Frugal or cheap? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying to stretch your dollar. But like anything else in life, sometimes that philosophy can be taken to its extreme. When making a purchase, frugal folk always consider additional factors including the price of their personal time and/or the trade-off between quality and cost. On the other hand, cheapskates are much less pragmatic, usually focusing entirely on the price tag.
The bottom line: Saving cash is certainly a noble goal. However, we cross the dreaded rubicon from “frugal” into “cheap” the moment we stop caring about getting the best value for our money.
Photo Credit: Giorgio Monteforti
“Cheap” is also stealing as in extra ketchup and napkins from the fast food place. Also giving unsuitable gifts to people, just because you found them at a good price. Frugal is bringing home your leftovers in a doggy bag and finding a suitable gift at a great price.
Cheap (and selfish) is extreme couponing, hoarding your stash until you consume it beyond its prime, or maybe even have to throw it away. Frugal is buying what you need and/or donating what you don’t need to a food pantry.
I lol’d at stealing extra ketchup and napkins. Everyone has that friend who has those ketchup packets in their home lol
“Cheap” is pretending you are poor when you really are not to get social services like financial counseling. Awful nerve of some people.
Then I must be a cheap ‘moron’ because I take home the extra napkins too! Rather I stick them in the car door pocket to use when I need to use the water from the water bottle (that I refill from my faucet) to rinse my hands and dry them with from the overflowing Heathbar Blizzard that I indulge in ONLY on road trips to see my mother.
I also take home those extra napkins because I know they will just be thrown away! They live in my glovebox until needed!
Some frugal folks are able to go beyond weighing the value vs. price of something they might buy. They make their own wealth, more or less independently of money.
For example, some of us have built our own houses.
Dead on RD…..wealth is often “unrealized” and not something you can put in a bank account. Building your own home is a good example.
Wife and I built both the homes we’ve owned over our 46 years together, and only “realized” the gain on the first one, which got immediately rolled into the current one. Had a small (10k), short term (6yr) mortgage on the first house, and none on the current.
But it extends to other things too. Raising and preserving your own food….not to be cheap, because often you could actually buy it cheaper, but to have a far superior product for an affordable price.
Or saving up and paying cash for a car rather than give in to the “gotta have that new smell NOW”.