Am I cheap?

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by omni550 How many stamps^^ is that? omni

I forget exactly as I stocked up several years ago. I say about 200-300 stamps doing an estimate of how many mailings I do in a year times how many years left before I may kick the bucket.

A Forever stamp at that time was about 43 cents.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom One thing to bear in mind is the shelf life of the item you are stashing. For example, will the elastic in underwear lose it's elasticity after a number of years? If you're only stashing it for a couple of years, probably not, but I wonder if your undies will be as good as new if you don't start using them until 5 or 10 years after first buying them. .... Something to consider.

Not so much elastic wearing out I'd worry about but the battle of the bulge. Had some totally new underwear that when time to use didn't fit anymore .

[clobber]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97guns Am I Cheap?

Yes.

[garyt]

Big difference between cheap and frugal. Pinching pennies and saving where you can is frugal.
Not buying something you want and can afford because you just won't spend money is cheap, imo

[RunningBum]

Plenty of reasons not to stockpile--many things, not just food, have a shelf life. Stockpiling takes storage space, expensive space if you need to freeze it, and a long power outage can wipe out your stockpile (or you spend more money for a backup generator). Things go out of style. Things may no longer fit. Things may be improved such that you no longer want the old, inferior product. Some things can be made more efficiently and will go down in price in the future, so you really aren't saving, and in fact are tying up money that could be invested. Needs can change.

Toothbrushes are an example for me, in a very small way. I bought 6 or a dozen in bulk years ago. Went to a new dentist who gave me a new brush every 6 months, so I wasn't using the ones I bought. And now my newest dentist is recommending a much softer brush, so I really shouldn't even be using those old ones I bought. I'll probably just phase them out as travel brushes, or eventually use them anyway even though they aren't what I want to use.

I've also run into issues with stockpiling running shoes that had been working well for me that went out of production. I bought 6 or 8 pair of a road shoe, and 3 or 4 of a trail shoe. But since then I've found better shoes, so I'm just using them sometimes for shorter runs or hikes to give my newer, better shoes a break. Luckily they were also on deep sale when they were being phased out.

One more kind of funny story. I used to play a lot of golf, and always walked, and I was pretty rough on golf bags. I like the two strap kind, but many didn't seem to be built well. I found one that had great reviews and had everything I wanted, at a good price, so I bought two. Well, that turned out to be the indestructible bag. It's at least 10 years old and shows hardly any sign of wear. And I play very little golf anymore. So I have this second bag taking up closet space. It probably will eventually get used, and it's good to know I've got a reliable backup. I could sell it, but chances are very high that two weeks later the first one would suddenly go to pieces.

And yet, I still buy in bulk, but I try not to go overboard with a lifetime supply or things that don't make sense to stockpile.

[Moemg]

My late husband stockpiled underwear . After He died I was packing up things for goodwill and luckily I looked closely at the packages of underwear . He had over six hundred dollars hidden in them for emergencies .

[Aerides]

Being cheap is fine, as long as the time/space part of the equation works out as well.

Going to 12 different stores to save 30c on those widgets means you've spent more gas, and more of your free time, than you'll get back in the savings.
Having closets overstuffed with what-sits can create clutter and may get forgotten before they are used.

One thing I have to stop doing.Seeing something on crazy sale that I LOVE but need to drop about 5lbs to wear and look good. Get it anyway because it's so marked down. One of three things happen:

Lose 5lbs... it doesn't look so good because the shoulders dropped more or something.
Lose 5lbs... eh, under-calculated, needs more like 10....
Lose 5lbs... go shopping for something new and forget about the thing hidden away

[Music Lover]

I stock up when things are on sale, but rarely more than a few months worth as sales always cycle and it will be on sale again unless it's a clearance of a discontinued item.

I do remember about 8 years ago when a sporting goods/shoe store in a local mall was closing and had a 50% - 70% off sale. The good quality running shoes that I normally wear that cost around $120 at the regular price were being blown out for $40. There was one pair left on display and I asked the clerk if they had any more in the back. She came back and said they had 5 more pairs left in my size in storage, so I bought all 6 pairs.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover I stock up when things are on sale, but rarely more than a few months worth as sales always cycle and it will be on sale again unless it's a clearance of a discontinued item. I do remember about 8 years ago when a sporting goods/shoe store in a local mall was closing and had a 50% - 70% off sale. The good quality running shoes that I normally wear that cost around $120 at the regular price were being blown out for $40. There was one pair left on display and I asked the clerk if they had any more in the back. She came back and said they had 5 more pairs left in my size in storage, so I bought all 6 pairs.

Beat me to it....

I also buy bulk for food items that can sit on a shelf when it is on sale... especially if we go through it quickly... I also buy stuff we can put in the outside freezer... Sam's club runs will get a couple of boxes of something and one goes in the freezer outside and one inside.... and Sam's does run sales on some of the items so it is worth it...

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Reader Should have bought a 20 year supply of Tide laundry detergent before they took out the phosphates as well...

I have a neighbor that bought Trisodium Phosphate at the hardware store , she adds I think a cup to the laundry and a spoon to the dishwasher. We were considering doing it , but the bride said A) we might poison ourselves, and 2) the clothes and dishes come out O.K.(not great, but passable).

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97guns Am I cheap?

Yep.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg My late husband stockpiled underwear . After He died I was packing up things for goodwill and luckily I looked closely at the packages of underwear . He had over six hundred dollars hidden in them for emergencies .

I always have a stash of dough in the underwear draw too.

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! A 6-pack of good toothbrushes is $1 at Walmart.

Yes they are.

[jjquantz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer I forget exactly as I stocked up several years ago. I say about 200-300 stamps doing an estimate of how many mailings I do in a year times how many years left before I may kick the bucket. A Forever stamp at that time was about 43 cents.

Oh no, are we going to have another SWR thread?

[Amethyst]

As I'm sure you're aware, a lot of clothing mfrs have gone to "Small/Medium/Large" each of which covers 2 sizes (small is 4-6, for example). It helps resolve that "5 lbs over/under" business.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides One thing I have to stop doing.Seeing something on crazy sale that I LOVE but need to drop about 5lbs to wear and look good. Get it anyway because it's so marked down. One of three things happen: Lose 5lbs... it doesn't look so good because the shoulders dropped more or something. Lose 5lbs... eh, under-calculated, needs more like 10.... Lose 5lbs... go shopping for something new and forget about the thing hidden away

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst As I'm sure you're aware, a lot of clothing mfrs have gone to "Small/Medium/Large" each of which covers 2 sizes (small is 4-6, for example). It helps resolve that "5 lbs over/under" business.

I'm a 5'7" male, fit, 160-165 pounds. I now need to purchase a large when buying a T-shirt, as opposed to medium a couple decades ago when I was the exact same size. Since when is a 5'7" and 160 pound male "large"...

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer Does pretty much having a lifetime supply of forever stamps fall in that category? That's what I did .

Same here!

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover I'm a 5'7" male, fit, 160-165 pounds. I now need to purchase a large when buying a T-shirt, as opposed to medium a couple decades ago when I was the exact same size. Since when is a 5'7" and 160 pound male "large"...

Vanity sizing- drives me crazy. I'm female, 5'7", keep my weight under 130 and some of my pants are size 8. Really? At the same weight 30 years ago I was a size 12. Apparently women, at least, are more likely to buy something that fits if it's labeled with a smaller size than they expected.

[ER Eddie]

I don't know, man. I'm cheap, too, but I wouldn't want to have 50 toothbrushes and a lifetime supply of underwear.

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 Vanity sizing- drives me crazy. I'm female, 5'7", keep my weight under 130 and some of my pants are size 8. Really? At the same weight 30 years ago I was a size 12. Apparently women, at least, are more likely to buy something that fits if it's labeled with a smaller size than they expected.

Ah, so the female sizes are reduced from reality and the male sizes are increased...

I also notice that my feet have grown from size 8 to 9 or 9.5...