Hellobee Boards

Not in the slightest. My dad once went shopping for a new grill for the barbeque and came home with a new barbecue instead. Once we went to buy a new string of lights for the Christmas tree and instead bought a pre-lit tree. My dad and I aren't allowed to go shopping together anymore.

I try to be and enjoy it, but eating out is a weakness.

@erinbaderin: lol partners in crime

My dad used to burn construction debris and then pull the nails out of the fireplace and straighten them.

We reuse ziplocs. We don't use paper towels. Or paper plates or napkins. But it's more from a place of environmental consciousness, not frugality. I've sewn gift bags for our Christmas presents, so we're wrapping paper free this year!
We have several metal waterbottles that we leave in the car ( not in the winter...) full of water, rather than buying bottled water. We use travel mugs and generally try to avoid disposable things.

I don't think it is just about money, btw, also about values (less waste in landfills, less wasted water etc.)

My husband is more frugal than average, but not to an extreme. He's definitely more frugal than me. My dad was also frugal, but my mom is kind of average (like me). Like he gets really angry if I wash a mini load, even though our washer has a setting for mini loads. He thinks it's a waste of water and electricity. He had our oldest bathe in a baby tub till she was almost 2 to save water. He's always finding ways to save money and he hates to spend on anything. The guy will buy a pair of pants marked down on clearance and then find out there is a coupon, so will go back to the store and wait in line to return them, then rebuy them with the coupon. His is more monetary frugality, not environmental.

@mrbee: That's great your mom is trying to pass on the value of conserving water and stretching it. When we first moved in, DH made a catchment system from our laundry water to water plants. We were very 'green' and used special soap. Now we have replaced it with watering the good old fashioned way to save time. LO is being taught all these pro-environment things so she is helping us stay on track with electricity and keeping our showers short to save water, which I am happy about because our tendency is take nature for granted.
Anyway, I'm frugal to the point that I see that every dollar spent is a dollar that could have been spent elsewhere and I want to prioritize my $$$. So I'm not willing to spend $20 more on a water/cable/restaurant bill if I can allot that for a budget for something else....more fun than that. So yes, I'm frugal...but I'm frugal with basics so I can spend on luxuries! If that makes sense....I realize that is contradictory but that's how I stretch my dollars.

My parents are THE most frugal people I know when it comes to goods- they wash and reuse plastic ziploc bags, will save like, 3 bites of food for later, buy used clothing, fix things instead of replacing, etc. They have always been this way! It has definitely rubbed off on me bc I do many of the same things, although I'm not quite as obsessive as them!

Both my parents were born and raised in post WWII Europe, so when it comes to knowing what to do with every last bit of something, they're the experts. My parents could be survivalists, meaning they could raise/grow all their own food, and they wouldn't be vegetarians. Me, on the other hand, would be lost without the grocery store.

I will never forget the time I came home to find my dad dismantling the back deck. He was flipping the floor boards because he felt they had another 10 years before being replaced. It's still going strong, that deck, with the original boards.

What's contradictory is that my dad will go shopping and will buy all the fruit that there is and will stock the fridge so that it's bursting. I think it has to do with growing up on the opposite end of that spectrum and not wanting his children to experience that.

@ShootingStar: I did that for my first but started using wet bags for my second and it's been life changing!