Thrifty vs. Stingy

In reply to Duke:
There are lots of gas stations in my area that give about 10 cents per gallon price reduction on gas sales.

aircooled wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: ...Why would I carry an AMEX card??

I believe there are some advantages for businesses (e.g. have their salespeople use them) to use them. Another reason to use one is if you are a Costco member. It's the only card that Costco (aka the $200 store) accepts and if you get it through Costco, you don't pay a yearly fee for the card. You also can get the various benefits that AE offers. Regarding the "free" money you are "saving" with the cash back bonuses. I suspect that most are aware that they are just giving you back some of the hidden fee that is tacked onto every credit card purchase. Of course, you are "saving" in relation to a card without the cash back, but the implication in their commercials that they are somehow giving you some sort of free benefit is absurd. The real sad part though is that although these fees are only charged to businesses, they of course pass them down to the consumer, but almost always ALSO charge cash users the fee! I believe at one point (may still be true) the CC companies would discontinue an account if a retailer was caught giving cash discounts. So, essentially the use of CC is a self perpetuating situation. You are generally screwing yourself (paying for a benefit you don't get) by paying for cash. Still MUCH easier to get a concept of how much you spending when using cash though. Also having to go get cash (from an ATM etc.) to spend it acts as a bit of buffer to large spending.

as I read your post, I was going to point out that the cash buyers had to pay for my rebate … then you went ahead and pointed that out …

not sure if everywhere about the CC companies throwing a E36 M3 fit if places charged a different price for cash purchases

20 -30 yrs ago service stations here were doing that … they're now doing it again … since there was a long time between when they used to do this, and now when they're doing it again … there could have been rules against

as for keeping track of how much I'm spending … I generally have a rough idea in my head at all times … plus I check my account on line 4 or 5 times a week … and see the total

Many years ago I adopted a policy of trying to do the same thing for less money. People accused me of being cheap when I stopped my daily lunch runs of about $15.00 and ate a better breakfast and dinner at home with a snack ($3.00) for lunch. I still allowed myself 1 big lunch a week with co-workers but realized I was saving about $200 a month! I even cut my snack cost with smart shopping to just under a dollar a day. Extra $40 a month.

I sought to avoid things that I felt offered no real upside. Interest on debt was the first to go. Finally listened to my Dad when he told me that if I cannot save for something I will suffer trying to make payments on it. Got out of my credit cards, paid off my car and house and never looked back! Now if cash won't work, I go somewhere will it will work.

It is easy to slip into stingy mode though. If you clench too hard and not accomplishing your objective you need to back up and reevaluate.

I see too many people hurry to buy something to impress people not worth impressing.

Bruce

DeadSkunk wrote: In reply to Duke: There are lots of gas stations in my area that give about 10 cents per gallon price reduction on gas sales.

Same here - at least in PA and NJ. However, some stations have a "same price" policy. Although I live in PA, I work in NJ where gas is generally much cheaper. I drive about 100 miles a day. Keeping that much cash on me in order to keep the DD filled (@$50-$60 a pop) every 4 days or so would be a PITA. Fortunately, two stations near work are in a price-war. One station started the "same price" policy and the other followed. Both stations prices are quite a bit less than other stations I pass in NJ and substantially less than any near me in PA.

Plus, the card I use for gas (and only for gas) gives 3% back applied directly to my balance. Lastly, using the card makes it easier for me to track expenses when I get the statement each month.

I dont know whats wrong with you guys. I light my Cuban cigars with $100 bills and heat my house with a furnace that burns maxed out credit cards.

DeadSkunk wrote: In reply to Duke: There are lots of gas stations in my area that give about 10 cents per gallon price reduction on gas sales.

and for the convenience of it … that isn't enough to make me switch to cash

logdog wrote: I dont know whats wrong with you guys. I light my Cuban cigars with $100 bills and heat my house with a furnace that burns maxed out credit cards.

there always has to be one ….

Most stations here charge $.10 a gallon more for credit but not debit so I get the cash price without having to carry any.

chandlerGTi wrote: I get called cheap a lot. Not sure it's true.

I'm called cheap by a lot of people. On the other hand, I throw away snow tires after two years, batteries after three, because it's cheaper than a tow. Or wrecking a car. And I get to drive on new tires a lot, which makes me go all HAHAHAHA IDDQD MELONFARMERS!!! and then the nice man in the blue suit yells at me a lot and gives me big speeding ticket.

On second thought, maybe I am not saving money.

MELONFARMERS…?

My father taught me the lesson of "Take care of every penny and the dollars will take care of themselves".

I try to look at every expense with a magnifying glass to see if I need it and if I could do it for less. I allow myself some wants, GRM subscription, shiny new pocket knife etc but also buy day old dounts.

Use those savings to go to europe every year, race my sailboat and specially to build up savings.

I believe I'm normally thrifty, sometimes cheap and at times stingy but just with myself.

SVreX wrote: I'm thrifty, and sometimes succeed at being frugal. Some people think I am cheap. I occasionally get a little too close to being stingy.

Frugal = Buying a $500 car and realiazing with a few huindred dollars and some sweat equity, you'll end up with something you can drive to work for two years.

Cheap = Buying a $500 car and expecting it to be perfect.

Jerry From LA wrote:

SVreX wrote: I'm thrifty, and sometimes succeed at being frugal. Some people think I am cheap. I occasionally get a little too close to being stingy.

Frugal = Buying a $500 car and realiazing with a few huindred dollars and some sweat equity, you'll end up with something you can drive to work for two years. Cheap = Buying a $500 car and expecting it to be perfect.

Stingy = Having a car that would last for a couple of years except you refuse to spend $500 maintaining it.

Jerry From LA wrote:

SVreX wrote: I'm thrifty, and sometimes succeed at being frugal. Some people think I am cheap. I occasionally get a little too close to being stingy.

Frugal = Buying a $500 car and realiazing with a few huindred dollars and some sweat equity, you'll end up with something you can drive to work for two years. Cheap = Buying a $500 car and expecting it to be perfect.

Which is why I have no issue spending more money if it saves me greatly in terms of NOT having to expend work.

F'rinstance, paying more for a car that you know has the maintenance up to date and will pass emissions, instead of spending half as much for something that may been 3x more in repairs to make road legal and reliable.

Knurled wrote:

chandlerGTi wrote: I get called cheap a lot. Not sure it's true.

I'm called cheap by a lot of people. On the other hand, I throw away snow tires after two years, batteries after three, because it's cheaper than a tow. Or wrecking a car. And I get to drive on new tires a lot, which makes me go all HAHAHAHA IDDQD MELONFARMERS!!! and then the nice man in the blue suit yells at me a lot and gives me big speeding ticket. On second thought, maybe I am not saving money.

Duke wrote: MELONFARMERS…?

Ever watch the TV edit of Repo Man?

I did, a long long long time ago. I have forgotten almost all of it. All but the most kickass unswear ever.

Just for fun, I looked up the actual definitions.

Thrifty: (of a person or their behavior) using money and other resources carefully and not wastefully.

Stingy: unwilling to give or spend; ungenerous.

Looks like I wasn't that far off. And it gives a really interesting ngram. Thrifty has a big bulge ending around WWII. Looks like the baby boomers killed it off
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stingy%2C+thrifty&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cstingy%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bstingy%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BStingy%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cthrifty%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bthrifty%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BThrifty%3B%2Cc0

Knurled wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote:

SVreX wrote: I'm thrifty, and sometimes succeed at being frugal. Some people think I am cheap. I occasionally get a little too close to being stingy.

Frugal = Buying a $500 car and realiazing with a few huindred dollars and some sweat equity, you'll end up with something you can drive to work for two years. Cheap = Buying a $500 car and expecting it to be perfect.

Which is why I have no issue spending more money if it saves me greatly in terms of NOT having to expend work. F'rinstance, paying more for a car that you know has the maintenance up to date and will pass emissions, instead of spending half as much for something that may been 3x more in repairs to make road legal and reliable.

It was a comparison of frugal versus cheap. It was not a manifesto for living one's life.

Thank you Duke for completing the Trifecta of Penuriousness.

Knurled wrote:

Duke wrote: MELONFARMERS…?

Ever watch the TV edit of Repo Man? I did, a long long long time ago. I have forgotten almost all of it. All but the most kickass unswear ever.

Ahhhh, I see. Nope, never saw the TV edit - when my VHS tape wore out, I bought it on DVD.

I'm pretty partial to "Cheese and rice!" as a TV edit.

One of the local stations here used Mister Falcon for that. I thought that would be a cool name if I ever built a Falcon drag car.

Melonfarmers and pretty mich any reference to melons can apparently be considered racist if you have coworkers with easily bunched panties.