Oh, cheap is definitely an insult. It has connotations of making cost the top priority , as opposed to value. Booking airline tickets for a family vacation, sorting by cost, and sending a family of four a spirit airlines personal item only back of the plane seats that don't recline next to the toilet flight with four 15 minute layovers is cheap. Booking tickets through the website for a small Icelandic airline and rooms directly through the hotel is frugal. Cheap is lowering costs above all else, while frugality is avoiding unnecessary expenses.