Frugality a decease

[flatwater]

Frugality is a decease with simptoms that give you a light headedness and giddy when you score a good buy. You will get a feeling of satisfaction when you see a good deal at a yard sale. The side effects are a stuffed up storage space and withdrawals when you favorite thrift store closes down. Take heart though it is not deadly unless you partake in great excess.
flatwater

[GoodDaughter]

There is another symptom.... you gain a lot of excess weight.

Get it? ;D

And when you're in it's grip, you habitually return to the same places as often as you can, to get your fix....

[Shamrock1121]

;D You guys are toooooooo funny and soooooo right!

Other symptoms...

-You're EXTREMELY frugal (boardering on tightwadery) - even when you don't have to be. It's easy to be frugal when you're broke, but much harder when you have a little cash on hand, burning a hole in your pocket.

-It's December, and the only time you've had the furnace on is when it was serviced to see if it worked properly, despite a few morning temperatures in the teens. We've used our Sun Cloud space heater instead, which costs about a dollar a day to run, and added another blanket to the bed.

-You get a complement on your hair style and the person asks you where you get it cut? You tell them you get it cut in your bathroom.

-You need "something-er-other", and you know if you are patient, you'll find it at one of the thrift stores, flea market, or garage sale for a fraction of the price as buying it new.

-You listen to someone whining about being broke while they spend $50-$100 a week on hair or nails, a gym membership (and never go to the gym), and they eat out 75% of the time... While you're remembering the old idiom - A fool and his money are soon parted.

It's a good malady to suffer from... :D

-Karen

[leera]

Shamrock,if that's the case,I done went over the edge of tightwaddery.......WAY, WAY, WAY over..... ;D

My hubby gets a little miffed that I don't just run out and buy something we need or want.I hesitate to buy anything that I know I can get cheap or free.

I refuse to pay full price for anything,and since we started going to the church give away on Tuesdays,I have found lots of things we needed and the need/want list is pretty much gone......although I would like more attachments for my mixer. :)

[Shamrock1121]

Shamrock,if that's the case,I done went over the edge of tightwaddery.......WAY, WAY, WAY over..... ;D

My hubby gets a little miffed that I don't just run out and buy something we need or want.I hesitate to buy anything that I know I can get cheap or free.

I refuse to pay full price for anything,and since we started going to the church give away on Tuesdays,I have found lots of things we needed and the need/want list is pretty much gone......although I would like more attachments for my mixer. :)

Leera, we are cut from the same cloth ;).

My sister-in-law was snickering at me the other day - wasn't I going to buy something-er-other, IT WAS ON SALE! I told her I don't just buy something because it's ON SALE - only a novice would do that. I prefer a managers clearance/special where I can also use a coupon (double or triple the coupon), PLUS a rebate I can send in.

She said my being CHEAP was worse than she thought. I took that as a complement ;D.

-Karen

[Cil]

......although I would like more attachments for my mixer. :)


Dear Santa,

Leera has been a very, very, very good girl. Especially when she made me feel so welcomed on this board. Please be nice and give her Christmas wish.

Thank you,

Cil

[flatwater]

Tightwadery- What a great word. Definition-- the art of being so tight it makes your eyes water.
Flatwater

[tumbleing_dice]

Frugality is a host of arts among them competitive yard sales,cost per ounce,Weighing miles driven versus time versus cost etc etc
Vocabulary in includes
"no ones gonna pay that price"
will you take half that
Its scratched up
" look you can sell it now or move it around"
"
here is My number if you change you're mind"
It is a ART to be practiced with finesse and precison
it is survival
;)
PS it is FUN :)

[Shamrock1121]

Once read on another frugal site...

"You're frugal when you cut costs for yourself. You're a tightwad if you extend that to others."

What I gleaned from that was I'm frugal when I keep our house around 60-62°F in the winter (bedroom 55°, or so) for ourselves, but a tightwad when I won't turn up the heat for others when they are cold in our home while visiting. Although I'm a nice tightwad - I'll offer cold visitors a lovely soft throw or hand-made afghan to use. ::)

-Karen

[tumbleing_dice]

Eat well good food ,cook for friends good food pay as little for it as possible
The object is to enjoy

[scanr]

This is how it is done..... *You find a 32" TV, 2 DVD players and a Playstation 2 with 4 games on Craigslist for $60. *You sell your old 27" TV plus DVD player for $30, the other DVD player for $15 and finally sell the Playstation 2 *and 4 games for $75. *This leaves a net profit of $60 and I got to upgrade my TV to a 32".

This is the only way we could afford some things, we had to turn around and sell something to cover the cost. *Now it is more of a game than a necessity.

[flatwater]

Tumbling Dice , The one I use the most is "heres my number , call me if you change your mind , I got a couple of other places to go " I then open my wallet to give them my card so they can see the 20 I have next to it.. Almost works every time.
flatwater

[leera]

I love being frugal......even the author of the Complete Tightwad Gazette would have been proud,when I bought a copy of the book at a garage sale for $0.50!

Cil,thanks for the letter to santa,maybe it will help. ;D

My two favorite websites, Freecycle,and craigslist..........

We also have a local garage sale board,and local events board.All free to post on.

One of my favorite times of year around here is spring clean up.I take the week off work every year just to go scrounging.

This is where I have gotten several bikes that I gave to a guy who repairs them and takes them to the city mission to give away to people in need.

I have gotten several sewing machines,one very nice one too.

I have also gotten most of my planters and hanging baskets,all of my shepherd hooks,some lawn edging,a bunch of lawn mowers that my Dad fixed up and sold for a nice profit,

I'm all for garage sales,but quite often I can find what I want for free if I have enough patience to wait.

[rideaway]

waaaahhhhh I wish our town did more of these things, like the church giveaway, spring cleanup, etc. You can't even go to the dump and look for stuff, cause they won't let you...

I am not as frugal as I should/could be, but I am known at work for the person who rescues the watermelon rinds and old fruit from the garbage for my pigs... LOL!

[GoodDaughter]

Oh, I'm the one who, at family gatherings/meals like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, anniversaries, etc., who reminds every single person to scrape their plates into the 'chicken bucket', usually one of those big plastic ice cream buckets with the lid and plastic bail. I have one I've used for several years, and I always take it with me to moms, set it (clean and fresh) on the counter just above the trash can, and everyone still thinks that's just the weirdest thing, scraping your plates into the chicken bucket.. ::) Mom says it's nice to not have all those food scraps in the garbage to stink until the next trash day. Blubber and rind off the ham, turkey skin and bones, the crusty ring of baked beans stuck to the sides of the baking dish...all of it is saved. If my cats wont' eat it, the chickens will.

Oh, and my frugality score of the day!! I went to the scratch and dent grocery place today, and they had the big Scott wheels o'toilet paper for $1.99!! ;D 8) I got 12, which came to $23.88 + tax to = $25.61 ;D I might go back tomorrow and get a few more, depending on what's left in the expendible budget after I pay some bills.

I have a really, really bad case of this disease. ;)

[Funkhouser]

Ha! *The bug bit me yesterday at Goodwill. *My DW and I needed some new pants and shoes; we scored two pairs of pants and a pair of shoes each (premium brand items mind you). *Throw in an oxford for me and the total cost came to $28.93! *One pair of pants would have cost more than that retail! * ;D

[leera]

Rideway,from what I understand the church give away is fairly common,you might have to see if you can find a local church bulletin,they are usuallly printed in the local newspaper on sundays.That's how I found out about the one we go to,I guess they've been doing this for 20 years!

Spring clean up around here is great! I love it!

My biggest recent frugal score was from work....we have these things called "extra bucks" that you earn for buying certain sale items in the store.Well I had saved mine up for a while,and Saturday was employee appreciation day,we got an extra 10% off above our regular 20% discount.

I got Christmas gifts for my parents,some stocking stuffers,and a mandolin(sp) for me(the one thing I did need),plus a couple of extra little items for a grand total out of pocket $0.27....... ;D

[bassntrout]

Frugality is a disease we should all catch!

[flatwater]

Amen to that thought Bassntrout. It would give us more time to fish.
flatwater

[hillbillygal]

I love being frugal......even the author of the Complete Tightwad Gazette would have been proud,when I bought a copy of the book at a garage sale for $0.50!.

Oh! I got mine at our church yard sale. I was helping through some of the stuff and saw it sitting on a table and about fell over. I asked the person over the sale if anyone had claimed it yet and she said no. I ran out to my car with it. I ended up buying it and boxes and boxes of canning jars for a $10 donation to our youth group.

[catrules]

So, my parents were tighter than two coats of paint when I was a kid, so when I went to college, I rebelled against that like a dummy and ran up a ridiculous amount of debt. Now, with an 18 month old kid we have begun to reevaluate our life and our goals, so we are starting to do things differently.

Most recently, I got some clippers for Christmas and have cut my husband's and my son's hair. If I get brave this weekend, I am going to do my own. Not with clippers, just with scissors.

I have also spent the whole weekend canning dried organic beans. We eat a ton of beans, and the canned ones are about 1-1.50 each. I am canning them for about .30. Yay me. Gonna get that land one canning jar at a time. ;D

[pcrowder]

Unfortunately, we have NO thrift or second-hand stores w/in a 6 hr round trip from us, and there are precious few yard sales. Most of the sales we have are farm equipment/estate sales, and unless you're looking for a used combine, you're kinda out of luck! That is the ONLY thing I miss about living in the city - there were probably 30 thrift stores w/in a 20 min drive from me!. Out here, we're stuck. I do 99% of my shopping on EBay anymore.

[flatwater]

pcrowder--- When we leave this place and head north to the homestead, I have arranged to stop in Spokane once in awhile and stay with our best friends for a few days. At that time I will hit the yard sales and thrift stores

[jonvee]

Sounds like we've all started the year off in good frugal fashion.

I was giddy as a school girl this past weekend when I found my frugal purchase of the year. Bought a $400 rototiller for $120 from a guy on craigslist. It was so clean I had to ask it was actually used. Yes, he said, when they re-seeded the front yard. WOW one project then get rid of it. I love over consumers. He acted like I was doing him a favor.

[gregabob]

Good find Jenn! Aren't those fun to get? I bought a lawnmower from some joker at the entrance to a salvage yard-he says 'I just want to make sure it gets recycled'....I gave him a buck for it and recycled it to the front of my yard and promptly sold it for $20...... ;D

[jonvee]

Thanks Greg, I'm excited. Can't wait to use it.

It will probably be my last big purchase for awhile though, as I got laid off yesterday. I saw it coming so no surprise. In fact, I started getting these really wierd feelings a year ago about getting things under control, bills paid forward, stocking up etc. It got a little more intense last fall - you know that little voice that wont go away? Good thing I acted on it more than normal, cause I just finished my last few bits of stocking up last weekend, so I'm well set for about six months on some things and a year on others.

If your little voice starts nagging - listen. It may just save you from disaster.

Actually, I'm kinda excited about not having to work for awhile. Now I can do other things, maybe take another income path, lots of possibilities when your not in hock up to your eyeballs. I'm gonna take some time off and re evaluate life, which really will be put my frugality to the test.

I just believe that things happen for a reason and the universe and God takes you out of bad situations before disaster strikes. And then puts you on a path to the thing you're suppose to be doing.

So - I'm looking forward to my next adventure. :D

[gregabob]

Yeah, Jenn, that little voice has been getting more insistent lately. Sorry to hear you're out of work, but like you said, not a surprise and you're prepared. It's a new door opening for you! ;)

[jonvee]

I had to laugh yesterday after dealing with the unemplyment people - cause my sis and I had been chuckling over all the people who said they didn't need to pay their bills now that Obama was in office and wouldn't ya know it my unemplyment will cover my mortgage.

OMG!! the govt IS gonna pay my bill. Certainly brightened my day in a kinda twisted way :P

[Terri]

Thanks Greg, I'm excited. Can't wait to use it.

It will probably be my last big purchase for awhile though, as I got laid off yesterday. I saw it coming so no surprise. In fact, I started getting these really wierd feelings a year ago about getting things under control, bills paid forward, stocking up etc. It got a little more intense last fall - you know that little voice that wont go away? Good thing I acted on it more than normal, cause I just finished my last few bits of stocking up last weekend, so I'm well set for about six months on some things and a year on others.

If your little voice starts nagging - listen. It may just save you from disaster.


I heard the same little voice.

So far so good here, though. DH tells me that his job should be secure until mid-summer: after that who knows?

I HOPE to pay off the rest of our debts within the next couple of months, and I am already set up and ready to plant the garden.

[jonvee]

It's a strange feeling knowing that a lay off may be coming. You have the option though to either become frozen with fear and not act or act positively and productively.

The only advise I can offer Terri is to remember every little bit helps when paying down any debt. Just chip away at it and eventually it will be zero.

Good luck :)