When did it become a bad thing to be tight or mean with your money? Being careful with your dollars when spending them is as important as being careful when you earn it.
Tightwaddery should not have a stigma attached to it.
Now being a miser, that's another whole level.
Some folks who are considered tightwads have an unhealthy attachment to money and some don't. It's just a way of dealing with a budget and still being able to do pleasurable things without going broke.
Misers don't enjoy their money(except when they are hoarding it). Tightwads just have priorities on where to spend their money and where not to spend it.
What have you done that would fall under the tightwad category?
I'll go first---
* I often will empty a vacuum cleaner bag and reuse it. Have you seen the price of those things??! lolz
* I save and reuse bacon grease for cooking, much like my mother and her mother before her, etc. did. My sister in-law does me one better as she has a "grease pot".....a dedicated container with a built in strainer for keeping your used bacon grease. I am jealous of it and her! ;-)
* I have a sign on my dryer-Only for use on rainy days between the hours of 5pm and 7am and weekends(as that is when the rates are lower).
* I reuse plastic bags(Ziploc types), always! Unless raw meat was in it the first go 'round.
* When my kids were little and their clothing sizes/growth from season to season was predictable I would buy deeply discounted clothing at the end of each season in sizes they would be wearing that season the next year and store them away until needed. One Spring I bought 3 years of sweatpants and shirts for each of them at Walmart for .50¢ a piece.(And some of them got handed down to the younger ones and used twice or thrice.)
*When traveling and the motel I am staying at offers a free breakfast(well not free really, the price is built into what they charge for the room)I will take extra items I don't eat for breakfast then on the road with me to consume later. Sometimes these items are eaten at lunch or dinner time so I don't have to shell out even more $ for another "one never knows if it will be a good or a bad meal" on the road. My "go to" take alongs are whole fruits(like a banana or an apple), a yogurt or two(if I have a cooler with me to keep this chilled until use), or bread and little containers of peanut butter. A pb sandwich isn't the most elegant dinner but it's semi-healthy and filling and having one that is free helps stretch the travel budget.
I see Tightwaddery as a lifestyle choice. Habits that just throw good money away/that are wasteful get under my skin. But I can part with my money for a good reason or for something I see as a good value or that gives me a benefit.
Frugality is the cousin of Tightwaddery but not as severe.
So what tips or habits do you have that the "normal" person/consumer would find strange, odd or questionable?
Sluggy
