Wednesday 1 June 2011

Cheapness Spectrum

Recently, I encountered something called the "cheapness spectrum".  Cheapness, in terms of spending habits, is a relative thing, and it can be formed on a spectrum that goes from least cheap to most cheap, like this: Free-minded spending, reasonable-spending, thrift, cheap, dirt cheap, and cheap-ass cheap.

A free-minded spender would be someone who spends money mostly for convenience, doesn't think about the amount they're spending and whether the product was worth it. A free-minded spender would very likely go in to a store and grab whatever they needed, pay, and leave. (I used to be like this a long, long time ago. looking at my life now, I'm not sure how i feel about the change -3-)

The biggest difference between reasonable-spending and thrift is that, the reasonable-spender would buy things from department stores, they would think about the price and the worth but will most likely still pay the full price for something they truly loved or really needed. Thrift people do this way less, and they like thrift-stores like Value Village and Salvation Army. This is understandable, why settle for the full price when it might go on sale later, or you could find something similarly attractive for less? And another difference is that, thrift people like the word "Sale", very much.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty and talk about cheap. You might be wondering why there are so many different kinds of cheap, aren't all cheap people just cheap? During my 24 years of living with Asians and encountering all sorts of cheap, let me assure you there are differences. If a thrift person goes shopping for a hundred times, once he will buy something he loves despite a too-high price, a cheap person would do that only once in three hundred shopping trips. The cheap person may consider sale prices, but they would not instantly drop their cash just 'cause a shirt went down from $70 to $35, if they see a red tag that says "additional 30% on top of sales", then maybe. If there's another tag that says "special day, everything 50% off on top of the additional 30% on top of sales", even better. A cheap person is way more likely to bargain (even if the seller didn't post any signs that says 'reasonable-offers accepted' or whatever), they do it, 'cause why not?
Also, don't wanna sound racist but, eight out of ten cheap people are Asians.

Now here's dirt-cheap (Are you still reading this? Geez you must be really cheap~ ) How do I sum up dirt-cheap.... hmm, I guess you could say, cheap people are everywhere, but dirt cheap people can only be found dwelling in a few unexpected corners. Places such as gotten-from-lying-to-the-government-about-income government houses. These people have gotten so cheap to the point they abandoned some of their morals. These people have spent every single second of their lives thinking about how to get the most out of their money. It's actually kind of painful to live with them if you're not one of them, 'cause that's all they ever talk about. I once went out to eat fried chicken with a dirt-cheap family, and they sat down in this tiny KFC getting into a fiery argument on whether they want ten drumsticks with two dollars, or seven chicken thighs with three dollars. Then they came up with a bunch of other theories about how they could save money if they bought this one combo of just chicken thighs with another one with just drumsticks or whatever. What seemed like an infinite amount of time had past. I don't even remember how everything worked out, but only that after coming out of KFC smelling like I worked there for a whole day.

It might be hard to believe, but there is a level that's even beyond dirt-cheap, and that's cheap-ass cheap. In a way, you could say that cheap-ass and dirt-cheap are equally cheap. If dirt-cheap people cheated for their cheap, then cheap-ass people worked for their cheap. Cheap-ass cheap people are life-style cheaps. They pretty much do everything and anything that's even remotely possibly done by themselves, by themselves. They mill their own rice, grow their own weed (the medicinal kind. only the dirt-cheaps grow the other kind [so they can sell it]), make their own fabric, knit their own socks, built their own bed, and sometimes even their own house. They don't care if they're dead-tired from worked an entire day or night. Basically to them, money is more important than health.

OK. I think I wrote everything I wanted to about this cheap spectrum. Man, why'd I spend so much time doing this? Is anybody even reading? Anyways.... I'm sure we all have diff opinions on what we define as cheap so, if you're super bored and 无聊, you could make your own spectrum! You could send me your spectrum and we could put them together and even write a book about this: "The Science of Cheap".
On this spectrum, I fall mostly under thrift, with occasional drifts to cheap, where do you fall?

6 comments:

  1. haha, well, the last one..... you also have to consider the individual personalities and level of income with the people involved. for example, some people do everything themselves cos they're really eco and into home-movement, etc, which is more related to lifestyle values than saving money. there's this book that's all about living on the cheap to the extreme: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/10/24/possum-living-how-to-live-well-without-a-job/ (it's also kinda morigirl, there was a short video interviewing the author as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvn79E40VSc).

    also, if you're REALLY poor and have many mouths to feed, you're not cheap because you want to be, but just living within your means. I think dirt-ass cheap just applies to those familes who you know have enough money, but are taking advantage of other people/the government/are really annoying to the point of you wanting to smack them (such as that convo where we talked about how asian parents will insist on driving you to save you your taxi money, but bitch abou it the whole ride)

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  2. this is the funniest shit I've read in a while.... I totally thought it was a legit (or at least commonly used web-) spectrum until your descriptions.... way to differentiate between dirt cheap and cheap-ass cheap! lols

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  3. and actually i think spending habit is something that's ingrained into you during adolescent development.... so it actually is reflective of someone's childhood not necessarily their current living condition/income.

    for example,
    my dad's family (despite both of his parents being doctors) were REALLY REALLY POOR when he was a kid. there'd only be meat on holidays and rice is like a super rare commodity. he has a younger brother and a little sister, so when they were kids only my aunt got the bowl of rice, and he and my uncle would always try to steal like 2 spoonfuls. this would make my aunt cry (she was 5 or 6 at the time) and they'll get chewed out by my grandparents. I basically tear up when I hear this story because, damn, that's just sad. now my dad is really cheap when it comes to food. he's willing to spend $1,000 on a DSLR (and seriously, I'm like - "why? you are not even thinking of going quasi-professional after your retirement") but he refuses to buy out for lunch if it's just himself. If he does get lunch he'll talk about how it's so expensive even if it's a $5 fastfood burger. I've seen him gladly spend $100 for family dinners but when it comes to buying food for himself he's dirt cheap.

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  4. re chu,
    hahaha i remember our talk abt the refusal-of-taxi parents. but was that the dirt-cheap people? i thought they were just cheap-ass. i think dirt-cheap ppl annoy others with their constant need to get money that they didn't deserve (like lying to get gov'nt housing). cheap-asses do less cheating. but both cheap-asses AND dirt-cheap do annoying things like refusing to taxi but bitch the whole way through, and trying to get twenty drumsticks with 5 dollars at KFC.

    possam living sounds like a really helpful book actually. i want to read it just to learn some tricks they did there haha. i agree with the girl's mom though, that she could have more opportunities to meet others if she got out more.

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  5. cindy,
    damn... your dad's story is so sad :(
    i think it's perhaps that when you were a child, and certain things made a very lasting impression on you and you got so impacted by it, that it influences you throughout life. Like how your dad had to fight his siblings to get 2 spoons of rice.

    my dad told me some similar stories as well. he had 2 brothers and a sister and all they ever ate was Wo Tou (those yellow things made out of cornstarch), and every year when it was chinese new year they pretty much stuffed themselves until it hurt 'cause they think they'll never get a chance to eat like again. If people got their mentalities through childhood experiences, then, this type of living condition may be the root for why chinese people always want to stuff as much as they can when going to buffets.

    talking about this just makes me so grateful of our lives~ and also inspiring to work on my spending habits!

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  6. cindy,
    though, i find it interesting how your dad is only cheap with himself, but not with others (even overly generous). if he was raised in a very tough surrounding as a child, then shouldn't he apply the same principle he does to himself, to everyone else as well?

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