Post your Best Cheapskate Stories Here!
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CowboyRam
Well-known member
Most every time I tried to save save save, I paid paid paid. Back in the day when the Sears stores were still it business I bought a Sears Craftsman Professional cordless drill. I think I had that thing a month when it gave out. I would have to tap it with my hammer and it would go again. I ended up taking it back to Sears and getting my money back. I ended up spending a more on a DeWalt.
Silver
Well-known member
When I was in my early 20's 3 quarters of land came up for sale bordering the family ranch. The asking price was $27,000. Seemed like a lot to me at the time. There was oil lease revenue of $1,200 per year. It was covered in trees and all I could think of (I was a cat skinner at the time) was how much it would cost to rent a D8 and get the land cleared and into production. So I passed. A couple of years later the people that owned it had it logged to the tune of $750,000. Oops. I guess I couldn't see the forest for the trees.
My son calls and says his truck wouldn't start and a buddy had to jump it off. I told him to get to the auto parts before 5 so they could check the battery and alt. They tell him it's the battery so he gets new one. I found out a couple days later from the guy in there his truck had a battery that was a little on the small side per the specs. They told him the price of the battery that is suppose to be in it and it was like $200. The same one he had was only $150. He chose the $150 one and told them he didn't have to money for the other one. They told him they would get it from me that it wasnt a big deal but he insisted the other one would be fine.
He had the money. I asked him about it and he just said flat out... I didn't want to spend that much.
He will learn. It's a good thing. It's better to learn to spend a little more on certain things than to have to learn to spend less.
He is tight and always has been since he was little.
He had the money. I asked him about it and he just said flat out... I didn't want to spend that much.
He will learn. It's a good thing. It's better to learn to spend a little more on certain things than to have to learn to spend less.
He is tight and always has been since he was little.
4hfarms
Well-known member
I have money for the things I need. I refuse to spend 4 times as much as it was 3 or 4 years ago. I'll do without...... and usually regret it. Just can't justify throwing money out. I'll wait ad find it cheaper......
wbvs58
Well-known member
Once you wipe the tear from your eye, you never regret spending the money on a good battery.My son calls and says his truck wouldn't start and a buddy had to jump it off. I told him to get to the auto parts before 5 so they could check the battery and alt. They tell him it's the battery so he gets new one. I found out a couple days later from the guy in there his truck had a battery that was a little on the small side per the specs. They told him the price of the battery that is suppose to be in it and it was like $200. The same one he had was only $150. He chose the $150 one and told them he didn't have to money for the other one. They told him they would get it from me that it wasnt a big deal but he insisted the other one would be fine.
He had the money. I asked him about it and he just said flat out... I didn't want to spend that much.
He will learn. It's a good thing. It's better to learn to spend a little more on certain things than to have to learn to spend less.
He is tight and always has been since he was little.
Ken
Travlr
Well-known member
I worked the parts counter at an O'Reilly's back in the day. We had a guy and his brother that would come into the store and want to buy a single brake pad at a time. They came in one time to but vacuum hose, the kind that came $0.15 a foot at the time... and they wanted to buy it by the inch. Some how they got hold of an old Plymouth that must have been a barn find. It was a stripped early sixties model, so a cheap car in those days.. but it only had something like 30K miles on it. The brothers drove it in to buy a top hose because it had a bulge in it. I looked the car over and suggested they replace all the hoses because the car had been sitting for almost thirty years. They declined... and they came in every day after that for another hose until they'd replaced the bottom hose, both heater hoses, and the bypass hose... one at a time.
So one day they bring in a brake disc to be turned. The kind with two surfaces with fins in between the discs. This disc they bring in has one entire disc plate worn off, the fins exposed... and they want it turned. They were pissed that I wouldn't turn the fins down smooth.
Yeah, they were tight.
CowboyRam
Well-known member
One winter dad and my uncles did a roof for a rancher in Craig that was very tight. I'm pretty sure he squeaked when he walked. He went to the lumber yard to pick up some roofing nails, he came back with 3/4 nails because he got more per pound. I think it was Uncle Don who took the bag threw it down on the ground and told him he had to go back and get 1 1/4" nails, and all was good.
Dad could be somewhat "frugal". Once, Mom dropped a glass salt shaker which, of course, shattered. When she was cleaning it up, he grabbed the lid and put it in a drawer. She asked him why he wanted to keep it. He told her, "When we get a new one, we'll need that." Mom & I still crack up when that story comes up…sometimes we laugh until it hurts. LOL.
greybeard
Well-known member
Most of mine, are because of the unbridled lust of my younger days (and not completely exhausted today, tho now directed at only The 1)
For instance, I once offered to replace the turbocharger on a 4 cylinder Dodge Daytona.
(it was a Shelby and, of course...a woman was involved) Way in the back and had to be done mostly from underneath. (the turbo, not her) But what a pita..both her and the car.. How did I survive those years?
" I once was a rake and a ramblin' man
Free as an eagle flies.."
For instance, I once offered to replace the turbocharger on a 4 cylinder Dodge Daytona.
(it was a Shelby and, of course...a woman was involved) Way in the back and had to be done mostly from underneath. (the turbo, not her) But what a pita..both her and the car.. How did I survive those years?
" I once was a rake and a ramblin' man
Free as an eagle flies.."
Back in the 90's I found the stuff at Piggly Wiggly to make 10 sausage biscuits for 3$. Made all ten and ate 3 and went to bed a little nauseated that night, wasn't sure what it was until the next night when I ate 3 more and it was worse.
I remember laying in bed thinking there's 4 more of those damn things in the kitchen, what's tomorrow night going to be like!?!
I remember laying in bed thinking there's 4 more of those damn things in the kitchen, what's tomorrow night going to be like!?!
BFE
Well-known member
Couple good ones from the area. My friend owns the Case IH dealership. A father son farm always split everything down the middle, and expected to trade the penny on odd cents. They complained to the secretary about whose turn it was to get the extra penny. She told them they didn't need their business anymore.
Another father son story, the son and grandsons were cleaning out a fence row for the old man. They broke a chain, and went to town and bought a cold link which they charged to the old man. He told the son he owed him the two bucks or whatever it cost. The son paid it then made dad a bill for all his and his boys labor plus tractor time. Old man paid it through clenched teeth.
Another father son story, the son and grandsons were cleaning out a fence row for the old man. They broke a chain, and went to town and bought a cold link which they charged to the old man. He told the son he owed him the two bucks or whatever it cost. The son paid it then made dad a bill for all his and his boys labor plus tractor time. Old man paid it through clenched teeth.
CowboyRam
Well-known member
Dad, Uncle Duane and Roy were baling hay for a guy that would always say it could be a little bit bigger. Roy drove the tractor, Duane tied the bales and dad would run the shuttle as he was the oldest and had enough strength to do it. So dad thought he was going to fix the guy by hold the shuttle and making on great big bale. It hung over both sides of the trailer, and could hardly move it. He still said it could be a little bit bigger. they went back to making normal size bales. They were getting paid by the bale.
Another time they were stacking bales, and when they got done the guy said that they got done to fast and that was to much money for them. He was still paying them by the bale.
Another time they were stacking bales, and when they got done the guy said that they got done to fast and that was to much money for them. He was still paying them by the bale.
Don't know if any remembers "chuka boots". Sears came out with something similar called "Chuka Bees"…they were like chuka boots but had a ridge across the toes. The stitches on the ridge were always the first thing to come apart…right above the big toe. Many's the time I restitched them using monofilament fishing line when I was a kid. You could get at least another year out of them if you didn't grow out of them first.
Dave
Well-known member
Rodeo cowboys are famous for being broke all the time. But you still had to eat. Some of the dine and dash stories are really creative. If you were sitting at a table with a group of them and one at a time they got up and went to the men's room and never came. You best get up and pay your bill before you were the last one left and got stuck for the entire bill.
Ouachita
Well-known member
On a road trip working we ran out of money. None of us had a credit card, and the only Western Union we could find had a sign on the counter that said "be back soon".
We pooled our pocket change and bought a ten pack of frozen burritos and thawed them in a bathroom sink of hot water.
We pooled our pocket change and bought a ten pack of frozen burritos and thawed them in a bathroom sink of hot water.
branxchar&charx
Well-known member
Those burritos come in packages of only 8 now. And not entirely sure how its possible, but they have even less flavor than they did before.
Ouachita
Well-known member
Well, now that I'm married and the kids all grown, we keep a bottle of Tabasco, and can afford a can of store brand chili to pour over top.
I have another one on my son. He is an old man trapped in a young man's body. 
He just graduated so I asked him if he had finished all his thank you letters for people. He said yes, and asked if I had any stamps.
I told him... yes, I do in my desk, but you know who else has some... the post office!
He just started griping like and old man about how high the price of stamps were and how much he spent at fair time sending out thank you letters.
I told him... You have to pay to play. You got thousands of dollars for each of those, don't cry about $100 in thank you's.
He's not even old enough to remember when stamps were cheaper.
He just graduated so I asked him if he had finished all his thank you letters for people. He said yes, and asked if I had any stamps. I told him... yes, I do in my desk, but you know who else has some... the post office!
He just started griping like and old man about how high the price of stamps were and how much he spent at fair time sending out thank you letters.
I told him... You have to pay to play. You got thousands of dollars for each of those, don't cry about $100 in thank you's.
He's not even old enough to remember when stamps were cheaper.
