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My friend's MIL used to wait until the Christmas Tree place closed on Christmas Eve, then she would go and reach through the fence and break off a bunch of branches from the trees that were left, take them home, and tie them together with a red ribbon. Then when the grandchildren came to visit the next day, that would be her Christmas tree.
She also used to give everyone undated birthday and Christmas cards with no name inside, just signed "Grandma" or "Mother" and ask for them back so she could use them again. She took all bows and ribbons from everyone's presents after opening them and took them home. My friend said when she died, they found garbage bags full of bows in her closet.
Being frugal and pennywise is smart, but I think there is a karma thing going on with some of these people whose lives are so consumed with saving a dime that it means more to them than anything else. It's as if they attract poverty to themselves because of their stinginess and lack of generosity.
MQ801--interesting observations. I wonder how much of the frugality/stinginess is a product of one's life and how one grew up? I grew up during the tail-end of the Great Depression and really find it hard to watch some of the current practices, e.g. throwing out kitchen appliances because they don't "match," peoples' need to have the latest and greatest cell phones, etc., etc..
I go out to dinner a lot (likely 350 nights a year). Many places know me by name, for example the place I went last night she brought our drinks to the table before we even ordered them.
After reading some of these stories, I'd never go out with most of these people mentioned in these stories!
My dad was cheap, definitely part of his upbringing but his cheapness penalized HIM TOO! Night one he made tuna casserole, like a whole pot/bowl of it then proceeded to eat it for the rest of the week. I think I tried it night one and then proceeded to eat out the rest of the week.
As a kid the only regular place we went for dinner was a crappy chain BBQ place after church on Sunday (usually once a month). I can remember as a kid, if it was your birthday you go out to dinner but the siblings stayed home with a babysitter.
Needless to say, I enjoy good food and while I can be cheap, restaurants is definitely NOT a place I cut corners. Vacations is another place I do not cut corners.
I go out to dinner a lot (likely 350 nights a year). Many places know me by name, for example the place I went last night she brought our drinks to the table before we even ordered them.
After reading some of these stories, I'd never go out with most of these people mentioned in these stories!
My dad was cheap, definitely part of his upbringing but his cheapness penalized HIM TOO! Night one he made tuna casserole, like a whole pot/bowl of it then proceeded to eat it for the rest of the week. I think I tried it night one and then proceeded to eat out the rest of the week.
As a kid the only regular place we went for dinner was a crappy chain BBQ place after church on Sunday (usually once a month). I can remember as a kid, if it was your birthday you go out to dinner but the siblings stayed home with a babysitter.
Needless to say, I enjoy good food and while I can be cheap, restaurants is definitely NOT a place I cut corners. Vacations is another place I do not cut corners.
Since you love eating out, then enjoy every minute of it. I used to eat out a lot when young and single, but now I prefer to cook. Since I limit my restaurant trips now, I enjoy the meal much more because it's more of a treat than the norm. I can afford to eat out every day, but I find I stay healthier when cooking at home. A nice side effect is that my savings account gets fatter, not me.
Maybe your Dad actually liked the tuna casserole. One of my favorite things to make is a big pot of baked spaghetti with tomato sauce, ricotta, spinach, lentils, and a sprinkle of mozzarella. I am happier than a pig in mud when I have that to eat on all week, and I wonder if your Dad felt the same about his tuna casserole.
I am a little envious that you got to eat out on your birthday. Instead we always had ice cream and homemade cake at home for everyone, but they weren't the norm for us so were a big treat.
Last edited by FreshTomato; 02-19-2021 at 08:55 AM..
Since you love eating out, then enjoy every minute of it. I used to eat out a lot when young and single, but now I prefer to cook. Since I limit my restaurant trips now, I enjoy the meal much more because it's more of a treat than the norm. I can afford to eat out every day, but I find I stay healthier when cooking at home. A nice side effect is that my savings account gets fatter, not me.
Maybe your Dad actually liked the tuna casserole. One of my favorite things to make is a big pot of baked spaghetti with tomato sauce, ricotta, spinach, lentils, and a sprinkle of mozzarella. I am happier than a pig in mud when I have that to eat on all week, and I wonder if your Dad felt the same about his tuna casserole.
I am a little envious that you got to eat out on your birthday. Instead we always had ice cream and homemade cake at home for everyone, but they weren't the norm for us so were a big treat.
Each of us have our comfort foods, don't we? For some it may be a favorite casserole, for others, a yummy Italian bake...
In our home, we have no problem eating something we love 3x a week.
In fact, my personal favorite dish is "left-overs." Good left-overs are like money in the bank for us---cook once, eat 3 times--or freeze for future enjoyment...
We just polished off big pot of spicy & hearty veggie chili with rice--warming on these cold days...
Frugal is making making efficient use of your money ..
Cheap is making efficient use of your money and hurting others in the process or saving money at their expense
I don't even think that's the whole picture, though it's not a bad saying.
The problem with being cheap, is there in the saying, "penny smart, pound foolish." It's the idea that you save a small amount but it actually costs you more later... Which is not quite the same as the fact that poverty charges interest, so there is the difference between someone who cannot afford a better quality thing, and someone who could, but who thinks that they're being thrifty. The story of the boots. Buy cheap boots, replace them annually, or buy good ones, wear them for decades. All that. It's only "cheap" if the person COULD afford to do the wise thing, but they don't, because they think they're being clever. (I have actually known a number of very "cheap" rich, older people.)
Someone who gloats over cheating on their taxes, but has to pay for it later when he is caught.
Someone who stiffs the repairman, and ends up with a lien on his house.
Of course, it's worse when someone else has to suffer or share in the consequences of a cheapskate's behavior. But often enough, they harm themselves most of all. Only they are almost pathologically stubborn about it, and refuse to acknowledge that they are doing anything but being smart.
It can be weirdly embarrassing to even be around such a person.
Each of us have our comfort foods, don't we? For some it may be a favorite casserole, for others, a yummy Italian bake...
In our home, we have no problem eating something we love 3x a week.
In fact, my personal favorite dish is "left-overs." Good left-overs are like money in the bank for us---cook once, eat 3 times--or freeze for future enjoyment...
We just polished off big pot of spicy & hearty veggie chili with rice--warming on these cold days...
I've got an intersection between "eating out" and "leftovers." I find that portion sizes can be ridiculous when I get food from a restaurant, especially now I've been getting delivery...it's easy to put away half or more of it to eat later.
There is a restaurant called HuHot here, the food is the same at lunchtime as it is at dinnertime, but the price is several dollars less, and for about $20 I can get at least 3, if not 4 good meals out of what I buy. It feels indulgent, still, but not quite unwise.
LOL reminds me...I am part of a rewards club for that restaurant. (Frugal!) And once in a while they give me a free meal. (Yay!) But I always make sure that I tip my server or delivery person, according to what the actual price would have been, without the "coupon." Doing otherwise would be... Yep. Cheap.
MQ801--interesting observations. I wonder how much of the frugality/stinginess is a product of one's life and how one grew up? I grew up during the tail-end of the Great Depression and really find it hard to watch some of the current practices, e.g. throwing out kitchen appliances because they don't "match," peoples' need to have the latest and greatest cell phones, etc., etc..
I do, too, and I am only 62, but I had parents who grew up during the Depression. My mother's family was particularly poor. She remembers hearing her mother tell her uncles to go to the pond and find some turtles so they could have some sort of meat in the soup. She lost her teeth by the time she was 20 because of poor nutrition and no dental care. (My father paid for false teeth for her when they were engaged. That always touched me.) My dad's father was a stationmaster at the railroad, so he had a job through the Depression, so my father was frugal but a bit looser than my mother, who lived with the fear of poverty probably right until she was about 50.
Anyway, I learned things from them. I would not throw out an appliance because it didn't match. As a matter of fact, I have a black refrigerator and a black stove but a white dishwasher because I needed one and a friend was moving and selling her nearly-brand-new dishwasher, and it was white but half the price of a new one, so I bought it because I'm frugal that way!
We subscribed to one of the meal delivery services for about 4 mos. We did the prep and cooking; they supplied the ingredients and recipes.
We enjoyed it for that time period. The recipes expanded our knowledge and skills and creativity in the kitchen. We were getting stuck in the same old/same old.
But after those months, what made us cancel the service was a lot of prep, cooking--and no left-overs. I wanted left-overs! But they had right-sized everything so it was one meal for each of us. A satisfying and not over-sized meal.
It cost $10/per meal. Which isn't bad considering the quality of the food. Very close to fine dining. Lots of international dishes--which we really like.
But I saved all the recipe cards of the winners--and tonight we re-created one of the best--but I doubled the ingredients so we now have enough for another meal...
Still a winner!
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