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tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:06:56 AM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

this is a good time to ask. which are you?

have you amended your ways? If so, when/why?

we need both to make the world go round. lets take Pepsi. i dont drink it- my garbage is lighter due to simply not buying soda of any kind. At this phaze in life I view it is non-food. Yet the soda industry employs people and is a product people will pay for.

I was admiring the perfection of an orange, wondered if the pump it up with color or anything.

Tho it is all more then foods.   I can clean house- but when I go to move I find a heck of alot of junk.   Why?

do you view parts of life as trivial- albiet a faddish item you bought, lived that image; what is you. what makes you tick?

finally; as we are all evolving describe where you are going.   ?   [evolving into]

Post #: 1

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:21:24 AM

MissMorrigan

Posts: 2309
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline

When I was younger I was obsessed with labels. If I ate beans, they had to be Heinz beans, same with ketchup and anything else. If it wasn't by Heinz or some other reputable brand I woudln't touch. Nowadays, while I go for quality over quantity, I no longer care for labels, so I'm happy to eat Smartprice beans and wipe my nether regions with cheap toilet paper as opposed to buying the stuff that costs nearly eight times as much. I live simply, I enjoy budgeting even though I don't exactly have to any longer, but appreciate lower bills leaving more to save or spend on other things such as entertainment/leisure, etc... I like not having huge amounts of rubbish to throw out and feeling satisfied when all my recycling is presented clean, neat and tidy ready for collection. I live a minimalistic lifestyle, my only concessions are the things I buy for my boy.

I haven't always been that way. Growing up I had to be very careful with the pennies, until I began work and then money would drip through my fingers. I now find myself controlling my boy's expenditure so that all that we earn in a month isn't frittered away and we have monies for those 'rainy' days.

One thing I won't do is deny myself something if I really want it. At the grand age of 43 I'm going to be learning to drive soon... so the next big expenditure will be a car, not a brand new one, mind, just a regular jalopy (not too dilapidated) but one with a little character.

We recently fully renovated our flat and decorated it, which included putting in a fitted kitchen and rebuilding walls, and stain resistant carpeting throughout... Grand cost, just under 3k.

I guess you can say we're careful with our money.

_____________________________

The Tooth Fairy who teaches kids to sell body parts for money.

A free society is a society where it is safe to find one's self unpopular and where history has shown that exceptions are not that exceptional.

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 2

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:23:37 AM

kittinSol

Posts: 16926
Status: offline

I have a problem with money: when I have none, I'm a tightwad. And when I have any, it's never for very long, because I turn into a spendthrift at the mere sight of it.

_____________________________

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 3

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:25:43 AM

NorthernGent

Posts: 8730
Joined: 7/10/2006
Status: offline

Thrifty when it comes to items I don't need.

Spend-happy when it comes to holidays abroad.

_____________________________

I have the courage to be a coward - but not beyond my limits.

Sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 4

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:26:02 AM

Raechard

Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline

I'm always in the black; debt is too scary a concept in this day and age when no one cares about the poor and homeless. It could be you.

_____________________________

えへまにんへえや
Nobody wants to listen to the same song over and over again!

(in reply to kittinSol)

Post #: 5

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:32:16 AM

MissMorrigan

Posts: 2309
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline

When it comes to holidays abroad I'm the opposite, I keep well clear of the tourist areas as much as possible, although some of them are difficult, even nigh on impossible to avoid depending on where a person goes, and I tend to stay in hostels which cost a small fraction of a hotel and there are many which have the rating of a three star hotel, are clean and comfortable. It leaves me more money for travelling, which is what i'll be doing when we go to Sri Lanka next year. There's a cracking hostel on the edge of a nature reserve and it charges just £8 per night... Getting up for breakfast each morning and watching elephants grazing. I cannot envision anything more wonderful.

quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
Thrifty when it comes to items I don't need.

Spend-happy when it comes to holidays abroad.

_____________________________

The Tooth Fairy who teaches kids to sell body parts for money.

A free society is a society where it is safe to find one's self unpopular and where history has shown that exceptions are not that exceptional.

(in reply to NorthernGent)

Post #: 6

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:34:04 AM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: MissMorrigan

When I was younger I was obsessed with labels. If I ate beans, they had to be Heinz beans, same with ketchup and anything else. If it wasn't by Heinz or some other reputable brand I woudln't touch. Nowadays, while I go for quality over quantity, I no longer care for labels, so I'm happy to eat Smartprice beans and wipe my nether regions with cheap toilet paper as opposed to buying the stuff that costs nearly eight times as much. I live simply, I enjoy budgeting even though I don't exactly have to any longer, but appreciate lower bills leaving more to save or spend on other things such as entertainment/leisure, etc... I like not having huge amounts of rubbish to throw out and feeling satisfied when all my recycling is presented clean, neat and tidy ready for collection. I live a minimalistic lifestyle, my only concessions are the things I buy for my boy.

I haven't always been that way. Growing up I had to be very careful with the pennies, until I began work and then money would drip through my fingers. I now find myself controlling my boy's expenditure so that all that we earn in a month isn't frittered away and we have monies for those 'rainy' days.

One thing I won't do is deny myself something if I really want it. At the grand age of 43 I'm going to be learning to drive soon... so the next big expenditure will be a car, not a brand new one, mind, just a regular jalopy (not too dilapidated) but one with a little character.

We recently fully renovated our flat and decorated it, which included putting in a fitted kitchen and rebuilding walls, and stain resistant carpeting throughout... Grand cost, just under 3k.

I guess you can say we're careful with our money.

holy cow! 3k ? come on over! :-)

with your son, teach him the REASONs, to critque labels and to not fall for just the package.

congrats on driving!!

I cant say I buy beans.

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 7

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:37:09 AM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: MissMorrigan

When it comes to holidays abroad I'm the opposite, I keep well clear of the tourist areas as much as possible, although some of them are difficult, even nigh on impossible to avoid depending on where a person goes, and I tend to stay in hostels which cost a small fraction of a hotel and there are many which have the rating of a three star hotel, are clean and comfortable. It leaves me more money for travelling, which is what i'll be doing when we go to Sri Lanka next year. There's a cracking hostel on the edge of a nature reserve and it charges just £8 per night... Getting up for breakfast each morning and watching elephants grazing. I cannot envision anything more wonderful.

quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
Thrifty when it comes to items I don't need.

Spend-happy when it comes to holidays abroad.

I avoid the traps too. One time I took a tour of the Calif redwoods. I wandered and nearly lost the group. It was designed purely around the gift shop.

When I get to Chicago I check out the thrift stores and dumpster dives. In the past I found nice things. Last visit tho - the stuff really was rubbish.

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 8

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:38:26 AM

MissMorrigan

Posts: 2309
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline

It's extremely scary and something that does concern me, even though it shouldn't. I refuse to have a credit card, debit only. I only spend what I have. I used to (until I moved, that is) help out each year at a local church at Christmas time, as well as at other times, and people in general have a perception that the homeless/needy are dregs of society, people that haven't made an effort, who couldn't apply themselves, etc... Yet, I have spoken to many who had led what society would consider 'successful' lives - until they could no longer cope and whether it be through mental health issues, or physical ones, or simply just circumstances, found themselves devoid of the lifestyle they had originally created and now live one day at a time, surviving.

And some years ago I was walking past a skip that ws infront of a house where they were obviously clearing the house out. I noticed on the skip a few dozen letters still in their envelopes, some children's annuals and a few other personal items belonging to the owner who had died. I asked the builders if I could take those items and they agreed that I could. I still have those items today. The first envelope was open, it was clearly a love letter the author had penned. The rest remain unread by me. I'm not sure why I took them, part of me felt saddened at the injustice of h aving one's deeply personal belongings treated so casually.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Raechard
I'm always in the black; debt is too scary a concept in this day and age when no one cares about the poor and homeless. It could be you.

< Message edited by MissMorrigan -- 4/12/2008 8:41:57 AM >

_____________________________

The Tooth Fairy who teaches kids to sell body parts for money.

A free society is a society where it is safe to find one's self unpopular and where history has shown that exceptions are not that exceptional.

(in reply to Raechard)

Post #: 9

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:51:23 AM

christine1

Posts: 6155
Joined: 12/15/2007
From: i'm headed to HIM...
Status: offline

if i had a lot of money i'd spend it, there is no doubt in my mind. i don't have a lot of money but i have enough to live comfortably if i'm careful. i don't have a credit card and all of my debt will be paid off next month, i hate owing people money. i'm thinking of getting a second job to sock away cash for a down payment on a house to make that debt that much smaller.

i see co workers buying new cars for 40 grand and setting up payment schedules that last for 8 years! my god, it's only a car! i will drive my honda until the wheels fall off (preferably while i'm not in it).

i just can't spend beyond my means, it is too stressful a way for me to live and sucks the joy out of life for me, i'd rather do without a few things and not have the stress of a lot of debt.

_____________________________

i am woman! er, godzilla! hear me roar!

http://wavcentral.com/cgi-bin/log/log.cgi?id=2856&sound=/sounds/movies/godzilla/roar.mp3

He's the "boom" overwhelming...

He is my Master, my lover, my best friend my everything.

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 10

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:51:40 AM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

credit cards are a necessary evil.

this week I closed 5-8 of my credit union accts. the amounts range from $5 to $120. i cant keep tract of the mess. but now which do i want to keep? 5 or more. i dont even know how many i have. so i must simplify. one accounnt there is $1 in. oh boy! CUs are now getting fees like banks, so $50 - say a $5 a month 'fee" is gone in 10 months. i expect ALL CUs to tag a fee.

i have been sorting - found 2 computers to sell. free clasified ads. there is more- i just need to find all the peices to each item. it is now 1 year that i lived here. so i have a better idea what i need and what i dont.

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 11

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:53:04 AM

Aneirin

Posts: 6121
Joined: 3/18/2006
From: Tamaris
Status: offline

I deal with what I have and nothing more, the fripparies of life I have learned so much as not to be of the worth we are coached to behold.

I live meagre as my funds will allow, for I have learned that the wiles of others are so designed to entrap and enslave us so.

Of such fripparies I do succumb, I like music and books and art, but those I am coming to see if meant for us to have, will come in their own time and from sources different from the more obvious route.

By saying this I do peruse stores of the charity kind, and by this it is often to see that an item past wanted will jump to the eye.

< Message edited by Aneirin -- 4/12/2008 8:54:11 AM >

_____________________________

Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 12

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:53:21 AM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: christine1

if i had a lot of money i'd spend it, there is no doubt in my mind. i don't have a lot of money but i have enough to live comfortably if i'm careful. i don't have a credit card and all of my debt will be paid off next month, i hate owing people money. i'm thinking of getting a second job to sock away cash for a down payment on a house to make that debt that much smaller.

i see co workers buying new cars for 40 grand and setting up payment schedules that last for 8 years! my god, it's only a car! i will drive my honda until the wheels fall off (preferably while i'm not in it).

i just can't spend beyond my means, it is too stressful a way for me to live and sucks the joy out of life for me, i'd rather do without a few things and not have the stress of a lot of debt.

an 8 year car note? thats rediculous. cars rust and fall apart. some houses cost less then 40k. [small towns]

(in reply to christine1)

Post #: 13

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:54:59 AM

Raechard

Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline

ok nevermind.

< Message edited by Raechard -- 4/12/2008 8:55:46 AM >

_____________________________

えへまにんへえや
Nobody wants to listen to the same song over and over again!

(in reply to Aneirin)

Post #: 14

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 8:58:56 AM

MissMorrigan

Posts: 2309
Joined: 1/15/2005
Status: offline

One thing I refuse to do is have credit... Nothing is urgent where you have to have it 'now' and there's no way I will have a finance plan where I then pay back almost the same amount in interest as the original item cost!

quote:

ORIGINAL: christine1
i see co workers buying new cars for 40 grand and setting up payment schedules that last for 8 years! my god, it's only a car!

_____________________________

The Tooth Fairy who teaches kids to sell body parts for money.

A free society is a society where it is safe to find one's self unpopular and where history has shown that exceptions are not that exceptional.

(in reply to christine1)

Post #: 15

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 11:17:29 AM

slaveboyforyou

Posts: 3607
Joined: 1/6/2005
From: Arkansas, U.S.A.
Status: offline

I'm a tightwad and I always have been. Now, there are certain things that I won't skimp on. I won't buy cheap liquor and beer, cheap tobacco, cheap toilet paper (you end up using twice as much, so it isn't really cheaper.), cheap garbage bags (they fall apart, and you end up having to use two or three.), or cheap soap (it irritates my skin). I have to disagree with MissMorigan on the ketchup. I only buy Heinz. I tried the cheap stuff before, and it was horrible. The cheap ketchup uses way too much sugar. Cheese is something else I won't skimp on. I don't like cheap, processed cheese. I have to have real butter, so I don't buy margarine. I also tend to only buy and use olive oil, even though cheaper vegetable oil will do in many cases. Tea and coffee is another thing I won't buy cheap. Cheap tea and coffee is just horrible.

People keep asking me why I don't buy a new car, because I could afford it. I drive an 11 year old truck now, and I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon. I don't see the point in buying a new car every few years when cars last so long now. It's a small truck and it gets great gas mileage, which is another thing I like. I will never buy a car that guzzles gasoline. So flashy cars don't impress me.

I have found cheaper ways of doing things that actually end up being better than the expensive ways. Take shaving for instance; I used to buy those expensive multi-bladed, cartridge razors. But I got really sick of spending $15 dollars for 8-10 replacement cartridges. So I took an old Gillette double-edge safety razor I had and cleaned it up. I have been using it for 5 years now, and I swear I get better shaves from it. The blades are very cheap (about $3.00 for 10), and I rarely get razor bumps or cuts anymore.

(in reply to MissMorrigan)

Post #: 16

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 12:46:44 PM

Aneirin

Posts: 6121
Joined: 3/18/2006
From: Tamaris
Status: offline

Razors, why not go the whole hog and get a straight razor, learn to use it and there you have the best blade for life. I did this when I was stuck for cash. The head hair, I just let it grow out

My last cut throat razor I actually bought from the U.S via ebay, a eighty tear old Solingen steel razor for about eight dollars. A bit of polishing and honing and hey what a brilliant and quick shave. I now have a few of them and rotate the blades every couple of days. Disposable razors are a complete con.

I have even learned now how to shave dry, i.e. no soap suds and water, and I don't remove so much skin as I used to.

_____________________________

Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

(in reply to slaveboyforyou)

Post #: 17

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 12:48:33 PM

christine1

Posts: 6155
Joined: 12/15/2007
From: i'm headed to HIM...
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

an 8 year car note? thats rediculous. cars rust and fall apart. some houses cost less then 40k. [small towns]

hunky...tell me where i can find a house for 40 grand or less that's in good shape with a little land to putter around on and i'll move there next week!

_____________________________

i am woman! er, godzilla! hear me roar!

http://wavcentral.com/cgi-bin/log/log.cgi?id=2856&sound=/sounds/movies/godzilla/roar.mp3

He's the "boom" overwhelming...

He is my Master, my lover, my best friend my everything.

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 18

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 12:49:55 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

paper towels -tissue- toilet paper- packages are shrinking- it is hard to compare- so i hold 2 and thing which one is heavier. i doubt one can skimp TOO much as to how much it takes to complete task.

it takes abit of thinking to shop. one almost has to be a chemist and materials eval person. lol

(in reply to slaveboyforyou)

Post #: 19

RE: tightwad or spend thrift ~ ? - 4/12/2008 12:55:18 PM

christine1

Posts: 6155
Joined: 12/15/2007
From: i'm headed to HIM...
Status: offline

alright, straight razors it is! so who's gonna teach me how to use a straight razor on my stuff that needs shaved?

_____________________________

i am woman! er, godzilla! hear me roar!

http://wavcentral.com/cgi-bin/log/log.cgi?id=2856&sound=/sounds/movies/godzilla/roar.mp3

He's the "boom" overwhelming...

He is my Master, my lover, my best friend my everything.

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 20

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