A New Approach to the Consumption Society: Frugalism and Financial Freedom

Frugalism as financial freedom and anti-consumer society movements does not exist until 2000, moving from America to Europe and now to Turkey. Frugalism is the reduction of expenditures without reducing the basic needs to gain financial freedom and early retirement. He aims intense financial planning, catching a high savings rate (between ages 25 and 40) at the very beginning of the career, and declaring financial freedom in the future (after 40). Frugalist is against the unnecessary spending of the consumer society, which are inflated by advertising, the restricted right to retirement when aging, and the way of life on unhealthy and disrespectful to the environment. Frugalism matures the person, and questions such as happiness, the meaning of life, long-term goals, time, money, and consumption. Frugalism finds himself in Stoic which emphasizes the differences between pleasure and happiness. Hedonism proposes to maximize pleasure in order to have the best life. But Stoicism rejects because pleasure is one dimension of happiness. An individual does not need external motivators (possessions of goods and compliments of others) to be happy. Healthy life, stress-free environment, making decisions independently are real luxuries. This blissing depends on financial independence which depends on frugal lifestyle. In the article, the concept of frugalism is investigated from philosophical, psychological, sociological, and economic points of view.