Frugal, or cheap, or tacky?

Saving money, and spending less money, are two crucial activities for people looking to take, and maintain, control of their personal finances. And, as with most things, there are classy ways to go about it, and … less classy ways.

On the spectrum of ways to spend less money openly, one can be (in order of decreasing classiness) frugal, cheap, or tacky. Merriam-Webster defines each in context:

• frugal – Characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources.
• cheap – Stingy; sparing or scant in using, giving, or spending.
• tacky – Characterized by lack of good breeding.

Frugality is typically a virtue. It's off the beaten path, and a little unpopular, but still a virtue. Cheapness is Ebenezer Scrooge, or the guy that puts in a quarter when people at the office are collecting for a retirement gift. Tackiness will result in you being asked to leave, and never come back.

“Weird Al” Yankovic parodied Pharrell's contagiously catchy song “Happy” with an ode to tastelessness, “Tacky.”  There are a few money lines peppered in this song. Do they all fall under the description of “tacky?” Let's see:

• (0:21) “We can go to see a show but I'll make you pay.” A friend of mine had bought some extra tickets to see Itzhak Perlman, and he reached out to his musician friends for takers. The tickets were $62/pop. (This is Itzhak Perlman, after all!) Initially we refused, because we really couldn't see spending $124 as a couple to see him. Well, the day before the concert arrived, and he still had no takers for two of the tickets, and offered to give us one. (The other he had given to another friend.) I still ended up paying him for the ticket, because we could afford one. Though I don't think it would have been tacky to not pay, it certainly would have been cheap.
• (2:08) “Bring along my coupon book whenever I'm on a date.” I don't see this as being either tacky, or cheap. It's frugal. Besides, if you're single, frugal, and are looking for a frugal mate, a good acid test of whether or not they're like-minded is whether or not they bristle when you pull out the coupon book. If they whip out their own coupon book when you do — well, that's true love right there! 🙂
• (2:21) “Took the whole bowl of restaurant mints. Hey, it said: ‘They're free.'”  Some time ago, I went with someone to pick up pizzas.  As we were waiting to get the pizzas, he took a lot of napkins — far more than we actually would have used even with four adults and a bunch of kids — saying, “They're free.”  This is tacky.  It's a fine line between tacky and not tacky, but this person crossed the line.  Why?  It's the difference between using supplies at a business (napkins, salt and pepper, toilet paper, or mints) and overusing or stealing them.  If everybody took 70 napkins, either prices would go up, or the businessperson would ration the napkins.  What might happen too is that the businessperson would call the person out.  Or, subsequent orders may be “unintentionally” screwed up.  “Sorry about that, sir.  You probably want to take your business elsewhere, I suppose …”

Where do you draw the line between frugal, cheap, and just plain tacky?