frugality
Frugality is the act of tightening the purse strings like chains to ward off the specter of a future deficit. The more one boasts of invisible savings, the more one trembles before the siren call of lavish waste. It is a paradoxical aesthetic in which praising one’s own austerity becomes a fresh commodity. Frugality breeds envy in others, yet leaves the practitioner perpetually dissatisfied.