You know you're a cheapskate when...

… you always refill your soft drink every time you’re about to leave McDonalds, but after you’ve already finished your whole meal in the restaurant.

… you refuse to pay for movies on the web, and are happy to collect 1000 cut-up free samples of 20 seconds each to then re-assemble them into an hour long movie.

… you wash your disposable silverware, and feel a little sad when they start cracking up after prolonged use and have to throw them away.

… you start checking SDMB every hour and carefully scrutinizing every new thread now that you’re subscriber so that you’ll get your money’s worth. When SDMB was free, you’d come maybe once a week.

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

You reuse your mouthwash by spitting it back into the Scope bottle

You buy two-ply rolls of toilet paper and separate them.

You see no need to buy hair gel because that old bacon grease you’ve been saving works just as well.

You always go a couple cents over the amount you want when you pump gas, and make up the difference by using the “give-a-penny take-a-penny” jar.

you take deposit popbottles/cans from other peoples houses.

( My sister does this when she come to my house. I don’t care if she takes the bottles she brings … hell I don’t mind that she takes other ones, but its just cheesey. They have a redeemable value of .05. So at the most she walks out of here with a quarter. )

You save Ketchup packages and squeeze then into a bottle.

Warning: Disgusting, used in a previous thread:

You jack off the dog to feed the cat. Red rocket!

When you go on vacation in a tropical resort town, you get only one condo for six people, and you pack two cardboard boxes and an ice chest full of food so you can make all of your meals, breakfast lunch and dinner, in the condo’s kitchenette and never ever have to pay to eat dinner in a restaurant.
My parents did this. Honest to God.

You buy toilet paper when you can get it free at work. Jeez!

A former boss once yelled at me for putting a 25 cent stamp on a letter going to someone who lived between my place of work and my house. “You wasted 25 cents when you could have dropped it off on your way home?”

Better yet, you take cans on road trips, to refund them in states that have deposit laws.

An hour and 45 minutes to New York, two hours to Michigan … hmmm …

Now, Annie, it’s not “You know you’re a thief when…”.

You get all of your, salt, pepper, sugar, non-sugar sweetner, coffee creamer, catsup, mustard, mayo, soy sauce and napkins by taking it from fast food joints.

you only flush the toilet once a day.

You turn your car engine off at stop lights and take it out of gear so you can coast down hills.

You get up an hour early everyday so you can read and return your neighbors newspaper before he goes out to get it.

All of the ashtrays in your house are empty sardine or tuna cans.

On Sunday night you siphon a gallon of gas from each car in your neighborhood to fill your tank for Monday morning.

And my personal favorite

You give your kids money for school lunch just before they go to bed. You steal it back after they fall asleep and beat them in the morning for losing it and send them to school with no lunch to teach them a lesson.

You see a thread title like this one and start reading it because you can always use a few more tips. :smiley:

And don’t forget that smoky aroma! Who needs cologne? Just beware of stray dogs.

I discovered a few years back that the liver paté I like is canned at the same factory as Hormel’s liver spread. Whenever I see the liver spread I buy several cans – the fancy-label paté costs 2-3 times as much and I figure it’s the same stuff. It sure doesn’t taste any different.

Whenever I need to take an over-the-counter “sleep aid” I just take the generic form of Benadryl. I read the labels, and discovered that “Nytol” (and others) have the same exact ingredient in the same exact dosage (per pill), but cost much, MUCH more than Equate Histamine Blocker.

I save the chopsticks that I get at the Chinese restaurant so I can use 'em again when I fix something similar at home. Same with plasticware from take-out eateries.

–SSgtBaloo

Your parents are hacks. Amateurs. My dad is the ultimate cheapskate.

He took us on vacation… packed two teenagers and two overweight adults into a Plymouth Horizon, borrowed a clamshell for the luggage, drove for two days and camped everywhere we stopped, usually at a KOA campground, because they are cheaper than those fancy schmancy state parks. Of course, we brought all the food and would rather starve to death than A) stay in a hotel on rainy nights or B) eat in even a cheap fast food restaurant once in a while. The vacations always sucked because we were never allowed to do anything that cost money. If there was an admission fee, and/or you couldn’t bring your own drinks and snacks in… we didn’t get to go. We spent a lot of time in the woods, “enjoying” nature.

You use both sides of a sheet of paper…to wipe. :eek:

Except for the fact that there were five kids and a dog in a station wagon, this sounds like most of my family vacations.

You know you’re cheap when you use the same paper plate for your breakfast bagel, your lunch sandwich, and your supper pizza.

This also works to save money on those pesky adoption fees at the SPCA. All the strays follow you home.

Well jeez… who woulda thunk! Apparently I am fount of useful cost cutting measures. :smiley:

You act like a $4.95 sign-up fee is the end of the world as we know it.