Have You Tried Being A Cheapskate?

A lot about life is figuring out where your personal boundaries lie. It is no different in the realm of personal finance. How far are you willing to go to save a buck?

Well, I asked the personal finance community about the 'cheapest' thing they have done. Cheap as in being a cheapskate, going beyond frugality and into the land where few people venture.

What Are Some of the Cheapskate Things I've Done?

Now it wouldn't be fair if I didn't share a few of my own cheapskate escapades.

Last year I moved into a new office. In one of the drawers was a Valentine’s day card from the wife of the person who used to work in that office. The card was really nice, it played music when you opened it. So when Valentine’s day came around this year, I glued construction paper on the inside and wrote my own message to my wife on it. She didn’t particularly mention anything about it, but…

The second thing is that I make my own lemonade whenever we go out. I order just tap water and a bowl of lemon wedges. Using the lemons and the sugar packets from the table I make my own. This is one I am not ashamed of.

Rockstar Finance forum member edgarpickle's response reminded me that I once found a nearly identical version of my office chair on the neighborhood sidewalk. Mine didn't actuate up and down and the one off the street had a mad gangster lean due to a cracked base. I cannibalized the seats and created one that worked decently enough. After that, I made sure to remove all the bolts and screws to add to my hardware for future uses.

Not cheapskate enough for you? Well I asked some personal finance bloggers to tell me their most cheapskatiest stories, so read some of these responses and see how I measure up.

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General Cheapskate Life

MyDollarPlan - I called about a 50 cent fee on a bill. The call took over 20 minutes. I was so pleased when I hung up that I got my money back.... until I realized how much time I invested in it.

Me: Well, that might be their game plan. A measly 50 cents over a few hundred thousand people can really add up. How many would take the time to question or complain about it? Not many would be my guess.

ReverseTheCrush - The cheapest thing I could think of was when I first moved out on my own after school. I got my first job and place with 2 roommates. I had a mattress and planned to buy a frame for it, but I ended up leaving the mattress on the floor without a frame for about a year and a half. This was while I was earning 32,000 to 40,000 per year - I got a promotion while I was living there. But I still didn't fork over the money to buy a frame. Eventually, after moving to my second place in the city, I bought a frame for my bed. Even though it was not a lot of money for a frame, I was able to save a lot of money during that year and a half.

Hey, Graham, how did the mattress on the floor work out with your dates? I guess it wasn't an issue?

TheDollarBuild - Last summer, my girlfriend and I decided to take a vacation together for our one-year anniversary. We had gone on plenty of smaller excursions but this was going to be our first big trip together! So it was supposed to be special. We decided we’d fly to Boston to catch a Red Sox game and then take a bus to New York to explore Manhattan for a couple days.

Once we pinned down the dates, we started looking for flights. My girlfriend likes to plan things further in advance than anyone I’ve ever known, so she booked her tickets the instant we agreed on the destination and dates. I’m more of a let’s see if a better deal comes along kind of guy.

So that’s what I did. I ended up purchasing roundtrip tickets for $40 less than the price my girlfriend paid. Just one problem: we weren’t on the same return flight. Probably not the thing to do when you’re taking your first major trip as a couple. But I figured, “Hey, 40 bucks is a decent amount of money!”

Well, she wasn’t happy but we managed to get past it and enjoy the trip. Unfortunately, we didn’t do the best job managing our time on our last day and I ended up missing my flight. The rest of that day’s flights were full too, so I had to spend the night.

Because I couldn’t even get a boarding pass, I wasn’t able to clear security and find a lounge to where I could relax. I ended up sitting on the floor with my back up against the check-in counter waiting for the airport to re-open. Not a fun way to spend your vacation!

Although my cheapness isn’t what caused me to miss my flight, it was probably the appropriate punishment for picking a different flight than my girlfriend just to save some cash. Lesson learned – sometimes it’s okay to spend a little more for special occasions!

Hey, $40 bucks is $40 bucks, but I would spend that to travel with my girl, you cheapskate!

Defined Sight - Back at our former residence probably about 5 years ago, the lawn was in desperate need of aeration. Well, I didn’t feel like spending the money to rent a machine so I used a pitchfork that I had in the garage. I spent basically all afternoon (large yard) stabbing holes every foot or so across the whole lawn. Not only was it not effective but it was a huge waste of time!

This reminds me of my own lawn cheapness. About a decade ago I lived in a townhouse and it had a little patch of grass about 10'X10' in the front. The HOA would send out nastygrams if the grass went too high. One day I got a letter, and telling me of the fine they would impose if I didn't keep the grass below 2” high.

Well, I didn't own a lawnmower or even a push mower so what did I do? Scissors. I used a pair of scissors to please the HOA overlords. I do NOT recommend doing this. It took what seemed like forever and the scissors wore into my hand something fierce.

Mrs. Kiwi - On my first date with my now husband, I suggested we split a whole rack of ribs instead of each getting our own dinner. It came with garlic bread and two sides, one of the sides was spaghetti! Maybe that’s not recommended for the first date? Well, I guess I found my FIRE partner quickly.

What are you talking about, this sounds great and not cheap at all! Maybe that's just me though.

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College is Ground Zero for Cheapness

FTF and PoF have two similar stories to share. How many of us have slept in less than ideal places to save a buck? Let me know in a comment.

FullTimeFinance - I use to wrestle, including at the club level in college. The organization was low on money so one time during a meet at the University of Miami Ohio we crashed on the floor at a frat there, in the middle of their Friday night frat party. The next day was a bit rough.

Also slept a few times on the beach, probably illegally, in front of million dollar houses.

Finally, I can remember sleeping in my car at some car shows in college because I was too cheap to pay for a room. Just fold down the seat and sleep while everyone else goes to their hotel room.

PhysicianOnFire - When I was a freshman in college, the NCAA Wrestling Championships were being held in Iowa City over my spring break. I happened to be a huge fan as a former wrestler, and I was also a huge cheapskate.

A friend from a couple years prior – we met at math camp (yes, math camp) – was a freshman at the University of Iowa. We exchanged e-mails and he left a key somewhere that we could find it. Colin, Tony, and I made the trip with our camp mats and sleeping bags, sleeping in his vacant dorm room so we could take in the NCAAs.

Friends of ours were living it up in South Padre Island and Cancun, but we snuck our way into Carver-Hawkeye to see Lincoln McIlravy be upset in his quest for a third national championship.

It would be seven years before my Golden Gophers would win the first of three national championships.

99to1percent.com - Back in the days when I was in college, I had like $40/month food budget. So I had to be a little bit resourceful, I did surveys at the mall to get free snacks. I roamed around in Costco or the local farmer's market to get as many food samples I can get (still do that now, can’t shake the habit). I also bought food at the Dollar store.

Currently, we don’t wanna get rid of our 13-year-old car, even though EVERY TIME we have to use it, we have to put air in the tires and boost the battery.

Jeez, how long does the car sit between uses?

AnotherSecondOpinion - In medical school, I bought a car in the summertime(hot/humid) which turned out to have a broken heater come winter (very cold/snowy). Rather than get it fixed, I would put on like 4 layers of clothes for the drive and try my best to park in a sunny spot.

My dad told me a story that took place during his youth about a truck like this – in Maine with no heat. Just make sure you have gloves so you don't freeze your fingers off holding onto the wheel.

FinMillennials - The cheapest thing I've ever done is probably request 2 dollars on Venmo that someone owed me in college for a pack of gum. Not my brightest moment but hey I was really broke back then! I remember because I felt like a jerk.

Bitches better have FinMillennials money!

GRuga - We had a front stoop on our college rental house. One day, much to the disappointment of our neighbors, we decided we needed a bench.

Being without dollars we kept our eyes open for something good. One day near a set of large dumpsters in restaurant row someone had left bench seating from the front of an old car. We carried it back and proudly displayed our new found bench.
A few weeks later a truck kept driving by our place (and our neighborhood that was a scary event). Eventually, he came up and asked about the bench. Apparently, it was a mint condition front bench from a Chevy Nova super Sport of a year of interest to this gentleman.

He offered us money on the spot for our fine bench. We gladly made the exchange and went out to dinner with the proceeds. Worry not! Although we no longer had the bench we still had the spare tire Christmas tree stand so we were not deprived.

Trash to cash, I like it!

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Re-Gifting Like A Cheapskate

MarchTowards1Mil - I re-gift like it's my job. I'll even give my younger kids one of their brother's long lost toys he doesn't even remember he had. I don't re-gift with my wife, but everyone else is fair game. Re-gifting is great because it saves money and recycles in a sense.

Fair enough, it brings the old items back into use.

TheSlowDad - Many years ago my brother gave me a really bad paperback book for my birthday. I couldn’t finish it, it was that bad. So for his birthday I wrapped it up and gave it back to him. He returned the favor that Christmas. This has been going on, backward and forwards, for nearly 20 years now. I found out recently that he didn’t even buy the book to begin with, he found it left behind on the bus.

This sounds like a nice tradition! I will have to think about sending my brother a suitable paperback this year...

Penny_deSaver - I have a bin where I store items to re-gift. Not all were gifts to begin with – some were just free with purchase or really good deals I couldn’t pass up as gifts for other people. But the ones that did come to me as gifts all have post-it notes on them with the gifter’s name. I started this after I re-gifted something that was re-gifted again, within our same circle. So now I try to make sure it goes to someone who has no connection to the original gifter.

Same here Sister, same here. We have plenty of items to choose from when a gift is needed. The Wife and I went to a wedding and had to decide what to give them. I picked a wireless Bluetooth speaker while she picked a SodaStream. We ended up going with the SodaStream as it was her friend getting married. Both items were purchased off the clearance shelf at like 50-75% off.

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Being Cheap With Clothes

MarriedWithMoney - Recently I had to be bribed with wedding money to replace my shoes that were literally falling apart, holes in the bottom, etc. My wife was bothering me about it for weeks, and I kept saying no because I didn't want to spend the money. Pretty much every day I'd have to tell her no. After I had a meeting with the CFO of the company and the CFO noticed, my wife gave me an ultimatum. I just didn't want to spend the money so she said we could use the cash we got from the wedding (which she was planning on using for something else). I begrudgingly accepted.

A cobbler can work magic with an old pair of quality shoes.

ApathyEnds - One morning I was in a rush for work and threw on a pair of jeans and was out the door. About 3 hours later I was sitting in a meeting and looked down and realized there was a dime-sized hole in a risky local.

Hey now, my eyes are up here!

WorkingOptional - My dad used to wear undershirts with holes all the time, and I’d hate it when he did that. Now my wife hates it when I do that.

I, too, have ugly/stained/slightly holed shirts to wear around the house and do chores in. If they get too bad they end up on the rag pile!

OthalaFehu - My wife still brings it up. I used clothing, still on the hanger, the put over the blinds to keep out the winter air. So we were in a dark apartment with random clothing hung over the blinds. Probably didn’t help insulate at all and my wife demanded I cease and desist.

Try plastic wrap. That's what my Dad did in the winter. Probably helped as we lived in an old house with ancient windows.

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The Top Three Cheapest Responses (as chosen by me)

TheFrugalGene - I walked for over 1 hour today to go home because my bus transfer ran out and I didn’t want to pay $2 when I was only…5.8 miles from home.

Hey, being a cheapskate is a nice way to keep fit.

Mrs. FAF -At one point, we needed to save a lot of money to prepare for baby FAF's birth. Mr. FAF and I weren't living in the same city at the time. In order to save on rent and utilities (about $350-$450/month in total if he could find a place), Mr. FAF decided to (secretly) live in his office for a month.

Click the link to see how Mr. FAF hid his office occupation from his co-workers.

AtypicalLife - When I rode my bike across the US, I stealth camped in many parks and various other areas. The sketchiest and most money saved was in San Francisco sleeping in Golden Gate State Park with the hobos and raccoons. I remember the coons climbing over my sleeping bag during the night. Creepy to say the least, but at least it was free. 2.5 months for <$1000 is a pretty good deal for a trip including airfare.

Mr. Atypical Life – You win the cheapskate trophy with this one! Display it with pride! :)

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Conclusion

An idea of how some of the personal finance community goes past frugality and touches the edge (or jumps right in) to cheapness. Often it is the financial aspect of not spending on new or purpose made items or services and, instead, making due with what we have in our possession. This has the side bonus of possibly keeping us more fit while helping the environment as we reduce and reuse. It also helps our personal bottom line.

I think Emily (who puts poop, child or animal, in bread and newspaper bags) from MarriedAndHarried.com said it best:

The real thing that this helps with is the mindset. No one ever got rich picking up dog poop with bread bags instead of dog-poop bags from the store – but you’re crazy if you buy dog-poop bags from the store… We have learned to be more frugal, we have learned to reuse and re-purpose so that we are not being wasteful with our resources. That is half the battle when trying to be frugal is training yourself to be willing to re-purpose and reuse. To be willing to make do with what you have instead of going out and spending money on convenience.

Be frugal, just don't be TOO cheap!

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How about you all? Please share your forays into Cheapskatedom in a comment below!