tightwad

A cheapskate of formidable caliber. This is the type of person who, upon opening his/her wallet, is swarmed by the colony of moths that has chosen to breed there... When asked to make a charitable donation to a respected cause he/she responds by demanding that a certified copy of the organization's financial disclosure statement be sent to his/her accountant for review... Upon being invited to a loved one's wedding, checks the bride's gift registry and opts to make a partial contibution for the least expensive item on the list...

The strange thing about most tightwads is that they percieve themselves as merely being frugal, whereas the majority of their peers see them for the most part as simply being jerks.

People become tightwads for all manner of reasons and rationales. Some do it just to save money -- to become millionaires easily. Some do it so that a parent, usually the wife, can stay home. My wife and I have tightwad tendencies. My tendencies come from my engineer nature -- I hate to waste anything. Of course, this means our tightwaddery takes on a different form than people who have different reasons. I am downright generous with my friends, however.

Whether or not someone is a tightwad depends on perceptions. To me, Amy Dacyczn is a bit extreme sometimes. I don't need to have a barn full of things saved just in case.

Forms that frugal living/being a tightwad might take on: (I do not practice some of these)

• Careful calculation of the money saved by doing things oneself/an alternate way.
• Buying dry milk (which, from the prices I've seen, doesn't save money unless you get it on a major sale).
• Cutting coupons.
• Not going out to eat, particularly at fast food joints like McDonalds.
• Avoiding compulsive upgrading.
• Making almost every meal from scratch, or some approximation thereof.
• For that matter, making many things at home, particularly things like Halloween Costumes.
• Repairing rather than replacing furniture by carpentry, refinishing, and reupholstering.
• Insisting upon receipts for charitable donations, which is a must if you take the tax deductions and get audited.
• Not buying fundraiser products from children or adults.
• Gardening.
• Canning food.
• Being a miser.
• Going to yard sales, rummage sales, garage sales, and used book sales.
• The fine art of haggling.
• Obtaining items by scrounging and scavenging, such as:
  • Dumpster Diving (good details at dumpster dive)
  • Curb Surfing

In short, frugality is a viable lifestyle. Some people are jerks about it, but some people are jerks about conspicuous consumption, too. I don't care what you do - but I'll be saving my pennies, thank you very much.