Earth's limits.