I would say we a frugal by necessity because we made the choice of having 4 DDs. We could choose to spend our money differently and have cable and go out to eat, buy all our stuff new but I have more fun hunting out that deal and dressing my kids cuter from rummage sale clothes then the next person who buys everything new. I choose to buy things free or next to free so that I can donate to charities or give to people in need. If we made the choice not to be frugal I couldn't do things like that. Most of the time I find it a fun challenge to be frugal and when things get tough money wise they are n't as difficult as they would be if we weren't frugal.

For us it is both a necessity and choice. I stay at home with the kids and we only have my husbands income. I tell him he makes the money but I save the money. I always use coupons and stockpile when I can. The way gas prices are right now I can not make several trips out a week to find the best deals so when I see one I pick it up.

I love the goodwill and our local children's consignment shop for clothing and toys for the kids. They grow too fast to pay big bucks for either.

Both. We have 4 children and I am a SAHM right now, so of course money is tight. Living frugally is a necessity at this point in our lives. However, I have always been mindful of my spending, even when we were DINKS (Double Income No Kids). I've always been very proud of my "cheapskate" ways.

I also believe that if we were financially well-off (rich??), I would still be frugal with our money. I hope that if we were financially blessed that didn't have a need to be frugal, I would still be frugal in order to give our "extra" to charitable organizations. I believe that everything belongs to God and we should stive to be good stewards of the money He provides.

For me it's a mix of both. And because I am afraid of it becoming a necessity. We moved from a low cost area to an extremely high cost area just at the height of the housing boom (job transfer). Our mortgage payment more than doubled and we have many more taxes than we used to. I buy way too many 'good' deals on sale. And we have one more child and alot less house so I need to declutter. I can't decide if I should garage sale, ebay, or just donate. I've donated tons of stuff already, but we've alot ended up with my parents stuff here too. My mother's now in a senior residence and we have all of her old stuff. I could probably furnish another entire house. Not the worst problem to have, but I can't seem to get moving on cleaning it out yet again. A

Both for me also. I guess with some things I am very frugal, and then with others I am not frugal at all-- like when I'm at Walmart. My Dad is very cheap- and I guess some of him rubbed off on me in some ways. My dh laughs at some of the things I do- like reuse coffee grounds.