Frugal….not cheap!

This morning I was thinking about the difference between frugal and cheap.  I have my own opinion.  I think Frugal is when you save change and roll it up and take it to the bank,  cut coupons and make things from scratch, but cheap is pretending you forgot to bring a gift to a party or your wallet to a restaurant.

As my oldest son was growing up, he would always refer to me as cheap, particularly when I  bought things at a thrift store.  He has since grown out of that notion, but I think that a lot of people may think just like he did, that you are cheap if you spend $5.00 on a shirt instead of $45.00.

Through the years,  I’ve seen people who have been darn right rude cheap to me and I thought it would be fun if everyone shared their stores.  Tell me your story of the cheapest thing that you has happen to you.  The more outrageous the better and funny is good, too.

I start it out with my story from many years ago.  I was barely out of my 20’s and was working for a company and it was time for my evaluation and raise.  I had been working hard, and everyone before me had gotten one, so I fully expected to get a raise, too.  The day of my evaluation, my boss, told me that the company couldn’t afford to give me a raise; and slid a chocolate eclair on a paper towel that was sitting on his desk towards me and said, “I hope this makes up for it.”

You can see it made a big impact on me, and not just financially, as I still remember it all these years later.  So, what was your most cheap moment?