Ridiculed for being cheap??

[ejman]

Oh yeah - 3 cylinders, no waiting! Bought my old Sprint for $200, replaced the clutch, and drove it like a Spanish mule for 5-6 years. Sister got a great kick out of me driving up to her place of work one day and getting out while taking a call - my cell phone cost more than the car! Wrote off mileage for the rentals every year and every year the mileage paid for all costs and more than bought the car again. 50MPG in tune and 40MPG doing absolutely nothing to it as the last several years went.

Yup can vouch for the 50 mpg. Makes me kind of chuckle at current hybrid mpg...
Amazingly well built too. My daughter was driving it one night in San Francisco when a huge taxicab ran into her ( Ye old left turn didn't see 'em etc etc) The front end was crumpled to about 1/100 of prior size but passenger area totally untouched and not even a scratch on anybody - thank God)

 

[haha]

tmm99, do NOT let your friend off the hook when, in the future, you are in much better shape than she. It is because of people like her that the economy is quite likely wrecked beyond repair.

Martha, you're not gonna like this but now is now time for healing. This is no time for forgiveness and all coming together for a big hug. The less we lay blame on the guilty, the greater the certainty that the financial profligacy will reoccur. Letting these spendthrifts and their political masters get away with the goods, as is happening right now, kicks merde into the faces of the righteous. We're going to hear a lot about not laying blame, that no one could have seen what was coming, that frugality is foolish and other such dreck.


Manure!

Let you friend have it with both barrels. Don't hold back. What she did is affecting you who was beneficial to the commonweal, as much as it causes her to personally suffer. Do you have any family? They, in particular the young, are going to be suffering for years thanks to this selfish, asinine behavior. Remember, you are not attacking in a mean-spirited mentality of "I told you so". Instead you are trying to help yourself and everyone else that lives is an economic milieu. That is, everybody. If more people had your financial conservatism, we wouldn't be looking down into a financial abyss right now. It appears that many on this blog were themselves participants in the skulduggery. As least, I have had communication with a number of apologists on here who seem terribly dismissive of those responsible.


Thanks for having taking the decent path yourself tmm99. While it's been a lonely path, you've got the satisfaction that many here apparently can not claim, of having done the proper thing.




Come to think of it, next time you see her, kick her once for me too.

What the hell are you blathering about?

 

[Dawg52]

What the hell are you blathering about?

The ignore feature is a beautiful thing.

 

[HFWR]

My one friend was so shocked (do I really look that stupid) that I could afford to retire that he accused me of selling drugs in order to afford ER.

Free

My retort: I retired to have more time to do drugs... O0


YouTube - Ricky Nelson - Garden Party 1985

 

[DallasGuy]

When I was working at megacorps, I used to go to the trashcans near laser printers to pick up discarded printouts. Use: the back side is perfectly blank to use as scratch papers for my engineering calculations and equations. Coworkers look at me as crazy. I know, I know, paper is cheap. But if discarded printouts work, why not?

I wonder who else in this forum has done that, since some also recycle dryer sheets?

As a computer programmer I always used the back of old printouts as my scratch paper...why use a brand new piece of paper when the back of a used one is perpectly fine?

 

[NW-Bound]

Exactly!

What I couldn't figure out was that I sometimes found a stack of clean unprinted paper of maybe 50 sheets tossed in the trash can. Why?

The only thing I could think of was that whoever loaded the printer last couldn't fit entire reams in the tray. So, he/she discarded the portion that overflowed. What a crime! They couldn't even spare the time to put that aside for the next load.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

I get crap about being frugal all the time. I'm proud of my frugality and they know it.

I have a friend that wants to buy a new bicycle, yet the one he has is the best of the best mountain bikes, just wrong gear ratio for road commuting. I'm trying to convince him to save the 3k for a new bike and buy a proper gear set for $200 for his current awesome bike. His comment "I can always count on my frugal buddy to be the buzz kill". He has 2 kids and a wife that doesn't want him to waste his money. He hates it when I side with his wife. I just don't want to see a buddy throw money away, when he really can't afford it. I'm rubbing off on him slowly, but man, the spend gene is very strong in some people.

Hold your head high about frugality. It is really something to be proud of. If somebody puts you down about being frugal, turn the tables on, and tell them "ya, but is sure feels good to be financially independant"

 

[Nords]

I have noticed that since I tightened my belt a few years ago, I sometimes get comments from this friend about me being cheap. Does being frugal somehow offend people?

Sounds like you need a new friend.

During our working years I used to get comments about our cars-- "Sir, are you still driving that ensignmobile?!? Can't you afford a real car?" I'd look back at the decade-old vehicle appraisingly and say "That car reflects my values, not my net worth."

When we were loading out our submarine for 90-day patrols, our XO used to publicize the weight/volume of the paper we'd had to pack aboard and then encourage everyone to use both sides. By the fifth patrol we were loading less than half the paper of the first patrol and the difference was noticeable in calculating the ship's trim.

We still load up our printer with scrap paper. For most jobs it really has four sides-- front upper & lower and back upper & lower. But now I'm going to have to try the PDF approach for receipts & confirmations-- thanks!

 

[harley]

As a computer programmer I always used the back of old printouts as my scratch paper...why use a brand new piece of paper when the back of a used one is perpectly fine?

One of my programming buddies from my assembler/COBOL days collected huge piles of the old bifold paper from our printouts. It was only a couple of years ago that I stopped getting my Christmas present from him wrapped in green and white striped paper with little holes on the ends. I sort of miss it. I'm talking nearly 20 years of recycled paper. He FIREd from our Megacorp at 48. I had to wait until I was 50 because I bought wrapping paper.

 

[Frugality_of_Apathy]

One of my programming buddies from my assembler/COBOL days collected huge piles of the old bifold paper from our printouts. It was only a couple of years ago that I stopped getting my Christmas present from him wrapped in green and white striped paper with little holes on the ends. I sort of miss it. I'm talking nearly 20 years of recycled paper. He FIREd from our Megacorp at 48. I had to wait until I was 50 because I bought wrapping paper.

I try not to give gifts if I can help it. But if you've got something where the outside of the box isn't important to the operation of the gift, I'll just give it a nice coating of leftover house paint.

 

[NW-Bound]

Any Fortran programmer among us who remembers the mistake of printing a 1 in the first column of a line? It usually happened when you printed a table of numerical answers, and the leading digit of the first column happened to be a 1, and you forgot to always put a leading space in any line.

For you non-Fortran programmers, that leading 1 of a line is a form feed control. You can slew an entire box of wide fanfold paper in seconds from a highspeed printer, until the page limit of the job is reached. Oh boy, that made the frugal bastard in me felt sooo bad....

 

[Goonie]

When I order something online or do some online transaction at Vanguard, I always print out a receipt. Once I have verified that the transaction is indeed complete, I put the receipt back in the paper tray, upside down, and print something else on the back.

But now, I found even better. I print out the receipt using a cheap PDF printer. That way I use no paper, no ink and when I don't need the receipt anymore, I just erase the PDF file.

We still load up our printer with scrap paper. For most jobs it really has four sides-- front upper & lower and back upper & lower. But now I'm going to have to try the PDF approach for receipts & confirmations-- thanks!

I use CutePDF Writer.....when installed, it shows up just like a normal printer when when you click on 'Print' in the 'File' menu.....it allows you to name the file just as if your saving it (which basically you are). The best thing about CutePDF Writer for frugal folks....it's FREE!

 

[FIREd]

I use CutePDF Writer.....when installed, it shows up just like a normal printer when when you click on 'Print' in the 'File' menu.....it allows you to name the file just as if your saving it (which basically you are). The best thing about CutePDF Writer for frugal folks....it's FREE!

I bought PDF Master at CompUSA for like $9.99, and it also shows up as a normal printer. I use it a lot. Whenever I find an interesting article on Bloomberg, I use it to create a PDF file that I can archive. Same with recipes, receipts, emails, etc... Then I can load the PDF files onto my iphone and take them with me anywhere I go. I don't have to print anything anymore (well almost)! It's very convenient and I love digital archiving because it doesn't clutter my office.

But the new version of PDF Master costs more like $50, so I wouldn't spend the money on that one. CutePDF is available on CNET I believe. It's free, it's highly rated (if I remember well) but I can't vouched for it because I have never used it... But if Goonie's happy with it, then it must work!

 

[catdance62]

I've enjoyed all the frugal stories! It's nice to be on this forum with like-minded people! I too, went through my 30's buying this and that, throwing parties a lot, etc. Since I've been in my 40's though, I have totally gone frugal, and really just don't buy much of anything. and the partying days are long over. I hardly even buy clothes anymore and then only on clearance! I drive a 12 year old car (I bought it when new) and love it. My only real hobby now is my goats and chickens and my vegetable garden in the summer. But since the animals provide me with milk, eggs, and meat they pay for themselves. Plus I sell the excess eggs. The only thing I wont' give up is traveling--it keeps me sane, but I do travel cheaply whenever possible! Whenever I hear the siren call of a big-ticket item, I think to myself "Will that make me intrinsically happier? And if so, for how long?" And then I realize it won't make me happier in the long-term.
I am enjoying playing the frugal game!

 

[Walt34]

Some relatives chided us for our old Chevy pickup truck, bought new in '85. Eighteen years later I sold it only because parts were getting hard to find, and well, I wanted a new one anyway. When we moved I couldn't wait to get the West Virginia tags on it and send a photo to relatives, one in particular, because it looked like the stereotypical WV pickup truck. The paint had peeled off the top, hood, and some of the sides and the rust made a neat photo. But the thing just kept on chugging along and wouldn't die so since it ran I couldn't bring myself to sell it sooner.

We also rarely eat out, wear our clothes 'til they have holes in them, etc.

Like catdance62, we also think about "what will this purchase really do for us?"

 

[friar1610]

During our working years I used to get comments about our cars-- "Sir, are you still driving that ensignmobile?!? Can't you afford a real car?"

Funny how you could always tell the officers' parking lot from the enlisted parking lot. Officers parking lot full of "ensignmobiles". In the enlisted parking lot you could tell who had just reenlisted and gotten an SRB!

(Aviators, of course, are an exception to the generalization about officers' cars.)

 

[ChrisC]

There's a place for frugality, but occasionally it can be very annoying to others, when it impacts on their sense of comfort. Thus, if people want to dumpster dive for food, it's their business -- I just don't want to be brought along for the ride!

Being cheap can be a kill joy to others, since it may have a "spill-over" effect in many cases. For example, it irritated my daughter the other day when her driver friend spent 30 minutes looking for the open parking space on the street a 15 minute walk from the theatre to avoid paying for $5 garage parking. Or let's say you're having a fancy dinner party and one of your invited guests brings you a bottle of 2 Buck Chuck -- that would annoy me.

It doesn't bother me at all that people are cheap or frugal about their own business. I just don't appreciate friends who go on the "cheap" with their friends. They'll still my friends (I take them all with warts and all), but I know the friends I will take on vacation with me, when I don't want to nickle and dime the entire experience, and the friends I'll take with me to auctions and garage/yard sales. My parents told me to never be "cheap" with your friends, but don't be stupid!

 

[socca]

There's a place for frugality, but occasionally it can be very annoying...

Sitting here on my desk is a folder labelled 'scratch paper' containing sheets of used paper with one side blank - I've used such a folder for years. Across the room in a bookcase, there's a pile of 'scratch paper' about 15" high. Maybe I'm taking this a bit too far...

 

[ziggy29]

Sitting here on my desk is a folder labelled 'scratch paper' containing sheets of used paper with one side blank - I've used such a folder for years. Across the room in a bookcase, there's a pile of 'scratch paper' about 15" high. Maybe I'm taking this a bit too far...

Not really, if it is just scratch paper and you use it for that purpose.

Now if you're writing letters to Grandma with "scratch paper," then maybe you're going too far. Unless Grandma does it too, anyway...

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

tmm99, do NOT let your friend off the hook when, in the future, you are in much better shape than she. It is because of people like her that the economy is quite likely wrecked beyond repair...The less we lay blame on the guilty, the greater the certainty that the financial profligacy will reoccur. Letting these spendthrifts and their political masters get away with the goods, as is happening right now, kicks merde into the faces of the righteous.

the sins of righteousness: did you not benefit from the consumerism of others? are you more upset that you won the game, that they ruined the game or that you ever even bought into the game?

once you discover there is no god, does it better serve your enlightenment to take out your disappointment or your anger upon the priests, the congregation, or upon god?

 

[unclemick]

the sins of righteousness: did you not benefit from the consumerism of others? are you more upset that you won the game, that they ruined the game or that you ever even bought into the game?

once you discover there is no god, does it better serve your enlightenment to take out your disappointment or your anger upon the priests, the congregation, or upon god?

Ah but grasshopper - there is a God - just that it is not us.

We are but granted the illusion we are allowed to grade is or is not.

She has a wild sense of humor.

Probably lefthanded, tests INTJ, and likes engineers!

So does one put clothes out on the line after the first snow - or make other arrangements?

heh heh heh -

 

[Grep]

... For you non-Fortran programmers, that leading 1 of a line is a form feed control. You can slew an entire box of wide fanfold paper in seconds from a highspeed printer, until the page limit of the job is reached. Oh boy, that made the frugal bastard in me felt sooo bad....

I've done that! The response: "NNNNOOooooooooooooo!!!!!!", with wild, flailing stabs at anything that resembles a "stop" or "off" button, followed by a sinking, shameful chagrin at the massive, useless waste.

 

[sailor]

Barbarus,
I'm curious - why did you traded Karl for Romans?

 

[Khan]

I try not to give gifts if I can help it. But if you've got something where the outside of the box isn't important to the operation of the gift, I'll just give it a nice coating of leftover house paint.

Mother often wrapped presents in the Sunday comics.

 

[Khan]

Any Fortran programmer among us who remembers the mistake of printing a 1 in the first column of a line? It usually happened when you printed a table of numerical answers, and the leading digit of the first column happened to be a 1, and you forgot to always put a leading space in any line.

For you non-Fortran programmers, that leading 1 of a line is a form feed control. You can slew an entire box of wide fanfold paper in seconds from a highspeed printer, until the page limit of the job is reached. Oh boy, that made the frugal bastard in me felt sooo bad....

Been there, done that. Fortunately I was standing near the printer and hit the off switch after a few pages.