Being Too Cheap? 16 Signs That You Are a Cheapskate
There’s a difference between a frugal person and a cheapskate. A frugal person ensures they find the most value for the lowest cost, while a cheapskate opts for the lowest-priced items regardless of quality or care. Where frugal serves as a compliment, cheapskate acts as an insult. What are popular ways to identify if you lay on the frugal or cheapskate side of penny-pinching?
1. Putting Money Over Health
I’ve spoken about this story previously, but I can’t think of a better example for this idea. I brought a friend to the local fair a few years ago. She regretted spending money, a learned trait passed down from her parents, though she remained on the frugal side of spending, unlike her kin, until this day. Once we arrived at the fair, she noticed a blood drive bus offering free tickets in exchange for donated blood. The fair tickets cost $10 per person, and the blood exchange rewarded donors with two free tickets.
To receive the whopping reward, my friend allowed the techs to withdraw her blood. At first, the idea seemed okay. We’d get free admission into the fair. However, DNA withdrawal came with a few rules. The techs informed her to stay out of the sun (we live in Florida, and the fair occurred in mid-March during a prime heatwave) and avoid physical activity for the remainder of the day (we needed to walk in and around the fair). My friend lasted about 30 minutes until she noted wooziness and asked to go home.
2. Stocking Up On Freebies
Free offerings are great. Work parties, potlucks, and family dinners gather people to share and indulge in community. The issue arises when one person refuses to chip in on the goodies, instead taking a heap of freebies for themselves. That behavior indicates freeloading, which is an unpleasant character trait.
3. Reusing Single-Use Items
The phrase “single-use item” suggests that the item has only one use. Cheapskates disregard the appropriate titling in favor of converting single-use items into multi-use items. Rinsing paper towels, reusing plastic cutlery, and washing and reusing trash bags are all examples of how people reuse single-use items.
4. Making Your Own Ingredients
We adore DIY recipes when they make sense. When a DIY recipe costs more time and energy than a quick run to the store, you spend excess money and energy to save resources. We suggest measuring the amount of time and energy saved through DIY projects vs. a store-bought item.
5. Not Tipping
Have you ever dined out at a restaurant with a few other people? After the meal, the server asks the table how to split the bills. Notice who chimes in first and what they say. Once the checks circulate, notice who leaves a gratuity and who believes they’ve paid in full without leaving a tip for the server. Some people live by a motto: if you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to dine out, although cheapskates beg to differ.
6. Expired Food
I once knew a girl who solely purchased expired food items. Her method boiled down to finding expired products, freezing them, and optimizing their shelf lives—all to save a few dollars each year. She scoured the aisles for near-rancid meat and vegetables, quickly tossing them in her cart, excited to save. She may have saved a few bucks that could help her pay down her college loans, but at what cost?
7. Watering Down Soap
Do you know the feeling of running low on liquid soap? You must wash your hands, yet you can’t quite access the remaining liquid at the bottom of the soap dispenser. You add a little water to the container, shake up a mixture, and then pour the cleaning liquid over your palms. Watering down soap works in emergencies, but it becomes alarming when every household soap dispenser holds more water than detergent.
8. Stealing Condiments
My grandma fostered a reputation for stealing condiments from every restaurant she dined in. She’d sit and order her food, eyeing the salt or pepper shakers or the packets of ketchup stashed near the table’s edge. As the server walked away, she’d open her bag and toss in whatever she could grab. Her cabinets overflowed with loose condiments and extra napkins. Her reasoning? She never had to pay for those items.
9. Stealing
Here’s a pretty self-explanatory character trait of select cheapskates. They just steal items. Now, stealing doesn’t apply to everyone, of course. But I’ve asked people who share their stealing hobbies their reasoning. “Big corporations have enough money. They encourage stealing.” “This store will survive with a few stolen items.” “I’ll return the stolen goods once I’m done with them.”
10. Staying Inside
Picture your friend group. Who plans all the events and rallies the guests, deciding how to entertain them? Is there a particular friend who complains about the price of hanging out at a specific location? For example, if your friend group plans a bowling event, does everyone cheer and show up? Or do a few invitees mutter about the inflation prevalent in bowling alleys, explaining they will save money by staying home?
11. Noting the Price of Everything
Grocery shopping costs too much. I can’t hang out tonight; the movies are outside my budget. We should go for a walk instead of going to the bowling alley. Do any of these comments ring a bell? Cheapskates go above and beyond to reduce their financial output. This includes harping on the price of everything in the world, even prices that don’t relate to their lives.
12. Returning Clothing
We’ve all purchased a shirt or a pair of pants that don’t fit our vibe. Following the purchase, you return home to try on the shirt. The colors don’t match, or the shirt hugs all the wrong places, so you decide to get your money back. Simple, right? The cheapskate’s version of buying and returning clothes includes buying the clothes they like, wearing them for a while, and then attempting to return them for face value. Once they receive that money, they rinse and repeat.
13. Not Paying for Subscriptions
Raise your hand if you use a friend’s login for Hulu, MAX, Netflix, or YouTube. High chance, right? I know I use my friend’s MAX account in exchange for Netflix. Raise your hand if you use a friend or family member’s account for every subscription. You don’t pay a single penny to monthly subscriptions, yet those around you eke out the money each month to keep the membership active. Cheapskates may avoid using their wages for these types of fees.
14. Reusing Dental Floss
Floss helps us rid our teeth of plaque and gobs of leftover food. Extreme cheapskates use floss to pick at their teeth and extract chunks of grime from their mouths. Instead of throwing away the used floss, they rinse it off and stow it away for later use.
15. Taking Everyone Else’s Leftovers Home
Imagine sitting down for a nice dinner with old friends. Everyone laughs and chatters all night, boxing up their remaining food for the next day’s lunch. As the group dishes their remnants into styrofoam containers, one friend (We’ll call him Jack) eyes their neighbor’s (We’ll call him Ted) mashed potatoes. “Are you going to eat those?” Jack asks with pleading eyes, almost guilting Ted into donating his food to Jack. This habit might indicate that Jack is hungry or that Jack lives a life as a cheapskate.
16. Wallet Forgetting
Say you’re at the same dinner where Jack and Ted share an awkward moment over a scoop of mashed potatoes. The server loops around the table, dishing out checks. In a desperate search for his wallet, Jack pats around his pockets and looks in and under every crevice of the table. “I forgot my wallet,” he says. Surprisingly, no one. The friend group makes eye contact, “Who’s going to pay for him this time?”
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You’re never too rich to save money. If you’re like us, you’re not rich, which means you can’t afford to pass up savings. The average 43-to- 57-year-old has more than $157,00 in debt, meaning every dollar saved is closer to debt-free freedom.
