C H E A P People that you know...what are your stories of that person you knew that went overboard with their habits?

[j-c-c-62]

If you want something done right, hire a professional.

Not sure I agree, but I will agree if you want to push the liability onto someone else, hire an insured professional.

 

[threewood]

My mom and dad had two friends from way back when. The husband, Norm, was so cheap he refused to use the car a/c anytime he drove. Said it gave cost him money in fuel mileage. Always had the windows down sweating his *** off during summer. Muggy Ohio weather too.

He would always stay at our house when driving through town, or near town. He would drive way out of his way to get a free bed.

 

[Kern Dog]

An article in Mopar Action magazine years ago told of an accountant that bought a new Duster 340 and opted to stay with the 3 speed manual instead of the 4 speed. His reasoning was that a 4 speed meant more shifting which would wear out the clutch faster.

 

[Budnicks]

I would call one of my coworkers in the Seattle area more interesting than cheap. The fan switch on his '71 Fury was acting up in the 1990's. He disassembled the switch and rebuilt it with new wiring after finally finding the wire gauge he needed; and touched up the contacts before reassembling. It worked great afterwards. He hated aftermarket parts and would rebuild anything before he would buy a replacement part. He was a Brit and born sometime in the 1930's and had rebuilt motorcycles for personal transportation as a kid and young adult. I don't believe he ever bought a new car. Smart move!

Oh yeah, he would repair radios for his old cars too.

Great guy!

Sounds like he had skills not just cheap...

 

[Budnicks]

I know a lot of people that claim
stock OE parts are always better than any aftermarket parts
I see & read about it all the time,
& most the time they have modified **** on their cars
so it's not stock either, the MoPar or no Car crap, or stock is best
& 99% it's most about $$$...
Most won't admit that fact when they argue either...

I've been involved with these cars since 1974,
I see it every damn day...
Many MoPar people are cheapskates unless selling stuff, or hoarders
BUT then they all want top dollar for their old rusty junk
BUT then then don't want to pay you pennies for yours...

Or then those buying cheap Chinese re-popped aftermarket sheet metal
or suspension stuff that appears to look OE, but it's not,
but they couldn't care less it's not American Made or OE,
but they'll be the 1st ones telling you/preaching at you;
Ma-MoPars stuff or their design or stock is best !!!
Yet they have all kind of Chinese made **** on their cars...
It really comes down to $$s...

My stepdad Bob cleaned sparkplugs he's buy junkyard **** all the time
refurbish it, some he spent more on than if he got a new part
but it was his deal, I never did get it sometime...
He'd even recycle/reuse filtered oil, & use on other stuff...
Pontiac guys are a lot like MoPar guys are too...

It's not 1965-1977 anymore, we have a plethora of great parts out there
you don't have to modify cheap rusty old parts/many times junk...
I get the saving money deal, I always did have to do it too...
Raising a family & competitive racing wasn't easy...

Drag Racing was/still is very expensive, but a bunch of the OE stamped steel (cheap OE junk)
sometimes the/that 'stock ****' just doesn't cut the mustard, no matter the arguments
but you can't change peoples minds, even 'so called experts'...
Or those who claim 'to not be judgmental' of others...

Too each their own, it's not my car or my money,
buy or use whatever parts you want...
I'm not nearly as judgmental/or opinionated about some things
as some are here, I know what works for me, & I don't or won't build by committee either...
I couldn't care less what works for others, it's not my car,
if it blows your skirt up, more power to ya'...
I just say my piece & I'm done...

 

[Kern Dog]

I missed this post the first time around...

Not sure if true or myth, but I have heard of people going to restaurants to pick up deep fryer oil for free and run it as fuel in their diesel.

Roger was a guy that I worked with. He was cheap but then spent money on stuff that seemed unusual to me.
In 2006, he flew from Sacramento to Pennsylvania to buy a VW "pickup" and drive it back across the country. It was a diesel model that had a Jetta Turbo engine swapped in along with a biodiesel conversion. It had to be started on diesel and shut down on diesel but in between, you'd switch to the other tank which could be cooking oil or a mix of a variety of other oils including engine oil, ATF or some other stuff he mentioned but I don't remember. Yes, he did work out arrangements with local Chinese restaurants to pick up their used cooking oil.
That VW....It was small though. Roger was my height...5'10" but those VWs are still pretty cramped. He got something like 40+ mpg with it.

 

[Cranky]

I would call one of my coworkers in the Seattle area more interesting than cheap. The fan switch on his '71 Fury was acting up in the 1990's. He disassembled the switch and rebuilt it with new wiring after finally finding the wire gauge he needed; and touched up the contacts before reassembling. It worked great afterwards. He hated aftermarket parts and would rebuild anything before he would buy a replacement part. He was a Brit and born sometime in the 1930's and had rebuilt motorcycles for personal transportation as a kid and young adult. I don't believe he ever bought a new car. Smart move!

Oh yeah, he would repair radios for his old cars too.

Great guy!

My first new car was with my 2nd wife when I was nearly 50!! And she said I was cheap. Asked her why she said that when she got the good stuff and I drove the junk stuff? Glad she's gone!!!

Not sure if true or myth, but I have heard of people going to restaurants to pick up deep fryer oil for free and run it as fuel in their diesel.

Gotta 'process' it before pouring it in the tank! A gallon at a time might work ok but definitely not much more than that!!

My Grandmother lived through the war. When the bar of soap got down to a sliver, she would carefully graft it onto the new one avoiding any waste.
I worked with a guy that would measure how much water he needed for his cup of tea and then only boil that amount. Saved electricity. Wow, that guy was a tight ***.

I still will put a small used bar of soap onto a newer bar lol

I've had the habit of recycling my clothes...
I buy them new but once something gets a spot or stain on it, then it is relegated to use when working on cars or anything that could get me dirty.
Not related to being CHEAP but I try to be efficient with my moves. If I'm walking to the kitchen from another part of the house, I look to see if there is any trash laying around to dispose of at the trash can near the kitchen. That habit came from a boss that pushed efficiency when driving the forklift....never go anywhere with empty forks. (My ex wife followed that principle as it applied to chickens, pasta and potatoes)
When I was working, I'd have the wife make dinners that would also keep well for lunch at work the next day.
At work, I recycled more lumber than anyone. I'd pull nails out and cut off broken ends and use lumber that would have been thrown away otherwise. The guys that did side jobs and work on their own homes often developed a more efficient manner of material usage. I'd save cutoffs of lumber until I knew that I didn't need them.
I wash my cars and truck on the lawn instead of the driveway. We're often going between drought and heavy rain here so it doesn't hurt to be careful with the water.

Most of my jeans are ones that have been given to me with some of them that still look new but if I needed to return a forking tool (forklift) with something on the forks, it had better be something that I needed to pickup on the way back to the starting point. And I'm also 'thrifty' with lumber....

Going back war time folk. I worked with an old Dutch guy once (RIP) (I know they have a reputation anyway). He was a child in the Netherlands during world war II. I asked him once what was his most prominent memory of that time. The first thing he said was hunger. They were always hungry, as there was never enough food to go around. The German soldiers would sometimes pass out bread to the kids, but food was hard to get. To the day he died, he would never waste a morsal of food. He would cut the mouldy parts off bread, boil fish frames for stock, ladle the fat off things for cooking with. If he had any fat that was really past consumption, he would absorb it into paper towels and use them as fire starters. Those people understood what real hardship was.

Never was to that extreme but putting food down a garbage disposal doesn't happen in my home unless it's bad and that doesn't happen very often.

I used to work with a guy who grew up in Germany during WW2.
He would bring his lunch in a brown paper bag and re-use the bag for I don’t know how long. It would be all greasy haha.

When I was a teenager my dad had a retired home builder come help us build a big shed on his property. Well, we were the helpers. If he bent a nail he would pull it out and throw it in a coffee can. One of my jobs was to straighten the bent nails out with a hammer and block so we could use them again.

Both my parents grew up dirt poor; my mom was always very frugal.
My dad was in the computer business back when there was a lot of money in it so he made pretty good money, and he liked to spend it.

When I was 15-16 I went to camp for the summer for a couple months. I got homesick and called home a couple times. I was supposed to write home, and I did, but in one of her letters to me mom told me that the phone calls were too expensive.

Moms way rubbed off on me pretty good, a lot from necessity since my wife never really worked.

I’ve been known to buy used brake pads from the yard for $1 a set. Hell I just straightened out a bent pushrod and reinstalled it on my Charger this summer.

The one I’ve gotten the most grief for though is buying used tires. I put a set on my son’s car before he drove from Ohio to live in Colorado. He didn’t make it through Indiana before a belt broke and he had to buy a new set at Big O tire, who ripped him off on the deal. That just about put me off of used tires. Other than slicks. And snow tires sometimes. Dammit I guess I am a cheap ***.

Also picked up used spark plug wires if they were solid core and of one particular brand. Would test them before installing them....and just installed a set of used tires on my diesel and selling the 20 year old tires on FBMP. I know the history of the used tires for my diesel....they came off of my wife's 22 pickup and the tires I sold were garage kept while on the diesel. They still looked like new and after a week, the buyer hasn't called back. I did list them as 'being older'......

 

[j-c-c-62]

I still will put a small used bar of soap onto a newer bar lol

I haven't bought a bar of soap in 15 years. Being I have traveled professionally for 5+ decades, I still have a few hundred hotel bars of soap left, and some are quite good.

 

[Cranky]

I used to get Hand me down clothes and shoes from my sister. That’s a tight wad for you. Them heels sucked. Lol

You wore shoes and clothing from your sister??

I used to do the same with my lunch. I'd re-use the same paper bag for a week. I still bring my lunch every day since it's a lot cheaper than buying it and more convenient, but use a reusable, insulated lunch box now.

Most of my jobs didn't allow much time for lunch so I had to bring mine.....

I knew a guy who took pens, toilet paper and napkins from his company for decades, ketchup, salt, pepper and sugar from fast food joints. Bragged about how much he saved every year… Cheap as hell…

Had a friend that did that in restaurants......it was embarrassing. He always drove a never vehicle and lived in a junk house and that I never understood.

I'm not cheap but,one time I went out to eat with a friend and his fat girlfriend,and they ordered over $100 worth of food,my food was $20. They pulled the old lets split the check thing on me. It was separate checks after that!

Never let that happen......unless everyone was pretty much on the same level. Lots of drinks (which I never do while out eating) and big food....I'd just say "I'll pay for my own, thank you" and move on.

My parents lived through the depression and WW2 also, very frugal and nothing was wasted, my mother would not throw things like baggies away. she would wash and re-use them. If we had baked potatoes for dinner, we had to remove the aluminum foil carefully and fold it back up.
When it was "that time of the month" for my sister I could tell, she was only wearing one sock.

Just 'one' sock??

Must be a slow evening for you Kern??? cr8crshr/Bill

Oh, Greg is a post and like whore LOL

I have a friend who is a Concrete Cutter by trade - self-employed and damn good at it. He regularly services his truck, cars and machines. I was over at this house a few years ago doing some work for him, and his wife was busy painting the fence (rural lifestyle property) with this really smelly black goo. I asked what it was that smelt so bad.
It turns out he has been painting the fences with the used engines oils from his vehicles - most are diesel. That might sound cheap, but it actually makes good sense.

Engine oil and diesel combined will preserve the wood, and stop the rot, as well as keeping away any bugs or mosquitos etc. His fences looked brand new.

Actually, used engine oil will deteriorate wood faster when exposed to the elements....in my experience.....

 

[Hey-O]

Years ago we were sitting around drinking at my kitchen table,and my friend comes in with a pizza. He grabs a beer and starts eating the pizza. I notice my sister is salivatating over the pizza. She asks him if she can have a piece,he says sure for a dollar a slice! Pizza was about seven bucks back then,the cheap prick actually took her money! We still bust him about it to this day! His defense is she paid it!

How much for the beer he grabbed!!! LOL

 

[Budnicks]

My sister was the lucky one - being the only girl for 3 generations on both sides. No hand-me-downs for her.

My grandparents went thru WWII, they were raised before
& married during depression too...
My dad & his sister, didn't want for much, they got really nice stuff...
Just not real expensive stuff...
They lived in Berkeley & Albany area by SF Bay, really nice places/homes...
(before it was woke trash)
But my grandparents always wore older clothes, unless going to work
Grammie worked at Macy's, she always had nice work clothes
Grandad had a bunch of really nice suits, he was an Engineer V Shell Oil 44+ years
he'd come home & change into his kick around clothes...
MY dad was born in 1937 my aunt in 1935...
MY moms side her father, Grandpa Ernie was a cheap-***...
He raised 2 girls without a mother for most their youth, he was a lifer PacBell guy...
His house was always, top notch & impeccable though...

I was the only boy until my dad got remarried for the 3rd time
Patty, (bitch) she had two sons, both smaller & younger than me,
they got my hand-me-down's...
1 was 4 months younger (he wasn't as big as I was)
the other almost 2-1/2 years younger...
But;
I did get a bunch of hand-me-down's from an older cousin Joe...
Most my clothes "I grew out of", faster than I could wear them out
my brothers weren't getting too bad of a deal
&
When there's, at any time give or take 7 kids/bros & sisters in the house
you take what you can get, be happy you got it...

I had 5 sisters,
(technically 6 actually, if you count my 1/2 sister/Bob's daughter too)
I wasn't wearing none of their ****...
But,
my youngest Bros. Dr. Mark wasn't very muscular, at all
he's more the brainy type
he'd get a few clothes from the girls & could wear them
2 of my sisters where bigtime Tom-Boys "until they met puberty"
mostly wore boy's/men's clothes, until HS & bras...

"My girls" shared clothes a lot, I'd see one wearing something one day
& another wearing it, the same shirt or pants or skirt or even shoes
a few days latter...
I had crazy clothing 'bills' for 4 girls, glad they shared it's have been way worse...
I'd go to Sears & buy the boys stuff, maybe $250 + shoes another $100+
take the girls, $750-$1,000+ shoes another $350-$500+, in ever color it seemed
this routine 2 times a year or more, just for school stuff...
In HS they dressed really well, until we started home schooling
attire became a lot less expensive, I still spent $$ on them,
but their want or needs went way down, just staying around the property...
My older sisters & my 2 adopted sisters would send old used clothes to the girls too
all still good shape, they attack them boxes like a staving Lion on the Savana...
I'm glad they shared, it'd been way worse, they had a like tastes too
made it a bit simpler...

It was a lot less expensive to raise boys, until sports came into play
& they didn't have cheap taste
but simple taste, we lived rurally & they liked Levis & polo shirts mostly,
with LA Gears tennis shoes, or Nikes (before they were $150+ each)
Both boys were way different builds too, James my boy was sort of skinny
Kieth my nephew (I raised) was built more like me, stalkier, more muscular
& bigger bones...
He got a lot of my hand me downs, glad to get them too...
So they didn't share much, Kieth was 8 years older than James too...

I'd bet my total clothing bill for a year back then was easily $5k+ for everyone
Me & Lisa had old clothes, we didn't dress up unless going to an event
or out to golf or to the CC, it was mandatory...
We didn't shop for ourselves much, except like Christmas time...
At work I usually wore my co. uniform to work, or out in the shop,
brown pants & orange shirts...
So unless I was staying at home or going to the races or out to an event or golfing
I was in my uniform...
Lias was a jeans & nice fitted shirt type, cowboy boots, unless we went out,
then she had a great collection of dresses & skirts, lil' "hot" black or red dress
or the cotton summer prints, size 2 & usually floral print, she looked great in all of them...
We didn't spend much on ourselves as far as clothing goes...
I went thru shoes/tennis shoes like nobodies business...
Wore the same good steeled toe work boots forever, had a couple sets of dress boots/shoes...

I made sure my kids didn't do what I had too...
That's the American dream the next generation got better each time...

 

[padam]

I know a lot of people that claim
stock OE parts are always better than any aftermarket parts
I see & read about it all the time,
& most the time they have modified **** on their cars
so it's not stock either, the MoPar or no Car crap, or stock is best
& 99% it's most about $$$...
Most won't admit that fact when they argue either...

I've been involved with these cars since 1974,
I see it every damn day...
Many MoPar people are cheapskates unless selling stuff, or hoarders
BUT then they all want top dollar for their old rusty junk
BUT then then don't want to pay you pennies for yours...

Or then those buying cheap Chinese re-popped aftermarket sheet metal
or suspension stuff that appears to look OE, but it's not,
but they couldn't care less it's not American Made or OE,
but they'll be the 1st ones telling you/preaching at you;
Ma-MoPars stuff or their design or stock is best !!!
Yet they have all kind of Chinese made **** on their cars...
It really comes down to $$s...

My stepdad Bob cleaned sparkplugs he's buy junkyard **** all the time
refurbish it, some he spent more on than if he got a new part
but it was his deal, I never did get it sometime...
He'd even recycle/reuse filtered oil, & use on other stuff...
Pontiac guys are a lot like MoPar guys are too...

It's not 1965-1977 anymore, we have a plethora of great parts out there
you don't have to modify cheap rusty old parts/many times junk...
I get the saving money deal, I always did have to do it too...
Raising a family & competitive racing wasn't easy...

Drag Racing was/still is very expensive, but a bunch of the OE stamped steel (cheap OE junk)
sometimes the/that 'stock ****' just doesn't cut the mustard, no matter the arguments
but you can't change peoples minds, even 'so called experts'...
Or those who claim 'to not be judgmental' of others...

Too each their own, it's not my car or my money,
buy or use whatever parts you want...
I'm not nearly as judgmental/or opinionated about some things
as some are here, I know what works for me, & I don't or won't build by committee either...
I couldn't care less what works for others, it's not my car,
if it blows your skirt up, more power to ya'...
I just say my piece & I'm done...

I figured out with my last few years racing that buying used doesn’t make much sense.

 

[padam]

I figured out with my last few years racing that buying used doesn’t make much sense.

You see it on here a lot; guy buys a used set of pistons or a random cam and tries to build an engine around it.

 

[Cranky]

I figured out with my last few years racing that buying used doesn’t make much sense.

Depends on what you are buying used.....

You see it on here a lot; guy buys a used set of pistons or a random cam and tries to build an engine around it.

Like I said above.....gotta know what you are buying but if the seller isn't on the up and up, then you are at their mercy.

 

[Cranky]

My grandparents went thru WWII, they were raised before
& married during depression too...
My dad & his sister, didn't want for much, they got really nice stuff...
Just not real expensive stuff...
They lived in Berkeley & Albany area by SF Bay, really nice places/homes...
(before it was woke trash)
But my grandparents always wore older clothes, unless going to work
Grammie worked at Macy's, she always had nice work clothes
Grandad had a bunch of really nice suits, he was an Engineer V Shell Oil 44+ years
he'd come home & change into his kick around clothes...
MY dad was born in 1937 my aunt in 1935...
MY moms side her father, Grandpa Ernie was a cheap-***...
He raised 2 girls without a mother for most their youth, he was a lifer PacBell guy...
His house was always, top notch & impeccable though...

I was the only boy until my dad got remarried for the 3rd time
Patty, (bitch) she had two sons, both smaller & younger than me,
they got my hand-me-down's...
1 was 4 months younger (he wasn't as big as I was)
the other almost 2-1/2 years younger...
But;
I did get a bunch of hand-me-down's from an older cousin Joe...
Most my clothes "I grew out of", faster than I could wear them out
my brothers weren't getting too bad of a deal
&
When there's, at any time give or take 7 kids/bros & sisters in the house
you take what you can get, be happy you got it...

I had 5 sisters,
(technically 6 actually, if you count my 1/2 sister/Bob's daughter too)
I wasn't wearing none of their ****...
But,
my youngest Bros. Dr. Mark wasn't very muscular, at all
he's more the brainy type
he'd get a few clothes from the girls & could wear them
2 of my sisters where bigtime Tom-Boys "until they met puberty"
mostly wore boy's/men's clothes, until HS & bras...

"My girls" shared clothes a lot, I'd see one wearing something one day
& another wearing it, the same shirt or pants or skirt or even shoes
a few days latter...
I had crazy clothing 'bills' for 4 girls, glad they shared it's have been way worse...
I'd go to Sears & buy the boys stuff, maybe $250 + shoes another $100+
take the girls, $750-$1,000+ shoes another $350-$500+, in ever color it seemed
this routine 2 times a year or more, just for school stuff...
In HS they dressed really well, until we started home schooling
attire became a lot less expensive, I still spent $$ on them,
but their want or needs went way down, just staying around the property...
My older sisters & my 2 adopted sisters would send old used clothes to the girls too
all still good shape, they attack them boxes like a staving Lion on the Savana...
I'm glad they shared, it'd been way worse, they had a like tastes too
made it a bit simpler...

It was a lot less expensive to raise boys, until sports came into play
& they didn't have cheap taste
but simple taste, we lived rurally & they liked Levis & polo shirts mostly,
with LA Gears tennis shoes, or Nikes (before they were $150+ each)
Both boys were way different builds too, James my boy was sort of skinny
Kieth my nephew (I raised) was built more like me, stalkier, more muscular
& bigger bones...
He got a lot of my hand me downs, glad to get them too...
So they didn't share much, Kieth was 8 years older than James too...

I'd bet my total clothing bill for a year back then was easily $5k+ for everyone
Me & Lisa had old clothes, we didn't dress up unless going to an event
or out to golf or to the CC, it was mandatory...
We didn't shop for ourselves much, except like Christmas time...
At work I usually wore my co. uniform to work, or out in the shop,
brown pants & orange shirts...
So unless I was staying at home or going to the races or out to an event or golfing
I was in my uniform...
Lias was a jeans & nice fitted shirt type, cowboy boots, unless we went out,
then she had a great collection of dresses & skirts, lil' "hot" black or red dress
or the cotton summer prints, size 2 & usually floral print, she looked great in all of them...
We didn't spend much on ourselves as far as clothing goes...
I went thru shoes/tennis shoes like nobodies business...
Wore the same good steeled toe work boots forever, had a couple sets of dress boots/shoes...

I made sure my kids didn't do what I had too...
That's the American dream the next generation got better each time...

View attachment 1747572

You're right....wall of text!

 

[j-c-c-62]

Speaking of cheap, isn't this Montana trick special:

MSN

Seems to me the biggest hurdle to making it work is figuring out typical collector car insurance.

First i have ever heard of it. Maybe this Montana thing should have its own cheap thread.

 

[qkcuda]

My car racing hobby started when I was still in school. I never had money to buy the new trick of the week parts, but I could buy used parts for half price from those who did. I still buy used, with the exception of internal engine parts. In fact my Charger is the first car I bought a set of brand new wheels for (they were seconds though).

 

[cosgig]

My other friend used to save all the light bulbs out of the cars we parted out and reuse them in the cars he restored. I used to bust him about his cars having restored OEM lightbulbs!

I have a whole tub of light bulbs that I save from parting out cars. I use them all the time when a bulb goes out. Seems the new bulbs have a metal base to them that does not ground well, and the old brass ones never fail to ground. I see no problem with this.

I also save every headlight, and use those as well. Fan belts, radiator hoses, water pumps, if they look to be in good condition, I save em to use. I have at least 3 brand new water pumps that I removed from cars that obviously had work done on them that never got finished, and I get lots of good parts that way. I have just recently been recycling the dozens of old Mopar starters I saved because the new rebuilt ones are junk, alternators too. I take them up to the auto parts store and have them checked, if they’re good, they go in the good box. I see nothing wrong with any of this!

 

[Kern Dog]

We are cut from the same cloth.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

At the shop where my Dad worked they had a guy that was the parts runner. He went through a divorce and most his money had to support his x and kid. So I think what started as necessity became instinct. He also used the same paper bag for lunch like one of the previous posts. He would get one haircut a year and have it all shaved off. By the next year he would have a curly afro that was epic..barely getting in the doorways...and he had red hair!! Seeing him before and after was shocking, and It was NOT a expensive haircut..it was really, really bad. He heated his house with corn as he didn't want to pay a gas bill. The city came out twice and replaced the meter because they thought it was broken. He saved/reused everything....but the Annual haircut was something to witness.Lol