Attitudes towards thriftiness

[trinder]

Skippy's post has prompted me to get involved in this thread. As I read his post I was thinking Yes that's just like me. But I went on to thinking that just because we have that in common it does not mean that we would actually like each other if ever we met ( no Offence Pete I am just trying to make a point)
For all that I have in common I may well have very strong and different views on other related issues. SO for instance I really dislike people ( you know the ones) who are always- on the cheap side, when it comes to drinking in a round. I have no issue with anyone ( you don't even have to justify it) who says No I'll drink one my own. If however they said I am really skint and can only afford one I would happily pay for them. But to be mean and try to STEAL from your mates or even stranger is just wrong. In that I include people who steal food from the breakfast area. No that food was not going in the bin, therefore all rooms carry an additional charge to compensate for those people who steal the food. Taking your own food and sneaking it past the gates is however in my book acceptable- but not sneaking a bottle of spirits into a night club- that is tight fisted.
If you are hitch hiking and someone stops to give you a lift, it doesn't matter that you are quite wealthy and could well afford the fare, it is a choice- However even though a bus is travelling from A to B if you get on it and don't pay your fare it is still cheating ergo theft.
There are many facets to thrift- I couldn't help thinking of Mayal's stance on credit cards. I have many but I have never paid any interest and have "tarted" the money from one card to another to avoid it.
Oh and while I have my head up above the paraphet with reference to the thread re Andy Murray knighthood mylarky- I heard the parents of Fusilier Lee Rigby talking on the radio this morning. Naturally they were upset ( funeral today) and may well have mis chosen their words but interestingly made many statements about what a lovely person he was including " He wouldn't hurt a fly" forgive me wasn't he a soldier ?
It reminded me of the line in a song "Why are the missiles called peacekeepers - when they are aimed to kill"

[Maykal]

I think a lot can be made of the semantics of this issue. I think, after reading the replies to this thread, that we could probably agree that there is 'thifty', which has more positive connotation of not being wasteful, and 'tight-fisted', which has negative connotations.

Like tinder, for me, dodging your round in a pub crosses the line firmly into tight-fistedness, and I would also frown on someone bagging up stuff from a breakfast buffet (unless they were in a rush and grabbed something in lieu of sitting down to eat it). Whilst I would regard myself as thrifty because I prefer to cook from scratch, barter with neighbours when I can, do all renovations/decorating myself as far as professionally possible, grow my own, and save to buy rather than buying stuff on credit, I would also regard myself as generous as I'm always the first to get a round in, happily lend good mates a few bob (if I know they're good for it), and so on.

But, I suppose where that line between the two lies can vary from person to person.

RE. Rigby - He was the victim of a tragedy, and my heart goes out to his family, but he wasn't a hero, just unlucky. The hero in that story, if there is one, is surely the woman who tried to aid him whilst those two nutcases were still strolling around with their knives out.

[Skippy]

Skippy's post has prompted me to get involved in this thread. As I read his post I was thinking Yes that's just like me. But I went on to thinking that just because we have that in common it does not mean that we would actually like each other if ever we met ( no Offence Pete I am just trying to make a point)
SO for instance I really dislike people ( you know the ones) who are always- on the cheap side, when it comes to drinking in a round. I have no issue with anyone ( you don't even have to justify it) who says No I'll drink one my own.

No offence taken trinder. It's funny that you mention buying rounds- I generally don't drink in rounds with one group of friends that I see on a weekend although as we rarely have more than two and the size of the group varies it just makes things simpler to buy our own. That said however, I was out with a different set of friends last weekend and did buy a round and also commonly share a bottle or two of homebrew with them. So if we were ever to meet you may just get a pint

To add to the general thrifty thread, my wife recently spoke to someone from something called the utilities warehouse which attempts to save you money on gas , leccy , phone and so on. The best figures he could come up with were higher than what we now pay which rather validated my wifes time spent on the net


Pete