Happy Hour with Frugal Bachelor #2

Welcome to my favorite day of the week, Friday. I got a bit of a late start tonight because I decided to make nachos, instead of frozen pizza. When I make nachos, I cut up the tortillas and fry them myself (which are so ridiculously better than store bought tortilla chips, and maybe cheaper too? not sure), so it took some time. After I cook them, I smother them with cheese and jalapeños and pop them into oven. More difficult than just popping a frozen pizza into the oven.

Anyways, thank you to all of my readers for the great questions this week, here's my stab at them.

Daizy asks:

Would you buy underwear from a thrift store?

By the way...I am sitting alone in my RV tonight, it is my primary residence and probably smaller than your apartment at approx. 350 sqft. I do have a cat to keep me company but I don't kiss her. She's not that friendly.

Great question. I used to be a thrift store junkie once upon a time but mostly have stopped. I used to collect junk, and thrift stores were my main source for it, so I have somewhat of a bad association. To me, thrift stores to me are all about buying as much crap as possible at the lowest possible price. I'd rather just not buy crap at any price. That said, I go to the thrift store about once a year, mainly for travel clothes. I try to wear new clothes during the day, but when I'm traveling I basically am a backpacker, and wear thrift store clothes.

That being said, even when I am traveling, I wear new, name brand underwear. I remember a few months ago when I was in Kenya, a local girl I met there complimented me because I was wearing "designer" underwear. How a girl in Kenya came to see what kind of underwear I wear, I will leave to your imagination.

BTW, congratulations on your dwelling! You are right, my apartment is almost twice the size of your living space, and I am very jealous of you, and you make me feel like I am a Supersized American. I read about Jacob's RV purchase last week, and have been thinking about it a lot lately. It seems like a very sensible life style, it ends up that there are many RV parks here, and I have been investigating the pricing lately to see if it would make sense to me.

I asks:

What's crossing the frugal line for you?

Another awesome question! There are a few different takes to this one. First of all, I don't particularly distinguish between "cheap" and "frugal". To me, it's all the same. I think in the blogs, 'frugal' has a certain, almost political, connotation. I grew up with a mom who was very proud to be cheap, and so am I. If you want to call me Cheapskate Bachelor, that is just as well. Or Frugal C. Bachelor, where my middle name is Cheap (my mom's middle name).

My personal ethics are low. I laugh when I see posts such as Trent's When is Frugality Stealing?, for example, where a bunch of goodie-two-shoes (not Trent, but most of his commenters) think that it is unconscionable to walk into a coffee house without paying for a $6 coffee. Generally I think all businesses know how to take care of themselves. If they have a sign which says "You cannot sit here if you do not purchase overpriced coffee", or e.g. "NO OUTSIDE FOOD ALLOWED", then probably I will ignore it. But, if the manager asks me to leave, then I will comply, especially if he's accompanied by a burly security guard. I don't want to get into physical altercation to save a buck.

Matthew asks:

I remember recently you wrote about getting rid of some stuff in your life. Downsizing. How's that going? Can you list things that you have freed yourself from?

I got rid of truly a ton of stuff when I moved apartments (i.e. late last year and early this year). I actually did create a spreadsheet of everything I got rid of, although about half way through I stopped updating it because it got too long and crashed Excel. Maybe I will dig it up and post it here.

As I wrote about before, I want to get rid of all of my books, CD's, and DVD's, (and eventually everything I own) although my progress on this has been limited. I do want to get rid of my DVD's first, but I want to "back them up" before I sell them. But, in order to do that, I need to buy a bigger hard drive, and I just don't have the money right now.

I constantly fantasize about getting rid of literally everything - except for my passport, an ATM card, and the clothes on my back, and starting over somewhere else (e.g. Africa) literally from scratch. You can look at the undocumented immigrants who cross from Mexico into America with about as much, and they are my heroes because of how little they have even as they undertake life-altering events.

P.S. Love you bro! Hope you enjoy the blog and stick around as a commenter for a long time.

Sonya asks:

In your blog...Save a Bundle on Porn by Making it Yourself, why won't you post her picture? I think you should share.

You are right, but I respect her dignity and probably she doesn't want her picture plastered on the internet because her family doesn't know she works in a bar. But, you know me, crazy things happen on my blog with sufficient alcohol (and a full moon), so unquestionably I will post it sooner or later.

P.S. Sonya, if you ever find yourself in the Central Texas area please look me up, I'd be honored to take you for a drink!

p asks:

you got a girlfriend inviting you over, and you dont' even want to pay for gas to get over there? Assuming your place is a dismal bachelor dump with sparse furniture, then the least you could do is drive to a girlfriends place. You might even spring for a $6 bottle of wine.

If she wants to see me she can get herself here. That's the way I look at it. Usually when I see her, she needs money because her mom is sick or she needs to pay tuition or something else, also I need to take her for dinner, movie, clothes shopping, and everything. Plus gas, it's not cheap at all. Anyways, my girlfriend is pretty hot, but I also have girlfriends in Asia, Africa, and Latin America who are hotter, and also less demanding. I'm picky. I feel that I am in demand, and if a woman wants to get with me, she better be offering a lot. That's the way I feel about the matter.

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Sharon, Andrew, Anonymous, & Jane, I haven't forgotten about you. But it's getting late and I'm about to fall asleep. It's been a long week. I will answer your questions next week.

Please, if you have any questions, please reply to here, and I will answer them next Friday, on the next installment of Happy Hour with Frugal Bachelor, after drinking a few beers.

Cheers, & good night!