Do you Live Frugally? Or are you a Cheapskate?

Living and saving money and appearing to be "cheap"

Living Frugally is in. This happens when the economy is bad, gas prices
are up and the stock market is taking a dive. I think we can safely say
that we are in a recession. Here is the problem. There are limits to
saving money. When does it become too much? I have two
different friends that I love but hate going out with. When we go out
to eat they do not want to tip so I end up tipping for them. When I ask
them to go to a ball game they only want to go if they don't have to pay for the
tickets I picked up. I just know that when I go out with these guys I am
going to be paying for more than my share. I love these people they are
fun to be with except for this one problem. They both are similar
people. They are both are very good with money. But, I think
it goes too far when you are saving by hurting other people. Like,
in my view, you should never, ever save money by not tipping when it is
warranted. My daughter is in a tipping profession (dog
groomer). It is a know fact in waitressing and other tipping
professions that the rich areas of town do not tip very well. I would not
want to be rich from hurting young kids just trying to make a living. Check our article here on tipping etiquette. Then there is my other friend that calls me and makes me look up the cheapest gas prices while she is driving around town. I found the cheapest but she wanted to find at least 2 cents cheaper. (2 cents in 20 gallons of gas is like 20 cents) I just laughed.

What about hurting corporations?

Walmart has a very, very high shrinkage rate. What is shrinkage?
In the business, that is the term for losing your inventory to loss,
including and especially, theft. My theory on their shrinkage problem is
the fact that they make so much money that many people feel entitiled to take
from them. When you read that the children of Sam Walton are all worth $65
billion dollars as a whole, how do you feel sorry for their shrinkage
problem? And it is not just Walmart, there is a extremely good article
here that illustrates this point.

Excerpt from
Illegal or unethical?

Full Article at CNBC.com Entitled "When
That Online Deal Becomes a Steal"

Still, judging from the numbers of shoppers bragging
about their exploits on sites such as FatWallet.com and SlickDeals, these
procedures aren't stopping some shoppers from cashing in.

One, known by the handle Kensat30 on FatWallet.com,
shared his advice for getting free gift cards from Best Buy. He buys products
online that come with free $10 and $20 gift cards, then he selects in-store
pickup and never retrieves the item. The order is canceled, but he keeps the
gift card when it comes in the mail. He has no illusions about the financial
impact of his actions. "2000 Fat Wallets x $10 gift cards = ouch," he says on
one of that Web site's forums.

Analysts say many of these scammers have a bad case
of "stick-it-to-the-man-itis," after having a bad customer service experience at
a store. Others simply have a sense of entitlement, said Mulpuru, believing they
should be able to get products for next to nothing if a retailer is lax enough
to allow it. The feeling among these shoppers is, catch me if you can, since
many of these practices aren't necessarily illegal, just unethical. No
government watchdog agency appears to be looking into these deceptive
transactions. Retailers are simply working to combat them on their
own.

In my view, there are deals out there to be had. If a company is offering and you can use it, take it. No worries. Smart companies give and take. I hear about CVS deals all the time
from some of my readers and CVS is helping families save money and they must be making some too. If they weren't then they would go out of business or they would stop offering such deals that make them lose money. If a company is offering and you can use it, take it. No worries.

In closing, I feel there is a line to be drawn here. There are
people that take advantage. Some people only try to stick to
corporations. My friends do alienate people when they go out but I do love
them, I just try to avoid going out with them when money is involved or
just accept that I will have to pay a little more when I do go out with
them. I love them so I put up with it. I do think it is something to
be thought about. Just be aware and be sure you are making a decision
rather than blindly taking any deal ethical or not. There is a difference between being Fugal and being a tightwad. I do not want to be a tightwad.