A story about a “frugal immigrant” caught my eye today. An Austrian lady whose monthly income was approximately $2000 a month but expenditures were only $500 was remarkable. Some of the things that she did to save money were more than frugal. They were just cheap. Instead of buying a card for someone else, she would cross the name off the card and write hers before sending the greeting card on to someone else. She paid very little in rent because she reported code violations and the landlord was not able to have his rent increases approved. Also, she had her phone number listed under someone else’s name instead of paying for an unlisted number. When her neighbor took her to a meal at a local diner she would take sugar and cream packets, and bring jars to take coffee home, in addition to taking the rest of her meal home. In the end this lady was able to amass a small fortune of $300,000, half of which she gave to charity and the remainder to friends.
Another story also highlighted younger peopletaking advantage of amenities. This is not very unusual, though some younger (and unemployed) people who are affected by the recession are finding that they are unable to get free WiFi in coffee shops or the hours that they can get free WiFi are limited because they are taking space from actual patrons who are spending money not nursing a coffee all day long.
Being frugal is great!But many of the things that the immigrant did and free WiFi users do are not frugal – they are just downright cheap.
There is nothing wrong with taking the rest of your meal home from restaurants, or using free WiFi if you are a customer, it is when you abuse privileges that the rest of the customers suffer. Just like free WiFi is limited at some cafes to an hour or so per person or not at all during certain hours, in some restaurants you must ask for Equal because too many people were taking the extras home with them.
Frugality also means taking what you will use. If you are at a restaurant and they bring something you won’t use, tell them. Why do you think water isn’t automatically served in all restaurants any longer? It is an extra cost and some people didn’t drink the water.
There is frugal and there is cheap and the line can be too easily crossed just to save a few bucks.
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