I'm also a cheapo, I use the serger cone thread, it seems fine to me. On my old Kenmore, I pushed an empty spool into the bottom so it sits on the spool holder on top of the machine, been doing it like this a long time, so far so good, you couldn't hurt this old machine if you tried! On my newer singer, I put it in a coffee mug and sit it on the right side of the machine, works great!