Mary Hunt writes a couple of on-line newsletters that I have found useful, especially the free one (Everyday Cheapskate).

Here is a list of her remarks that “prove” you are living frugally (in other words wisely).

You know you’re a Cheapskate when ....
… your spouse hides things in the house because he or she is afraid you’re going to sell them on eBay to raise money for your emergency fund.
... you plan meals like your 8th grade Home Economics teacher (if only she could see you now).
... the checker tells you that she has never in her 10 years of working in a grocery store sold a bar of Fels-Naptha soap.
... you call your credit card company’s 800 number just to hear your balance going down.
... you use more envelopes to hold your money than you use to mail your bills.
... your ceramic piggy bank has a spotlight over it
... you go online to check your savings account balance first thing in the morning on the first day of the month even if it means you have to get up early ... then you sit there and giggle with glee.
... you get $60 cash from the bank and it lasts longer than $100 cash used to last.
... you buy something with your credit card and immediately go online to transfer the exact amount from your checking account to pay it early, just so you will never show a balance.
... every month you take your saved change to the bank, deposit it, then head straight to the nearest computer to transfer that amount to your credit-card balance!
... friends ask you to go out to eat Mexican food and you say you’re making tacos at the house if they’d like to come by and join you.
... you’re faced with losing your job and you don’t lose any sleep at night because you have six months of living expenses in your emergency fund and no credit-card debt!
... you hear about a good book and rush online to put it on hold ... at the library!
... you discuss your finances with your spouse and you are both SMILING because you know the balance of three bank accounts—to the penny!


I don’t do any of the above – well, okay, I prefer the library to shelling out money for books. When I worked in hardcover publishing, I never paid for any book. I would call a contemporary at another house and we would trade.

If I followed these guidelines, I would probably be financially sounder than what I am. I would also be brain-dead. Laughing with glee for me is reserved for a period of time following the sex act and definitely nothing to do with money, unless, of course, I have won the lotto, but then we wouldn’t be dealing with frugality would we? We would be dealing with more reasons why I would not adhere to any of the list. Yay.

By this yardstick, I am definitely not a cheapskate. Granted if I were truly poor I would have to adopt some of these money savings habits or find myself living in a box under a bridge. But since I can afford to, I ignore all the tedium of counting where every penny goes. And you can add Ed to that list too and he is worse than I am. Compared to him I am the Queen of Frugal and Self-Denial.

So, put a sock in it Mary. There’s more to life than what you do. And while I am at it, could you possibly print a recipe that you think is terrific that doesn’t start with one cup of Heavy Cream? Are you nuts??

xx, Teal