The Official BITOG Cheapskate Thread

[eljefino]

The town dump has been good to me over the years. In addition to a few lead acid batteries I've gotten:

- a rototiller that needed a starter rope and some wheels
- a riding lawnmower that needed a battery and some tire beads forcefully reseated on the rims
- a flat panel monitor, that uses less energy than my old CRT

 

[oilyriser]

If you use a CRT monitor, the UBBThreads-Dark style sheet will save electricity.

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: buster
I believe in being as efficient as possible without sacrifcing what makes you happy. For msyelf, some times it is worth waiting to shop and spending a tad bit more money. I am less stressed out and things that keep me calm are of higher value. Something is obviously worth what one is willing to pay. Is going to Macy's to save $20 on an item black friday worth more then the 50%> increase in the chance of getting into an accident that day or getting poor gas mileage due to traffic? I don't spend my time worrying too much about these things unless it's a major purchase. Life is short. We could be gone tomorrow. What good is being cheap then? Wealth doesn't make the person. But thats just me. I also don't think anyone should tell someone how to live their life.


not to point you out, but a couple of my family say the same thing. life is short, you could die tomorrow. you can't take the money with you when you die. but their up to their eyeballs in debt and argue over money all the time.

 

[Turk]

Am inpressed by several of you - Pablo, were we separated at Birth ??

Ok, it's about time "I" chime in with a few things to contribute on this & maybe some of you could use them (?).

My Motto is "I'm so tight I squeak".

I haven't posted them before because I was using my time efficiently...

I gather all of the sale ads knowing what all I "need" & take them to Wal-mart to have them match the price - that way I don't have to travel from one place to the other !! Save in both time & gas...

If I travel anywhere near the Twin Cities & going by places where I need things, I will make the stops along way so I don't have to backtrack throughout that week...

If I am (was)in Ireland or wherever on company business, rent a car & think the rate is too high or something was not right, I will argue to get a cheaper rate even though it is not coming out of my pocket at all - I'll save the $20 for the company...

Know exactly what I want before I open the frig or freezer & close it quickly to help keep it running less....

If I purchase things for use over so many years like Bug Spray or Sun Tan Lotion, etc., I will put the date I bought it on the bottom with a marker...

Buy almost all of Spring/Summer items on Clearance in the Fall & save them to use the following year when others pay the full price...

I have more if you like those...

 

[msparks]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
We go out Black Friday to view the chaos. My wife and I get some warped amusement in watching raiding hordes and the social carnage they bring with them.


I would only go if I could park in the back, then get the box seats where the security guys are at. Watching where they can't see you would be worth paying for. Idiots!

 

[buster]

Quote:
but their up to their eyeballs in debt and argue over money all the time.


That is the flip side of the coin. I fall somewhere in the "middle", neither extreme cheapskate or careless with money. You have to find the balance and ultimately what makes you happy. I work with some very very financially conservative folks. Many of them get so caught up in saving money, I feel they don't "live enough". But again, that is just me. For them, that might be the way to live. Money gives you security but it doesn't make the person. .02

I'm sure I could learn a few lessons from cheapskates and offer a few myself.

It's all good.....

I sometimes think a few of you would take a girl to McDonald's on a date and make her pay. That would concern me.

 

[Turk]

You know what it means to be average? That means you're the best of the lousiest and the lousiest of the best.

 

[Vilan]

I was going to post some of the ways I save money, but it would use too many electrons to send the post to BITOG. Do you know how expensive they are this year?

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

I get water delivered directly to my home. Right at the tap.

 

[eljefino]

I get a new 9V battery every fall for my smoke detector then use the year old 9V I pull as the battery backup for my alarm clock radio.

I leave the bottle of motor oil upside down in the valve cover draining for several minutes. Oddly I don't do this with catsup or other foodstuffs but I'm not above trying.

I talked a charity fundraiser garage sale down from 50 cents to 31 cents over a VHS rewinder. (My work has time lapse tapes so it sees heavy use. Had 31 cents in my pocket.) My coworkers never stopped razzing me over this. Said rewinder's belt broke, I replaced it with a rubber band. Charity was just a summer camp it wasn't trying to cure cancer or anything.

Speaking of work, my former boss lived north of the office and myself, south. Boss called someone on the clock, local call for him, and had that third person call me in for OT b/c someone was sick. Boss was too cheap to call me directly.

 

[Pablo]

Grocery Outlet.

 

[sciphi]

I try to replace stuff before it breaks and leaves me in the lurch, having to spend lots more to get it fixed than if I had taken the time to head it off in the first place.

Oh, and eating cheap stuff, not going out that often (trying to break the girlfriend of the habit of eating out a few times per week), and researching a purchase before getting the widget. Witness my old and still good computer, MP3 player, printer, and wonky TV that won't turn on half the time.

 

[Turk]

Here's a good one that everyone can use to save money.....

On your remotes, when they quit working, DON'T change out the Batteries!

Just "Roll" them in their place, put the cover back on and they will work for WEEKS longer !!

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
Here's a good one that everyone can use to save money.....

On your remotes, when they quit working, DON'T change out the Batteries!

Just "Roll" them in their place, put the cover back on and they will work for WEEKS longer !!

Wipe them and their mating contacts off with some US currency. It does a great job of cleaning contacts, it's slightly abrasive and absorbent. Clean cotton clothing (no fabric softener either) works well too.

"Pill" type batteries in calculators etc also respond well to that treatment, sometimes giving months more use.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Aldi. It's a great place. For Father's day my wife bought me a grill from there.

Most of our wardrobe is from garage sales or Goodwill. Amazing what people consider 'trash'.

96 Saturn. I'm so [censored] sick of driving a [censored] little Saturns, but I chose to have struts and tires installed recently to keep the little [censored] going. Can you tell I'm tired of driving these [censored] things? I have for the last 16 1/2 years. But the little [censored] keeps running. Ugly as sin, it gets me to work.

I reuse old socks and undershirts as rags for washing/waxing the car.

Sometimes I remove the dual-ply toilet paper while waiting for the big movement, effectively giving me twice the amount of TP.

Eating off the $1 menu at McDonald's or Wendy's is a great idea, I can't believe people don't do that more often. $2 gets you two chicken sandwiches that keep you full all day long. I can't see paying $5-$6 for a "value" meal when for $2 you can get some decent eats, namely chili and a cheap burger at Wendy's.

I'd jump in to the "What did you have for lunch?" topic but I usually eat a bowl of oats combined with sugared oatmeal. Costs less than Ramen noodles.

We never eat at Applebees. It's a complete ripoff.

My wife used two coupons to feed our family for $8.80 a couple months ago at an all you can eat Pizza joint locally (Snappy's). I bought a beer for $0.99. $9.89 to feed 4 people AND a beer. Not bad!

Without coupons, we'd never go out to eat. There's always $10 or $15 off coupons in the paper or local magazines.

We're not as resourceful as Bear Grylls, but we hold our own.

 

[Pablo]

Good stuff.

My house is fairly new, with decent windows. BUT we use heavy blinds and heavy curtains on the larger windows, blinds and some type of curtains on the others. These are not expensive, look nice, and really do insulate nicely in the winter (and actually block the hot sun in the summer). When the sun is out in the winter open them up for a little solar heating.

Dad guy was changing the filter in the heater last night. Forgot to turn the local kill switch back on

no one noticed until I got the call at about 8:00AM.....

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Good stuff.

I want to read more like it.

 

[Dr_No]

Indeed

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
Originally Posted By: buster
I believe in being as efficient as possible without sacrifcing what makes you happy. For msyelf, some times it is worth waiting to shop and spending a tad bit more money. I am less stressed out and things that keep me calm are of higher value. Something is obviously worth what one is willing to pay. Is going to Macy's to save $20 on an item black friday worth more then the 50%> increase in the chance of getting into an accident that day or getting poor gas mileage due to traffic? I don't spend my time worrying too much about these things unless it's a major purchase. Life is short. We could be gone tomorrow. What good is being cheap then? Wealth doesn't make the person. But thats just me. I also don't think anyone should tell someone how to live their life.


not to point you out, but a couple of my family say the same thing. life is short, you could die tomorrow. you can't take the money with you when you die. but their up to their eyeballs in debt and argue over money all the time.


That's the line my wife used to say when I'd whine about our security. Now that she sees the floor rising up like we're in an express elevator to the basement she knows what I meant when I said "I won't be that lucky" (to expire with all the fun and leave all the debt). Sometimes people have to learn things the hard way. I'd be plugging leaks and setting "economic trims" ..and she'd slam a torpedo into the side ..and once again I'd be realigning my cheapskate quotient.

Most tightwads do not horde money. They just have a much higher utilization curve on the money that they do spend. They see no sense in wasting it. The skill is in how much you can make the dollar scream before you allow it out of your hands.

 

[Matt_S]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
Most of our wardrobe is from garage sales or Goodwill. Amazing what people consider 'trash'.


About that, I just donated a bunch of clothing to Salvation Army. There were indeed a bunch of clothes I threw out because they were too worn out or were the types of things you simply don't donate (underwear). But the stuff I did donate, and I think this would be true for a lot of people, was stuff that either just didn't fit anymore (I've lost a lot of weight recently) or just wasn't my style. A lot of it was gifts that I never wore much, so they were just gathering dust. I'd never donate "trash". That stuff goes to the landfill. Better that other people get some use out of clothing I don't wear than for it to sit unused in my closet.