Getting "the look"

You get some strange reactions of other people when it comes to frugal habits, so I thought it may be fun to share the three items we do that some people find strange. Here's the three things we do that get "the look" most often:

We wear secondhand clothes almost exclusively.

We shop with a ton of coupons.

We don't have cable TV.

Today I'm going to address cable, since it is the one that tends to come up most often. Nobody questions what I have in my lunch, and once I'm wearing an item nobody has to know that it's secondhand.

Cable does come up remarkably often. "Did you catch that show/special/series" is watercooler talk. "What's your favorite show?" comes up as small talk sometimes in a way that "Hey, did you pay .99 cents for that fabulous dress?" simply does not. We don't mention frugality one way or another to most people, but cable sometime outs us.

What is so shocking about not paying for TV? Really, by the reactions that we get sometimes, you'd think that we had admitted that our dream was to live in a house made of gumdrops and chocolate.

For me, not having cable is not a sacrifice at all. I grew up without it. At one point in my childhood, I lived in a foreign country where we were only able to get one channel. (My mother said it was a blessing that my sister and I were missing so much of the American advertising. The "commercials" on this single station were classics like this and this.) For me, it is not a deprivation because I never really knew what it was like to have it.

My husband grew up with it, but he and his roommates did not want to shell out the bucks in their college apartment. He said he did not miss it at all.

We used to say that we'd get it if they ever came out with a "Nerd Package" that had History Channel, TLC, etc only. One of the best things about staying in hotels was watching all the shows on those networks! However, the last few years we've noticed that the quality of the programing has gone way down. The networks we once loved to view are now filled with watered down shows and reality TV programming. We will no longer even consider the Nerd Package.

For the TV that we do watch, we depend on the channels that our digital converter box delivers. That does not mean that we don't watch any cable programming. This year we enjoyed Six Feet Under (from the library), Mad Men (library), and The Daily Show (be sure to click Full Episodes!). My husband watches football games in real time on ESPN. Hulu provides a remarkable amount of programming, although they may go to a pay model soon. There is an excellent website here that walks you through how to get many of the shows you want without having to pay.

For now, I'll put my money in the bank and endure "the look." Plus it makes and excellent frugally blog entry!


Which of your frugal habits gets "the look" most often?