This is International Frugal Fun Day.

Do you know what frugal means? You should, because this is Frugal Fun Day, and you’ll want to celebrate in the right way, don’t you? Anyway, frugal means “thrifty, careful with money”. Frugal people do more with less and are wise with how they spend their money.

Being frugal isn’t easy. Advertising calls us to splurge and buy a lot of stuff for ourselves, especially whatever is “new,” “improved,” “state of the art,” the latest,” and what everyone else seems to have. Somehow we think that if we have that game or outfit we’ll be happy. But we soon tire of it (or it breaks), and we have to get the next “latest” one.

It’s a trap—money and possessions will never satisfy us. That’s the point of today’s Bible passage. Solomon wrote it, and he was one of the richest people who ever lived.

And to top it off, remember that the Bible also talks about stewardship. That means using wisely the resources that God has entrusted to us: using and investing them for good purposes, not misusing or wasting them. This applies to our talents and abilities, our time, and, of course, our money.

So having a day to emphasize “frugal fun” is probably good. In fact, every day ought to be a “frugal fun day.” We can enjoy ourselves and others without spending much money: hanging out and talking, playing ball in the park, making up new games with stuff we already have, getting out some of the really old games the family hasn’t played in years, making up and telling jokes—use your imagination.

Celebrating God’s goodness is easy . . . and cheap!

Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what is the advantage of wealth—except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers! (Ecclesiastes 5:10, 11).

To Do

Take one of the suggestions above, like getting out an old game and playing it with your family. It’ll be fun and frugal.

Also on this day

1866—The first train robbery in the U.S. took place.

1889—Thomas Edison showed the first motion picture.

1927—Jazz Singer, the first movie with a sound track, premiered.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.