What's Your Cheap People Experiences?

I don't believe in taking cheapness to those extremes, but I also believe that I worked hard for my dollar and there is almost always a cheap way to get something done to save some money.

In my case, I am probably the cheap one (albeit I leave generous tips and such). I drive around in a little dinky car because it gets 35 miles per gallon. I'm not crazy about the car and it's always got some little, annoying thing coming apart in it (but nothing major at all), but I hang onto it because I like spending my money on more than driving a fancy car.

My Mom may very well be the cheapest, miserliest person around. Despite being very well off, she gives 'gifts' at Christmas that are just (literally) trash.

One year I received wooden picture frames that were from the 70's that were broken, and had actually been in the trash.

A year earlier, I received an 89 cent bottle of soap. (the sample bottle kind you buy to take on a trip) It was unwrapped, with the price tage sticker still on it.

As a child, I received the same exact two items every year. One was a cardboard, folded dime bank. The kind that have the little slots that you slide a dime in. This came with one dime in it every year.
The second gift I received every year was a book of lifesavers candy. It had about 10 different rolls of lifesavers in it.
She would give my wife a make-up case, with nothing in it. Every year, same thing. She got the make-up cases from the local J C Penny's or wherever, for going in to get a free make-up sample.

Like, I said, she is notoriously cheap and miserly, despite being very well off.

James81 said:

I don't believe in taking cheapness to those extremes, but I also believe that I worked hard for my dollar and there is almost always a cheap way to get something done to save some money.

In my case, I am probably the cheap one (albeit I leave generous tips and such). I drive around in a little dinky car because it gets 35 miles per gallon. I'm not crazy about the car and it's always got some little, annoying thing coming apart in it (but nothing major at all), but I hang onto it because I like spending my money on more than driving a fancy car.

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well, that's just smart, what with gas approaching $3.50 a gallon.

My mom buys lots of vitamins from a catalog. (Lots and LOTS of vitamins. She's flushing my inheritance down the toilet, literally, but that's a whole different rant.) Anyway, the vitamin company sends her free "gifts" for buying so many vitamins. There's the sorry $1.50 watch, the car emergency tool that cuts your seatbelt and breaks the glass in your window, and a couple of other, highly forgetable items. They come gift wrapped, so she gives them to me and Pat for Christmas. She also gave my older son a fishing-rod-video-game-thing one year, when he was little, and then the next year, she rewrapped the same one - the exact same one, that had been in the house for a year - and gave it to him again. She has dug old Lego kits out and rewrapped them for the boys. It's the saddest thing.

Then there's our lawyer, who is a great guy, but doesn't like to leave decent tips. We had breakfast with him in a diner once, and the bill came to about $30. He paid, and Pat left the tip. Pat has always been a very generous tipper, despite "frugal" tendencies of his own. (He hates the word "cheap.") So Pat left about $10, and Glenn's whole face nearly fell right off his head. He wanted Pat to leave like $2. Pat refused. Then another time we were out to dinner with him and his wife, and he tipped like $5 on a $75 bill. Pat snuck back to the table and left more.

A friend of ours, the wife of a successful (and wealthy) neurosurgeon, bragged about how she bought her kids clothes at the Goodwill Thrift Store and when they outgrew them, she donated them back to Goodwill, and took a tax deduction.

heh, heh. My stepfather used to flush his toilet once a week, regardless of what had occurred in the bowl, to save water.

He'd 'rescue' out-of-date things from the dumpster of the grocery store where he worked, including a palette of condoms gone past their prime. Ergo, I have a twenty-three year old sister who was the most expensive money-saving gambit of his life.

A poker game with colleagues when I was teaching. One of the characters, who always sat on his meager winnings, brought a bag of potato chips (everyone brought something and the host provided other goodies and drinks), and at the end of the evening he saw the bag was about a quarter full and took it home.

Wow! I've been told that I'm the cheapest person ever (by people who never met my father) but I don't sacrifice hygene to save money! I'm going to tell these stories to the next girl who calls me cheap.

My husband sets the thermostat at 55 all winter, the lowest it can go and keep the pipes from freezing. Air conditioning? Sure, our house has it, but even on 100 degree days in July and August, no way can we turn on the air. He needs a new car, but he won't consider it. He keeps piling money into his 92 Honda like the rust spots are going to magically disappear and the odometer/engine will run backwards like Christine.

The tightwads who come to the M.A.C counter every day and want free make overs!!!!

Erinmiller77 said:

My husband sets the thermostat at 55 all winter, the lowest it can go and keep the pipes from freezing. Air conditioning? Sure, our house has it, but even on 100 degree days in July and August, no way can we turn on the air. He needs a new car, but he won't consider it. He keeps piling money into his 92 Honda like the rust spots are going to magically disappear and the odometer/engine will run backwards like Christine.

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OMG, I cannot believe I forgot about Pat with the thermostat. He actually bought a lockbox to put around it to keep people from turning it up. He would keep it at 55 too if he could, but I put my foot down, so it went up to 60. My mom asked me once if we keep the thermostat at 68 or 70. I said, 70?? 70?!?!?!?!? I might as well take twenties right out of Pt's pants and burn them to keep warm!

As a retail manager, I interact with different levels of cheapness on a daily basis. I mean, we are a middle-to-high end retailer (think Crate and Barrel competitor), but you'd be amazed the looks I get (and the comments) about product prices.

Yes, that solid albasia wood dining table with the intricate hand carving on the corners is five hundred dollars. It's wood. It's not MDF. It's hand-carved. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, go to Wal-Mart and buy their fifty dollar laminate table.

Don't want to spend six bucks on a strongly-scented candle with a lead-free wick? I hear the Dollar Tree has some winners.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm a thrifty person. I've bought some wonderful, like-new clothes from thrift stores. Most of the books I buy are second-hand. And yes, it feels strange at times, working in a store that is mostly unaffordable. But walking in my store and complaining about the prices? Target is right across the street.

choppersmom said:

OMG, I cannot believe I forgot about Pat with the thermostat. He actually bought a lockbox to put around it to keep people from turning it up. He would keep it at 55 too if he could, but I put my foot down, so it went up to 60. My mom asked me once if we keep the thermostat at 68 or 70. I said, 70?? 70?!?!?!?!? I might as well take twenties right out of Pt's pants and burn them to keep warm!

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LOL @ burning 20's.

I don't touch the dial. We have a space heater for the dog, though. Poor thing curls up in front of it like he'll never be warm again.

We don't invite people over between October and April. If people stop by, they don't remove their winter coats.

Joyce

I had a simular experience. My hubby and I were on a date, long ago, at a place called Loves, don't see them anymore, but these people were dining and having fun and eating everything on the menu. There were three couples and at the end of the meal all were going to tip but the host of the party insisted that he leave the tip. They agreed and headed for the loby while the host pretended to fiddle in his wallet looking like he was going to tip but when the last person left the table he folded up his wallet and followed behind them stiffing the waitress.

Rude!

ChaosTitan said:

As a retail manager, I interact with different levels of cheapness on a daily basis. I mean, we are a middle-to-high end retailer (think Crate and Barrel competitor), but you'd be amazed the looks I get (and the comments) about product prices.

Yes, that solid albasia wood dining table with the intricate hand carving on the corners is five hundred dollars. It's wood. It's not MDF. It's hand-carved. If you don't want to spend a lot of money, go to Wal-Mart and buy their fifty dollar laminate table.

Don't want to spend six bucks on a strongly-scented candle with a lead-free wick? I hear the Dollar Tree has some winners.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm a thrifty person. I've bought some wonderful, like-new clothes from thrift stores. Most of the books I buy are second-hand. And yes, it feels strange at times, working in a store that is mostly unaffordable. But walking in my store and complaining about the prices? Target is right across the street.

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People love to nickel and dime high-end stores. You get what you pay for, dude, pay it or go to a cheap store, like you said. You wouldn't expect to buy a Cadillac for what a Toyota costs, so if you want to pay for a Toyota, go to the Toyota dealer.

There's a story about Howard Hughes--probably apocryphal--saying that after doing his business in the toilet, he'd peel the two-ply tissue apart, saving one part for the next time. No wonder that guy never shook hands. I would have thought twice about gripping his mitt, I'll tell you that for free...

I'm a bartender.

That should tell you about how often I deal with cheap people. For example, yesterday I had our normal happy hour crowd in. Part of it is a group of 13-15 people, all professionals in their fifties and good friends with my boss. One lady who's in the group absolutely hates my guts. Her husband has to sneak around and FIND a way to tip me behind her back. so anyway, yesterday I actually saw her with my own eyes--removing money from the cumulative tip this group was piling up on the table.

Then she came to the bar and bought a beer with the money that someone else had intended for me. Classic.

My uncle would recycle birthday cards. Before liquid paper or anything like that, he would use and exacto knife, cut out the names that were on the card, and then resend it -- in the original envelope, also with the same nice, square holes cut it.

joyce said:

Since I know most people working in a dining facility live off their tips, it makes me mad when someone stiffs the waitress or waiter. If you are a crappy server that pays no attention to me or my needs, I might leave you a little tip, but never to someone who has done their best. I figure if you can't afford to leave a tip to someone who has made your evening possible, then just don't go. I've been trying to get my family to leave me tips for years. The only tip I get is "We're hungry can you hurry up the food a little bit.".

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I work for tips. Some people who have hoards of money don't like to part with much of it unless they get something out of it. Then there are people like me who appreciate it when someone serves my family. We are great tippers and we don't have much money at all. When I do have the money I pay it forward. I figure what goes around comes back around, share the wealth is my modo.

I'd love to say I don't get tipped for dinner at my house but I do get tipped. Everyone including my husband thanks me for dinner. It's an everynight occurance even if we eat out. But a cash tip after dinner would be great. And after too. I'm a good server there too.

writerterri said:

I work for tips. Some people who have hoards of money don't like to part with much of it unless they get something out of it. Then there are people like me who appreciate it when someone serves my family. We are great tippers and we don't have much money at all. When I do have the money I pay it forward. I figure what goes around comes back around, share the wealth is my modo.

I'd love to say I don't get tipped for dinner at my house but I do get tipped. Everyone including my husband thanks me for dinner. It's an everynight occurance even if we eat out. But a cash tip after dinner would be great. And after too. I'm a good server there too.

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*TMI, TMI!!!*