Extreme Cheapskates

I'm not above shopping in charity shops either!  Over the years have found several goodies -- take 'em home and wash 'em, change buttons or minor mending and there you go!  I'm not proud 

But you *should* be proud!  Proud to be a smart, savvy, and creative shopper!!  I work in a charity shop and believe me you'd be astounded at what people give away (on both ends of the spectrum--but it's the good end I'm talking about right now)!

Right now I'm wearing a pair of Next jeans, socks from Primark (new with the label still on the pack), a soft light grey sweater with sweet pink satin-covered buttons along the neck, and over that a gorgeous charcoal grey wrap-around sweater in cashmere from Pringle.  All from my shop, of course!

Right now I'm wearing a pair of Next jeans, socks from Primark (new with the label still on the pack), a soft light grey sweater with sweet pink satin-covered buttons along the neck, and over that a gorgeous charcoal grey wrap-around sweater in cashmere from Pringle.  All from my shop, of course!

Wow! Well done. I once got a Liberty wool scarf for a couple quid from a charity shop in Camden Town (forget which one it was).

I love shopping at charity shops. In the States I did half my clothes shopping at Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul and Salvation Army. The town I lived in had a LOT of women who were either disgustingly wealthy or (in more cases) women who were trying to keep up appearances with the wealthy ones. They'd buy things and either never wear them, or wear them once and donate them. Some of my best bargains were a pair of brand new $65 Skechers for $2 and an $80 dress with the tags still on for $3. Between that and the WAY end of season clearances (think winter clothes in June, summer in Feb) at Elder Beerman when I'd get $65+ clothes for $1 or $2, I have a hell of a wardrobe for very little money. It is the thrill of the hunt that makes a bargain so great.

If something has been worn a time or two and you buy it for very little, it looks the same as if you pay full price and wash it once or twice.

Frugality is normal, extreme penny pinching is not.  I wonder where people even get these weird ideas... whatever.  I have never and would never take another's person's left-overs because that's nasty.  When we were kids my dad used to work at the high school and he would take the unopened food that the cafeteria workers had to toss and bring them home.  It saved them quite a bit on food money and it was always a surprise what Dad would bring home.  

I have never, however, been given odd looks when asking for a doggie bag while here in the UK.  SO far the only restaurants that I've seen that have free refills are US based fast food companies while other restaurants sell drinks by the bottle... talking about soda here.  However, one of our favorite places to go has recently changed to free refills which is nice.  Now if only they would supply ice to go with the soda... that'd be even better.  Ah well.

But I do like a good bargain and I love going to charity shops just because you never know what you're going to find.

I have a friend who started to use what is called Family Cloth and she also maintains it's the same as a cloth diaper.  I'll use a cloth diaper when I have kids but I don't wanna use cloth for myself.  ew.  nasty. 

Frugality is normal, extreme penny pinching is not.  I wonder where people even get these weird ideas... whatever.  I have never and would never take another's person's left-overs because that's nasty.  When we were kids my dad used to work at the high school and he would take the unopened food that the cafeteria workers had to toss and bring them home.  It saved them quite a bit on food money and it was always a surprise what Dad would bring home.  

I have never, however, been given odd looks when asking for a doggie bag while here in the UK.  SO far the only restaurants that I've seen that have free refills are US based fast food companies while other restaurants sell drinks by the bottle... talking about soda here.  However, one of our favorite places to go has recently changed to free refills which is nice.  Now if only they would supply ice to go with the soda... that'd be even better.  Ah well.

But I do like a good bargain and I love going to charity shops just because you never know what you're going to find.

I have a friend who started to use what is called Family Cloth and she also maintains it's the same as a cloth diaper.  I'll use a cloth diaper when I have kids but I don't wanna use cloth for myself.  ew.  nasty. 

Taking someone else left overs would be a disaster waiting to happen. Shouldn't a person be concerned about what infections or diseases the person who ordered the food had. This is presuming the diner had dug into the food or had picked it up after it had fallen off the table.
This might be the least concern for some people since I had seen many people going through garbage cans rummaging for food.