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Extreme tightwads, IMO, are on a par with drug addicts, alcoholics and workaholics, very hard, if not impossible, to rehabilitate these people. I've never met a reformed tightwad yet! It gets into their blood, like heroin or crack, the never-ending challenge of getting something for free, or next to nothing! They find bargains, and suck the last drop of blood out of each and every one of them!
I have but it's always been someone who has gone thru a life-changing event, ie - open heart surgery
Some people value money more than time. I only got so much time, so I tend to value that much higher and don't mind paying a bit more to save some time.
I don't watch the show but it all sounds very similar to another thread we had about it a couple of months ago.
Perhaps this thread is in reaction to the show being shown as a rerun.
I hate to waste food. I'm almost compulsive about it and I don't know why. I was raised in a typically middle class family and never went hungry as a kid but I sure hate to see food wasted and have always told my own kids, "I don't care how much you put on your plate but don't take more than you can eat."
Last weekend, I grilled a couple of big chicken breasts for my son and myself and my son didn't finish all of his. I had no problem putting it in the refrigerator until the next day when I sliced it up for a nice sandwich for myself.
I treated myself to breakfast out this morning and brought home half my omelet. I would never dream of leaving perfectly good food on my plate, at least if there's enough to make it worth my while. I wouldn't bother with a couple of bites - unless my dog was waiting for me in the car and then I will wrap the little bit up and take it to her.
This is just normal behavior, isn't it?
My mother went through the depression and I think folks who have seen real poverty tend not to take food for granted. She'd save the oddest things. Her mother was even worse. She had a shed in back of the house and would hoard ridiculous things in it. She had saved so many spools of thread, and cotton thread rots over time. She would try to unravel the yarn in old sweaters. Really nuts, to me.
I think it's like those stories of a dog being really mistreated when young and always shies away from certain situations during his entire life. People are just animals like that, too. We can get very deeply hurt and it governs our behavior for the remainder of our lives if we don't get help.
I'd be too embarrased to ask some stranger for their food but I think it would be sanitary if you put it in the microwave before you ate it.
I have heard of restaurants reusing food off of the plates coming back. In soups, maybe, or stews. I heard some soaking meat that was going bad in alcohol and then rinsing it off and putting it in stews with a spicy gravy or chile con carne.
Bread/rolls served to one table that is untouched goes to the next table.
I see see why some don't want to take certain foods home because once they get cold, it's yuck!....
I have never found a pubic hair in my steak...it makes you wonder where and "why" their hands were in their "nether-regions" ???
How do you know what is pubic hair? I've dated some guys with very curly hair. You could sneak in the back and take a good look at the food prep people. Maybe there's a poodle back there.
Okay, major draw line at dumpster diving for food. I would not be married to this guy...makes me wonder about his wife.
Of coarse you do, but many of us have our little quirks and some are just more noticeable than others. I hope that they have lots else in common, and maybe this gives some veracity that there is someone for everyone.
It is nice that they found each other, to my thinking. Some people are or were poor or were reared by poor parents and it's hard to break those habits.
My mother used to have bets with her husband on how much they could get in the stock market (just a few spare bucks here and there) over a certain time period. These people might find a lot of satisfaction by comparing notes at day's end at how much money they saved.
I just find it sad when someone like this is left alone. It must be an awfully empty feeling and so very hard to meet someone who will join you in your life. It must be so hard not to become bitter.
There is frugal, there is cheap, and there is mentally ill. This guys is somewhere between cheap and mentally ill. I am also surprised he managed to find a woman who'd tolerate this kind of... eccentricity. All in all, I suppose good for him as long as he is happy, but personally I would be afraid of being a cheapskate like that, I'm all for being frugal, living within means, not wasting stuff, etc, but I do not want to be worried about a dime of grape vines, I simply do not want my day to be ruined because I couldn't save a penny.
In his own way - he is materialistic and worships money. It seems that it is all he ever thinks about.
I am amazed that he did find a spouse that is willing to be always second (or third) to his desire of money.
Okay, major draw line at dumpster diving for food. I would not be married to this guy...makes me wonder about his wife.
So often, opposites attract! If one wasn't a tightwad, they'd go into bankruptcy!
The administrator where I work drove an older gas-sipping car, looked like she wore thrift store clothing everyday, ruled the facility like a true tightwad!
But aha! Stories filtered in, by witnesses!
"You should see that home of theirs! The skyline view! And her wife's BMW!"
In his own way - he is materialistic and worships money. It seems that it is all he ever thinks about.
I am amazed that he did find a spouse that is willing to be always second (or third) to his desire of money.
Oh, but the funeral flowers and scraping food off of other people's plates is just the tip of the iceberg. If this is the guy from Extreme Cheapskates, he married his wife just so that he could have health insurance, and scooped the rice off of the sidewalk after their City Hall wedding. On their 25th wedding anniversary, he reused a get-well card that someone else had sent her, dumpster-dived the teapot and some flowers, and when they went out to eat, he was asking people for their half-eaten food, despite her asking him not to. She seemed beyond embarrassed by his behavior.
To me, this behavior goes way beyond frugal, or even cheap. It's complete and utter disrespect for his wife.
Why she would marry, and stay married to, someone like this is anyone's guess.
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