frugal

Etymology

From Middle French, from Latin frugalis (“virtuous, thrifty”). Displaced native Old English spærhende (literally “spare-handed”).

adj

1. Avoiding unnecessary expenditure either of money or of anything else which is to be used or consumed; avoiding waste.
   frugal advice
   By what a frugal man annually saves, he not only affords maintenance to an additional number of productive hands, for that or the ensuing year, but [also] establishes as it were a perpetual fund for the maintenance of an equal number in all times to come. 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book II, Chapter III