Frugality gets a bad rap. Think about it. When you hear the word ‘frugal’ what vision immediately pops into your head? Old Aunt Edna clipping coupons, storing her leftovers in the plastic bag her newspaper was delivered in and wearing the same blue argyle sweater for 30 years. Not very glamorous. I can smell the rosewater perfume now. But I’m not convinced being frugal has to be so, well, utterly unglamorous.

I am giving frugality a makeover. It doesn’t have to be dull, ugly or out of date. It doesn't mean Friday nights knitting at home drinking tap water. I promise. It can be better.

So let’s rethink what it truly means to be frugal, shall we?

I know that until recently, I always thought of frugal in terms of what I would be missing or giving up. But let's spend a brief minute figuring out what you do get, not what you don't get.

1. Healthier food. If you cook it yourself, you know exactly what’s going into it. Studies have shown that we eat more calories when we are in a restaurant than when we prepare food at home. You may not only be saving money eating at home, but be healthier and skinnier too.
2. A clean house. Okay, I’m not talking about dust bunnies. Money or not, some of us just aren’t built to clean. What I do mean is no clutter. If you aren’t always shopping, bringing home bags full of things you might not really need or already have two of, you don’t have to find a place to put it. A clutter-free house is Zen, calming and looks neat — even if there are dustballs under the couch.
3. Money in the bank. Yes, yes. It is a sad fact that a big chunk of the American populace lives paycheck to paycheck. I used to be one of them. Sure, I had lots of cool clothes and hip knick knacks, but not much else to show for my hours of hard work. We all need a rainy day fund, but how many of us actually have one?
4. A Zero Balance on your Credit Card. Ah yes. Less shopping means a smaller debt. Debt is a harsh mistress — it’s the hamster wheel that keeps us on the work treadmill, chained to jobs we don’t like because we need the money. Wouldn’t we all love to be debt free? Without debt, you might be able to take a cooler vacation or even take a job you like more but pays less.

Now to truly remake frugal’s reputation, we have to put the visions of penny-pinching grandpas on the shelf and get back to what the word really means. In the Webster’s New World Dictionary, it is defined as "not wasteful." Does that sound so bad? I don’t think any of us would ever deliberately want to be wasteful.

Frugal means getting exactly what you need — no more, no less — and not paying one dime more than you have to for it.

So now that we’re all on the same page. How do you live a glamorous life without waste?

This issue of Pussycat is designed to show you how to incorporate glamorous frugality into every part of your life. We're hoping to inspire you, to encourage you and to set you further along the road to true glamorous living. Because when you stop wasting money on silly things, you get one step closer to living the glamorous life of your dreams. You can use the money you save to travel, start a business, quit your job — live a life of freedom and adventure. And that sort of freedom and self determination is the core of glamorous living.