The Tightwads Corner » The Less I Use, The More I Have

There are many reasons to being a tightwad. For me it was that I had children that depended on me for everything. I had to clothe and feed these children. I was 18 at the time and married to a man older than me. He had a child from a previous marriage, we also had my sister living with us, after my mothers death. So here I was 18 with a husband, 2 girls, ages 8 and 10. I was trying to work a full time job, go to college and take care of the house and all that entails. I thought this is crazy. There has to be another way. Well, I didn’t know at that time there was a thing call tightwaddery, or even thrift, much less how to go about saving money. I got started in being a tightwad after reading The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. I got a copy of this book from my then sister in law in the early 1990’s.

I instantly wanted to learn how to save money. I was hooked. I like to see how much I can save. My children and I play a little game at meal time. We would see how little we had to spend to make a good meal. We try different recipes. We have a wide variety of choices. We don’t feel limited in any way. Here it is almost 20 years later. Those two girls are raised and on their own with a sense of who they are and where they came from. They are both educated and productive in life. They are good stewards of what has been given to them. I now have 2 teenage daughters at home. I have instilled the same values in them.

When my youngest one was still in elementary school, she carried a lunch box. She did not have all the store bought bags of snacks and chips in her box. Instead she had carrot and celery sticks, of course she had the “ranch” dressing, in a container from yogurt we saved. She had PB&J sandwich in a sandwich keeper, bought at a yard sale, she had frozen yogurt, that was just right to eat by the time lunch rolled around, a “thermos” more like a plastic bottle, with juice, and some homemade cookies. One day one of the little girls at her table asked why she always had such cool things to eat for lunch. My little genius just smiled and said “Because my Mommy is a tightwad.” Of course the little girl asked what a tightwad was, and my baby said she won’t spend money unless it is important. Now mind you my daughter did not tell me this story. The teacher called and asked for a parent teacher meeting. I was fearful she had done something wrong, my daughter not the teacher.

When I got to school, the teacher relayed this story to me. I had to laugh. This is a way of life for her. I tell you this story to make a point. That point is this. Only adults seem to give the names like tightwad, penny pincher, cheapskate, skin flint or thrifty a derogatory meaning. My children have never felt bad or even tried to hide that we are tightwads. They have the things they need to be happy. The rest of the stuff is just that stuff.

Frugality (also known as thrift or thriftiness ) is the practice of acquiring goods and services at minimum cost, achieved via economical restraints or creative measures. Frugality can be related to the idea of being conservative or conserving money.