How tightfisted are you?

i have a good friend from my earlier years going to a Religious schoool.
Mate he is so tightfisted I thought can anyone here beat him?

Went out with him last week for lunch.(italian restaurant)Arthurs pizza ,Bondi Junction.

First of all he asks the waitress to see examples of plate portion sizes , you can never be sure he says .
I must say it pratically took us 30 minutes to find a seat as he didnt want to be near the door ... Then the toilet etc ...
He then orders tap water .
Determined to get value from his meal , he has used the salt pepper basil you name it.
"Why is the pepper not on the tables !!
I didnt think he was happy spending money so i offered to pay !
"No no he says.."" They'll just try to use you"" !!

It was almost like the staff were the ememy ! "We need to be one step ahead of them" he whispers to me whilst looking at the waitress at the counter.

When the meal arrived he said loudly " you call this a meal !!!
They gave him free garlic bread i guess to shut him up.

Sugars were taken from the table by him, he saw me looking at him.



My Mother used to be so tightfisted she would walk from Bondi junction to the city sometimes and back to save her $2.50 a day pensioner ticket !! And that was pulling that trolley walker thing which she boasted she bought for $5.00 !!

My mother also "stole" the sugars from the RSL and Leagues Clubs .
She would pretend to play the pokies and get her free cup of Tea .

Plumbers and tradesmen would give her a discount... She use to play the poor little hunched up Jewish Lady ..

She would save the laundry water to put on the garden rather than pay over the water rates.
Supermarket leaflets were read back to frint by her .
She never ate sweet things and lived on vegetables, tuna, and basic stuff.
She would have lights turned off all the time pratically and never had Air Con in her house.
My mother would still walk with that trolley walker thing at over 82yo and haggle at the markets.
I never understood why she was like that especially in her older years .
I think it was a combination of living during the War perhaps.
When she passed she left me quite a bit of money but i honestly wished she had done trips away etc with it .
Even $2 was a lot to her .. But even now i notice older people in their 70's and 80's very frugal with their money... Except when i go to Bondi Junction RSL to see them sitting on the pokies !!!

How tightfisted are you ? Are you a saver ?

 

I hate giving away my hard earned money when I'm not sure I'm getting value for money. e.g. paying the cement renderer this week - I 'm sure he's over-charged and he's left a big mess. Can't wait til it's over. Not enough competition out here, strangely. Call me a tightwad, I don't care. I don't like being ripped off.

 

So much fear and scarcity in that. Not the type of energy I would welcome in my life, I like to be surrounded by people who have awesome vibes.

You get what you put your mind to, you can spend your time protecting money because it's precious and scarce or spend your time making money because it's abundant.

Neither is right or wrong but a choice. I choose Abundance.

 

I have started reading the web forums "cheapskates" .

 

I am all over the spectrum - some days I go around the house turning off lights no one is using and on other days I splurge like no tomorrow.

Frankly, I like spending money but I don't have much so I am trying to make more - now where is that high-fidelity color printer

 

People underestimate the personal satisfaction you can get from saving and in particular not letting anything go to waste.

Problems occur though when the second generation develop a disdain for being frugal and squander the money.

 

I have a mate that will only turn on his car air conditioner if its over 40 degrees. He also switches the air con off but leaves the fans on about a minute before he arrives at the destination as he gets the rest of the cool air in the pipes. He is single, lives at home and a engineer on a salary $100k+pa

 

Frugal, yes! Tight fisted, no! I don't pay to park wherever I can help it unless it is pouring rain or I have an old person with me. To prove the point to my daughter i frequently give a homeless person five or ten dollars on the occasion she rolls her eyes. Happy to pay for very fine wine but cannot stand the fact that bottled still water is forced on me at restaurants. Tap is fine thank you. Its all about value and values

 

Watertight

 

And does your Religious School friend always go 2c over on his petrol fill up, just so they have to round it down?

 

People who lived through rationing, the great depression and wars during their formative years carry those memories with them forever. The thing is, using those behaviours they survived. Afterwards their behaviour didn't really help'.
Other peoples shoes?

 

As @Player, I'm frugal but not tight.

I've invest heavily to save my most precious resource: time, but won't burn money on things that don't improve my life or wellbeing.

Admittedly, it took some work. I was living on $35 a week while I picked up my first few properties. It was a bit of a transition.

 

I cant match some of the extreme things mentioned but.........
- I refuse to pay for non street parking l. Will always drive around and I usually end up finding a free spot or metered parking
- never ever fill up petrol on the expensive days...... (only when I wait too long and it goes up will I then put in $10 to keep me going until the cheap days)
- always check the supermarket catalogs and buy the half price specials
- fill up petrol to max if its cheap even if my tank is 90% full
- buying applicances etc. Ill google/ebay and find the absolute cheapest retailer and buy off them (but ill never drive miles since petrol costs add up)

 

I do that too, but for a different reason. I like the heat and I like to dry out the air conditioner evaporator to not get that horrible musty humid smell the next time I drive the car.

 

One of our buildings had to be evacuated yesterday because of two ladies who decided to wash their hair and then proceeded to dry it in the disabled toilet.They created so much heat that the sensors were alerted and when the fireman found then still styling their hair in the now steam room they were oblivious to the problem and had missed the alarms.

They ended leaving the building in a very nice new Ferrari.

 

I just came back from Thailand and a mate brought another mate who was tighter than a fish's anus. This guy didn't tip, he counted out 1 baht coins to pay the exact money. He would try to save money at every point. His daily spend was less than one meal of mine.

He was also from the Bondi area.

Later I learned that he was worth about $300mil.

 

I hate it when people go to a country that is significantly poorer than their own and it make them feel good that they have saved a few cents that could have done better to the person they are tipping.

 

I am not frugal at all, in fact I probably should be less generous with my money as it isn't that plentiful. But life is short and I work so I have money to live comfortably. Saying that I don't spend heaps on jewellery, clothes or fancy cars. I will spend money on comfort like aircon and the clothes dryer and lots of good food.

I did near my neighbour's sister say that when she goes to the supermarket she will decide whether to use cash or credit based on the round up or down benefit. I was gobsmacked at the thought of saving 2 cents by such consideration!