Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire OK, Cheapskates: what WON'T you skimp on?

Since we had the thread comparing notes on cheapness, where do you draw the line?

Off the top of head, I can think of these:

Cookware: life's too short to burn food on skillets & pans that are scarcely thicker than tin foil, won't hold heat worth a schidt, and warp into unrecognizable shapes within 2 weeks.

Toilet paper: my college roommates taught me this lesson well. If one needs toilet paper, one needs actual real-live toilet paper. Otherwise, you might as well just save the $ and use your hands, 'cause you more or less will be.

Paint: I'd rather have my pecker pounded flat with a 15# maul, than to ever have to endure using Ace or WalMart paint for any project, no matter how small. A few bucks more puts you into Behr, and saves 1 to 2 coats.

FC

Cookware: Salvation Army

Toilet paper: Extra square and there's no problems

Paint: Habit for Humanity store leftovers .. mix and match.

Shoes. Been flat footed my whole life, I have to have good shoes.

Tools.Power or not.

Good coffee.

I'm a notorious cheepskate.

1) Toilet paper? eff that. Ever since having kids and found the virtues of wet wipes, thats how I roll.

2) My "good" muzzleloader. Thought about a cva, had a TC. Thought a little ore and bought a white super safari 91 in .451- never regretted the extra $$ one day.

3) Tires for my wifes car. Dont skimp on safety.

4) Coffee. Crap coffee is crap. Good rich coffee can change ones life.

5) Vodka or Gin Martinis. No need for the grey goose in a mixed drink, but if I am mixing a 'tini, pass the Tanq-10, blue saphire, grey goose, belvideer... (Actually "3" vodka was really damned good and very inexpensive, but its no longer offered)

Otherwise, I like to stretch a nickle into a quarter whenever possible.

Tools.

Glass.

Cars.

Toilet paper.

Aluminum foil.

Tires.

Shoes.

Clothes.

Beer.

Meth.

Garbage bags.

Knives.

Furniture.

Dogs.

Tobacco.

Bullets.

Guns.

Bipods.



Travis

That's a tricky one.

I tend to look not for what seems to be "the best", not the most expensive nor the cheapest, but what best serves my purpose or need, and offers the best value. Tools are a good example. If I were a tradesman, I would invest in the best tools I could find. As a retiree and homeowner, I often use a tool just for occasional jobs. I don't need top of the line, and it wouldn't make sense to pay top dollar. As somebody once noted, sometimes good enough is good enough.

Not easy to do, with all the hype and BS you have to sift through, not to mention trusted brands that suddenly turn to [bleep] to squeeze out more profit, at least in the short run.

Paul

teal;
Hopefully this finds you well on this 2nd Sunday in November sir.

I'm with you on the footwear, though I believe I was told I have high arches - anyway if they fit and feel good - and I'm either living in them for work or hunting, then price becomes a secondary consideration.

Otherwise for me it's tires, brakes, oil - well anything I suppose for automotive repair and maintenance.

Somehow I detest buying vehicles and if we find one that treats us well it stays. We just this year parted with a '90 Jetta diesel we'd had for 19 years. When we bought it there was something like 80,000km on it and when we gave it to our mechanic it had 446,000.

He took it and put a new transmission, clutch and drive axles in it and is now using it for his daily driver - in his words and he worked on it since '97 -"you've never skimped on parts or oil so I know the rest of it's still in great shape"

Were I to think about it there'd likely be more items to add to the list. Anything that's expected to have a longer shelf life - say roofing materials or a hot water tank in the house - I'd be inclined to put in "best quality" if possible simply because of the labor involved.

Anyway sir, may your feet behave for you in the upcoming week and hopefully it's a good one in all other respects as well.

Regards,
Dwayne

Beer
Distilled Spirits
TP
Coffee

It depends entirely on what my circumstance is at time of purchase, and on how desperate for the item I am.

Travis;


Thanks for the morning chuckle sir!

I'm just finishing my first coffee waiting for the rain to quit so I can chunk up the spike whitetail hanging in the yard and put it into the fridge.

You don't know how relieved I am that you don't skimp on foil products.......or you know dogs and meth too.

What's a cheap dog?????

Thanks again for the chuckle sir, all the best to you and yours and have a good week.

Dwayne

I can cheapen pretty much any experience to the point it's no longer enjoyable. I have a gift.

Generic Excedrin for hangovers- no problem

off road diesel in the truck- hell ya if I had a dang card

vegetable oil in place of the more erotic exotic oils.

velcro tenny's rock!

I steal all our friends and relatives soaps, shampoos, and towels when we visit, since I'm too cheap to stay in hotels. The plus side is you can go through their closets and take their clothes and shoes too when they go to the market to get breakfast sausage. Haven't figured out how to get their car yet...

Re paint and other materials, I tend to buy the best, especially if I am paying somebody else to do the work. That way you are minimizing the labor cost of having do the work again, repeating the labor cost, such as the example of painting.

On a more human level, I believe that most craftsmen will do their best work with quality materials. I just think a craftsman is more likely to put his heart into the job if the customer is willing to pop for quality materials, less so if the customer insists on using cheap crap to save a buck.

Paul

JSTUART;
I was going to begin with my usual salutation to you sir - something about top of the morning - and then looked up a time difference calculation online. So now that I'm thoroughly confused about what time it might be there sir - I trust this finds you and yours well.

Thinking back on many times in our married life, we've also compromised on purchases depending upon what else had died or needed repairing in the household at the time.

Sometimes we've been pleasantly surprised with how long a "budget" item has lasted - an offshore cordless drill comes to mind - and sometimes of course the "bargain item" turned out not to be one.

Anyway sir, I hope the upcoming week treats you and yours well.

Regards,
Dwayne

Dogs are the same as everything else... You get what you pay for!

Matter 'o fact, I'm off with the dog right now to find Mr. Sharptail.

Have a good Sunday, Dwayne. See you in church.



Travis

There are several things that I will (usually) not compromise on:

* Coffee. I will not purchase roasted tire shavings.
* Butter. I absolutely will NOT buy margarine!
* Consumables for my vehicles, e.g., engine oil, antifreeze.
* Handguns. I usually target practice with my reloads that reasonably emulate SD rounds, i.e., very warm to nuclear-strength in nature, so it makes sense to purchase firearms that can handle it. I settled on Ruger revolvers and SIG Sauer semi-automatics for this purpose.
* Quality PC components when building a new one for myself from the ground up.
* Glasses. When I need to purchase a new pair I still get GLASS lenses (PhotoGray), even though my prescription requires a substantial bottle deposit.
* I buy commercial or spec-grade electrical devices such as outlets and switches, poor economy IMO to compromise there.

There are probably numerous others but these come to mind.

Friends

Travis;
That sounds good, I'll save a seat for you then.

Have you ever noticed how big a Sharptail's heart is compared to say a Ruffer's heart?

We used to hunt Sharptails, Ruffers and Spruce Grouse in northern Saskatchewan so we'd be taking home hearts from all three.

I've never hunted birds over a dog and that's certainly on my bucket list to do.

That said, I'm less than not much of a hand with a shotgun, so the dog would likely be fairly miffed with my shooting in short order.

Have a good hunt Travis and if you're so inclined I'd love to see photos of a Sharptail expedition. It's got to be 30 years since I've been on one.

Dwayne

Son-in-law learned a lesson about buying the cheap industrial grade TP one time when he came down with a bad case of diarrhea that lasted for several days.

About mid-way through he was making all kinds of deals and promises pleading with my daughter for a roll of her personal stash of Charmin Ultra Soft w/ Aloe Vera.

By the way, Charmin has started skimping on their TP now by cutting off what looks to be about a 1/2" from the width of the rolls.