"Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the consumption of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance."

Well that is what Wikipedia says about the subject. Everybody has a basic sense of frugality. It usually has other guises like being poor, not having any money or time,having no options, often having no hope. 

For me I know the word well from a lifetime of parents who  "went through the war", "who did without", " turn that light off" "close that door you're letting heat in ( or out)", "only put as much water in the kettle as will make your cup of tea, we do not want to waste power." There is a long list.

I also know it from not coming from wealth, not having money grow on trees and now the looming archways of retirement just over the next hill. A pension is designed to help you through the golden years not pave the streets.

There is also the added impetus of treading lightly on this earth. Frugality is a part of making the most of every thing we have to ensure we consume less, waste less and live as close to the life thread which is life itself, pure and simple.

To make frugal living easy or at least pave the way to make it an easier option, it is important to know things. Knowledge is power and whilst there is a bounty of information out there, it is not all knowledge. 

Some may take the oath of frugality and turn it into a faith or religion.The approach I use and hope to share is to use frugality as a cloak to throw around one's shoulders to use as required and where possible. 

There are many areas where a less expensive option, or an option that uses less time or energy could be employed. As food is the fuel of our existence, we shall start with food. To start with a bang we shall begin with the ultimate in frugality, the free stuff. Free food sounds too good to be true but I can assure you whilst it might be difficult to exist entirely with free food, there are plenty of options for bulking out what you buy from the shops.