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:
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.