Frugal or Cheap? (Warning Photos and a Rant)

[moneybags]

I have been taking pictures of our newborn daughter lately and all my pictures rival those of the professionals..I think it's finally shutting her up about this nonsense.

Here's a picture I took. Granted the camera/lens is expensive but not needed, also no fancy lighting equipment or anything..not even a flash. Just throw any picture into lightroom 5 and they will all look professional.

If you or your wife have some free time, get that baby into modeling and make some money for her college fund! She is adorable.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Cute baby! I just buy the digital and print it off for family. And tell the people they should just prioritize what is important. Maybe photos aren't.

[41Fin]

Seems like a good thread to put this (Some boards can be anal about starting new threads and I don't know the protocol here)...

Was speaking with a co worker today and told her I was cheap/frugal and their response was "I'm shocked you would admit that, most people are ashamed to admit such"

Thought it was odd since I can't imagine anybody being ashamed of watching spending to save coin.

Does anybody feel ashamed to be frugal/cheap?

[disneysteve]

Does anybody feel ashamed to be frugal/cheap?

I don't know about ashamed but I have certainly felt very out of place many times.

[Nutria]

Seems like a good thread to put this (Some boards can be anal about starting new threads and I don't know the protocol here)...

Was speaking with a co worker today and told her I was cheap/frugal and their response was "I'm shocked you would admit that, most people are ashamed to admit such"

Thought it was odd since I can't imagine anybody being ashamed of watching spending to save coin.

Does anybody feel ashamed to be frugal/cheap?

Which did you say you were? After all, frugal is morally good, and cheap is morally bad.

[sv2007]

Seems like a good thread to put this (Some boards can be anal about starting new threads and I don't know the protocol here)...

Was speaking with a co worker today and told her I was cheap/frugal and their response was "I'm shocked you would admit that, most people are ashamed to admit such"

Thought it was odd since I can't imagine anybody being ashamed of watching spending to save coin.

Does anybody feel ashamed to be frugal/cheap?

How did that conversation come up?
Maybe there's more to the story?

I don't think the topic of frugal/cheap ever came up at my work in all those years working. Topics wrt vacations pop up regularly and it sometimes boils down to pricing (i.e. if somebody got an excellent price), but it's never related back to frugal/cheap. We'd say, "wow, that's an excellent price, how did you get it"

[41Fin]

Which did you say you were? After all, frugal is morally good, and cheap is morally bad.

How did that conversation come up?
Maybe there's more to the story?

I don't think the topic of frugal/cheap ever came up at my work in all those years working. Topics wrt vacations pop up regularly and it sometimes boils down to pricing (i.e. if somebody got an excellent price), but it's never related back to frugal/cheap. We'd say, "wow, that's an excellent price, how did you get it"

Lady mentioned she never had any money and asked why I never went out to lunch with the group. Responded that I was too cheap to eat out as often as they do.

I often use the terms interchangeably but I see why one could have a negative association and why one couldnt. I used cheap but I guess frugal was more fitting given the conversation.

[disneysteve]

Lady mentioned she never had any money and asked why I never went out to lunch with the group. Responded that I was too cheap to eat out as often as they do.

I often use the terms interchangeably but I see why one could have a negative association and why one couldnt. I used cheap but I guess frugal was more fitting given the conversation.

My wife used to work with a bunch of people who were always broke. However, that didn't stop them from buying junk from the vending machines in the break room all day and going out to eat for lunch every day. On payday, they all left at noon to run to the bank to cash their checks so that they could afford lunch that day. In the meantime, my wife packed her lunch and had direct deposit. Most weeks, she didn't even know it was payday.

[rennigade]

Here's a picture I took. Granted the camera/lens is expensive but not needed, also no fancy lighting equipment or anything..not even a flash. Just throw any picture into lightroom 5 and they will all look professional.

Not sure what you shoot. We have a canon 7D...if you want a nice portrait lens look up the 50mm https://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-...rds=canon+50mm also called the "nifty fifty"

You can sometimes find it around $100 brand new. Really crisp pics and it can give you an awesome bokeh (blurred background.)

Im sure nikon has something similar...inexpensive lens that produces great results.

And yes...post processing plays a huge role. There isnt a professional picture you see anymore that hasnt been tweaked in lightroom or something similar.

[Singuy]

Not sure what you shoot. We have a canon 7D...if you want a nice portrait lens look up the 50mm https://www.amazon.com/Canon-50mm-1-...rds=canon+50mm also called the "nifty fifty"

You can sometimes find it around $100 brand new. Really crisp pics and it can give you an awesome bokeh (blurred background.)

Im sure nikon has something similar...inexpensive lens that produces great results.

And yes...post processing plays a huge role. There isnt a professional picture you see anymore that hasnt been tweaked in lightroom or something similar.

Absolutely!

The picture was taken with a Canon 6D and a Tameron 24-70mm F2.8 so granted the equipment was not cheap. BUT, once you understand how to manipulate the camera in manual mode, that 90 dollar 50 mm lens is more than good enough! You just need some practice with good framing technique..but even if you suck at framing, just crop away.

[Eagle]

Lady mentioned she never had any money and asked why I never went out to lunch with the group. Responded that I was too cheap to eat out as often as they do.

I often use the terms interchangeably but I see why one could have a negative association and why one couldn't. I used cheap but I guess frugal was more fitting given the conversation.

Being frugal can be a good thing in many circles. A frugal person is one who is conscientious about saving money, budgeting, and living within one's means.

Thrifty, Spartan, and prudent are synonyms for frugal, a word that often has positive connotations when used to describe a person who lives a simple life.

Most of the time when people talk about being cheap it's in a negative connotation. A person who is a cheapskate can be defined as 1. a person who does not like to spend money or especially 2. someone who tries to avoid paying a fair cost for a service or product.

An example of cheap is a person who has money, but will not spend it on anything. Not getting your mother a gift for her birthday — that's just cheap. Even a token gift such as a card or even a hand-made creative item is a great gesture.

[Eagle]

I found the question by the poster on FB for a $20 or less photo shoot a bit distasteful. This person from FB is on Baby 7 (Live and give like no one else) if you are at all familiar with Dave Ramsey. Meaning they paid off all their consumer debt, have a fully funded emergency fund (3-6 months of expenses), is investing at least 15% for retirement, and has paid off their mortgage. Note: They are skipping paying for their kids college which is baby step 5.



I mean how difficult is it to find a friend or even stranger amateur photographer and be a little generous by offering to pay for a nice $30-50 photo session? It's sad when people accumulate wealth and from what it appears become stingy.

I'd say it's cheap to pay someone for the time to take photos and then to just make copies on your own. I'd have to agree with that part. Though if you can find a photographer that will let you do that, it quickly gets more grey.

I don't know that being debt free has much to do with the conversation. Having always been non-mortgage debt free, I am used to people assuming that means like you have a million dollars or something. It's not that simple. It takes time to build up a stable financial foundation. DR followers are also often far behind on retirement savings. I guess trying to explain why this doesn't change my opinion about the situation at all. If I paid off my mortgage tomorrow it doesn't change mountain we want to save up for retirement. I wouldn't feel any more rich. Our mortgage is just a small part of our net worth at this point.

Good perspective MonkeyMama about DR followers being far behind on retirement savings. I appreciate this perspective and hadn't quite looked at it from that angle.

Although this person on FB says that since their parents didn't help them with college they have no intention of helping their kids. Again, seems like a cheap attitude to me. If you have been blessed to be at a good place in your life why not pass it onto the next generation?

Do you mean your home equity is just a small part of your net worth? I thought a mortgage was a loan.

[Eagle]

My wife used to work with a bunch of people who were always broke. However, that didn't stop them from buying junk from the vending machines in the break room all day and going out to eat for lunch every day. On payday, they all left at noon to run to the bank to cash their checks so that they could afford lunch that day. In the meantime, my wife packed her lunch and had direct deposit. Most weeks, she didn't even know it was payday.

I can relate to that somewhat. For example, it's lunch time now and 3/4 of my co-workers are buying their lunch. That's $10-20 a day they spend. Then complain about their credit card, student loans, car payments, and other expenses because they don't have a plan for their money. It's sad that the concept of budgeting is foreign to many people.

Many people live paycheck to paycheck so payday is a big deal to them. I'm grateful to be in the situation currently where I tend to forget it's payday.

[Gailete]

Currently my absolute favorite picture of my son (almost 35) is one taken with I believe a camera and posted on line. He is sitting and holding his nephew and it is like looking at a Madonna and child type painting. It is absolutely perfect! I'm using it as a screen saver and can't make myself pull it down to post one of the other son. He even comes in and sees the photo of his brother and nephew and still goes AWWWWW. So price of photo si not the point. It is capturing that absolute special moment and creating a picture that is wonderful.

I have had people bore me stiff showing me photos of stuff that they did or people I don't know are doing. When I started babysitting for a lady she had to pull out something like 50 really bad photos of her ex-husband! If you are going to inflict photos on someone make sure they are worth showing, and does anyone really want to see photos of someone's car, motorcycles, boat, etc.? I've had people that keep photos of those in their wallet, apparently more precious than photos of their kids!