Finishing Up Some Unfinished Business

In my recent post making fun of frugaldouches (which is a term that I should really trademark) I linked to a post about how being frugal and being cheap is apparently very different. I also promised to make fun of it for your amusement, and since that's what I do around here, let's get this gong show on the road.

The preconceived notion of an avid saver is that the person is cheap and wouldn’t fork over a single penny to save his life. False, of course!

Phew! Thanks for clearing that up.

Frugalites:

Are Thrifty

Good money management is a major part of frugality. Using coupons and shopping for discounts are typical routines of a thrifty individual. Smart spending on necessities and minimal spending on luxuries helps save money.

Lookit, this is really splitting hairs here. "Thrifity" is just another word for cheap. Look it up in the fucking dictionary if you don't believe me.

Just because somebody is cheap (sorry, frugal) doesn't mean that person automatically is a good money manager. Sure, they're good at saving. Yet many of the frugalest (is that even a word?) people I know don't have a dime in the stock market or investment real estate because they live in a world of fear that they'll lose money.

Makes the most of their resources

Many frugal people use what they have as much as possible. Throwing a bunch of leftovers together for a nice casserole or growing their own vegetables are typical practices that make use of what they already have. If they need something, they’ll spend the time to search for a good price.

And this differs from cheap people how?

This is kinda like the difference in calling a Star Trek fan a Trekie or a loser. Either word would be appropriate.

The author then moves onto what makes a cheapskate:

Are Greedy

If it is free, they’ll take as much as they can. They’ll refrain from spending any money for something that they can take from someone else without remorse.

Okay, I looked around this guy's site for about a minute, where I found this post. If you don't want to click the link, let me quote part of the post in question:

"Before my return to school this year, my (loving) parents bought boxes of cereal, two large bags of rice, ramen noodles, and packs of water and soda. My mom also prepared food that I can quickly reheat."

Hey hypocrite, if you take free food from your parents, you are not allowed to call someone else a bad person for taking anything else free. And don't tell me that it's different because it's your parents, because it fucking isn't. Are you an adult? Then shut the fuck up.

Explain to me how you're different than those evil cheap people? It sounds to me like you're full of more horseshit than Robert Kiyosaki.

Makes the least of their money

They save like there is no tomorrow. Sick? Too bad, they won’t pay a single dime to see a doctor.

Are you fucking serious? I don't give a shit how cheap you are, if the choice between life and death was going to see the doctor, I guarantee you that EVERYBODY would go to the doctor.
Hey moron, most people avoid the doctor because they hate the fucking doctor. You're reading a little too much into this.

They’ll dig a hole and hide their money for themselves when they can spend it like a fool.

So let me see if I'm crystal clear on your logic here. You say that cheapskates "save like there's no tomorrow" and then just a few sentences later accuse them of just saving so they can one day "spend it like a fool."

Wow. I can't believe they even let you have a blog.

Have you ever met any cheap people? Or are you pulling this completely out of your ass?

Maybe I hang out with different cheap people than you, but I'm pretty sure they aren't just saving up to go on a bender with a bunch of hookers.

It is easy to say that being frugal and being cheap is very similar. I totally agree with that despite my apparent discontent with cheapskates.

You have an entire blog post dedicated to the difference between frugal people and cheapskates, then admit at the end that there basically is no difference.

Can I kill myself now?

But there's more!

What I think separates these two classes the most is dependency. Frugalites are independent and can take care of their money matters on their own.

Except for you!

Cheapskates depend on others and put their financial burden on society and other around them.

Explain to me how they do this.

And don't say that they steal or break the law to save money. That's giving cheap people a bad name. It's like saying everyone who rides a motorbike is part of a biker gang.

Or is it when someone accepts something for free that they know they should really be paying for? First of all, everybody has done that before. It's hardly exclusive to cheap people. And second, it's not like you can take the moral high ground about something like that, can you?

Face it. They mean the exact same thing. Trying to figure out the difference is a pointless waste of time. Making fun of it? Perhaps also a waste. But at least I had fun.