How Cheap/Frugal are you
 

I have to admit it. I'm cheap. Not that I don't share with friends and family, but that I am always looking for the best deal.

I recently got very pissed at KFC. I was buying their 10 pack version of nuggets for someone and asked what sauces they had. The person informed me that no sauces were included and that each one would be 25 cents.

Now I know that many fast food places set limits and charge extra now, but I also know that McDs would at least give you two sauces for a 10 piece nugget order.

I also can guess that each of these sauce tubs probably costs them 5 cents in bulk, which translates into a %400 profit. Maybe they should stop selling chicken and just sell sauce tubs.

One of my pet peeves is the computerized listing fees on the telephone company-like billing statements,
showing me how many different (unrelated) ways they can ding me for their service.

Then, of course, there was that earlier thread that established my reputation among Dwellars.

:rolleyes:

I'm the anti-frugal. I could use a bit more frugal for sure.I have a friend who is Queen Frugal.
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Cheap cos I have to be cheap.
Frugal?
Picture me laughing as Mad Gerald in The Blackadder.

I check the prices of things I like on mysupermarket.com, to see which of the Big Four have the deal this week. Sometimes none.
Then I spend money on frivolous things like Jelly Belly candles in the same store, just because I am bored and acquisitive and they smell good.
Or buy a new skirt on eBay just because it's 99p, when a day before I walked two miles to get 30p off a packet of cornflakes.

my ex was frugal....very frugal

some men used their fists to beat up their wives, some use their cheque books
He did very very well with the money he had - later as a single mom, I envied him those skills, and I'd hear his words ringing in my ears "If I let you have access to the money, we'd be broke inside of six months!"

It took me a while, but I finally figured out that to be like him - I'd have to be like him... a skinflint, tight ass, cheap bastard who resented every dime he had to spend on his wife and kids....

I didn't want to be like him

Him and I are now largely like a pair of 5 yr olds with credit cards, when we have money we tend to spend it, when we don't we do without - neither one of us has the 'proper respect' for money - we have a tendency to view it as a tool - a means to an end - rather than the goal itself. I know I know - crazy talk ... but we know that's what we are, and we're both completely content to send the last $25 we've got to help some poor dog's surgery in Nashville, or some cheery thing we've always wanted *shrug*

(all that said we don't deliberately throw money away either - and we tend to at least make a reasonable effort to buy wisely while we're busy spending)

I'm a weird mix. There are two things that I do not care what they cost, and I do not even look for the most part, because they are chosen priorities and it's better not to think about it: food and medicine. If I happen to see good meat on sale, I will buy it, and when the organic produce is on sale I might buy extra and freeze it, but if it's not on sale I'll still buy everything I was planning to buy without a second thought.

But we "do without" in most other areas, in order to subsidize these two. All the kids' clothes come from consigment/thrift or are hand-me-downs from friends with older kids. Mr. Clod and I don't generally get clothes for ourselves unless something gets a hole in it. We drive our cars into the ground as a general rule, and we've had one vacation (not counting car trips to the beach that other people paid for) in the last 5 years. We only eat out 2-3 times a year.

On the other hand, Mr. Clod is a technology whore, and there is a certain amount of the monthly budget set aside that he gets to save/spend on new tech that we completely don't need, because it's the one thing he splurges on to stay sane. He doesn't go over his budgeted amount, and I don't get to point out how he doesn't really need whatever it is.

I spent $25 on tools today and feel a little guilty about it.

Carol washes and reuses the throw away uninsels and containers from fast food places , oh and I have to throw out the collection of ketchup and sauce packs every few years

Same here. I remember back in the old days the early Stouffers microwave meals came with these thick hard plastic 8 inch plates. One of them lasted us over 10 years. We microwaved meals on it, used it as a small cutting board.... The Chinese places had some great microwave containers up until recently. Now they are about half as thin and sort of wobbly when full of anything heavy.

I buy lunchmeat in the gladware

I carry my lunch in reusable containers, in an insulated bag. I don't use many coupons because I only buy produce and dry beans, and there aren't any coupons for those. Like Clod, I don't try to save on groceries - high quality, preferably organic produce is my priority - but I am an electricity miser, never use the dryer, and only shop for clothes when absolutely necessary.

Wow, I'm impressed that you don't use a dryer. Do you have a clothesline outside, or do you hang them inside? Don't they dry all stiff?

I don't know whether you'd call me cheap or frugal but I'm currently spending only 23% of my per diem subsistence allowance while I travel. The rest I get to keep (taxable income, of course!).

Clothesline outside and drying racks inside. There's nothing like the smell of clothes dried outside! Fabulous. Towels dry stiff, but they really absorb moisture when you use them. Sheets smell wonderful. And I find clothes last much much longer when they're never subjected to the dryer.

I bought drying racks for each bedroom in the house and when the kids were still at home, it was their responsibility to do their own laundry and hang it on their own racks. Now they do the same in their own places and save $$ on electricity and clothes replacement.

I've found that I can hang big duvets over the (metal) backs of the kitchen chairs and they dry within a couple of hours in winter. Plus they humidify the dry winter air!

I dry duvets and bedding over doors generally :p


I don't actually own a washing machine or dryer and have no garden as such. So, I usually dry in the house on radiator racks and over the bannister on the landing. Sometimes I use the dryers in the launderette, but usually, by the time Ive dragged everything out the washing machines I cant be arsed sticking around for 20 mins plus of drying.

To clarify ... I line up 4 or 5 chairs and spread the duvet over all of them. Just realized my post reads as if I'm draping a duvet over one chair.

As for frugality I am inconsistent. I have spates of being frugal and other times of being a bit cavalier in my spending. I certainly waste far too much food and I don't always buy the most cost effective options.

That said, anything above about £50 I give serious consideration. I tend not to renew appliances or tech until it no longer functions. Though I have no doubt thrown away fixable things because I couldn't be arsed sorting out a repair, and I have inadvertently had to keep clothing that doesn't fit me because i didnt get my act together and get it back to the shop within the statutary refund period...


I'm generally as frugal as my natural laziness, incompetence and inconsistency allow.

Coupons? Rarely do I see coupons that make the name brand crap cheaper than the off-brand. There are a couple items that I will not compromise on though.
Last couple years, we are in the "do without" virtually everything group.

Even here in my swankeroony hotel I'm only averaging abt 50% of my per diem.

Sent by thought transference

I still make chicken and beef stock from bones and vegetables instead of the store bought kind. And mine tastes better and has less salt.
When I eat meat (less often now) I buy whole cuts that are cheaper and parcel them out. Especially whole chickens.
I may be the only guy on my block who mows his own lawn and does not use a service.
I hang some things out on the clothes line to dry which we aren't supposed to do in our neighborhood.

It's amazing how many people use a lawn service. Maybe I should check the prices. Is it possible I'm missing something? I've been mowing my own lawn for years, and spend about a buck on gas each time.

For me it's partly because I don't want to pay someone to do it and also I enjoy the exercise. When my wife and I did all that traveling last year we hired the service that did the house next door and it was $35 per week for basic mowing, edging and blowing. They did bag the clippings which most don't do.

I think I get it from my dad. He was still mowing his big lawn until his late 80's. When he was 86 or so he had taken a break to get some water and left the mower near the end of the driveway. Someone came by and stole it so he had to go out and buy another one... at 86! He got a nice Honda model and I ended up keeping it and that's what I use each week.

Our Safeway market routinely puts marked down meat in a big bin at 30% to 50% off. I sometimes look but seldom buy anything. Beef looks grey and the chicken is in packages that the plastic has swollen like it's expanding. I see people buying it. I read that if you pour a little Clorox on it the smell goes away!

Our Safeway does that too. But the clearance section next to the deli has prepackaged deli meats as well as deli meats and salads from the counter. They also have gourmet cheeses and pasta. All of it is usually %50 off or better.

I'm a regular customer of the clearance section in the meat aisle at Safeway. If I'm going to eat it tonight or tomorrow, why would I be bothered by some arbitrarily near "expiration date"?

I've gotten a couple cuts that didn't taste good, but that's true in and out of the clearance section.

As far as supermarket mark downs, I would probably buy fruits or vegetables that were marked down for quick sale rather than meat. But our markets seldom do that. If I am making a stew or soup or vegetable stock a less than perfect looking vegetable is fine and as long as it isn't rotten is just fine and usually has a fuller flavor.

The average apple on the supermarket shelf is between 10 and 14 months old.

I've always assumed this was probably the case, but how are some apples so damn good and crunchy at all times of the year, and others are kinda mushy and gross? It is just refrigeration? Gala apples are almost always good.

Technically, -1C and 3% CO2 and low humidity are used commercially.
Part of the chemistry is to reduce certain gases such as O2 to about 3%
and eliminate the naturally produced ethylene, which accelerates ripening.
This mainly done by physically replacing most of the air with nitrogen.

I have no idea about the storage of different kinds of apples, but I
think some kinds are also/instead (?) coated with a thin layer of non-toxic wax.

glatt - it's really just a case of the various different properties of differing varitities

My beloved Gravensteins are only really good in season, but Macs can hold up well for a year...

Also there's the texture to begin with - some are better for cooking, some are better for eating, some are really only good for juices, and some do a decent job of more than one thing.

It's all about the varietal and what it's been bred for... kinda like dogs - ya don't send a chihuahua in to do a wolfhound's job