As a companion* to the Extravagent thread, what are somethings you’re irrationally cheap about?
Mine:
Air conditioning. Most of human existance was spent without air conditioning and I kinda think it’s weak to use it all the time. Plus I hate paying for it and have a wacky theory that the widespread use of it contributes to the obesity problem.
My car. I have a good, middle-class job yet I keep driving my old '88 beater without air. I know it looks ghetto but somehow I just don’t care.
Clothes. I follow fashion, love shoes and girly things yet I hate spending a lot of money on clothes. So I pull together looks from places like Target and Old Navy and shop sales. But I will spend twice as much money on workout clothes as I will on an outfit for work.
Soap, cleaning supplies, etc. I will drive halfway across town to save 13 cents on toilet paper (and probably use more than that in gas doing so).
*dangit, I orginally planned to use a word that’s something like “collary” but when I looked it up to check the spelling (and to make sure it meant what I thought it meant), I couldn’t find it. Anyone have any clue as to what word I’m thinking of?
As to the OP… Jam. I love great strawberry, apricot, blueberry… just about any type of fruit (not raspberry cuz of the seeds) preserves. Yet, I always buy store name brands because the brand names taste exactly the same and are often near twice the price.
…as to the A/C thing. I believe it’s one of the very few things that distinguishes us from the animals. They’ll pry my A/C from my climate controlled cold dead hands.
Stuff I collect: comic books, action figures, DVDs and CDs. I will scour the Internet looking for the best possible deals, I’ll comparison-shop everywhere and factor shipping costs into the prices, I’ll scour discount back issue bins for elusive finds, I constantly perform trades with other collectors to avoid spending money on stuff, I’ll rejoin BMG Music Service to get 12 CDs for the price of 1 (even though it’s more like 12 for the price of 3 or 4 after shipping), and I’ll always be on the lookout for rarities I can pick up to trade later or sell for a profit on eBay, even if I don’t want them for myself–you know, to support my habit. But as it is, I am very reasonable in what I spend, and I’m always trying to downsize my collections just as much as I add to them, maintaining a “clutter equilibrium.”
Thanks for the word assistance. Hmmm, chaoticdonkey’s defintion makes it appear I’m using it worng but the definition Quicksilver provides is what I meant.
Groceries
Let me explain. I only buy the good stuff, but in most cases it must be on sale. I stock up when it is. While I don’t clip coupons, I do create my grocery list by flipping through the weekly circulars and making note of what’s on sale and where. Except at Trader Joe’s and the Farmers’ Market, where the good stuff’s always reasonably priced.
Gas
My cars take premium fuel, but I’ll buy the cheapest I can, without shopping at Earl’s Gas n’ Bait, if you know what I mean. Currently, because we’re members, we usually get our gas at Sam’s Club, assuming I’m not low.
Medicine
I buy the store/generic brand almost every time. I had a bad sinus infection not too long ago and ibuprofen alone wasn’t working. My doctor suggested I take Tylenol in between ibuprofen doses. I bought actual Tylenol because they had a liquid (works super fast) and some other rapid release formula. My husband was shocked.
Cleaning Supplies
I buy ammonia for cleaning my kitchen and bathroom floors. I do buy Dow Scrubbing Bubbles for the tub, though. I also use baking soda as an abrasive for cleaning the kitchen sink, stove and counters, when necessary.
Towels and Sheets
While I only buy good towels and sheets with thread counts of no less than 300, you’ll never catch me buying them from department stores. I buy that kind of stuff from overstock.com, Marshalls, Tuesday Morning and T.J. Maxx.
Dryer sheets. I buy the good ones (Bounce) but cut them in half. This is silly because it probably saves me $2 a year and I can easily spend $2 and not notice it.
Cleaning supplies. There are only two places to buy cleaning supplies - a wholesaler or the dollar store. A wholesaler for the stuff you need that is quality, dollar store for the “I’m going to spray my kitchen counter down” stuff.
Gee, I’m so cheap, I ought to have lots of contributions to make in this thread!
A/C or heat: I’ll use it, but first I’ll attempt to get comfortable by changing my clothes, and then I’ll experiment to see just how little heating or cooling it takes to make the house tolerable.
Toiletries: The drugstores in this area do monthly rebates on toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. Every month I go get all the stuff that’s free after rebate. Perish the thought that I should run out of deodorant in the middle of the month…I’ll try to stretch it until the next rebate is available rather than lay out 2 freaking bucks.
Clothing: First stop Goodwill, then the consignment shops, then Target and upward. Not always, but frequently.
Toilet paper: I have one criteria for toilet paper and that criteria is: Does shit stick to it? It does? Great, throw it in the cart.
I pray for your scratched, sore, and bleeding ass.
Things I’m irrationally cheap on:
Music - I almost never buy CD’s. The last CD I got was August, it was American Idiot. Before that was last December, and before that…who knows, but over a year. I own less than twenty real CD’s, most of those gotten when I did an initial sign up for Columbia House years back. I can affrod to buy more, and I don’t like listening to the radio, yet I still do it, and supplement that with less than elgal ways of getting music, but even then, not that much. Less than one a week (my MP3 collection is a paltry 1.6 GB.)
Books - I like to read, but I pretty much just read the same books I own over and over again. I am afraid i will buy a book, then read three pages, and never pick it up again. Then it’s a waste of money. It’s happenend a few times, a couple were bad books (or at least ones I didn’t enjoy) and a few I never actually got far enough into it to even know if I liked it or not, I just stopped reading it.
Furniture - My computer desk is an old table my parents got at a lawn sale many years ago that I got out opf the basement before I moved out. My end tables are from my Grandfather’s house when we moved him out, I have no coffee table, that task is being done by a rocking ottoman that is never near the vhair it matches. Oh, and the top to the ottoman is no longer atached, so it’s always sliding off. Several times I have thought about getting jsut a cheap desk and coffee table ($50-$100 each, we’re talking Wal-Mart furniture here) and still couldn’t bring myself to spend that much, even though even a cheap thing could last me a few years.
When I buy cans of tomato sauce, I always get the store brand. Why on earth should I spend .26 for a can of tomato sauce when I can get tomato sauce that is every bit as good for only .19 per can?
HA! You and my mother are the only two people I know to do this. As a joke, I have bought her dryer sheets for christmas with explicit instructions to use a whole sheet and indulge herself. Personally, I can notice the difference with my sheets and towels. Clothes, admittedly not so much.
I am a compulsive coupon clipper, and will try to get the triple crown of coupon shopping: using a coupon, doubled at the register, for something on sale that week.
I buy a lot of books and CDs used. Not just used, but bargain bin. My local used music store has $5, $2.50, $1, and even dime racks that, depending on your scouring ability and musical knowledge, can get you out of the store with 5 good CDs for ten bucks. Books, I try to hit the various History and English department, as well as campus library, booksales that occur once or twice apiece at UMD, often getting classics and interesting reads for fifty cents or a buck apiece. This one is the thrill of the hunt more than needing savings.
And I go way longer between haircuts than I should. In college, I simply didn’t get my hair cut for four years. Now it’s once every three months or so, when my hair demands more like once every month.
Earl says he doesn’t want your damn business, and quit putting your fingers in the minnow tank.
Back to the OP…
With me it’s books. I probably read 4 or 5 books a month but I usually hit flea markets, library book sales, and used book stores. I must have horrendous taste in reading material since everyone else seems to want to get rid of the stuff I want.
Electricity - I am always turning off extra lights and fretting about the seal on the refridgerator, and never turn the heat on unless the temperature outside is close to or below freezing. I grudgingly allowed my husband to buy an AC unit for the computer room last summer when it was sweltering, but we rarely leave it on for long.
OH, it’s completely wacky and unsubstantiated by any sort of science what-so-ever so it’s kinda embarassing. It just seems like as more people have switched to year round air conditioning (and I know many people who who are never outdoors but scurry from their cars to the mall to the office to the house), we’ve seen weights rise. And I’ve noticed all my overweight coworkers with dunlaps are really intolerant of the heat. I think being hot is a natural appetite suppressant and preventing yourself form ever sweating short circuits this.
Plus, you know how they keep finding out that things that were once thought to be bad for you are now good? Like they used to think exercise would stress the body unnaturally and know we now that it’s good to push yourself occassionally. And how studies have now shown that being hungry and somewhat undernourished (by conventional standards) can actually improve overall health. It seems like whenever you eliminate all discomfort you’re actually doing yourself a disservice.
Anyway, this isn’t very well-typed out as I’m procrastinating leaving for the airport. Maybe I should post a “what are your favorite unsubstantiated theories” thread. It’d be entertaining to see what the Dopers come up with…
I find the business about searching out the cheapest gas station to be pretty weird. I used to live in a VERY affluent town, and the gas station in town would have a 5 cents off/gallon day every Wednesday. You would see Mercedes-benzes, jaguars, Cadillacs, etc., lined up to save 5 lousey pennies! Wht’s that on a 20-gallon fillup? One dollar? Why does that matter to somebody driving a $50,000 automobile?
i just don’t get it!
Plus A/C can lead to that moral laxity that is plaguing the nation.
I am cheap about:
A/C–last summer we got away with not using it all except for 3 days! Yeah!
Heat: I am a child of the energy crisis (there should be more of me out there, but they are silent). 68 is the highest I’ll go. Put a sweater on alreadyand be quiet.
Picture frames-why spend $30 when you can go to TJ Maxx and get them for $5?
Underwear: ditto.
Cleaning supplies: white vinegar for the floors Thanks for the tip re: ammonia.
I also use baking soda for the sink and to deodorize the disposal.
Dryer sheets: I use the store brand–half the cost and I like the scent better.
Car: only Regular gas–and I will drive a block or so to get a cheaper price, but I’m not a fanatic about it.
Pop: cola/soda whatever. Only on sale. Pepsi and Coke alternate sale weeks, so this is no hardship.
Cereal: as in breakfast. I buy store brand–CinnyMinny Crunch instead of Cinnamon Toast Crunch–I defy anyone to tell the difference.
School Supplies: Office Max has them for cheaper than Target (although this was not true this past fall).
I could go on and on…I am cheap as hell and happy with it. Exception: I will not get my haircut at one of those Greatcut places, nor will I use house brand shampoo. Now,razors–you bet. No namebrand for me there.
That is what makes my aversion to paying for air particularly irrational - I totally agree with you when it comes to gas. I fill up at the most convenient place. I will not go to the cheaper station right opposite if it means I have to make a couple of left turns across a busy road. But I will for the free air.
