• Most of the people featured on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates have six to seven digits in their bank account.
• They can take budgeting to the extreme, but we can learn a thing or two from their conscience from every penny spent and earned.
• If a cheap millionaire can haggle and ask for free stuff, why can’t you?
• Read more stories from Personal Finance Insider.

I was years old today when I found out that most of the people featured on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates had six to seven figure savings in their bank accounts.

We can laugh at their extreme ways of dumping, haggling, coupons, stockpiling, cutting costs, but these tight-fisted people laugh all the way to the bank.

Their extreme economy techniques include using only one bulb at a time in a four bedroom house, peeing in a jar to save money on the water bill, and cycling home. friends 70 miles away to save gas.

After watching Extreme Cheapskates on YouTube, I put together five economy tips from the show that, when used in small doses, can make a big difference in your everyday life. To be clear, I don’t encourage anyone to take pennies like they do. However, some of the concepts of saving money could apply to all of our lives.

1. Knowing where your money is going makes a huge difference

One thing all cheapskates have in common? They have detailed accounts of every penny that comes in and goes out of their lives.

Budget millionaire Victoria Hunt checks her electric meter every day, calculates her upcoming bill, then thinks about different ways to cut energy costs so her millions last a lifetime. She dreamed that she would live to be 116, and she budgeted every penny of her fortune so that she could live comfortably until her death.

Hunt’s story shows us that awareness leads to solutions. Checking your electric meter every day can get obsessive, but spending five minutes at the end of the day (or week) checking your spending, taking the time to think about how you spend your money, can be very helpful. .

Binge-watching the show motivated me to use a budgeting app again, keep a spreadsheet to track my debt repayment progress, and use a bullet journal to cultivate spending awareness.

2. There is no shame in asking for free stuff

Aimee Elizabeth, 50, of Las Vegas, has earned $ 5.3 million from real estate and stock market investments, but refuses to spend a dime. She had planned a business trip to Los Angeles and planned to drive her battered 1996 Mustang there until a mechanic reclaimed her car for safety reasons.

Instead of forking out the money for a flight, she asked her ex-husband to drive her to the airport. Elizabeth then asked the pilots of the small planes if any of them were heading to Los Angeles that day, using her charm and beauty to convince them. Eventually a pilot agreed to take him there and come back at absolutely zero cost.

Watching people haggle on Extreme Cheapskates got me thinking: if a millionaire can ask for a free flight, why can’t I muster the courage to ask for a ride to the airport? Or ask a friend to take a note for dinner when I’m between checks? Or, to take it a step further, ask Whole Foods if they have any freebies or discounts on foods they’re about to throw away at the end of the night?

3. People will still date you or marry you even if you are cheap

Not going out with someone or engaging with a partner because you are low on funds? Let those tight-fisted embolden you.

Bachelor Greg Insco, 29, starred in a 2012 episode called “The World’s Cheapest Date,” where he ordered just one rib and a free cup of water. Her date, Brandy, ordered a pulled pork sandwich, and when the food arrived, Insco immediately took half the sandwich and fries from her plate to save money. At the end of the date, Brandy admitted that it was the cheapest date she had ever had, but that she would go on a second date with him.

Plus, Karissa and Rick Parrans, a pair of skaters, share everything: a toothbrush, a stick of deodorant, Q-Tips, showers. They even went out and bought a shared coffin during their Extreme Cheapskate episode. Each week, the couple sit down to track their spending, even competing to see who has spent the least.

If two people can talk so openly about sharing a casket, I can be bold enough to be honest about my financial limits early in the dating game. I’m learning that it’s more than okay to ask for a date to go Dutch, or to pick a place that won’t break the bank. As Insco said in his Cheapskates episode, “I want someone to love me for me, not my money.”

4. Bargaining can work

Some of the people on this show take extreme pleasure in haggling with small business owners and thrift store vendors, even if it only drops the price by 25 cents.

On the show, Jeff Yeager says his haggling has a 10% success rate, “but I always, always” ask. Yeager stopped by a mom-and-dad natural grocery store for some coconut oil to use in his homemade deodorant recipe. Christina, the store owner, was taken aback by his bargaining efforts, but eventually gave in and agreed to drop the price of coconut oil by $ 1.

As a person who supports small businesses, I cannot approve of haggling with small business owners who are already struggling during the pandemic. But watching this show reminded me that I can always haggle with my phone, cable, or internet provider and check if there are any deals I leave on the table every month.

5. Being a tight-fisted is also good for the environment

Aren’t extreme savings enough motivation to get you to cut down on day-to-day costs? Maybe doing some good for the environment can give you that extra helping hand to start saving.

A common theme among self-identified cheapskates is scheduling their showers and limiting their electricity use to save money. Some people even wash clothes in the shower with them to save money on laundry and cut their water bill in half at the same time. Hunt, the aforementioned woman who tracks her electricity usage, even pees in a jar to limit the number of times she flushes the toilet and conserve water. She then uses her collected pee as compost for her vegetable garden.

Ok, I’m probably never going to pee in a jar. But aligning money saving tactics with sustainability is a great motivation for me to shop thrift stores, take care of my stuff so that I don’t have to buy new things so often, and create. natural cleaning solutions with ingredients from my pantry in a pinch.