Extreme Cheapskates, did anyone see the show last night?

[Jeff Yeager]

We will be watching you Tuesday night!

Well, okay... just so long as you still respect me the next morning. (Now, if you still think I'm cheap, that's perfectly fine, too.)

[disneysteve]

That, of course, doesn't mean that it's not stuff that has actually happened before or that the people in the show don't actually do in real life. Everything I've ever shot for Extreme Cheapskates is stuff that I've at least occasionally done/still do in real life, although much of it is of course exagerated in the final show.

True.

My family and I were featured in an article in a national financial magazine a number of years ago focused on our frugal lifestyle and habits. Everything that made it into the final article was true but some of it came across as more extreme than our real lives actually reflect. We do or did everything mentioned, though not necessarily as much or as often as the article might have led readers to believe. So print media isn't all that different in that regard.

[North Georgia Gal]

I remember my dad shopping at the curb store when I was growing up...the trash that others had discarded became treasures to my dad. I can't say that I have ever done it or gone dumpster diving but I think my dad was probably on to something. He retired at 60 and led a very full life for 20 years without having to worry about running out of money.

[SavingSweetOneL]

Hi Jeff,

I saw your show last night. The cooked slamon, gave me an idea, on how I can treat my cat, by having a friend cook up some, for her and my cat, and I buy the product. This will save a lot of money for me.

Thanks, for the idea.

SweetOneL

[Ramose]

This is a crazy show!

[sagremus]

I admire you Jeff because you are environmentally conscious and even though many people may find your lifestlye "weird," you have the freedom to do what you want -- and who can say that nowadays?


As for eating things out of the trash, I used to work at a bakery during highschool. At the end of the night we would throw out anything that didn't sell -- donuts, cookies, pies, bread, etc. Sometimes 3+ bags full. I would eat stuff from that bag (even though we weren't allowed to eat leftovers --sssh). It was so wasteful.

[JustBill]

As for eating things out of the trash, I used to work at a bakery during highschool. At the end of the night we would throw out anything that didn't sell -- donuts, cookies, pies, bread, etc. Sometimes 3+ bags full.

WHAT!?! Throwing away cookies? Forget wasteful, that's a felony in my book.

[Jeff Yeager]

Thanks for the kind comments.

Of course, once again, TLC sensationalized the final product to attract viewers. But - at least in the case of my episode - everything you saw on the show, I actually do (quite frequently) in real life. Having grown up in a lower-middle income family in the rural mid-west, my Mom was like, "Why didn't they film ME all those years making fish chowder out of fish heads and carcasses for our family?" Good point, Mom.

Funny story, sagremus: When my brother and I were in our teens (1970's) we did a bunch of cross country bicycle trips. We always stopped at the bakery in every small town we pedaled through to ask if they had any day old donuts for cheap (many times they'd just give them to us for free, even though, back then, we were long haired hippy freaks).

One day we rode up to a bakery in a small town in Iowa (darn, can't remember the name of the town) and asked, "Do you have any day old donuts for cheap?" And the happy woman at the counter said, "No, but you're in luck, because the baker just burned some cookies!"

Man, I imagine that kind of thing doesn't happen much anymore.

[joshuaking]

This country wastes millions of tons of food every year for no good reason. When a package says "Best if used by October 24, 2012" that means the store is putting it in the trash today even though it is still a clean, sealed package. If she is scavenging that type of thing, I've got absolutely no problem with that. It isn't something I do myself but I don't think she is wrong to do that. In the vast majority of cases, there is absolutely nothing wrong with items that are past their stamped date. I don't throw things away at home when they go past date but the stores have to.

Good points and good post. I would add that I know a lot of the grocery stores are now donating "expired" food to food banks and such. People using the food banks have to sign a waiver stating they won't come after the store if they get sick. This seems to me like a good way to get this perfectly good food to people who really need it. Everybody wins.

[Roberto]

Jeff and wife

You guys are my heroes. in a sociaty were no one is frugal anymore, you guys are amazing, I should say, some of your practice I won,t adopt at all, but other I will. I was born in Cuba and socialism is really a spread of misseries among everybody, ( Wiston churchill) advised us years ago. So everybody or I should say the majority of the people are dirt poor, so some of your practices I saw them before in my own house, My grandmother she was the queen of "saving it for later" She had a closet ( out of bounds for childre) where she kept every botter every cord or cable or newspaper, she was not a horader and she was very organized, more than one time I did "deliveries" of a bottle or a cord or a cable to someone in need,and they will use whatever ( except for newspaper) and return the item to her, I remember this particular jar/lid she had it for years and years,and she will lend it and she will get that jar returned, she kept a log where she was writting everything she lent. So all this is not new to me, when years ago I visited Germany, the majority of people are like you, very frugal. they buy everything in farmer market and on second hand store, I worked with a guy for a year he was very nice guy, very young, and he will take a sandwich everyday for lunch and a bag of tea and he will brew his own tea, he used the bag several times, he told me but i forgot, but what was amazing was the brown paper sandwich bag he ha, he told me he had the same bag for a year, I didn,t believe this but I checked him after he had lunch and the bag was treated with respect and placed in his backpack for futher use. So a lot of people practice this, years ago my wife was hired by a firm to do taxes, she told me an experience she had with a chinese guy, this guy was studying in the university and the CHinese goverment gave him student allowance of 5,000 dollar a year, and this guy was working in two restaurants and sleeping in one of the restorants and studying he was in this country for almost 3 years and he had in the back 25,000 dlls. How about that? Well thanks for the show you are my heroe.

[bzbee]

I watched some cheapskate episodes on youtube and learned a lot from it. I do some of those things too. I also do dumpster diving for coupons and recycling cans and stuff, and lots of other things, that I don't want the whole world to know, especially some of my friends, because they will think it's gross.
I did wash my clothes in the tub, when my washer broke, and I had to wait a few days to go buy the part for it, I had to drive across the town and wanted to stop for a special sale at someplace on my way back.
I didn't grow up in the USA, and we had our bathroom outside in the backyard, no water to flush, used old newspapers for toilet paper. Showered once a week, every Saturday, wore clothes for a few days in a row, didn't have washing machine. No hot or running water in the house, just a well outside, and used 5-gal bucket to bring water inside. If you wanted to wash dishes, you had to heat the water on the stove first. The house was heated with firewood in the winter, and the water for the bath days too. Lots of work for the whole family, but no bills. We only used electricity for the lights and refrigerator, so that didn't cost very much.

[cardtrick]

I just watched a couple of episodes of this show. I didn't think it was weird at all although I would never do any of those things. To each his own. I'd much rather spend my time upping my income than cutting down on my costs. Financially, it makes more sense. Now, if I were making min wage, it would be different.