Cheapskate stories

[reflection5]

The last time he made the announcement, I heard someone behind me muttering, "Since when are homeless people picky?"

 
And this was said in church.   
As if being down on your luck and not having a place to live means you should be gtateful for spoiled food (what can make you sick).

I worked at a food pantry several yrs ago (filled in for a friend who had surgery).  I was spleased they bought really goos stuff from the grocary store (nice, fresh bakary items, etc.) for people who needed some help.

[ladyknight1]

When I was a child, my parents would lie about my age to get the lower price for tickets to the fair, theme parks, and other events. I was small for my age so no one suspected I was older than they said. In order to keep me quiet, my parents used to tell me that everyone lies about these things. I always wondered how common that type of lie really is?

This bothers me on two levels.  One, it is stealing a service by paying less than the posted price, so it is wrong because it is theft.  Two, it's teaching children by example that lying and stealing are OK.

One of our children was smaller than many his age and there was a time or two many years ago that my wife suggested we should pay less than the correct price for his true age.  I said no, because I wanted to make a point teaching honesty by example.  (Our boys were very observant; they'd have noticed and remembered if we had lied about their ages.)

My parents did this with all three of us, making us squat to pass as shorter. I do not and have not done this with DS, and it would be very hard to now as he is 6'1" and not quite 15 yet.

[Venus193]

Soy sauce:  I was at a gathering recently and a friend had the rest of us laughing and shaking our heads about her brother.  He’s a single guy, has a good job, car, dresses nice, and lives in a nice apartment.  She stopped over to visit him, and he asked if she would like some leftover take out from a Chinese restaurant.  After she took a bite, she asked if he had any soy sauce.  He handed her a bottle and she noticed the label had been removed (scraped and washed off).  She asked him “What kind of soy sauce is this?”  He reached into the bottom compartment of his refrigerator and pulled out a plastic grocery bag full of packets of soy sauce and various other condiments.  He told her he never bought condiments (including salt, pepper, and sugar).  Instead, he always took handfuls from fast food and other take out places, then took time to squeeze the contents into bottles or other containers.

If I have leftover packets of ketchup or soy sauce I toss them into the frig, then if I forget to use them within a few weeks I throw it out.  I can’t imagine saving s bunch then ‘squeezing’ them into a bottle. 

A year or two ago Dr Phil devoted a show to Cheapskate Husbands where one of them not only did this, but stripped the grapes off the stem so that the stem would not be included in the weight when he was paying for the grapes.  Dr Phil had his staff do a cost/benefits analysis on this guy's behavior and came to the conclusion that he spent x minutes to save 11 cents on the stem.  Even at minimum wage that was too much time.  There was a similar analysis done on the soy sauce and ketchup packets.

A story from my mother:

The last man she was involved with was a notorious cheapskate.  Over the years she had known him (about 12 years) he inherited various pieces of real estate from childless and child-free relatives in addition to being well-employed.  He sold every property he ever inherited and was fortunate enough to be able to do so during a booming market.  She was pleased when he offered to take her to Las Vegas for a vacation.

Until she found out they were flying on Standby, which is cheaper than any advance booking.  She had to allow a 48-hour window for the outgoing flight.  My mother hated the travel process because she found it unduly stressful and this added to it exponentially.

During the five days of their stay they only ate free buffets or inexpensive food.  He never took her to any shows, so she never got to see Siegfried and Roy, David Copperfield, or any other famous entertainers who were Vegas mainstays.  He didn't like being in the casino or near anything where there was a normal number of people for such an area.   He didn't even rent a car.

The final straw was the morning he didn't feel like going downstairs for breakfast and balked at the room service menu price of $6.50 for coffee.  That made my mother promise herself never to travel with him again.

The kicker:  Their room was free because his son was on staff at the hotel.

[Yvaine]

When I was a child, my parents would lie about my age to get the lower price for tickets to the fair, theme parks, and other events. I was small for my age so no one suspected I was older than they said. In order to keep me quiet, my parents used to tell me that everyone lies about these things. I always wondered how common that type of lie really is?

This bothers me on two levels.  One, it is stealing a service by paying less than the posted price, so it is wrong because it is theft.  Two, it's teaching children by example that lying and stealing are OK.

One of our children was smaller than many his age and there was a time or two many years ago that my wife suggested we should pay less than the correct price for his true age.  I said no, because I wanted to make a point teaching honesty by example.  (Our boys were very observant; they'd have noticed and remembered if we had lied about their ages.)

My parents did this with all three of us, making us squat to pass as shorter. I do not and have not done this with DS, and it would be very hard to now as he is 6'1" and not quite 15 yet.

My dad always did this too. And then at one attraction, years later when my youngest sister was about 14, he started to announce "7 adults..." and my heart sank because I knew there were 8 of us there and I was sure he was about to try to pretend one of us was under 10 or 12 or whatever...and then he followed that up with "and one senior!" I always forget his age because he won't let anyone mention it and insists on claiming he's younger...but when there's a discount involved, he's all over it. 

[snowflake]

Not the worst examples here but here is my Aunt and Uncle (I'll call them Bob and Jane.)

Jane not go to the doctor because she refused to "give in" when her co-pay was raised from $10 to $20.  She wouldn't go even though she kept swelling up and soon couldn't even put on her clothes.  It was a kidney infection that could have been treated if caught early, but she is now minus one kidney.  (And is lucky she still has that.)  Would you know that even if you have insurance (and don't need a transplant) hospital stays are lots and lots of money?

Bob was mad about the price of gasoline was going up.  So he decided that the car would just have to "make do" without maintenance.  I guess the car missed the memo about sucking it up because they had to buy a whole new car after scrimping on oil changes and brake jobs.

They both have gone on for years about how they don't see why people waste their money on marital counseling.  When their child (my cousin) talked about buying a book on learning to communicate they said, "Save your money!" and jeered at her. They are now in the middle of a very expensive divorce.  Each one believes that they should get the lion's share of the assets because the other one is responsible for spending all the money.  As a result, most of their retirement savings are going to the lawyers.

Like I said, not the most unethical or gross story.  But their brand of cheapness always makes me look at the sky and scream, "WHY??"  (And this is coming from a woman who at one point only owned washcloths made out of old clothes.)

[reflection5]

He didn't like being in the casino

Oh, no.  I would think a casino (gambling, with MONEY) or even buying a lottery ticket would be off-limits to a cheapskate.

Odd that he even went to Vegas, a place where it's almost a guarantee you have to spend some money.

[BabyMama]

When I was growing up, my mom's family would joke that my great-grandma (deceased) would steal the sugar/jam/condiment packets when they went out to eat. Now that I'm an adult, I notice that this attribute must have rubbed off on her grandchildren...

I remember going to a pizza buffet with one of my aunts. She wrapped at least an entire pizza's worth of pizza in napkins. That's what we ate for dinner.

Growing up, I ate off the kids' menu until I was a late teenager. Sometimes I would have to split a meal with my sister. (And my parents are very, very well off, it wasn't a money issue.) When I got old enough to pay for my own meals, I had a hard time figuring out what to eat because I was so used to having to eat the kid portions.

My other aunt thinks dish detergent is too expensive (and not hygienic because she lets her dogs eat off the plates) so she washes her dishes with bleach. Unfortunately the bleach water that splashes onto her shirt ends up eating the shirts, so she has many, many shirts with holes worn in the lower abdomen area. She still wears them though, and won't let my mom toss them because they're "fine." She also reuses paper towels until they disintegrate.

[BabyMama]

My mother will use one end of a tissue, then save it to use the other end later.
And she wonders why colds last so much longer for her than for people who dispose of the tissue instead of using it twice.

My father (a doctor!) does this. I always hated getting a runny nose as a kid because he'd pull the grubby Kleenex out of his pocket for us to use. No thanks, I'll just have boogers running down my face...

[snowflake]

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

There is a distinct difference between taking some simple cost-saving (or other resource-saving) measures and being unethical, insensitive, or not thinking about whether the practice actually saves money or not.  I tear my kleenex in half, buy used clothes on ebay, reuse my aluminum foil (depending on the first usage), stick the soaps together, water down my shampoo, and do many other things that are fairly simple. Doing this hurts no one and takes little time.

There are some people who think that any visible cost-saving measures are "tacky" because they imply that the owner does not have unlimited resources.  I have never tried to impress such people because that's a losing battle.

[CharlieBraun]

CharlieBraun wrote:

"He converted his auto to run on oil.  Vegetable oil.  He used to buy the fryer oil from various restaurants in his town, sequentially.  If you drove behind his car, depending on the day, you might be treated to the odor of egg rolls/dim sum, french fries, or cannoli."

I don't think this particular suggestion belongs in the cheapskate thread.  If he's buying the oil instead of begging or stealing it, then more power to him (pun intended) if he can run his car on an alternative fuel.  The fact that he uses "scented gasoline" isn't enough of a problem to push it over the edge for me.  In fact, I think it's pretty ingenious.

Virg

A case of.....YMMV?     (couldn't resist)

[Luci]

. . . Several were grungy and one of them stank of cigarette smoke.

Babybartfast got to keep the candy (which was wrapped, thank goodness) and one cheap-but-new-looking toy, and the rest are going straight back to Goodwill.

So they aren't good enough for you or your child, but they're good enough for Goodwill?  Why do you think Goodwill would want them?

Agree.

I don't know. Things that are worn or ratty or smoky have no place being donated, but things that would be alright after a wash? I used to be time rich but cash poor and I would pick up slightly dirty but otherwise fine toys at garage sales or wherever and soak them in nappy sanitiser, wash them, hang them on the line in the sun and air to dry and they'd be good as new. Now I have the presence of money and absence of time and don't have the time to a) find and b) clean toys I wouldn't consider it and would pass on toys like that to the next person who may want them.

In other words, just because *I* don't want something, or don't have the time/inclination to return it to a usable state doesn't mean that noone would. I'm not familiar with Goodwill as such so I can't comment as to what they specifically would accept but I don't think that in general things should be trashed just because I, personally, don't have the time and energy to restore them to their former glory.

OTOH when MIL tried to give us some sheets that we didn't want on the basis that they were "too good to donate" - THEN I saw red.

If we take the attitude put forth by Luci and PaperRoses to its extreme end, then nobody would ever donate anything at all.  "Not right for me" is not the same as "not right for anyone."

Pod.

If it isn't good enough for me, it isn't good enough for anyone else. I did not say 'not right' and after rereading this all, I missed that statement.

I donate towels that I have been given and hate. Towels that are only half used but don't match my decore.

I donate scraps of fabric and yarn because many people know how to use small amounts. I won't donate the same stuff caught in a flood or sewer disaster.

I donate stuff from my cutlery drawer because it is still usable but I now have better.

I donated clothing the children had outgrown and there was no one else in the family in the immediate future that could use it. I donate my fat clothes that are still usable but I will never wear again.

I donate old curtains washed and labeled because I know that someone else can use them or know how to resew them for their own uses.

We donate lamps that we have replaced and are still usable as lamps - and know that parts may be used for someone else's project.

We only discard things totally filthy - flood mentioned above - mouse eaten, and otherwise totally contaminated.

I did a major purge last year, and by IRS had a $700 deduction. All stuff I would not mind having in my home but knew someone else might need or like. There was a lot of other stuff that I donated to specific charities that I didn't deduct.

Please don't criticize me for being selective about my donations and not wanting to burden others with my garbage.

[Amara]

Heartmug, that is ... beyond weird. At least it sounds like you can laugh at it.

running out in a rainstorm with a bucket and a bar of soap to wash the car - cheap.

Cheap is mean spirited, taking advantage, using most people's good manners to get away with something outrageous because you know that no one will challenge you.

I disagree and would call this smart--and fun! It's not mean-spirited, it's just taking advantage of a good thing.

[Emmy]

When a bar of soap is too small to use, I wet both the old and the new soaps and stick them together to avoid throwing away the sliver of soap. I grew up thinking everyone did this. Please let me know if you think this is cheap?

There is a distinct difference between taking some simple cost-saving (or other resource-saving) measures and being unethical, insensitive, or not thinking about whether the practice actually saves money or not.  I tear my kleenex in half, buy used clothes on ebay, reuse my aluminum foil (depending on the first usage), stick the soaps together, water down my shampoo, and do many other things that are fairly simple. Doing this hurts no one and takes little time.

There are some people who think that any visible cost-saving measures are "tacky" because they imply that the owner does not have unlimited resources.  I have never tried to impress such people because that's a losing battle.

I do some of these things as well.  I think that is being frugal or thrifty.  The word 'cheap' has a more negative connotation and I think of being cheap as acting in a way that puts other people out in order to save money. 

[gramma dishes]

Odd that he even went to Vegas, a place where it's almost a guarantee you have to spend some money.

But the room was FREE!!   

[wolfie]

Heartmug, that is ... beyond weird. At least it sounds like you can laugh at it.

running out in a rainstorm with a bucket and a bar of soap to wash the car - cheap.

Cheap is mean spirited, taking advantage, using most people's good manners to get away with something outrageous because you know that no one will challenge you.

I disagree and would call this smart--and fun! It's not mean-spirited, it's just taking advantage of a good thing.

I am sorry, I don't think I understand what you mean. You think that using someone's good manners against them is smart and fun? I can assure you might be able to get away with it the first time, but you won't be welcome in my life to try it a second time.