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"The fine line between frugal and inappropriate"
Old 01-28-2010, 07:50 PM   #1
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"The fine line between frugal and inappropriate"

One of our perennial topics got an article on my newspaper blog. I like the razor they mention "imposing on others' goodwill".

Dollars and Sense : The fine line between frugal and inappropriate
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Old 01-28-2010, 07:54 PM   #2
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There's a difference between being frugal, and low-life scrounging.

Sounds like the author wants to base a future article on the fine line between these two.
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Old 01-28-2010, 08:17 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by free4now View Post
One of our perennial topics got an article on my newspaper blog. I like the razor they mention "imposing on others' goodwill".

Dollars and Sense : The fine line between frugal and inappropriate
I am quite frugal, but I do not impose said frugality on others.
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Old 01-28-2010, 08:39 PM   #4
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That story about sending out the family matriarchs to a time-share presentation with free muffins on Mother's day because he promised to take them out for breakfast and then thinking he was so clever is so disgustingly tacky that I can't even really believe it's true. Would someone like that ever make such a promise in the first place?

That has nothing to do with frugality. That is a twisted mind.

I'm so glad I don't know anyone like that.

And I don't think the line is that fine between frugality and mooching off someone else, I think it's pretty clear.

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Old 01-28-2010, 08:48 PM   #5
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I did enjoy some comments by someone not from LYBM land:
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His idea of "presents," whether birthday, Christmas, or wedding, is to give those books that libraries give away free because they want to get rid of them. They're old, but obviously, they're not worth anything.

Then he wraps them in plain butcher paper, and "decorates" them with pictures he cuts out of discarded magazines and newspapers.

By the way, the man is not indigent. He's not wealthy, but none of us are. There's no reason why he couldn't afford a $20 gift and use actual wrapping paper, just like we do.
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Old 01-28-2010, 08:55 PM   #6
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The case of the guy taking his mom to a saleshustle for Mothers day is classic. But I do remember my now step father taking my Mother and us kids to a few free vacation rentals that involved salespiels while they were dating. Then us kids got to keep the free TV or camera or luggage they gave away so we were happy; it ended up working fairly well.
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Old 01-29-2010, 06:55 AM   #7
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Time-share presentations are not exactly free. They cause griefs and anxieties. Sometimes, people end up buying.

Anyway, I would be very, very mad if my son or daughter does that to me.
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Old 01-29-2010, 01:28 PM   #8
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I actually find it quite sad that someone would be proud enough to brag about taking their mother to a timeshare presentation for mother's day. If he doesn't like her enough to spring for a breakfast at a diner or even a $10 gift card from Target, he should stay away from her.

I understand not wasting money, however I think the example in this article borders on just being mean.
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Old 01-29-2010, 01:50 PM   #9
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Sometimes there is a fine line betwen "frugality" and mental illness.

Ha
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Old 01-29-2010, 02:03 PM   #10
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Back in the day when she said 'you cheap SOB,' I knew it was time throttle back or I wasn't gonna get laid.

.

Social grace wasn't one of my strongpoints.

heh heh heh -
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Old 01-29-2010, 02:05 PM   #11
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Back in the day when she said 'you cheap SOB,' I knew it was time throttle back or I wasn't gonna get laid.

.

Social grace wasn't one of my strongpoints.

heh heh heh -
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Old 01-29-2010, 02:34 PM   #12
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Reminds me of friends who booked 3 FREE nights at new FL condo after receiving a post card for a time share "opportunity". Told the agent who took the booking " I am NOT sitting for any presentations". They still took the booking and proceeded to hound him to sit for all 3 days.

Not my idea of a vacation ... but they went back the next year (same deal). Too frugal? You decide.
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Old 01-29-2010, 04:15 PM   #13
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Such a personal topic between each individual. How can you measure and really who gives a ****. Call me frugal,cheap,spendthrift or a glutton. Sticks and stones
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Old 01-29-2010, 05:39 PM   #14
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I've known more than one guy like that when I was young. They never got laid. Wonder why?
LBYM, yes...but this guy is just a...well, creep. Glad he's not my son. I'd be more than offended if my son dropped me off at some time-share talk to get the free muffins...brother!
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Old 01-29-2010, 08:52 PM   #15
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Sounds like a made up story. Any timeshare presentation I've been to has been worth at least $100 in some type of gift or compensation.
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Old 01-29-2010, 08:59 PM   #16
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Sometimes there is a fine line betwen "frugality" and mental illness.

Ha
Right you are Ha. I remember years ago when I worked at a bank. We had a customer who was worth millions. He would show up wearing dirty clothes and ask us to add up numbers he'd written down on scraps of paper. He would also insist on being serviced at the drive up even though we told him it was dangerous since he was on foot.

Apparently, he was some kind of stock genius and made tons of money in the market. He was lonely and didn't have much joy in his life. I've often wondered what became of him.

BTW, I've found that often people who are frugal are also quite generous. My DH is that way. Love that man.
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Old 01-30-2010, 07:47 AM   #17
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Old 01-30-2010, 11:17 AM   #18
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Munching on items in the grocery bulk bins and casually walking off.
This is not frugal. This is stealing. Letting interlopers like this into our LBYM world, tends to give us all a bad name.

I resent it because I have always been extremely honest about my LBYMing and would never consider obtaining a discount or freebee under false pretenses, much less steal anything. There are plenty of honest/crafty ways to "beat the system" without resorting to this.
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Old 01-30-2010, 09:01 PM   #19
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I resent it because I have always been extremely...
I resent people who have values different from mine, and especially when they get things I don't!
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Old 01-30-2010, 09:07 PM   #20
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Another one I'm still on the fence about... my mother used to order the salad bar for herself and then share a few vegetables with us kids who didn't order the salad bar. In some sense it is justifiable in that restaurants don't offer kid-sized salad bar portions and it doesn't make sense to pay for two adult salad bars just to get a few carrots and broccoli florets for the kids.

It sure made for some good conversations about following the rules.
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