Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

One way my husband and I save a little money is to use the shampoo, conditioner and other products we’ve collected from hotel stays.

During the depths of the recession, when we stayed at an apartment rental, we stocked up on the hair products the owners had left for us to use. Still, I couldn’t help wondering whether we were being frugal or we were stealing.

A recent article on Bankrate.com, “Are you taking frugality too far?” addresses just that issue. The author, Clark Palmer, writes that frugality crosses the line when “you’re cheating yourself or others just to save a buck” and when you wouldn’t feel comfortable asking a person in charge if what you’re doing is all right.

So based on this logic, what are some examples of acceptable and not acceptable frugal behavior? According to the article (a hat tip to Bargaineering.com, where we learned about the piece), hotels expect customers to take items like shampoo and build that into the cost of the room. But they don’t expect guests to leave with other items like light bulbs, towels and tissues.

Along similar lines, according to the piece, being frugal in the right way involves going to a restaurant where you can afford a meal and a tip rather than going somewhere where you can afford just the meal and not the tip.

Posts on the subject from other blogs, meanwhile, offer other examples of behaviors some consider to cross — and not cross — the line. The blogger at Frugal for Life, for instance, considers stealing coupons from others’ papers and buying an item from a store with the intention of using it and then returning it not acceptable, while going to a food store to try samples is all right (though eating enough samples to make a meal is not). Another post at Queercents.com, questions whether sneaking snacks into a movie theater is acceptable. (The blogger’s conclusion: Sneaking snacks is not O.K. but it would be hard to feel bad about doing it.)

At the Simple Dollar blog, on the other hand, a recent post argues that “there is never too much frugality, as long as respect for others exists — what actually creates that line between frugal (good) and cheapskate (bad) is our other values.”

What do you think of the examples cited above? Do they cross the line? What are some questionable frugal tactics you are think are acceptable and not acceptable?