Frugality has an image problem. It reads as deprivation, as making do, as a posture adopted by people who cannot afford better. This is wrong in a way that matters.

Frugality is resource allocation, not self-denial. Every dollar spent in one place is not spent somewhere else. The question frugality asks is: given my actual priorities, is this the best use of this dollar? That is not a poverty question. It is an optimization question.