All Hail Cheap Bastards!

wolfwalker · 02-22-2010, 03:34 PM

I am a major cheap bastid

when i see something I want or need. getting bees? need a honey spinner to get it out. why am I going to pay someone 300.00 when i can make the same thing, probably better for way less. will it be all spiffy and shiney? nope, but it will work and be built of better materials. so the damn thing lasts for more then a season. I build things all the time just by looking at it and seeing how it works. the one timje i decided not to cheap out and let someone else build me something. well i am still waiting for it a year later.

suebee · 02-23-2010, 09:53 AM

I just put together my set of two bedside tables that I bought at our local surplus store. Retail price: $75 U.S. My price: $10 U.S. It took 5 mintues to put the two of them together, and they look sharp! (we won't mention the six months of haunting the store several times a week to find them, 'cause that's just part of the fun!)

I LOVES being a cheap bastid!

Apocalipstic · 02-23-2010, 10:13 AM

I am not a cheap or frugal, but need to learn to be, times being what they are.

I have gotten some great ideas from this thread! Yeayyy! Especially for even more books.. Grin.

Now, to find more book shelves. We have a book "problem" ha.

MsBee, do you have photos of your new bedside tables? I need some and am looking for cheap ideas.

suebee · 02-23-2010, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apocalipstic

I am not a cheap or frugal, but need to learn to be, times being what they are.

I have gotten some great ideas from this thread! Yeayyy! Especially for even more books.. Grin.

Now, to find more book shelves. We have a book "problem" ha.

MsBee, do you have photos of your new bedside tables? I need some and am looking for cheap ideas.

Ms. Lipstic, We are just rearranging the bedroom now. I will try to take a picture later and post it. They're super simple and I bet they could be made with no trouble at all!

Da LUVS helping out!

StoneFinn · 02-23-2010, 06:02 PM

We do our best to live very frugally. There are a lot of ways that we do that, from growing our own veggies (organic to boot. another added plus. we know every stage of our food), to shopping thrift stores and auctions, to going to the recycling center at the tip.

some of our best scores, which does include 1 New Purchase (which is still one of my best)

The new purchase was a brand new treadmill, on severe clearance, for $100. The original price was $1200. We live in an area that frequently has not-good-for-walking weather more often than not, so it does help us keep up.

Other purchases include shoes such as Zenga's and Bruno Magli's for no more than $5 a pair, without even a single scuff on them.

This past weekend, we saw that a local graphic business was going out of business, and they had a rubbish tip out in the park lot. The first thing that I saw was a really, really nice office chair. Let me say-- it is very, very comfy <spins in it now>

We also pulled out several other things, and things we didn't personally want or could use, we ran over to one of the local thrift store donation areas. We couldn't stand the idea of all of it being tossed.

One thing we find a lot of at the tip's recycling center (where people can drop off usable items in the shed rather than putting them in the landfill, so others can come by and pick up, completely free of any charges) are books. lots and lots of books. Last time we went about 2 weeks ago, we sorted through and picked up 5 milk crates of books.

And one of our last good scores... a "brand new" kitchen... for $300. I installed everything, and even with all that I needed to run to the hardware store for-- the total cost came to $500. That included a new 5 star water-wise mixer tap. I had to put that in, just because the water saving principle will over-rule the frugal principle. YAY ebay!

Long live frugality!!!

suebee · 02-23-2010, 06:50 PM

Hey Finn! That all sounds fantastic. I wish we had a place where we could drop off usable items. But there is a secondhand shop here that's almost as good as that. It's run as a employment opportunity for intellectually disabled adults, and every time I've ever gone by it when it's closed there are bags and bags of donations in front of it's door. That's where my girl got me the silk robe and her $1 espresso machine.

I used to live in a larger centre where garbage pickup was an informal recycling opportunity. Not just the usual garbage picking (though I'm certainly not above that - have snagged some pretty good finds that way!). But in this city most people carefully wrapped good items they didn't need anymore so they'd be clean for whoever wanted them. Even if I didn't want anything I did as you do: I'd take good items and give them to a charity. It especially annoyed me to see good toys thrown out. I'd ALWAYS rescue them and give them to the Salvation Army, or a shelter, or wherever I thought they'd be of use. So much waste!

StoneFinn · 02-23-2010, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybersuebee

Hey Finn! That all sounds fantastic. I wish we had a place where we could drop off usable items. But there is a secondhand shop here that's almost as good as that. It's run as a employment opportunity for intellectually disabled adults, and every time I've ever gone by it when it's closed there are bags and bags of donations in front of it's door. That's where my girl got me the silk robe and her $1 espresso machine.

I used to live in a larger centre where garbage pickup was an informal recycling opportunity. Not just the usual garbage picking (though I'm certainly not above that - have snagged some pretty good finds that way!). But in this city most people carefully wrapped good items they didn't need anymore so they'd be clean for whoever wanted them. Even if I didn't want anything I did as you do: I'd take good items and give them to a charity. It especially annoyed me to see good toys thrown out. I'd ALWAYS rescue them and give them to the Salvation Army, or a shelter, or wherever I thought they'd be of use. So much waste!

I know-- the amount of waste that I have seen has been mind-blowing. I Uni, in my public speaking class, I did a presentation on Dumpster Diving. The response to it was well beyond just doing a presentation. By the end of the presentation my entire class went from "EW" to "can I go with you?". I did a slide presentation in the same class at the end of term-- using a laptop of my own that I had "recovered" while dumpster diving. By the end of the class, we had regular "outings" organised of almost every member getting together in local groups and doing what I called "Recovery Missions". Again, anything that couldn't be used by someone in the group (or their friends / family) we would take to various charity donation centres.

I know Australia isn't "perfect", but one of the first things that I noticed here is that there is much less waste. It is more ingrained in the culture for people to re-use as much as possible and throw away as little as possible. We have days called "council pick ups" where you can put out 1 cubic meter's worth of household items for free pick-up by the rubbish people, once a year per area. Most of the time over 1/2 of each pile is picked up by people before council ever gets there. We have gone out on these days-- and it amazed me-- it wasn't just us wandering through the neighbourhoods-- there were MANY people out picking up all sorts of items. We, personally, got a beautiful flacatti rug, a good working compact house stereo system and speakers, ceramic/terra cotta/metal planters, tool boxes, and more.

It is something that I would love to see spread to other places...

Okay-- have to run now... actually going to the thrift store LOL

View Poll Results: Are you a cheap bastard?
Yes, and my mama is damned proud of me!	19	21.35%
I'm just thrifty.	34	38.20%
If I were cheap wouldn't my Visa card get lonely?	16	17.98%
Who are YOU calling cheap girlie?	8	8.99%
I'm not, but I think cheap bastards are hella sexy!	12	13.48%
Voters: 89. You may not vote on this poll

02-23-2010, 09:53 AM	#2
suebee Member How Do You Identify?: TOWANDA! Preferred Pronoun?: Queen Bee Relationship Status: Good 'n married. Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Eastern Canada. But if I make a wrong turn at the lights I get stopped by a border guard. Posts: 1,499 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,355 Thanked 2,756 Times in 820 Posts Rep Power: 16450092	I just put together my set of two bedside tables that I bought at our local surplus store. Retail price: $75 U.S. My price: $10 U.S. It took 5 mintues to put the two of them together, and they look sharp! (we won't mention the six months of haunting the store several times a week to find them, 'cause that's just part of the fun!) I LOVES being a cheap bastid! __________________ "Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind." -Albert Schweitzer

02-23-2010, 10:13 AM	#3
Apocalipstic Pink Confection How Do You Identify?: Femme Preferred Pronoun?: She, Her, Ma'am Relationship Status: Dating Myself Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Nashville Posts: 4,266 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 17,195 Thanked 11,362 Times in 2,838 Posts Rep Power: 21474856	I am not a cheap or frugal, but need to learn to be, times being what they are. I have gotten some great ideas from this thread! Yeayyy! Especially for even more books.. Grin. Now, to find more book shelves. We have a book "problem" ha. MsBee, do you have photos of your new bedside tables? I need some and am looking for cheap ideas. __________________

02-23-2010, 06:02 PM	#5
StoneFinn Member How Do You Identify?: Transgressive Male Preferred Pronoun?: masculine Relationship Status: hog-tied with love Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: beyond the never-never Posts: 157 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 234 Thanked 312 Times in 91 Posts Rep Power: 1671350	We do our best to live very frugally. There are a lot of ways that we do that, from growing our own veggies (organic to boot. another added plus. we know every stage of our food), to shopping thrift stores and auctions, to going to the recycling center at the tip. some of our best scores, which does include 1 New Purchase (which is still one of my best) The new purchase was a brand new treadmill, on severe clearance, for $100. The original price was $1200. We live in an area that frequently has not-good-for-walking weather more often than not, so it does help us keep up. Other purchases include shoes such as Zenga's and Bruno Magli's for no more than $5 a pair, without even a single scuff on them. This past weekend, we saw that a local graphic business was going out of business, and they had a rubbish tip out in the park lot. The first thing that I saw was a really, really nice office chair. Let me say-- it is very, very comfy <spins in it now> We also pulled out several other things, and things we didn't personally want or could use, we ran over to one of the local thrift store donation areas. We couldn't stand the idea of all of it being tossed. One thing we find a lot of at the tip's recycling center (where people can drop off usable items in the shed rather than putting them in the landfill, so others can come by and pick up, completely free of any charges) are books. lots and lots of books. Last time we went about 2 weeks ago, we sorted through and picked up 5 milk crates of books. And one of our last good scores... a "brand new" kitchen... for $300. I installed everything, and even with all that I needed to run to the hardware store for-- the total cost came to $500. That included a new 5 star water-wise mixer tap. I had to put that in, just because the water saving principle will over-rule the frugal principle. YAY ebay! Long live frugality!!! __________________ "Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind." ~~ Da Vinci "If I were to think of and dwell on disastrous possibilities, I could do nothing. I throw myself headlong into my work, and come up again with my studies; if the storm within gets too loud, I take a glass too much to stun myself." ~~ Van Gogh

02-23-2010, 06:50 PM	#6
suebee Member How Do You Identify?: TOWANDA! Preferred Pronoun?: Queen Bee Relationship Status: Good 'n married. Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Eastern Canada. But if I make a wrong turn at the lights I get stopped by a border guard. Posts: 1,499 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 2,355 Thanked 2,756 Times in 820 Posts Rep Power: 16450092	Hey Finn! That all sounds fantastic. I wish we had a place where we could drop off usable items. But there is a secondhand shop here that's almost as good as that. It's run as a employment opportunity for intellectually disabled adults, and every time I've ever gone by it when it's closed there are bags and bags of donations in front of it's door. That's where my girl got me the silk robe and her $1 espresso machine. I used to live in a larger centre where garbage pickup was an informal recycling opportunity. Not just the usual garbage picking (though I'm certainly not above that - have snagged some pretty good finds that way!). But in this city most people carefully wrapped good items they didn't need anymore so they'd be clean for whoever wanted them. Even if I didn't want anything I did as you do: I'd take good items and give them to a charity. It especially annoyed me to see good toys thrown out. I'd ALWAYS rescue them and give them to the Salvation Army, or a shelter, or wherever I thought they'd be of use. So much waste! __________________ "Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind." -Albert Schweitzer

02-22-2010, 03:34 PM	#1
wolfwalker Member How Do You Identify?: human Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: planet earth Posts: 129 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 181 Thanked 180 Times in 71 Posts Rep Power: 25	I am a major cheap bastid when i see something I want or need. getting bees? need a honey spinner to get it out. why am I going to pay someone 300.00 when i can make the same thing, probably better for way less. will it be all spiffy and shiney? nope, but it will work and be built of better materials. so the damn thing lasts for more then a season. I build things all the time just by looking at it and seeing how it works. the one timje i decided not to cheap out and let someone else build me something. well i am still waiting for it a year later.