Frugal is a way of living when you have almost nothing, when being poor with your money can be the difference between your kids eating and starving. It is a form of stress that is always there, all day, in all choices and it grinds away at your soul. Being wise with resources is good and right, being so very tight fisted with families is soul crushing.
Rosa said, years on, that all the warning signs were there. There was an obsession with money to a degree that didn't make any sense. Being frugal can be great, but being mean when it was important to show generosity was bad. A person who cannot enjoy anything for fear of what it cost financially is difficult to live with. They cause stress rather than remove it, thus take from the emotional bank of the household and never make deposits. They break the home and blame everyone else. So yeah, Rosa said shew as warned, that the signs were clear, but her self esteem had been low and she really thought she could turn him around, save him, teach him how to have fun and enjoy living. Instead he broke her. She recovered and moved on, older and wiser.
At home we'd eat baked beans, white pasta and burger five days a week and we were glad to have it. When your parent is that frugal for good reason you sense it. You say thank you and eat. That's the reality of being aware that your parents are struggling to feed you. Thank God we got free school meals; I can't imagine growing up this healthy without them.