Cheapness... What people would and won't do to save a few bucks...

This isn't quite the same, but I thought I'd share anyway.

My mom had/has this habit of saving all the little ketchup packets she gets - in the fridge. One week they were in Hawaii, they had a friend house-sitting, and she decided to do a bit of cleanup/refreshing. Mrs. T and I rather like her and so we came over to lend a hand in the clean-up.

I went through the fridge and threw out everything that was well past its expiry date (I'm talking YEARS past expiration), and also the crazy stupid little stuff, like the ketchup packets.

When we were done, the house was clean, tidy, everything was squared away. Mom was unhappy, especially about the ketchup packets, and she flew off the handle at her friend. When I heard about this I flew off the handle at my mom, telling her I threw out the ketchup, and how dare she ***** out her friend for doing a good deed! I understand frugality, but come on - they are far from destitute, and more to the point, they spend a lot of money on stupid crap anyway, why be so selective about where you pinch your pennies!

That year, for Christmas, I gave my mom a bottle of ketchup. Not like she didn't already have one.

Originally Posted by Faded501s

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On a similar note, I've always been adverse to using "coupons" and such but recently it seems I won't do anything without getting a severe discount. My social activities nearly revolve around purchases from restaurant.com, groupon.com, goldstar.com, youswoop.com and hottix. The girl and I just finished 4 weeks of dance lessons for a total cost of $54 for both of us and tonight we'll have Gino's East for $10 (+tax & grat) followed by a private dance lesson and Swing party that cost $15. I'm just now looking at all of the certificates I've accumulated, from cooking classes to a cognac "class" to Haunted Tours of Chicago, etc., etc. that I'm almost wishing the winter was longer.

No way I would squeeze Fatboy and 4 others into a cab though.

Hilarious, I know exactly what groupons you've got and which one's you've used. If the cognac class is for drinks over dearborn (I had a wine and scotch tasting class there), it's actually quite a bit of fun. Bespoke cuisine was a lot of fun too (hope you got the groupon for that, it's normally $80/person, down to $40 via groupon).

Maybe we should go on a groupon double date, lol.

I remember listening to a Virgin radio programme when they were discussing this very subject.

Someone called in to say that when his Dad visits the grocers to buy fresh vegetables, he scrapes, rubs and shakes every last bit of dirt off them before they're weighed. His reasoning? Less weight = money saved.

He must literally be saving a matter of pennies every dozen trips or so.

Originally Posted by DukesofStratosphear

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I remember listening to a Virgin radio programme when they were discussing this very subject.

Someone called in to say that when his Dad visits the grocers to buy fresh vegetables, he scrapes, rubs and shakes every last bit of dirt off them before they're weighed. His reasoning? Less weight = money saved.

He must literally be saving a matter of pennies every dozen trips or so.

I once told someone who was complaining about the price of apples that I always rip the stems out to save money. I don't, but they started doing it right there lol

Originally Posted by Thomas

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That year, for Christmas, I gave my mom a bottle of ketchup. Not like she didn't already have one.

Originally Posted by Listi

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I once told someone who was complaining about the price of apples that I always rip the stems out to save money. I don't, but they started doing it right there lol

Ha ha! Excellent

Originally Posted by sonick

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So I was talking to my friend about planning a night downtown this weekend. We had five people, and cabs only fit 4, which means we'd have to split cabs.

I could tell he didn't like that idea from the beginning, but accepted it. He THEN requests that somebody split the cab he and his girlfriend are in (me and the other two guys are going stag), in order to save ~$10. I didn't dignify him with an answer.

THEN he suggests to bribe the cabbie $5 to squeeze us all into the cab. I should also mention one of the guys going is probably about 250lbs.

Really? I mean we aren't a bunch broke high school students going home from prom! He recently spent nearly $1k on a set of rims and tires for his car, and another $1k booking a vacation to the Mayan Riviera... Boggles my mind to think the lengths some people go through to save a few dollars.

I mean, I am not a big timer by any means, but some things are just not worth giving up my dignity or comfort to save a few dollars.

I will be patient and wait for something to go on sale before buying, but I won't wait 2 hours outside a store in the dead of winter to be the first in line to save money on an HDTV, nor will I waste 10 minutes waiting in a tangle of cars at a gas station to save a few cents per litre on my fill-up.

/end rant.

Ugh. I can't stand people like that. I can understand being frugal but one's gotta pay to play. If one can't afford drinks, a cab, or whatever, one has no business being there.

Originally Posted by Ambulance Chaser

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I will wait for a bus rather than taking a cab so long as I'm not with someone or late in meeting someone. At a bar, I inevitably order a drink that's on happy-hour special.

I prefer to think of myself as "frugal" rather than "cheap."

+11111

I have a Jewish friend who is both. It's embarrasing sometimes. Last week I acquiesced and ended up at a Diner (Diner food sux IMO) but he wanted to go there because it was less expensive than Appleby's. (It was late and these were our only two options) So, of course their cheap food wasn't very good and he chose to ***** about it. Well, one gets what one pays for! I'd rather pay little extra for what I prefer.

Originally Posted by Faded501s

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On a similar note, I've always been adverse to using "coupons" and such but recently it seems I won't do anything without getting a severe discount. My social activities nearly revolve around purchases from restaurant.com, groupon.com, goldstar.com, youswoop.com and hottix. The girl and I just finished 4 weeks of dance lessons for a total cost of $54 for both of us and tonight we'll have Gino's East for $10 (+tax & grat) followed by a private dance lesson and Swing party that cost $15. I'm just now looking at all of the certificates I've accumulated, from cooking classes to a cognac "class" to Haunted Tours of Chicago, etc., etc. that I'm almost wishing the winter was longer.

No way I would squeeze Fatboy and 4 others into a cab though.

wow, never heard of these. Any other special ones people know of for the los angeles area?

Originally Posted by Tck13

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I have a Jewish friend who is both.

I'm not a member of the tribe of Israel, but was that really a necessary qualifier?

Originally Posted by Thomas

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My mom had/has this habit of saving all the little ketchup packets she gets - ......

Didn't you just publicly admit to drinking Boone's Farm? and create a thread about it? You can't possibly call anyone cheap now.

I did know a fellow in his 90's who went to McDonalds for breakfast so he could get the free coffee refills, read/steal the newspaper, and pocket a bunch of sugar packets. When he passed away, people cleaning out his house found dozens of plastic containers full of sugar packets.

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman

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Shamefully, I used to go with a hippie girl back in college who didn't shave her legs and she thought Friendly's was great food and the Olive Garden was the height of fancy eating. I didn't know any better at the time so I happily paid for the all-you-can-eat-soup-and-salad special in order to get some action. I'm really not very proud of myself.

Well, in my hometown the majority of girls think that OG/PF Changs/etc are the height of fancy eating. Means cheap dates, but damn thems are some trashy bitches. Of course these are the same girls that would only shop at abercrombie or Nordstrom if they were feeling extra rich.
And people wondered why I liked to hang out with foreigners...

Most of my family are very frugal. It annoyed me alot when I was growing up, but not so much anymore. One that pops into my head, is the fact that my parents have 4 grown children, but whenever we go on family trips, and need to stay in a hotel for a night or something, one or two of us need to sleep on the floor. Now my two older sisters both have jobs, and my younger sister and I are still in college. It's not a big deal though. They have money, but they choose to spend it on things that are important to them, and that's one of the reasons they actually have money, because they are thrifty. Everyone chooses to spend their resources in different ways.

I'm so cheap I that whenever I cook, I save all the little vegetable trimmings from onions, celery, mushrooms, carrots, etc in bags in my freezer. Same with the carcasses from chickens or turkey, bones from any bone-in roasts, ham bones, etc.

Then, when I get enough, I make some kind of stock or soup with all that stuff.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with potato peels. I watched a documentary about the people in Kentucky that still make moonshine, and apparently potato peels are good for that. I haven't come up with any other ideas yet.

Originally Posted by Milpool

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I haven't come up with any other ideas yet.
Save up the vegetable scraps and use as compost to aid in growing vegetables. That's probably a more socially acceptable use of your trimmin's and giblets.

Unless of course, you live in a flat, in which case you can use it as really earthy pot pourri.

Originally Posted by 05charley

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Didn't you just publicly admit to drinking Boone's Farm? and create a thread about it? You can't possibly call anyone cheap now.

I did know a fellow in his 90's who went to McDonalds for breakfast so he could get the free coffee refills, read/steal the newspaper, and pocket a bunch of sugar packets. When he passed away, people cleaning out his house found dozens of plastic containers full of sugar packets.

The Boone's Farm post was in DT, mi amigo. Don't Take it too seriously

And, FWIW, I think most anyone north of - say - 75 tends to exhibit a miserly or exceedingly thrifty mentality, to an extent a product of the Great Depression. My wife's grandfather had a monstrously-large collection of fasteners and scrap metal, but even that paled in comparison with my dad's uncle - he had shipping containers (yes, plural) on his land that he turned into storage for all his tools, scrap metal, and fasteners. When he passes on, his sons will have a hell of a time sorting through it all.