Comments on: Are You A Tightwad????

By: Meg from FruWiki and All About Appearances

Meg from FruWiki and All About Appearances — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:51:25 +0000

Love, love, love that book — and I’m still only about a quarter of the way through. And yet, it has already helped inspired me to create a frugal wiki, FruWiki.com, since the major complaint I have read about the book was that it wasn’t well organized (I don’t know how else I would have organized that book, and I sort of like it as is, but yet I also somewhat agree, which is why I love the idea of organizing frugal tips into a wiki).

Because of the book, I don’t mind being called a tight wad, though I don’t know that anyone has called me that. I would not want to be called “cheap”, though. That has way too many negative connotations for me, and my frugal habits don’t necessarily always revolve around the cheapest option.

Mostly, I call myself frugal. For me, that means carefully considering how I spend each penny. I carefully research purchases, keep my eye open for good deals on things that I normally buy, try to cut back on gas and utilities, make things last, carefully decide when it’s worth it to pay more or less for something, and just don’t buy certain things. Sure, I splurge on some stuff, but I make sure that I spend money carefully according to needs, priorities, and even stuff that I receive a great amount of pleasure from (for me, that’s name brand shoes at bargain prices). Even though my husband and I will likely have a good bit more money in the future, I don’t really see those habits changing since I find the challenges of being frugal to be rather entertaining as I take great satisfaction out of being clever and exercising my research skills. Plus, I find that I appreciate things more when more effort goes into getting them.

By: Tight Fisted Miser

Tight Fisted Miser — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:18:23 +0000

I don’t have much problem with the term. Although I call myself Tight Fisted Miser I think frugal or thrifty would be a more accurate description.

By: StillKindaStuffy

StillKindaStuffy — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:54:32 +0000

You should embrace it rather than reject it - it is like Nerd or Geek. Some people might find it offensive, but the stereotype applies so I’m happy to call myself the biggest nerd/geek in the room. The person who wrote the tightwad book embraced the label (they would have sold less copies if it had been titled “the careful and frugal person’s approach to getting the best value for each dollar”).

By: Jayne

Jayne — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:16:13 +0000

I like frugal but how about “canny consumer” ?

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:48:42 +0000

Hm. Tightwad has never bugged me. We always refer to it as “Scotch” though.

My definition? Hm. Being particular about what I spend my money on. Spending the most I can afford on things that I will use for a long time, rather than spending a little bit on something I mostly hate and will replace.

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:25:48 +0000

1. Frugal sounds better than tightwad.
2. Frugal must mean different things to different people. For example, I suspect my mum would get a good laugh out of the idea of me being frugal, but I do try to make the best of what we have. Your nice definition seems to be about mindful consumption rather than using money sparingly.

By: river

river — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:20:12 +0000

I think ‘tightwad” sounds awful too and I’m not too happy with “frugal” either. I much prefer “thrifty” and I agree with Lauren that careful (thrifty) with money = smart.

By: Cat

Cat — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:07:54 +0000

Also, I meant to say thanks for the hugs but I got so caught up in your post I forgot!

By: Cat

Cat — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:06:41 +0000

Q1 = Frugal

Q2 = For me frugal is about budgeting my money and spending it wisely so that I not only don’t ever have to worry about if there’s money in the bank to cover the neccessities but also so that I can invest in areas that I think are important: travel and holidays, wealth creation (ie my super, shares, saving for a house) and giving money to worthy causes and charities. [And yes, my family and friends count as a worthy cause :)]

By: Lauren

Lauren — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:38:30 +0000

What term do I prefer to describe someone who is careful with how they spend money? SMART!

I could write out my definition of frugal but it is SO close to yours that I’ll just say ditto. Particularly about informed choices. As an example, I subscribe to green power. Purely cheap people would say it’s a waste of money since it’s not something that directly benefits me but it’s something I believe is important and worth the extra money. To compensate, I switch things off if I don’t need them on so I use less power so I’m not actually paying more. I save enough per quarter doing this to pay for a year of green power so I still end up ahead in the long run.