When Your Roomates are as Cheap as You
Posted by Cap in Personal Finance on August 8, 2007 |
What do you get when you have frugal roommates?
- German (well, Italian) chocolates.
- Tales of driving on the autobahn.
- Three back seat drivers that really are better drivers.
Wait. Scratch that.
That’s for the “what do you get when you have German roommates?” question.
When you have frugal roommates:
- You won’t have to worry about lights being left on.
- You’ll know that the bills will be split fairly.
- You’ll get to eat el cheapo meals (together) and it’ll be a-okay.
- You can cook dinner at home together.
- You can all shop at thrift stores together.
- You can share many household appliances without being stingy about it.
- You can buy generic brand products without worries.
- You can carpool together and they’ll chip in on gas without complaint.
- You can say no thanks to certain costly activities and they won’t be jerks about it.
- You say “Water is just fine,” at the restaurants and no one bats an eye.
11 Responses to “When Your Roomates are as Cheap as You”
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August 8th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
OH MY GOD! Milka bars!!! I’m so jealous, you have no idea. Damn LA for being so uncultured.
I’m seriously considering stalking you now so I can steal one. Hehe, ok no, I’m just kidding… except not really. :)
August 8th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
So.. German = frugal?
And you seriously should have covered that kid’s face on the Kinder Schokolade box with the Ritter Sport.
August 8th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
yum… you should ask them for kinder eggs.
August 8th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
wait, is your roommate single? haha i love german people. i also love their milk chocolate, beer gardens (beer included), gummy bears and efficiency. AND nicest people all around! i go to germany almost every year now for vacation. makes me very happy!
cheers,
cindy
August 9th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Whenever I had a roommate, it always seemed like he was the complete opposite of me! He would spend his whole paycheck within a matter of 24 hours, it was annoying.
I just found it easier to pay out the extra cash and live alone.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:36 am
I am so envious! Junior year I may be living off campus with my friends, and I suspect there will be a bit of tension because I’m frugal, and they aren’t. You seem to have dream roomates!
August 10th, 2007 at 9:57 am
I’m currently living alone, and I think I might spend less money each month. I don’t have cable or internet. I also don’t turn on the air conditioning, and I just take a dip in the community pool when I’m warm.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Hmmmm…what I wouldn’t give to have a Kinder Bueno right now!
August 16th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I understand why having frugal roommates rocks, but what I’m wondering is how you get them in the first place. They seem like elusive and magical creatures in the land of 20-somethings with new paychecks.
August 17th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
“So.. German = frugal?”
I’d say stingy… Only anekdotal experience, but I had a German boyfriend once. He
a) never took me out, but didn’t mind eating my food in my place
b) only brought me flowers once, they were in a pot and rather small
c) the only present he brought me was a box containing 4 candies that he had gotten them for free on an airplane
I also have a much younger cousin who immigrated from Russia to Germany at the age of 15. She is now in her late 20s and has a good job. I travelled with her a couple of times - in Europe and once, in Hawaii. I’d say she is sometimes frugal and sometimes just cheap. She also had problems with tipping as the customs in the US are different from Germany.
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
In my experience if you can find older housemates they are likely to be frugal, because people over 30 who need to live in shared housing have long experience trying to live on a tight budget.
Since I own my own house I can make the rules - my housemates learn frugality at the hands of a world class cheapskate with about 50 years of experience.