Extreme Cheapskating

I'm watching an Extreme Cheapskates marathon, and I'm just dumbfounded.  I have always been frugal, but these people are downright skinflints.

One guy took his wife to the movies.  While she was watching the film, he left his seat to dig through the trashcan until he found a soda cup and a popcorn bag.  He rinsed the cup out in the bathroom and then took it and the popcorn bag to the snack counter for free refills.  Twice.  Another guy advocated taking extra condiment packs from the fast food place.  A third guy took his family of six to a Chinese buffet where he paid for three plates and made them share. One guy went to an ice cream place and after fourteen free samples declared himself too full to buy a cone.  I don't know, but those thrifty techniques strike me as bordering on theft.  One guy refuses to turn on his air conditioner.  Instead, he dusts his body parts with cornstarch to keep them from sticking together.  A presently unemployed woman owns her apartment in NYC, but she saves the paper towels she uses in a restroom to reuse at home.  One woman, who by the way is a millionaire, dumpster dives for food.  Ok, I can let people slide if what they're taking is securely packaged, but this woman was thrilled to find a hunk of cooked rice.  No package.  Just dumped from a salad bar is my guess.  I wonder how much food poisoning costs to treat?  Her son is used to Mom's foraging.  After all, what's a little diarrhea if you're saving money?

They all had the same thing in common; they were thrilled to be saving money.  The question that was never answered, though, is what exactly are they saving for?

I spent thirty years as a teacher. I am now one of those seniors on a fixed income.  I remember my first year's salary, $9,500 before taxes.  I felt like I was rolling in the bucks!  Ha Ha.  I lived frugally so I could make ends meet. I have friends who hesitate to come to my house in the winter because they think it's too cold.  I guess that's why Christmas presents to me are often thick fuzzy slippers, quilted robes, gloves, scarves, and earmuffs.  I use them all, both outside and sometimes inside the house.  I can color and highlight my hair so well that I get compliments from the gals at the Cuttery.  So yes, I cut back wherever I can; and I've never had a bill I couldn't pay.

These people seem to focus on money every waking minute in order to make the cheapskate decisions they do.  They will bargain with storekeepers for a half hour trying to wear them down to get a few dollars taken off the bill.  They will spend endless minutes pulling apart two-ply tissue paper.  That is, if they even use toilet paper.  The millionaire woman urinates in a jar and pours it on her compost pile.  Everything they do is the result of a well-thought out plan to do it in the cheapest way possible.  These folks are the anorexics of the spending world.

And for what?  To save money they don't intend to ever spend?  Does that make sense to you?  The thought of focusing so intently on pennies simply exhausts me.

I admit, my house may be cold in the winter. But, if you are my waiter, you enjoy a 20-25 % tip.  If my mail doesn't  fit the box, my mail lady delivers it to my door. There's a reason for that, but it is illegal for mail employees to accept money, so that's all I can say.  I give generously to charity and frequently "loan" money that I never expect to be repaid.  And I do it joyously.

I am both amazed and appalled by the cheapskate actions of the people on this television show.  But I will admit, I did pick up a few hints.....