The Cheapskate Essay

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Carmen Johnson Dr. Marion English 112-MJZT03 5/18/12 Not The Scratchy Toilet Paper Again! I am a cheapskate. My children will be the first to tell you that I can make a dollar last me for two days! The clothes that were worn by one sister will indeed (unless ruined) be worn by the younger sister before making their way to Goodwill. Dictionary.com defines a “cheapskate” as “a person who is stingy and miserly.” Folklore says that the term originated around a “cheaps gate” where miserly people once hung out. “Cheapskate” is a term used as an insult to those of us who do not just throw money around without thinking about what we are buying. To call me a cheapskate is to insult me and by definition I am being called a stingy and miserly person. I am not stingy or miserly. I consider myself a cheapskate. There is nothing wrong with saving a dime or two. I believe in using something until it is broken and not being wasteful. When I was younger this concept was foreign to me. I found myself broke with really not too much to show for what I had earned and spent. As I turned my financial situation around, I realized that I did not really need the newest and coolest and the best new items on the market all the time. Being a cheapskate is not the same as being poor. A cheapskate has money and refuses to spend it. In the past, people who were poor and unable to spend money were thought of as cheapskates. You cannot spend what you do not have. Being poor is a situation that requires one to be a cheapskate as a means of self-preservation. Contrary to common belief, the cheapskate’s life does not mean I live like a miser, spending my time hoarding piles of pinched pennies, nickels, and dimes, or spending my evenings in the dark because I do not want to use too much electricity. I do not eat only peanut butter and jelly
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