Cheapskate stories

[veronaz]

The mind..it boggles sometimes

This. 

[Cami]

My FIL is a cheapskate. If we go out to eat, a mutually arranged dinner, he will never order an appetizer. However, if we order one he will help himself. I just think it is pretty PA for him to do that, especially as every time, we ask first if they (MIL & FIL) want to order an appetizer and most the time we pay or split the check.

People can only take advantage of you if you let them. I think I'd just tell him that unless he wants to pay for that mozzarella stick, to put his hand back.

I say this because I had a college roommate who played the, "Don't be petty. Be nice. After all, it's just one slice of pizza/one mozzarella stick" trick for months. Then one day I totaled up how much I'd spent "being nice" to her and had a meltdown. No more letting her trick me into feeling guilty/cheap. Next time I told her, "If it's no big deal, then you pay for it." Suddenly, she didn't want that food any more.

[weeblewobble]

My FIL is a cheapskate. If we go out to eat, a mutually arranged dinner, he will never order an appetizer. However, if we order one he will help himself. I just think it is pretty PA for him to do that, especially as every time, we ask first if they (MIL & FIL) want to order an appetizer and most the time we pay or split the check.

People can only take advantage of you if you let them. I think I'd just tell him that unless he wants to pay for that mozzarella stick, to put his hand back.

I say this because I had a college roommate who played the, "Don't be petty. Be nice. After all, it's just one slice of pizza/one mozzarella stick" trick for months. Then one day I totaled up how much I'd spent "being nice" to her and had a meltdown. No more letting her trick me into feeling guilty/cheap. Next time I told her, "If it's no big deal, then you pay for it." Suddenly, she didn't want that food any more.

In high school, we had small round tables in the cafeteria that could seat 8-10 students. There was a guy who sat near my group of friends (6 to 8 of us, depending on the day) at lunch.  And he always wanted "JUST a few fries" or "JUST a handful of chips" or "JUST a bite" of your grilled cheese.  And if you said no, he got highly offended as it was JUST a bite.  And weren't we his friends?  Friends SHARED what they had, he said, and if we didn't understand that, we would never have any real friends. We got sick of being made to feel greedy for wanting to eat our whole lunch, but couldn't figure out how to dislodge this tick without being mean.  Our group sort of disbanded and found other places to sit because we just got sick of dealing with it.

[Thipu1]

A woman I'll call Thelma was a bit of a Cheapskate but this story is about Thelma's friend, Louise.

Thelma was trying to lose quite a bit of weight for her son's Wedding and was on a rather strict diet that included a lot of fresh fruit.  Everything had to be carefully weighed or measured.  For example, Thelma's lunch might consist of six crackers, a cup of cottage cheese, eighteen grapes and a few  orange sections. 

Louise was in the habit of sitting with Thelma while she ate lunch and idly nibbling on the crackers or the fruit.  Thelma was incensed because Louise could go to the museum cafe and get anything she wanted to eat. This was not an appetizer.  This was Thelma's entire lunch. 

Louise was equally incensed. A friend should be happy to share and, after all, it was only a few crackers and some fruit.           

[veronaz]

Unless Louise was tired of having her hand attached to her wrist she would be well-advised to keep away from my food.   

[Amara]

A couple of weeks ago I went to Whole Foods and bought a large apple tart for my mom. I was meeting her and my sister and brother for lunch; they drove in from the valley, a little more than an hour away from me. Mom has always loved apples and pie so I figured this would be great. Normally, their large fruit tarts are in the $27-$29 range but I was thrilled to find that morning they were on sale at $20 apiece. I bought the one and eyed (with lust) the blueberry one. After the luncheon date I realized that I still had that blueberry tart on my mind so I stopped on the way home and bought it. Ate two slices over the next two days. It was good, but I found it wasn't what I was expecting so on Monday morning I decided to take the rest into the office.

It was a huge hit. I was happy to share it and glad others liked it. I explained that though I can bake quite well I had bought this at WF. But ... this one Cheapskate told me not just how good it was but that I was "welcome" to bring in baked goods as often as I could because everyone there loved them. I looked at her for a moment--this is the woman who ate through an entire gallon of ice cream that had been brought in for the admin staff--then said "I cannot afford to just give away food." She hasn't asked since but good golly ... try to respect others' time and money.

[ladyknight1]

My FIL is a cheapskate. If we go out to eat, a mutually arranged dinner, he will never order an appetizer. However, if we order one he will help himself. I just think it is pretty PA for him to do that, especially as every time, we ask first if they (MIL & FIL) want to order an appetizer and most the time we pay or split the check.

People can only take advantage of you if you let them. I think I'd just tell him that unless he wants to pay for that mozzarella stick, to put his hand back.

I say this because I had a college roommate who played the, "Don't be petty. Be nice. After all, it's just one slice of pizza/one mozzarella stick" trick for months. Then one day I totaled up how much I'd spent "being nice" to her and had a meltdown. No more letting her trick me into feeling guilty/cheap. Next time I told her, "If it's no big deal, then you pay for it." Suddenly, she didn't want that food any more.

Being unemployed or involuntarily retired has made FIL worse. We only have dinner with them every other month and since DH and I rarely eat out, we enjoy a few appetizers at these shared dinners, which we pay for entirely. Next time, I think I am going to recommend they order their own appetizer, as three adults (DS eats more than I do) sharing one appetizer is one thing, but five adults sharing one is pushing it.

[PeterM]

In high school, we had small round tables in the cafeteria that could seat 8-10 students. There was a guy who sat near my group of friends (6 to 8 of us, depending on the day) at lunch.  And he always wanted "JUST a few fries" or "JUST a handful of chips" or "JUST a bite" of your grilled cheese.  And if you said no, he got highly offended as it was JUST a bite.  And weren't we his friends?  Friends SHARED what they had, he said, and if we didn't understand that, we would never have any real friends.

"When's the last time you shared something with us?"

Sadly, I wouldn't have been smart enough to come up with that on the spot back in high school.

The other side of the equation, of course, is the person who is genuinely happy to share their own stuff as well as wanting to partake of yours. If you don't want what they have you might still feel guilty about not wanting to share your own, but in that case the guilt makes at least some sense. But if someone is all gung-ho to share your stuff but not their own, they're just a moocher and need to be kicked to the curb.

[Miss Tickle]

Re-reviving the thread;

We're planning a camping trip, and it reminded me of a great cheapskate story.

A couple of "friends" asked us to take them up to a great little place about 6 or 7 hours from home (some on ferries). They offered to pay "at least" half. DH & I drove, paid for food, ferries and camping fees. They borrowed a bunch of equipment. We told them the costs would be around $100.00 EACH for gas, food and lodging.

They were responsible for their day-to-day essentials and any luxuries they may need (Personal toiletry, alcohol, entertainment, etc.)
When we got there they wanted to "share" our beer and pay us back. They didn't have sunscreen or toothpaste or soap. Or an extra blanket/groundsheet. They didn't bring cutlery or crockery. They did bring hairspray, gel, makeup, a double air-mattress (no pump), a broom and a giant portable stereo, among other things.

We had to go to town a few times because they wanted fries and more beer.

After all was said and done, their half (not including "shared" beer and tp, etc.,) was about $230. He gave us $225.

The next day she called and said she was doing the math in her head and it didn't add up. She figured the 100 was good enough for both, and she thought we should give back at least the other 100, but the whole 130 would be better, since they had to buy food and stuff too. I told her she was welcome to come examine the receipts, but if she did I would charge her half of what we actually spent, rather than the rough estimate we'd worked out to be done with it.

I guess she look some things up because we never heard another word about it.

[bloo]

The next day she called and said she was doing the math in her head and it didn't add up. She figured the 100 was good enough for both, and she thought we should give back at least the other 100, but the whole 130 would be better, since they had to buy food and stuff too. I told her she was welcome to come examine the receipts, but if she did I would charge her half of what we actually spent, rather than the rough estimate we'd worked out to be done with it.

I guess she look some things up because we never heard another word about it.

Miss Tickle, I would be shocked at the audacity of your 'friends' except I'm starting to wonder if cheapskates also don't realize what things cost. My brother is not a cheapskate but he can be a little cheap. I remember him telling me that going to Disney World is not as expensive as I was making it out to be.

Now mind you, we lived a couple hours from Disney growing up and he only went with myself and our parents. I was talking about going to Disney from out-of-state, motels, gas, tickets for four persons, etc. He only remembered going with our parents footing the bill for everything. When I explained it would be $2000 for a week, he was shocked -shocked, I tell you! Those were the prices from over 10 years ago, anyway.

[ladyknight1]

I see that a lot with "suggested" household budgets. For example, $100 in groceries should feed a family of four for a week. I'm not sure where these people are, ages and other particulars, but we (DH, DS & I) spend $150 - 200 per week on food. We don't eat expensive cuts of meat or all organic, or all name brands either.

I could feed us on that for a week, by taking shortcuts, substituting more grains instead of vegetables, but I think that is an unrealistic number to throw around and nearly every budget book I have seen uses $100 per week for four people.

[Shalamar]

Yeah, when I told a friend how much it cost to take my family of four to Disney World and Universal Studios last year, he looked at me like I was insane and said "I'm sure I can do better than that."   I said "Really?   I got a deal on the park passes (nothing shady; I used AirMiles), rented a house instead of using a hotel so that we could prepare some of our own meals, and used a coupon code for the car rental."   He's still convinced that he can do better.   We shall see!

[Cami]

The next day she called and said she was doing the math in her head and it didn't add up. She figured the 100 was good enough for both, and she thought we should give back at least the other 100, but the whole 130 would be better, since they had to buy food and stuff too. I told her she was welcome to come examine the receipts, but if she did I would charge her half of what we actually spent, rather than the rough estimate we'd worked out to be done with it.

I guess she look some things up because we never heard another word about it.

Miss Tickle, I would be shocked at the audacity of your 'friends' except I'm starting to wonder if cheapskates also don't realize what things cost. My brother is not a cheapskate but he can be a little cheap. I remember him telling me that going to Disney World is not as expensive as I was making it out to be.

Now mind you, we lived a couple hours from Disney growing up and he only went with myself and our parents. I was talking about going to Disney from out-of-state, motels, gas, tickets for four persons, etc. He only remembered going with our parents footing the bill for everything. When I explained it would be $2000 for a week, he was shocked -shocked, I tell you! Those were the prices from over 10 years ago, anyway.

I think the bolded is part of it. If you're a cheapskate, you don't spend money. If you not buying stuff, you don't know what it costs or at least, what it costs NOW.  You have no idea of the relative value or when a deal is really a deal. Two examples:

1. My MIL (the worst cheapskate I ever hope to meet on this planet or any other) would never fly anywhere because it was "too expensive". At one point, she had to travel to a location and made these elaborate and time-consuming plans to avoid flying "because it's too expensive." Her BIL looked up the flight costs and it turned out that Southwest was having a promotion or some such and the roundtrip ticket was all of $59. FIFTY-NINE DOLLARS. She kept insisting that was too much money and that $59 was a very expensive airline ticket. Her BIL then pointed out what she'd be spending in gas, lodging, and food to get to her destination and while she then did acknowledge that $59 was cheaper than her plan, she still thought $59 was an OUTRAGEOUS sum to fly nearly across the country. When BIL pointed out that he'd just flown the month before, exact same route, and had spent $250, well, she was convinced he was a profligate spender who didn't know how to budget.

2. My father was convinced when we bought our house that the $99K it cost was ridiculous, that we were stupid fools for paying that much, and that our bank must be staffed by idiots to agree to a mortgage because and I quote, "No normal house is worth $99K. Sure, a mansion  maybe. But a regular house? NO regular house costs more than $25K." When my mother then showed hiim the Sunday paper listings for houses, he blustered and flustered and insisted that the listed prices were "inflated" and "any fool" could dicker ANY house down to no more than $25K. Because that is what they'd paid for their house when they'd bought it 20 years before.

[Lorelei_Evil]

We're related, aren't we?  You have to be talking about relatives of mine, right?

[ladyknight1]

Oh, the absence of reality cheapskates.

My father wants desperately to go on an Alaska cruise, but my mom thinks it is too expensive. After all, they would have to fly to a foreign country (Canada) to embark on the cruise and that is very expensive. They have passports already, and I found a cheaper way for them to fly to Seattle from their home town, then take the train to the port. Would save nearly $600 per person. The cruises are a good price as well and they can afford it. But, it is too expensive because my mom wants prices the way they were in the 1960's.

I want to tell her to live while she can, spend my inheritance and enjoy her life!