How cheap are you?

SixPapaCharlie said:
All my clothes are made from Fast Eddies' cleaned plastic bags.
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Now I know why when we were up you said, " man I gotta shheeeet..... Your Airplane". I thought you thought I knew where the closest FBO was at. My bad....:lol:
 
My dad taught me that some people worry more about saving a buck than on ways to make a buck. Frugal is ok but cheap can become a problem. I've always made more than i spend but try to be frugal to a point. I enjoy my new cars , boat, plane , vacation homes... But always invest and have an ever increasing net worth.
 
Late 70s in college in SoCal, I was driving a 68 Fiat 850 couple. I kept the tires inflated to 40PSI and would get +40MPG with careful use of the clutch and coasting. It was using too much gas so I bought a Honda 600.
 
I am so cheap that I will let a friend help me with plumbing issues rather than pay a plumber.


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SkyDog58 said:
I am so cheap that I will let a friend help me with plumbing issues rather than pay a plumber.


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Me too..!! A friend of mine, his son is a plumber and makes 300k a year.

Really starting to rethink my career.
 
I steal the barf bags off of commercial flights and put them in my plane. I have United, Air Canadia, Luftwaffe, and Emirates. A crap ton of them.
 
kayoh190 said:
I'm pretty cheap. I think it comes from making jack squat during the early years of my career. These days I'll happily open my wallet for travel, socializing with friends, and that sort of thing. I'll also spend money on clothing for going out. But when it comes to splurging on just myself, it's a really difficult thing for me to spend much more than I feel I have to.

Even my accountant tells me I need to spend more money.
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Who is Jack and where did you make him squat?

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Cheep is good. Clothes from thrift store, shopping at Walmart and Costo and that is the least of it. But the money saved put the kids thru college, funded the retirement plan, bought the plane, the second house, and allows us the ability to travel in the plane. Cheep is good.
 
I pride myself on being tighter than a crab's ass -- and that's waterproof. My family and friends say that I throw nickles around like manhole covers.

As an example, I've been putting off a purchase of shelving for my tool shed for about six months because I didn't feel like spending the $30.00 or so that it would cost to buy new shelving. I wasn't even willing to spend $15.00 or $20.00 for used shelves at a garage sale. I wanted to pay $10.00. So for six months I've been eyeballing garage sales looking for cheap shelving.

I finally found what I was looking for yesterday: an old steel shelving unit for $5.00! Woo hoo!


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Yeah, it's rusty and all, but who cares? It's for a tool shed. It worked out just fine.


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The chainsaw in the above picture is another example of my cheapness. I've been meaning to buy one for three years. But because I rarely actually need a chainsaw (and can borrow one when I do), I was unwilling to pay more than $75.00 for a chain saw in good running condition, with a good chain, and at least a 16" bar. It didn't have to be a top brand chainsaw because it won't get frequent use: I wanted one mainly in case a storm knocked a tree down across my driveway. But it had to be in good running and cutting condition.

Finally, after three years, I came across this one:


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Started right up, runs fine, cuts fine, and cost me only $60.00! Yay!

As an aside, Don, the CL seller from whom I bought the chainsaw, also sold me a barely-used John Deere lawnmower (one of the fancy ones with the electric start and so forth) earlier this year. His son and daughter-in-law recently got divorced, she sold the house and moved into an apartment, and Don's been selling off the stuff she no longer needs. Judging by the long gaps between sales, he's selling some of her stuff whenever she needs money for something, using the stuff as sort of a bank account. I told him to call me next time he needs to unload some of her stuff.

I also get all giggly when I manage to save high percentages off the total when grocery shopping, mainly by stocking up on non-perishable BOGO and BOG2 deals at Price Chopper. Here's a recent victory:


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For stuff that's not on sale, I usually use Sam's Club. Their meat is surprisingly decent, and their prices on other stuff are lower than regular (non-sale) prices anywhere else around here. I always compare first. I consider myself something of a guerrilla in a consumer war. I'm thinking about having battle ribbons made.

So yeah, I'm a tightwad, and a proud one. I actually make a sport out of it. If that ain't cheap, I don't know what is.

Rich
 
I prefer to call it parsimonious.

But I've been plaing a lot of scrabble lately...
 
denverpilot said:
I do have a non-cheap admission to make: Gave up on the various off-air antennas out here right on the edge of the Denver "contour maps" and had DirecTV installed this morning.

Holy hell, I'm in football heaven. And it's definitely going to take a bigger TV to watch eight games at once. Haha.

I've just stared at it for two hours. RedZone channel is like football ADD on meth. Hahaha.
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I'm going back on Red Zone October 15th. "Cut the cord" so to speak but I can't take it any more with football season. I hope next year they come up with a way to watch live NFL games through apple TV etc
 
RJM62 said:
For stuff that's not on sale, I usually use Sam's Club. Their meat is surprisingly decent, and their prices on other stuff are lower than regular (non-sale) prices anywhere else around here.
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Buying meat has always been a challenge - getting the big "value packs" so you can get the good price per lb. I bought a vacuum sealer (food saver, less than $100) bags are about .20 and yes, you can re-use them (I do not). For meat that freezes well, you can buy a value pack, divide up in to smaller portions and freeze it without worry of freezer burn.
 
dell30rb said:
Buying meat has always been a challenge - getting the big "value packs" so you can get the good price per lb. I bought a vacuum sealer (food saver, less than $100) bags are about .20 and yes, you can re-use them (I do not). For meat that freezes well, you can buy a value pack, divide up in to smaller portions and freeze it without worry of freezer burn.
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That's on my list, too. I'm waiting to find one on sale. :D

In the meantime, I've had good luck with Zip-Lock bags if the air is carefully squeezed out.

Rich
 
I have been called a sub chapter of cheap...
 
* cut my own hair, and my son's. My wife and daughter won't let me near their hair though.

* I only use hookers w/ discounts advertised on backpage.

* reuse grocery bags. Around here they take 5 cents off for each bag you reuse. (I toss the ones that have had fresh meat in them though.)

* I changed my own oil until it became cheaper to have it done.

* I keep the thermostat at 82 in the summer and 62 in the winter.

* I reuse disposable cups and plasticware.

* The only clothing purchase I've made in the last ten years is a pair of khakis, two pair of jeans and socks. I have enough company-logo shirts to last a lifetime.

But like Bob, I have no problem with paying a fair price to someone who deserves it, and I tip generously for good service. There was a time 15% seemed extravagant. Now I feel like I'm being cheap if I leave less than 25%. But to be fair, we eat somewhere that requires a tip maybe 3-4x/year except for business trips.

Oddly enough, I've never reloaded ammo, and that's one place I know I could save a lot of $. It's just never interested me. Well, and there's the equip. prices too...
 
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I'm cheap on some things, and not so cheap on others. Probably, as a generalization, frugal.

I place price thresholds. If it's above the price threshold, I don't buy it (barring some dire or emergency situation.) Case in point. Beef. It's really expensive right now. I refuse to pay $8+ per pound, so I won't get rib eyes or NY strip where I would have gotten them a couple years ago. The large size iced white mocha with an extra shot is now five bucks. I don't buy them anymore.

I will also walk seven blocks vs. pump money in to a parking garage or a meter. But, that's a special peeve of mine. Parking is a god given right. If you can't give me a place to park, you don't need my business.

I do not want to fund inflation any more than I have to.
 
Gerhardt said:
* cut my own hair, and my son's. My wife and daughter won't let me near their hair though.

* I only use hookers w/ discounts advertised on backpage.

* reuse grocery bags. Around here they take 5 cents off for each bag you reuse. (I toss the ones that have had fresh meat in them though.)

* I changed my own oil until it became cheaper to have it done.

* I keep the thermostat at 82 in the summer and 62 in the winter.

* I reuse disposable cups and plasticware.

* The only clothing purchase I've made in the last ten years is a pair of khakis, two pair of jeans and socks. I have enough company-logo shirts to last a lifetime.

But like Bob, I have no problem with paying a fair price to someone who deserves it, and I tip generously for good service. There was a time 15% seemed extravagant. Now I feel like I'm being cheap if I leave less than 25%. But to be fair, we eat somewhere that requires a tip maybe 3-4x/year except for business trips.

Oddly enough, I've never reloaded ammo, and that's one place I know I could save a lot of $. It's just never interested me. Well, and there's the equip. prices too...
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Turn them inside out...... wasteful wasteful wasteful.... :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
FastEddieB said:
We generally wash and reuse plastic bags.

Cheap enough for you?
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I'm so cheap I use YOUR hose to wash out my plastic bags. :D

My wife is such a frugal shopper that she once came out of Kohl's with a couple bags of clothes and they owed her $10 for her purchases.
 
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Gerhardt said:
Oddly enough, I've never reloaded ammo, and that's one place I know I could save a lot of $. It's just never interested me. Well, and there's the equip. prices too...
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I reload. What are you shooting?
 
Gerhardt said:
Oddly enough, I've never reloaded ammo, and that's one place I know I could save a lot of $. It's just never interested me. Well, and there's the equip. prices too...
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I reload not because it saves money (which it actually does), but because I like the tinkering/analysis part of determining good loads for my various firearms.

I "had" to start reloading when I inherited my father's 303Sav hunting rifle - no new factory loads for the .303sav. So reloading other calibers is just the cost of the die set.

btw - I have a couple of recipes for the .303sav that shoot 1 MOA... pretty good for a hunting rifle made in 1919.
 
Bob Noel said:
I reload not because it saves money (which it actually does), but because I like the tinkering/analysis part of determining good loads for my various firearms.

I "had" to start reloading when I inherited my father's 303Sav hunting rifle - no new factory loads for the .303sav. So reloading other calibers is just the cost of the die set.

btw - I have a couple of recipes for the .303sav that shoot 1 MOA... pretty good for a hunting rifle made in 1919.
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I'm not familiar with that round, what do you do for brass?
 
ja_user said:
I'm not familiar with that round, what do you do for brass?
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Fortunately, there are at least 3 different suppliers of new brass for the .303sav: Norma, Privi Partizan (Serbian, I think), and Jameson Intl.
 
Bob Noel said:
Fortunately, there are at least 3 different suppliers of new brass for the .303sav: Norma, Privi Partizan (Serbian, I think), and Jameson Intl.
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Interesting, so you have 3 suppliers on the market for brass but not one person that loads and sells the rounds???
 
I absolutely love buying clothes off the clearance rack at Target. I don't spend more than a couple bucks a shirt. I pretty much only buy stuff when it's on sale and it's almost always at Target. I also get my "dress" pants (work pants) there for like $20 a pair. When I worked at Landmark the pants they bought us which weren't even as good of quality were like $70/pair. Silly!
 
ja_user said:
Interesting, so you have 3 suppliers on the market for brass but not one person that loads and sells the rounds???
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For a while there were zero suppliers of the brass. None. Or at least it seemed that way by looking at old internet postings of people looking for brass suppliers.

btw - I said "no new factory loads for the .303sav"

I believe that Old Western Scrounger sells a 180gr and a 150gr load ... at $50 for a box of 20. Reloading costs quite a bit less than $2.50/round.
 
Knew a guy in Manhattan so cheap he went to the CVS pharmacy doubled over in stomach pain for Tums or such. When he found out they charged 10 cents more than Duane Reade, he decided to hobble 5 blocks there in the pouring rain. True story, but a dime was worth more in the 1990s, I guess.
 
This thread made me do it...

Ok not really but...

The non-cheapness of getting DirecTV led directly to the wife saying, "We need a bigger TV."

With approval in-hand, and ready to go to the store, she called from her singing gig in town and said we could meet in town for dinner. I suggested we meet at the local Microcenter to look at TVs and then go to dinner.

Method to my madness. I had her stand as far away from the TVs as we would be sitting from them at home where she moved the furniture back to. And let her pick.

She *made* me load the 75" Samsung in her truck. Haha. All her fault. (Actually she watches a LOT more TV than I do. So I really did want her to see just how far away she set the furniture and how it would look from that far away.)

Old TV is on the floor in front of it for comparison. And I managed to find the three studs necessary for the huge VESA mount and got it level (confirmed with my large carpenter's level) in the first shot. (That was a bit surprising. I figured I'd miss by a tiny bit. Haha.)

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Mmmm. 75" of Red Bull Air Races... Tasty...

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We were trying to figure out the last time we bought a TV. We think it's 8 years ago, but likely more. We bought it with Amex rewards around the time 720p was a "big deal"... Whenever that was.

Total splurge. Made sure it still has an ATSC tuner (quite a few sets done have them anymore - amazing) for "someday" when I get annoyed at paying for TV again. Haha.

Here's another one for scale. The wide angle iPhone lens doesn't really do it justice.

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That's a full sized pellet stove over there to the right.

No surround sound. No sound "bar" (that's where you go to drink while listening to rock on giant headphones, right?). We'll stick with the 80's vintage Yamaha Natural Sound receiver driving the four Kenwoods.

Here's the "before" photo... Of the little TV attempting to show eight NFL games at once. Hahaha. Laughable.

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Anyway. Football party at my house. C'mon over anytime. I have cheap beer. If you want fancy beer, bring it. LOL. I'll be here starting at this thing, pretty much any Sunday now. Haha.

I'm having thoughts of how to set up a flight sim on it. :)
 
I spent $10 on some strong reading glasses so I could hold my iphone a few inches from my nose, when I watch NetFlix. The effect is actually much better than watching a big TV from across the room, because the picture fills more of my field of view.
 
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