Too Tall Tightwaddery?

1. Generally no matter how poor you are (or wealthy as well), you will always have something to give. Whether it is clothes, time, love, food or money. There is always someone who is more in need than you are that you could greatly help. Please remember this before you judge others, you do not know. It’s hard to tell exactly where we all are on the tightwad “personality” scale.
2. You can take too much. Everyone loves a great freebie, but please remember to be polite and not greedy. If you’re offered something free, remember to be respectful of others. If it’s from a friend or family member, be certain to say “thank you”, and see if there’s anything you can do for them in return. If it’s from a stranger perhaps offer to help them in some way, or to pay them something for the item(s). Refrain from the all-you-can-take mentality at restaurants.

3. Health and well-being takes precedence over frugality. Okay so you cut the mold off the cheese and use the unaffected area, (I do this too, shh, don’t tell anyone). Please remember that some practices will make you sick, in more ways than one. Don’t cheat others. Be honest, pay what you’re supposed to. If you accidentally pay less for something than the correct price, call and inform whomever of the mistake, many times, the mistake will end in your favor anyway, but you will have peace of mind knowing you did the right thing. Don’t try to extend something that will only make you sick. If it smells funny, looks funny, or has been left out longer than it should have been, don’t take the chance. Ultimately if you can hurt yourself or someone else in order to save some money, it’s not worth it.

4. Show good “Tightwadship.” If you do have a legitimate problem with something you paid money for, do tell someone about it. It’s a down right tightwad shame when money is wasted on something that did not make good on what you paid for it. However, when being a wise tightwad and bringing it to an employee, management, or manufacturer’s attention, please remember to be calm, polite, yet honest. Only when you find you are not being taken seriously with your complaint, is it acceptable to be stern, not rude,just to get the point a crossed that you are a paying customer with rights that have not been honored. Many times I have needed to do this, and once action was being made that was fair, I returned back to the calm, polite, demeanor that I had in the first place, but with a new respect from the person(s) I had been dealing with.