# What is Cheap?



## mfd (Apr 3, 2009)

I just put up a post about how people define what is cheap and what isn't

At the end of the article I posted several scenarios that could either be judged by people as a great frugal move or just plain cheap. Post your responses here or on the blog. Doesn't make a difference. I can't wait for the answers  :


*I’m really curious about the varying opinion on what is cheap. Here are some questions that I would love to know if you consider them cheap and why:

1 - A double cheeseburger dressed like a mac. It’s a $1.50 less than a big mac but tastes the same

2 - Order a small coffee in a medium cup to fill the rest up with milk and essentially get a medium coffee at a small coffee price

3 - Order 2 kids hot chocolate’s in leu of the equivelant adult hot chocolate. You save a $1.

4 - Pick up 5 cents

5 - Pick up $5

6 - Walk 5 extra blocks to save $1 on dry cleaning

7 - Order a pasta meal that has unlimited bread and salad. Fill up on bread and salad and take the pasta home with you.

*


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## Financial Highway (Apr 3, 2009)

haha I like this.

Nr. 1 the double cheeseburger i do that all the time, I actually had one a few hours ago.

nr. 6 i dnt think is worth it

nr. 7 is hilarious i think haha


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## ethos1 (Apr 4, 2009)

mfd said:


> I just put up a post about how people define what is cheap and what isn't
> 
> At the end of the article I posted several scenarios that could either be judged by people as a great frugal move or just plain cheap. Post your responses here or on the blog. Doesn't make a difference. I can't wait for the answers  :
> 
> ...


you do know that when you get (paid for & the burger is in your hand) that you can ask for Big Mac sauce, which they will give you for free in one of those small mini tubs you use for ketchup - thus you have as close to the real McCoy as you'll get

Extra pickles are also free

On the coffee, if there are more than two people dining, order two of the double burgers along with one large or extra large coffee with an extra empty cup to share the coffee 

If you're a soda pop drinker, do the same as the coffee & BTW pop is also free refills at McDonalds


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## Alexandra (Apr 3, 2009)

I don't think any of these things are really being all that cheap - in most cases you are paying the asking price for something and adjusting it to your liking, or taking advantage of freebies, based on the rules of the restaurant. That's your right. Being really cheap would be trying to haggle the price of the coffee down, or re-filling the same soft drink cup over and over for your entire family, instead of just for your own consumption.


On this topic, I think that people are being cheap when they try to do things on their own to save money and don't recognise that there is a quality difference. For example, do-it-yourselfers who don't know what they are doing often end up paying the price for their cheapness in the long run. Someone I know tried to fix a cracked toilet with some caulking instead of paying for a plumber to install a new toilet. The fix lasted a few months, then the toilet broke in half and caused real damage to the floor. Was it worth it in the end? Nope.


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## Canadian Finance (Apr 3, 2009)

I like #7... I do it all the time, but not on purpose. I love the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden and plow through them until the food comes, by then I'm too full!


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

Wow guys - this list is something else 

I would and have picked up money (bills only), and have walked/driven extra distances for a deal (that's akin to staying in a hotel outside the theme park instead of directly in it).

But the rest of the list - that's pretty darn cheap. 

Honestly, I'd rather take a frugal option:
-brewing my own coffee, 
-preparing my own lunch, 
-using coupons, 
-and plain going without

some of these seem to be taking it a little far.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Oh boy. I consider myself thrifty, but I wouldn't go this far. I'd pick up a $5 bill and perhaps walk 5 extra blocks if it is a very nice day but I think the rest is taking it a bit too far. If I want a medium coffee, I'll pay 20 cents more and get a medium coffee...


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Canadian Finance said:


> I like #7... I do it all the time, but not on purpose. I love the salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden and plow through them until the food comes, by then I'm too full!


This happens to me all the time at nice dinners: I gorge on the bread and am too full by the time the main course arrives. Can't recall it happening in a restaurant though. If it does, I suspect, I'll ask for the left overs to take home.


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## Jon Chevreau (Apr 4, 2009)

As a parsimonious Scot friend of mine says, "I'm not cheap. I'm frugal."

You need to draw out the "frugal" with a Scottish accent. 

There's an exchange along those lines somewhere in _Findependence Day_.

http://www.financialpost.com/fd


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## Ben (Apr 3, 2009)

My wife leans more to the cheap side, I more to the frugal side. Some comments on the list:

1. If I'm at a fast-food joint, it's because I need to be there because I don't have time to find something else healthier in the time available. 

2. If I take a hot small coffee in a medium cup and make up the difference with cold milk, I've got cool coffee. I like my coffee hot! A 20cent premium to be sure, to spend in line with my values (hot coffee...)

3. Hot chocolate - this sounds more plausible, but I don't think I've ever ordered kid size, mostly because I'm always very hungry, and also because I would feel silly. Maybe if I put on my helicoptor hat and walked up to the counter on my knees...

4. Pick up 5 cents. Well, yes I would, have to admit. Sometimes we'll try to outdo each other to see who found more money in a day. Kind of fun, really. She likes to win.

5. Pick up $5. Yep, and gloat over it all day.

6. Walk 5 extra blocks to save $1 on dry cleaning - yes, if the sun was shining and the birds singing, and I've got nowhere else to go. More likely, I'd find the best price in town from day one, and always go there.

7. Unlimited bread and salad - I'd never fill up on this on purpose. I always pace myself to leave room for the main. Food exists for nutrition, not to fill our bellies. Eat your balanced meal.


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## shaynepathum (Apr 3, 2009)

Whoa! I am not sure if I am there yet. I think making our own coffee and brown-bagging most of our lunches is being pretty frugal (maybe perceived as 'cheap' by those Starbucks fanatics who also buy all their lunches).

But I do make a strong exception for #s 4 and 5 above. I pick up anything down to the last penny. You see, I take public transit and so I get to walk a lot. Finding coins is quite common for me. I used to pocket whatever I found until I found $60 (in $20 bills) last December. I felt bad about spending it because someone was probably out shopping for a kid on that Boxing day. So I donated the money to a worthy cause. Since then, I have been collecting all found money in a jar that I will donate to a charity at the end of the year. This is not my idea by the way. I read on CNN about a family in the US doing just that. Hardly a day passes by where I will not find at least a penny. Dimes are surprisingly common probably because they are so small and roll away easily. Amazingly, I have also found many loonies and twonies. So far this year, the jar has at least $30 collected in it. I will be curious to find out how much collects by the end of the year.


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## Ben (Apr 3, 2009)

I should add that I rarely actually buy coffee - free at work, or brewed at home. A rare and special luxury to actually buy a coffee for full commercial price...


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## Rickson9 (Apr 9, 2009)

mfd said:


> *I’m really curious about the varying opinion on what is cheap. Here are some questions that I would love to know if you consider them cheap and why:
> 
> 1 - A double cheeseburger dressed like a mac. It’s a $1.50 less than a big mac but tastes the same*


*

I rarely eat McDonalds, and I've never heard of doing this, but I don't see any problem with it.



mfd said:



2 - Order a small coffee in a medium cup to fill the rest up with milk and essentially get a medium coffee at a small coffee price

Click to expand...

I've heard of this but have never done it because my food is paid for by my work - whether it's at a nice sushi restaurant and starbucks, or subway.



mfd said:



3 - Order 2 kids hot chocolate’s in leu of the equivelant adult hot chocolate. You save a $1.

Click to expand...

I've heard of this. Same reason as above.



mfd said:



4 - Pick up 5 cents

Click to expand...

I've done this.



mfd said:



5 - Pick up $5

Click to expand...

I've done this.



mfd said:



6 - Walk 5 extra blocks to save $1 on dry cleaning

Click to expand...

I wouldn't do this. I get my exercise in other ways and $1 isn't worth 5 blocks for me.



mfd said:



7 - Order a pasta meal that has unlimited bread and salad. Fill up on bread and salad and take the pasta home with you.

Click to expand...

I've heard of this, but again, my meals are paid for by my work.

Cheap is like any other adjective, everybody has their own perspective on it.*


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