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Are You One of Us?

Do you recycle greeting cards and holiday wrap? Have you saved tinfoil so that you can reuse it later? Are you a re-gifter? If you answered yes to any of these, You Are One of Us!

We never wanted to be cheap. Cheapness is not a trait one is born with, encoded in DNA. Cheapness is an art form, one we've acquired over time and finally shared with one another - an attribute we concealed throughout many years of friendship. There was relief in our admittance to each other (whew!) and to our families, who could finally put to rest thinking our quirks were some form of penny-pinching disorder. Perhaps others are unable to classify us as cheap because of the term's stereotypical portrayal is seen as grand, cash-crunching gestures. We're not talking dine-and-ditch or bad tippers at classy restaurants kind of cheapness. We're talking shoddy, chintzy, too-embarrassed-to-admit-our-tight-fisted-ways kind of cheap.

This book celebrates our frugal oddities. We hope that you too will be able to admit to your stingy ways and join us proudly in our crusade for never-ending penny-pinching!

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Are You One of Us? 6
Defining Cheap 10
Cheap Factor Scoring 12
Chapter 1: Cheapness Starts at Home 14
Chapter 2: Bathroom Cheapisms 38
Chapter 3: Kitchen Cheap 52
Chapter 4: Cheap Ideas for Pets 61
Chapter 5: Cheap Ideas for Kids 68
Chapter 6: Cleaning Cheapisms 80
Chapter 7: Cheaply Garbed 92
Chapter 8: Entertaining the Cheap Way 101
Chapter 9: Gifting Cheaply 111
Chapter 10: Automotive Cheap 119
Chapter 11: Dining Cheap 125
Chapter 12: Office Cheap 134
Chapter 13: Cheap Dates 146
Chapter 14: Cheap Vacations 151
Chapter 15: Cheapisms for Students 157
Appendix A: Score Your Cheapness 163
Appendix B: Failed Attempts at Cheapness 173
Appendix C: Cheap Stories 178
Appendix D: Cheapo Inventions 184
Appendix E: The Green Side of Cheap 195
Appendix F: Cheapo Glossary 206