There is subtle difference between being cheap and being frugal and the difference is pretty noteworthy. A person who is cheap will always care about the cost of something while a person who’s frugal will be concerned about the value of something. So, it is only a frugal person who will understand that spending more money on some high-quality item will actually help you save money. Moreover, frugal people will never want to save money by compromising their life’s basic necessities. If you want to be frugal but not cheap, here are few steps that you should take to save money.

1. Watch your drink: Although a family of five will rarely dine out to skip those hefty expenses, yet they sometimes go out for one on special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays. If you’ve ordered your drink, be aware of the fact that retailers mark up glasses of beer or wine with as much as 300% and cocktails are marked by 500%. Soda is even worse. Hence, it is better to avoid those drinks while you dine out with your family.
2. Hire a housekeeper: Most people love to have someone in their house who can clean their house at least once a month. When there’s a housekeeper at home, it frees up the wife who can thereafter focus on more productive tasks which can bring money. Once you get more time to concentrate on growing and expanding your business, you can make more money. Keeping a housemaid is worth the expense.
3. Cut off the cable and yet watch TV: This is one of the greatest ways of being frugal without being cheap. There are numerous options of cutting cable and saving money. Even when you cut off DirectTV, you can still watch most of it that you did when you had it. You can opt for YouTube TV, Amazon Fire TV and many others to stay updated with the world.
4. Pay only for good quality products: Cheap people will always watch out for the cheapest products thinking that it will help them save money but it is actually not so. When the item is cheap, it is made with cheap ingredients and hence it will break shortly. So, for making the most out of your dollars, buy a one-time good quality product.
5. Buy used items: We all reside in a throwaway culture and people who are cheap never throw away things as they think that they can use it later on. On the other hand, a frugal person knows where to use such used items so that they have a good life in saving money.
6. Embrace coupons: A cheap person will always search for coupons but a frugal person knows how to use coupons to their benefit. Keep gathering coupons so that you don’t have to look for them once you reach the store.

Therefore, if you’re eager to save money by embracing a frugal life, make sure you know the difference between cheap and frugal. Take into account the above mentioned points to adopt a frugal life.