Anyone see Extreme Cheapstakes on tv?

[Denim Deb]

The only packages I'll take from a restaurant are ones that come w/my meal. For instance, if I get pancakes or french toast or something and it comes w/syrup packages, if I don't use up all the packages, I'll take them. I figure I've paid for them. But, I'm sure not going to go into Micky D's and take a whole handful of ketchup packages!

 

[Beekissed]

I have an ex-uncle and his wife that lives like this....they were millionaires when they met, individually, and now are two millionaires, elderly, living together in extreme~and I mean extreme~penury. I believe it is a sickness and has grown over time because he wasn't always like that. They live without the heat turned on and just layer up clothing, they take condiment packets from food joints(salt, pepper, ketchup, etc.) and that is the only condiments they have in their home. They go dirty so they won't have to use water or electricity. They barely eat because it cost money and I'm sure they would be just the type to scavenge food at restaurants from other plates and avail themselves of soup kitchens in the area.

The goal seems to be to get and keep all the money they possibly can....sort of like hoarders but it involves getting money, keeping money, having more and more money and never spending it.

All I can say is their kids are gonna be laughing all the way to the bank when it's all over. :/

 

[k15n1]

I can't imagine doing either of them, either. If you don't eat out, you don't spend as much money, so there's no need to ask anyone else for their leftovers.

K15n1, I use 1 ply toilet paper all the time. I feel like I'm wasting it if I'm someplace that has 2 ply. And, if it wasn't for my hubby, I might go w/cloth. (He heard about that someplace and he was like this. )

You can always prototype an SS idea yourself. I do that all the time. In the past, I'd try to explain it to TW and get all kinds of resistance. After going to all that trouble to find out that the objection was trivial or resulted from a minor misunderstanding, I switched tactics. Obviously, there are limits. Like money. If it costs something, I have to get a 2/3rds majority, or pay for it with my allowance. Fair enough. The really good ideas usually get reimbursed from the general fund. But wiping you own @ss with cloth should be something you can try without a majority vote.

 

[raro]

I saw about 10 minutes of that show. It kind of cracked me up. A couple who a few times a year go on "fasts" where they spend no money for a week. I thought, hey, I do that all the time, what's the big deal? And by the end of the week they were "desperate" because they had no food and refused to go get some. What, they never stock up and have a pantry?! I could go a month without buying food if I had to. And then he goes through his vacuum cleaner bag, goes to a local diner and looks in the crack between the seats, and goes to pay phones and air hoses at gas stations, all to find a few coins. And they finally had for that last dinner...a couple of goats' heads!
There's being frugal with your money and there's being stupid, and the people there were being stupid.
As to the toilet paper ply thing, I always think of a comment by the Tightwad Gazette person, who said, even if you pull them apart into one-ply rolls, what is the first thing you do? Crumple up the toilet paper until you have a bunch. If you have 2-ply, it takes less to crumple, and if you have 1-ply, it takes more, so it all works out the same.