I’m sure most of you have come across the show Extreme Cheapskates, whether you happen to be in the US or the UK – perhaps across the world. Here in the UK, it is shown on the TLC channel – what can be known as my ‘guilty pleasure’ channel.
We all like to budget and make savings where possible but where would you draw the line? Sometimes I see what these ‘extreme cheapskates’ are doing and actually think – ‘hang on, I am guilty of that too!’ but other times I find myself utterly disgusted!
One lady doesn’t buy toilet roll and instead uses water and soap to clean up after using the toilet. I also saw an episode where a guy takes over his colleagues leftovers from work and serves them up for dinner – despite the fact his wife has been ill because of them at least two times! He also chose to hold his daughters Sweet Sixteenth at a strip club because it was cheapest – although his daughter didn’t mind too much on the day, the family were mortified when he first broached the idea with them!
Some people on the show do have great ideas such as repurposing items, picking up dropped coins and pretending that the value stuff is really the premium stuff – I think we can all be guilty of these and they are nothing to be ashamed of. However, when I see families sharing brown bath water and not buying toilet roll – I cringe a little inside.
To me, certain items are necessities – clean water for a bath, toilet rolls etc – these aren’t luxuries for me and are included in my monthly budget. It seems that some of these people are taking their penny pinching ways too far – can living that frugally ever make somebody happy?
What are your thoughts on this?
