The other day I was talking to a buddy and he called me cheap. It wasn’t anywhere near the first time that this happened, nor will it be the last. I don’t usually take much offense because I am comfortable with myself and my spending habits, but for whatever reason this simple conversation got me to thinking about “what makes someone cheap?” I think it becomes a deeper conversation than what is someone’s monthly nut.

Why am I considered Cheap to Some?

I have struggled with the idea of value for years, but I think it is applicable in this conversation once again. Maybe I am biased but I think most people’s definition of cheap would be,

A person that doesn’t want to spend a lot of money and is vocal about it

If that is the definition people want to accept I may fall into this category as I often have problems spending money on stuff, but I think that is because I don’t value a lot of what other people do. Notwithstanding, for anyone that reads my very candid spending reports, I do spend money lol too much for that matter.

So I think I have come up with the “I Have Been Called Cheap Response.”

How to Respond When People Call You Cheap

My problem is that when I am being called cheap it is either because I am in the middle of someone trying to get me to spend my money on something I don’t value or when I am trying to make every dollar that has to go out be that much more efficient. As such I have came up with a creed sort of response

I won’t spend money on things I don’t place value on I want my fixed costs to be efficient If your value is misplaced that doesn’t mean I have to spend more

and I am willing to complain or voice my opinion if expected to break those three rules. Unlike one’s biblical creed these rules are flexible only because the words that they are built up on are malleable.

For example, if we take the same exact restaurant I am willing to spend more there at certain times or flat out reject going to there if the setting isn’t what I am looking for at that exact time. Another example is going out for drinks – on a Tuesday night I am less willing to spend less per drink then I am on a Friday night even if I am with the same people.

Have you been called cheap? Does it bother you? Do you think the creed covers it all?