psyop63b

but that's not the point here.. The poll is completely 50/50 right now! weird

AbstractConcept

I feel no concern about the little inexpensive things that just whittle your money away dime by dime, but every time I buy a shirt or a pair of shoes I cringe.

When I buy furniture I have to over-convince myself I am not making a mistake. This normally takes days if not weeks or months, along with the advice of several people. It usually ends with my mom or my husband yelling at me to stop fretting and just buy it.

MARTHA__JONES

PalmBayChuck

My philosophy is to cut corners on stuff that doesn't really matter and save it and spend the extra money on things I really derive pleasure from. I'll buy the 99 cent store brand ketchup and buy dishes from the Salvation Army and use the money I save to upgrade my PC hardware or take a trip somewhere.

It's ironic that they want $4.95 to read that article. Ha. I don't think so.

Grrrrrrrrr

On the one hand, I won't bank where there are fees and only use credit cards that have cash rebates. I will not pay for cable (and was appalled to find out how much a friend was paying for it), so I either go without TV or use an antenna. When I had to furnish an entire apartment, I went to Ikea.

On the other hand, I am completely willing to pay for memberships at the museum, the aquarium, and the gym, and season tickets for the opera. I want to kill friends who spend twenty minutes trying to find street parking (particularly the ones who can't actually parallel park), and pass three garages where I would gladly have paid the $7 to get out of the damned car.

Syrenia

I am not a spendthrift, either. I spent the money on all that stuff just because I was in a throat-gripping panic that I would need it and not have it, or the money to pay for it, later.

speedwell

I use coupons/discounts whenever possible.

forgottenpassword

ogremustcrush

However, I do get enjoyment out of buying something I have wanted for a long time and saved up for. That, and I love me some bargains, say on the day after thanksgiving.

ogremustcrush

snowmentality

benmicro

Maulleigh

If I feel an item is a ripoff and has no long-term value than i am pissed off when i have to buy it. (e.g. wine in restaurants).

bbagdan

Pop Socket

Doug Nelson

Carencey

Though I did qualify for 3.9% interest on the loan which is good. (Credit Score 775)

Daniel-Bham

I'm a saver, but I also save money for later spending. So once that 65" Sony Bravia becomes a little more affordable and my stockpile has grown to encompass that price, I'll pull the trigger, and enjoy it.

But that's not to the detriment of my other savings strategies.

So, neither.

randombob

nikkomorocco

FrugalFreak

picshereplz

trickonion

Consumer researchers find frugality not a spent force

March 20, 2008

By Jennifer Harper - So much for living large. Misers are now in fashion.

Even in a culture that glorifies $500 handbags and outlandish McMansions, tightwads outnumber spendthrifts by a 3-2 ratio, according to consumer researchers at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University.

"Chronic underspending" is widespread despite press reports to the contrary, said Scott Rick, a professor of information management at Pennsylvania who led the research. He probed the secret shopping habits and pocketbook concerns of 13,327 adults from 2004 to 2007, drawing on a population that included readers of the New York Times, the Toronto Globe and Mail, university students and NBC News viewers.

Shoppers fall under three categories: Emotional tightwads, happy-go-lucky spendthrifts, plus a blithe group Mr. Rick calls unconflicteds.

The cheapskates have angst, apparently.

"Tightwads save, not because they care more about the future than spendthrifts, but because forking out the money is too painful of an emotional experience. Those who experience the pain of spending money more intensely tend to spend less," he said.

"On the other end of the 'spendthrift-tightwad' scale, spendthrifts typically experience minimal pain when spending money and tend to spend more," Mr. Rick said.

And those unconflicteds? They live a life of balance. Should they go out to a fancy restaurant one month, for example, they will deliberately forgo the treat next time month to avoid "the pain of paying."

Frugality isn't necessarily painful, according to some.

"Embracing your inner cheapskate" is paramount, according to Robin Herbst and Julie Miller, Minnesota-based authors of "The Cheap Book," published last month.

"Cheapness is not a trait one is born with, encoded in DNA. Cheapness is an art form," the pair wrote.

The new study, meanwhile, further differentiated the behaviors of cheapskates and big spenders.

Although salary ranges were almost equal between the two groups, almost three-quarters of the tightwads always paid off their credit card balance in full, compared with 37 percent of the spendthrifts. The misers also saved more. The researchers found that 28 percent of them managed to sock away more than $250,000, compared with 12 percent of their big-spender counterparts.

There were important gradations among those who were tight with a buck, though.

"The evidence suggests that frugality is driven by a pleasure of saving, as compared with tightwaddism, which is driven by a pain of paying," Mr. Rick said.

The researchers also found some sex and age bias. Men are nearly three times more likely to be tightwads than spendthrifts than women, while folks older than 70 were five times more likely to be tightwads than those younger than 30.

The research will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, an academic journal.

[www.washingtontimes.com]

PaperBoy

Eyebrows McGee

I can pinch pennies now that I have a respectable IT job making decent money, but I don't want to. I do want to buy nice things and enjoy them. I wanted to shoot myself when I got that IRS letter last week, but I reminded myself that I did, if worse came to worst, have the money in savings. My younger brother took my dad's whole death benefit when he died earlier this year, and I didn't fight because I didn't want to tear the family apart. I have a collection that I add to from time to time. I went on a vacation alone. I contribute a fairly high percentage to my 401K (thanks, those of you who talked me into it). I paid my cat's expensive vet bills instead of putting him to sleep.

But you'd better believe I applied my frugality skills to the above. I have a top-notch hairdresser, auto mechanic, body shop, and veterinarian, so I know my money is buying quality, and these service people are all less costly than lower-quality alternatives. I used the service from work to find myself free or discounted legal and accounting services. I scour the Internet looking for the best deal on what I want before I buy it. Everyone asks me where the best deals are.

So am I a tightwad because I seriously care where and how I lay my money down, and I'm a crackpot without credit cards or a house and with a cheap car, or am I a spendthrift because my standard of living is pretty darn good?

speedwell

B

Trai_Dep

mcjake

t-r0y

Assimilation

"To continue reading this article, you will need to purchase this article."

DeanOfAllTrades

smitty1123

But when I'm on vacation, or at a nice bar or restaurant, or when I'm buying something for my kids, I spare no expense. Life is to be savored, not saved forever.

For me, in the end I get great joy when I work to find deals to save $ here and there, and then great joy again when I blow it on nice things. I would eat ramen noodles every day for lunch, so that on Saturday night I don't worry one tiny bit about ordering a Kobe steak and a bottle of Dom Perignon.

So I guess I'm a tightspendthriftwad.

savvy9999

B

barn25

B

AcidReign

The expensive ring for the girlfriend is the only outlier to my guilt spending trends.

sleze69

Sherryness

That being said, I don't think I'm either. I commonly buy things that I want after careful consideration of my budget, and occasionally go over budget if it makes sense to do so.

ManiacDan

DrGirlfriend

Then i'll spend another 2 weeks working with RMA's because I bought it from a company in Hati.

Bladefist

formatc

pda_tech_guy

bonzombiekitty