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Frugal is one thing. Frugal is good. It’s important to save money. Even those who have a lot of money will often tell you the reason they have it is they are frugal. If you don’t have a huge income, one way to get around that is to save as many of the dollars you do have coming in and investing those. And even if you have a big income, it’s important to value your money and know what things should cost. You don’t want to be the dumb-dumb who hands over $75 for a simple white t-shirt or pays a $200 upcharge for the VIP experience at a club, which really just means one free glass of champagne and a guaranteed chair. Being smart with money and paying attention to what things should cost is good. But there is a line between being frugal and being cheap. I won’t even say it’s a fine line because it’s actually a pretty massive border. It’s pretty obvious to everyone else on which side of the border you stand.
I understand needing to stick to a budget, but sometimes you need to ask yourself: is it really worth behaving like this, all to save a few bucks? When you start thinking and living cheap, you can start to have a rather self-centered mindset when it comes to money, not realizing how often your friends are freely generous with you, expecting nothing in return. And there you are, keeping track of every stick of gum they owe you for, while they often treat you to drinks and dinner without ever asking for a penny in return. If you’re going to have a social life and be liked, you’re going to have to just charge some of the spending to the game. Otherwise, you’ll be the cheap friend.
You track who bought a round
When out with friends, everybody keeps taking turns buying rounds of drinks. Now you’re at the last bar, it’s your turn to buy a round, and you realize one person in your group hasn’t yet bought a round. So you ask that single person to pay you back for his drink, or you point out, “I’m not getting you one because you haven’t bought a round yet.”
