I don't care if I'm called cheap but I do consider myself frugal big time. My sister and I will hit the thrift shop every Friday, our shopping day. We buy most of our clothes there these days also. My sister found most of the ornamental stuff to decorate her new house from the thrift shops. By shopping frugally at the thrift shops, we're able to pay for the more expensive stuff like new furniture, appliances, cars. I'm trying to lose weight so going out and buying brand new clothes that may fit me for only a short time seems wasteful to me. We do look at the brands of clothing we buy and how well the clothes were maintained by the previous owners.

If I'm called cheap because of how I shop, so be it. I also hit the clearance section at Walmart every week during our shopping outing. Just picked up a timer I needed for my grow lights. Got it at half price so I feel I got myself a deal and I actually needed it.

We also go thru our clothes every season, items around the house to see if we still like them, they no longer fit, we no longer use it, etc. These items get taken back to the thrift shop to resell. They're a non-profit organization so I feel I'm doing my part.

I also dislike cheap people. It seems to permeate them in every aspect. Yuck!
Frugality is a bit different though. I seem to swing from frugal to extravagant and it suits me.

My sister has plenty of money and is in no way cheap. However, she won't rent Amazon movies because she says " I'm cheap".
She isn't though. It's just one of her quirks. Paying for an Amazon membership "should" give you free movies but the truth is that some can only be rented. I think it just bugs her. As I said she is a very giving and generous person.

I feel like everyone has the right to spend her money the way she wants to, as long as she's not taking advantage of others. We all have our own limitations, and responsibilities. I won't label someone as cheap just because she doesn't prioritize things the same way I would.

I've thought long and hard about replying to this thread. I call myself cheap -- I don't care what other people call me. Would you be more comfortable if I said I was poor instead? All I know is for years I've been the "least economically blessed" person (is that better for you?) in any given room I've been in. I feel I can be cheap in my buying habits but still be generous with what I have. I'm too cheap to give away $12/yard fabric (and too cheap to buy it for myself) but yeah, I'm happy to share my $2/yard fabrics carefully gleaned from thrift stores and estate sales. I may not look poor or cheap, but I can tell you my average piece of clothing is used and typically costs $5 or less.

It is because I'm cheap that I was been able to keep my house despite various economic upheavals (plus my own hard work as well as my husband). The costs in buying a house meant that no, I was too cheap to take vacations or do a lot of other things. Too cheap to pay for fingernails or hair appointments or perfumes or whatever. It was luck that I bought in a rapidly appreciating area that let me move after 30 years to a more affordable area and now own a house outright and for the first time in my life have a tiny little nest egg. Knock on wood -- every time before some upheaval would take away everything I had carefully saved and scrimped to have.

It is because I'm cheap that I was able to feed my husband the meat based diet that he lost 200 pounds by buying and eating marked-down meat. Likewise, I am/was cheap by buying "2nd" quality produce at the ethnic markets instead of at the chain supermarkets. Why pay $3.99/pound for a 12 oz apple when I could buy a nutritionally identical but not so pretty apple for $0.99/pound??

During Covid I was very aware that I would have been very cold if I was at home with my school aged child back in the day. We turned on the heat for 30 minutes in the morning and an hour at night. Nice thing about cold is you can put on an extra layer or two -- with heat there comes a point where you can't take off any more. During Covid my house was cold because that was what we could afford, thermostat turned all the way up to 63. Cheap or reality? Does it really matter??

I'm ok being cheap and saying "oh that's not in the budget" or that I can't afford to go out to lunch. Not paying your fair share isn't cheap -- it's theft.

Being cheap has nothing to do with being poor or wealthy. Cheap is begrudging every penny spent no matter the financial situation.
I have never said I can't afford that. The times I could not buy something because of my financial situation I would say No thanks, I don't want to buy that now. By saying I can't afford it made me feel defeated. By saying I don't want to buy that now gave me a glimmer of hope that one day I will be able to, just not now. It's all positive thinking. I am a firm believe in positive thinking and speaking. It brings good things.

When I was growing up my mother did not work outside the home, we had one car, and it was a family of 5. (3 kids a mom and dad.). We had everything we needed - my mom made her own noodles - short cake - pies - etc. We bought eggs from an egg man and the chicken too - my dad hunted and fished. It seemed whenever my sisters and I asked for anything my mother would say, "No, We can't afford that." More than once I would tell a waitress or a sales person, "No, we cant afford that" and embarrass the heck out of my parents. I didn't see it as shameful just a fact. And I grew up thinking we were poor - turns out we weren't - my mom and dad did not believe in spending money they didn't have on things they didn't need.

Is it "cheap" or "careful". We luckily can have anything we want, but, I guess because we don't want all that much in the way of high ticket items or amassing a bunch of things we can have anything else. We don't deny ourselves, and live a nice comfortable life. Not extravagant though. We don't waste much of anything, still look for good prices, so I guess we are okay. We are lucky because there are so many who are struggling just to keep a roof over their heads and children fed and to stay warm.

Cheap to me is not being thrifty, careful, frugal, poor, or budget conscience. It is down right stingy to be stingy. Nothing else. They may mean something else but I hear stingy.

I was thinking the same thing. As one of my favorite youtubers says "you do you, boo"