Frugality to the max

About the time Suzanne and I got married, our respective mothers were comparing notes on how each of us was so careful and frugal with money. I have to say we have been very fortunate in our marriage all these years as money disagreements have been rare. And I will readily concede that, tight as I am, Suzanne whips me soundly in this regard. She is a precious and rare jewel of a wife in this regard. (But what's with all that hoarding of various clusters of cash in our closet? :-)

Sometimes this trait can border on the ridiculus. For example, not long out of college (but earning an engineer's salary) I built a paper tray out of scrap wood left over from some project. It is hideous, though functional. And I still use it today, over 30 years later! (See photo.)

In later years I have splurged selectively on some nice things, such as my BMW automobile. But I do get a kick out of parking my nice car outside the bread outlet store and paying pennies on the dollar for several loaves.

And there is always the thrill of the hunt for bargains. Like the time I scored a $2000 Hickey Freeman suit for under $300 at Nordstrom Rack. (See photo.)

I inherited my frugality from my mother, and I'm sure she has always been so proud of this attribute of mine. Perhaps her proudest moment took place when I was visiting once and was dressed to go out and play some tennis. The topic of conversation was how expensive special purpose clothing can be, and she happened to turn to me and ask what I had spent on my clothes. I looked down and said the t-shirt was free (got it at Comdex), the shorts were hand-me-down running shorts from my son, the socks were from a cheap Costco 6-pack, and my tennis shoes were free in the sense that I wore out the previous pair within the 6 month warranty and got these for no charge. I think even she was stunned that I spent maybe $1.50 on this outfit, and then she beamed with satisfaction.