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How much of a cheap bastard are you?


Hellraiser97

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My wife berates me for a being a cheap bastard.  I revel in it, and I may have reached a new level.  I recently took down some really over grown bushes and spent yesterday putting a new garden in place.  Putting the edging in, I had to remove a decent chunk of grass that had grown into the area.  On my front lawn, along the street, its dead as fuck.  Put some sod in last year but it didn't take.  Was going to sod again after putting some lawn soil down, but thought, hey I have perfectly good grass in that garden!  Spent the after noon cutting out the garden grass and planting it as plugs (St Augustine) in the dead area.  My wife was on the porch just shaking her head at me.

 

 

Edited by Hellraiser97
too much shaking going on
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2 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

I walked from the old bus station in Nuevo Laredo to the bridge at 3 AM, because fuck paying for a taxi.

That’s a bold move. I wasn’t even crazy about riding in a taxi to that bus station. 

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Just now, Hate said:

That’s a bold move. I wasn’t even crazy about riding in a taxi to that bus station. 

I only did it once. The walk wasn't bad. On the main drag a little guy asked if he could tag along with me because he was afraid to walk that way by himself. Told me he'd just gotten out of US and Mexican jails. I believe the part about jails. We had a nice polite conversation back to the bridge, after which he probably reported to his masters that he'd met a crazy man.

Nest time I took a taxi.

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My brother used to pump gas at a local airport so he could pay for flying lessons.  Sometimes, Howard Pardue (very famous warbird operator/owner) came in to get gas.  He always stole all the sugar and Sweet n Low packets on the tables in the FBO while they were gassing up his planes.  When you're flying around seven figure airplanes, that's cheap.  

Edited by Chad Fuck
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For some normal cheap ass stuff:

I use cash to make myself save money by not swiping a card. When I "eat out" I tend to keep it around $2. Save the change, roll it up, and take it to the grocery store for 12 packs of cheap beer. Pennies go into the coin star. But to hell with losing 11% of my dimes and quarters, those I roll.

Broke my "real" phone, and replaced it with a $20 Go phone. Years ago.

Been driving the same jeepish little car for 18 years. I lavish money on the mechanics so I can save triple that in car payments. The fabric top is missing the sides. Would cost about $400 to replace. In winter, I wear extra clothes and imagine that I just earned 400 bucks. For about ten winters so far.

Fixed up an old bike I bought in the 90s. It works great. Thought I'd have to replace the 10-year-old inner tubes. So far, no.

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7 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

For some normal cheap ass stuff:

I use cash to make myself save money by not swiping a card. When I "eat out" I tend to keep it around $2. Save the change, roll it up, and take it to the grocery store for 12 packs of cheap beer. Pennies go into the coin star. But to hell with losing 11% of my dimes and quarters, those I roll.

Broke my "real" phone, and replaced it with a $20 Go phone. Years ago.

Been driving the same jeepish little car for 18 years. I lavish money on the mechanics so I can save triple that in car payments. The fabric top is missing the sides. Would cost about $400 to replace. In winter, I wear extra clothes and imagine that I just earned 400 bucks. For about ten winters so far.

Fixed up an old bike I bought in the 90s. It works great. Thought I'd have to replace the 10-year-old inner tubes. So far, no.

I like this RD fella.

He and my old coathanger "radio antenna" woulda gotten along just fine.

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36 minutes ago, Hellraiser97 said:

... being a cheap bastard.  I revel in it ... On my front lawn, along the street, its dead as fuck.  Put some sod in last year but it didn't take.  ...

At some point, being cheap is actually expensive.  You need to spend a few pennies and water that grass.  Shit don't grow without water, yo!

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17 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

For some normal cheap ass stuff:

I use cash to make myself save money by not swiping a card. When I "eat out" I tend to keep it around $2. Save the change, roll it up, and take it to the grocery store for 12 packs of cheap beer. Pennies go into the coin star. But to hell with losing 11% of my dimes and quarters, those I roll.

Broke my "real" phone, and replaced it with a $20 Go phone. Years ago.

Been driving the same jeepish little car for 18 years. I lavish money on the mechanics so I can save triple that in car payments. The fabric top is missing the sides. Would cost about $400 to replace. In winter, I wear extra clothes and imagine that I just earned 400 bucks. For about ten winters so far.

Fixed up an old bike I bought in the 90s. It works great. Thought I'd have to replace the 10-year-old inner tubes. So far, no.

You should just take the quarters/dimes/nickels to your bank and cash them in, after you check for any pre-64 quarters.  Then you take the cash to your local coin shop and buy silver with it.  No receipt.  No nothing.  Cash for store of value.  I do it at the end of every month.  Usually get 8-12 oz of silver for my throwaway money.  

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I'm kind of a cheap bastard (fortunately, so is the wife).  However, that's "price cheap if not value cheap."

That is, I will splurge if some brand name is truly head and shoulders above lower cost options (i.e. HEB brand good, Hill Country Faire brand bad (usually)).

I want value for my buck.  I'll pay it if need be.  However, about 97% of of every single solitary good/product/service in the world has lower cost, equally good options.

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12 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Thighs, my man. You got to get the thighs.  Although cheap breasts are always good to look at.  

I usually do.  That's just the only pic of the HEB "SAVE!" sticker I could find.

Big fan of chicken thighs over breasts, ESPECIALLY when marked down (just grilled some leg quarters marked down from .99 lb to .75 lb the other night).  Sometimes they mark down their carne guisada mix.  Ground beef, roast cuts, all that other stuff -- it gets marked down.  It's all awesomeness.  A lot of times, I'll go into HEB, see what's marked down, and build my evening meal plan around that.

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12 minutes ago, phdhorn said:



I want value for my buck.  I'll pay it if need be.  However, about 97% of of every single solitary good/product/service in the world has lower cost, equally good options.

This is me.  And my wife is somehow convinced the name brands are superior in quality every time.  The ultimate was yesterday.  We were at an Aldi (German chain of low cost markets if you don't have them) and they had a case of 16oz water for $2.  My wife was very reluctant because it wasn't Arrowhead or Sparkletts.  Um, it is water.  2 parts H, 1 part O.  Same as the other. 

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8 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

Avoid the toll road heading east out 71 to Bastrop-so I sit in a couple of light meh.

 

Also do the same going to Lockhart.

If you hit it at the right time (non-rush hour) it's usually about 75% sail right through there anyway.  I do the same.

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Some things I splurge on, some things I'm cheap on.  I have my wife cut my own hair because I don't want to pay 15 bucks to have my hair cut.  I actually watched a few youtube videos and learned how to trim her hair and did that yesterday (the hair on her head you heathens).

I don't cheap out on clothes typically (Lucky jeans and Jos A. Bank are my go-tos). 

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Heh, good one from just a few minutes ago.  I use a particular shampoo (Suave) and "flavor".  Recently HEB seems to have dumped it (boo-hoo).  So I searched nearby drugstores, etc. to find it.  Found it at a CVS on Manchaca.  Nah, too far, too much gas just for that.   Went to Amazon, found it for $12 for 3 bottles.  However the retail is about $1.05/bottle with tax.  So then I search and find it at Target for the buck per bottle.  Had to sign up for a Target account to be able to buy it/have it shipped to my nearby Target in Bee Cave.  Ordered 3.  They'll e-mail me when it's in.

Waaaaay too much bullshit just to save $2-$3 bucks per bottle of a shampoo?  Meh, I figure it's that built-in "you're getting screwed on this deal" gene which kicks in for a lot of my shit.  I strive (as you can see, sometimes a wee bit much) to be able to say "I couldn't have gotten a better deal/value" on something".  If I have to spend big bucks for something to get to that point, I'm just as happy as if I "cheap bastard"ed my way to find something/something else at better value.

That little "don't get screwed on this deal" voice is always in my head.  But most of the time I listen to it.

And when I have more surplus/available cash, I splurge a lot more.  Like when I finally get done shelling out a good deal of $$ for phd jr.'s UT schooling in 3 years, I'll probably just have a night of coke and whores because I can. 

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50 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

He and my old coathanger "radio antenna" woulda gotten along just fine.

I still use a coat hanger antenna for my TV.  Of course, it gets better reception than any one I ever bought before, but I think I'm more pleased with the fact that I spent less than $8 on it.

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51 minutes ago, bernorange said:

At some point, being cheap is actually expensive.  You need to spend a few pennies and water that grass.  Shit don't grow without water, yo!

I watered it, but I think I had some type of fungus.  I've now installed rainwater barrels (that I got for free of course from a friend) so I can water it more and not pay for it.

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1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

I use cash to make myself save money by not swiping a card. When I "eat out" I tend to keep it around $2. Save the change, roll it up, and take it to the grocery store for 12 packs of cheap beer. Pennies go into the coin star. But to hell with losing 11% of my dimes and quarters, those I roll.

Get the gift certs, don't lose anything that way.  All the shit I put in my lawn the past couple weeks that I had to actually pay for, I bought with a Home Depot gift certificate I got that way.

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Best one me and the wife do is look at the circulars for sales on meats. anytime something gets super cheap we buys several pounds of it and freeze it. We eat lots of chicken and fish. It works out that we usually spend less than $4 on our protein part of dinner.

Also, we like Mediterranean food. Couple of places close to us are BYOB. So now rather than going to a nice place and spending $30 on drinks. We go here and bring a 6 pack of decent been. And save the more expensive times for when we want to go to a sports bar to watch a game or something.

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2 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

I am, personally, trying to ruin the greeting card industry.

For birthdays, valentines, mothers day, etc. instead of buying cards I just to a couple of stores, find a few cards that I like, whip out my phone and take pictures of the cards.
Then when said day arrives, I text the photos to my family; I also send my adult kids pictures of birthday cakes, and tWife gets pictures  of roses, candies and other things that cost too much and either spoil or we don't really need.

FWIW - I am waiting to be kicked out of a store for my shenanigans, but fuck $4-$6-$9 for some stupid card.

We may have a winner.

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I'm cheap as hell.  I compare HEB to Randall's before shopping (don't laugh, Randall's is regularly less expensive on meat & dairy, as well as "salad kits"), I use store coupons all the time, I "treat" my family to dinners out via Groupon or restaurant.com, and I pride myself on feeding 7 people a good healthy dinner for ~ $13 when I cook.

Shit, before they changed the rules, I used to buy discounted GameStop gift cards off eBay, take them to the store, and purchase eBay gift cards.  Rinse & repeat.  It was pretty easy to save 10% a turn.  Before long I'd have a few hundred dollars of GameStop gift cards I basically paid nothing for and then I'd swap for a Shell/Exxon/whatever card.  Free gas.

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1 hour ago, Chad Fuck said:

I knew a fellow who was so cheap that when we went hunting and ran across a rattlesnake, he leaned his shotgun against a tree, then found a stick to beat the poor thing to death with.  All to save one shell. 

I used to hunt with an old man that would empty his deer feeder corn into a bag or bags after the evening hunt on the last day of the season..... He'd store whatever he had left in his deep freeze until the next season.  He wouldn't even wait until the next AM - didn't want to waste that extra corn on one more feeder cycle.

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Wally, have you been like that forever? iirc from the scat site, you had a bad go with your industry last few years?  Reason I ask, I am trying to channel my inner cheapness constantly, but have really tightened up since the O&G hiccup moved me to a less prosperous employment.  We do have the kids “make” cards for all the dozens of parties we have to attend. I agree, fuck 4-9$ for a birthday card. 

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The cheap shit I do always cost me more in the long run.   Now that its lawn mowing season, I have to go out and buy another trimmer. I will most likely buy another $100 piece of shit that won't last more than one season. Every year I say I'm going to buy a good professional model..then I can never pull the trigger. Fuck me.

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22 minutes ago, Reagan1k said:

I used to hunt with an old man that would empty his deer feeder corn into a bag or bags after the evening hunt on the last day of the season..... He'd store whatever he had left in his deep freeze until the next season.  He wouldn't even wait until the next AM - didn't want to waste that extra corn on one more feeder cycle.

Just found a new end of season ritual

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1 hour ago, Jameslaw121 said:

Best one me and the wife do is look at the circulars for sales on meats. anytime something gets super cheap we buys several pounds of it and freeze it....

Thursdays, and only Thursday, at our Kroger is the day that put out the real deals.

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1 hour ago, Wally Fairway said:

I am, personally, trying to ruin the greeting card industry.

For birthdays, valentines, mothers day, etc. instead of buying cards I just to a couple of stores, find a few cards that I like, whip out my phone and take pictures of the cards.
Then when said day arrives, I text the photos to my family; I also send my adult kids pictures of birthday cakes, and tWife gets pictures  of roses, candies and other things that cost too much and either spoil or we don't really need.

FWIW - I am waiting to be kicked out of a store for my shenanigans, but fuck $4-$6-$9 for some stupid card.

Lulz.  But in all seriousness, I don't buy greeting cards from anywhere but Dollar General.  Most are $1 and you can find quite a few for fiddy cents.

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