Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.
What makes a tightwad
theglobeandmail.com — "Study finds that people who are stingy report feeling emotional pain when spending money"
dimmerswitch- 399 diggs
- digg it
- starbabe, on 03/20/2008, -8/+3“Women take a lot more into account, such as how therapeutic spending will be and if it will improve their mood or not,”
Shopping always makes me feel better!- rolf, on 03/20/2008, -3/+3Americans spend 3.5x more time shopping than the average European...
- Shrill, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2interesting... source?
- Number23, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Pai Mei: Just like all Yankee women, all you are good at is ordering in restaurants- and spending a man's money!
- rolf, on 03/20/2008, -3/+3Americans spend 3.5x more time shopping than the average European...
- TomK88, on 03/20/2008, -0/+22I only feel "pain" when I make a dumb purchase. Also, the idea of paying interest really ticks me off. Buying a house for $250,000 and having it end up costing you $500,000 after you pay off your mortgage just seem ridiculous to me.
- Easty, on 03/20/2008, -1/+8If interest didn't exist then there'd be no reason to lend money in the first place. Apart from altruism, obviously, but we're talking about banks here.
- WoollyMittens, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1That reason alone, does not take away the pain.
- EpicSelekta, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6I think any purchase over about $40,000 is guaranteed to bring a normal person to "pain".
- DephexTwin, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Become a Muslim, join a Muslim church: they are not supposed to pay any kind of excessive interest, and in some cases the church will loan the money for a purchase like this in order to avoid the excessive interest. It's funny that the Quran has a section essentially forbidding you to be a sucker in business transactions, but it is what it is.
- Easty, on 03/20/2008, -1/+8If interest didn't exist then there'd be no reason to lend money in the first place. Apart from altruism, obviously, but we're talking about banks here.
- Easty, on 03/20/2008, -0/+13Oh God. I feel a sense of loss with every financial transaction I make. That can't be good. :(
- robotto, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Well buy something nice then
- DephexTwin, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Try something other than hookers.
- sponeil, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1He said a sense of "loss", not of satisfaction.
- jhoso, on 03/20/2008, -7/+0http://astore.amazon.co.uk/garmin.uk-21
http://astore.amazon.co.uk/buy.laptop.uk-21 - Joe_rigby, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4"Study finds that people who are stingy report feeling emotional pain when spending money"
Especially when you spend that money to pay someone who yells at you about your failures.- sponeil, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Don't you mean to buy things for someone? I don't actually "pay" my wife. However, I would like to add that I feel emotional pain when she spends my money. She doesn't work, but she spends the majority of the money.
- Joe_rigby, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Kinda what I meant, haha.
- sponeil, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Don't you mean to buy things for someone? I don't actually "pay" my wife. However, I would like to add that I feel emotional pain when she spends my money. She doesn't work, but she spends the majority of the money.
- adml_shake, on 03/20/2008, -0/+14Well I tend to think of it more like these bills I'm putting in her g-string are just furthering her education, because you know she's trying to pay her way through college....right? She wouldn't lie...
- wakesabre, on 03/20/2008, -1/+12Dugg for the word "tightwaddism" in the article, which may or may not be what I put on the next census as my religion.
- trenchfever, on 03/20/2008, -5/+3I feel sorry for people who buy apple products. If they stop and think about it, so would they.
- ma6ic4l, on 03/20/2008, -3/+5Arrrrr...it's so true!
http://www.softwaretime.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/ ... - gangbanger, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1i wish i had been a tight-wad and delayed buying my laptop... i would have been $ 200 richer (or lesser in debt)
- DeFex, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6They make it sound like a bad thing to try and save money.
- SydneyHopper, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5
Shopping should not make you happier, as anything in its purchased state: boxed, tied and wrapped, has no merit-able value as an entertainment. It is only when you take your purchases home and place it within the context of your life, should it make you happy. You should not attribute any emotion to the actual buying purchase. If you do, then there are other emotions at work: buying might afford a frisson of power, or it’s a quasi remedy for some self esteem issues. Those kind of thoughts are usually structured thus- If I only have that pair of trousers, I’ll be so much better; I will feel so much better.
And if you feel guilty for every little purchase then you don’t feel worthy. You don’t feel like you deserve anything nice. This again points to an underpinning esteem issue.
I guess the best conditions for a purchase are ones that are steeped in practicality: you buy to enrich a part of your life; you purchase to showcase your best assets; you buy out of practical necessity. - MASTERPL, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6Mr. Krabs could have told you that without a study.
- ma6ic4l, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3See my unhappily buried post above...
- bearsinthesea, on 03/20/2008, -2/+5I call BS. This is shoddy science, done by an online poll where the respondents were self-selected. Of course people more interested in this topic are more likely to respond to a poll promoted by a newspaper. Where are the controls against bias? The random sample?
I am a tightwad, and although I feel stress paying our bills, I still enjoy buying something when I decide it should be bought.- swiftsam, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I disagree. These are some of the best behavioral economists in the country. You can't judge and article by the description in the newspaper. here's the paper if you want to dig in http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~srick/TightwadSpend ...
- bearsinthesea, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Cool, thanks for the link.
- swiftsam, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I disagree. These are some of the best behavioral economists in the country. You can't judge and article by the description in the newspaper. here's the paper if you want to dig in http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~srick/TightwadSpend ...
- WoollyMittens, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9I only feel pain when I pay my taxes, look outside my window and see the welfare project across my street have a barbecue party.
- RedNeckerson, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Perk up.
If Clinton or Obama gets elected, your paycheck will shrink to pay for the "free" stuff they want to "give" you, and you'll have to move across the street.- MentalHazard, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1And if McCain gets elected it won't?
- RedNeckerson, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4Perk up.
- diggopolous, on 03/20/2008, -3/+2I can't stand cheap F**ks. They make me skin crawl
- quisph, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Wow, you're like that pickle girl on Maury.
- fuckinhell, on 03/20/2008, -0/+0I had a roommate that acted the same way towards wooden spoons. It was weird. She would actually get nauseous just from looking at them.
- quisph, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1Wow, you're like that pickle girl on Maury.
- quisph, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I take issue with the phrase "chronic underspending." What exactly is that supposed to mean? Is there some magic formula for determining how much money I should be spending? What if I already have everything I need -- should I spend money anyway, lest I become a "chronic underspender?" They make it sound like some kind of disease.
- nubi78, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1At my company winter party, we had a buffet dinner. This cheap ***** (otherwise known as my co-worker) asked the waitress for a to-go box. The waitress said “we don’t give those out with a buffet dinner.” My co-worker said “get me the to-go box or I’m calling your manager.” He got his box, proceeded to load up at the buffet and took it to his car.
- americamatrix, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1I say - you only live once....I plan on having the best time I can while I'm alive.
I won't ever let money hinder me from having a good time. - RobsaysHello, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2What makes a tightwad? Mortgage, tuition, insurance and taxes. There ya go.
- redwritinghood, on 03/21/2008, -0/+0Sure explains alot of the issues between my husband and me! lol
- Hurricane, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Finally an official point of view on something I have tried to describe to people before, the anxiety of spending money, people who get pleasure from spending can not understand the opposite.
- TheUserFactor, on 03/24/2008, -0/+1I know a few bonafide cheapskates, and I've observed them closely for years, and have personally witnessed them grimace when forced to part with a few bucks from their wallet for unexpected discretionary spending such as refreshments at a bar. I always suspected that somehow, the thought of forking over money to them felt like theft, that there was no "value" in anything purchased, just the loss of their money. It's an interesting phenomenon. What's more interesting is the sense of pleasure they seem to derive from getting something for "free", or by mooching off of others' collective spending. Nickel-and-diming is a cheap thrill for cheapskates that puts them on an emotional high.
- dreesemonkey, on 03/25/2008, -0/+1I think I've struck a pretty good balance. I like to save, but I also enjoy spending - to a point. While my fiance and I rarely go out to eat and do spendy date nights, I don't flinch when I bought her a $300 bike for her b-day next month. While we're saving for our wedding, it's a bit of a cringe-moment, but not buying things all the time will let you appreciate the occasional gift to yourself of for someone else. Best of all, it's paid for. Straight-cash homey, and the like.
© Digg Inc. 2008 —
Content posted by
