Fru-gal (froo’-gel) > adj. 1. Practicing or marked by economy. 2. Costing little; inexpensive, i.e. cheap! (italics mine).
So what did he buy? Three jars of Peter Pan peanut butter for $1.65. What’s so great about that? Well, $1.65 was the grand total of the three jars! Actually, that would have been a decent price for one jar, in my estimation. Which is only ONE reason we don't see eye-to-eye on finances! Mr. Jones used to call me a spendthrift, which I thought was a compliment (you know, a thrifty spender) until I looked it up in the dictionary. It's an archaic word anyway, but it doesn't mean what I thought it meant, and Mr. Jones definitely was NOT giving me a compliment.
Spend-thrift > n. One who spends money wrecklessly or wastefully; opposite of thrifty spender (italics mine).
Well, it seems Family Fare had a sale on those jars of peanut butter for 88 cents a piece (limit 3). And would you believe it?!! Mr. Jones had a coupon for a dollar off! So the price for each jar of peanut butter was a mere 55 cents! This is wonderful, except in the future, he will hesitate to buy another jar of peanut butter ANYWHERE if he can’t match or beat this new low price!
But you should have seen the smile on his face! Ah, that Mr. Jonesema . . . you’ve gotta love him!
10 comments:
I'm with Mr. Jones...not Dutch at all, but saving money is one of my favorite forms of competition. Nothing wrong with getting excited about good stewardship! :)
SUZ!!! Mr. Jones howled with laughter upon reading your comment. :) I guess in general I am just not a very competitive person.
I'm with you Carol, he can call me a spend-thrifty.
I think this obsession is 100% pathetic...absolutely ridiculous. We were, in fact, just talking about this quality in Mr. Jones earlier today...oh my!
I hope he checks the dates on those jars! I would always be afraid that they might just be old and the store was trying to get rid of them instead of throwing them away because they are years old with little taste or nutritional value left in them. I'm sure he probably checked - but, just in case he didn't, you had better do it. There are actually people, though, who go to the grocery store with so many coupons that the store owes money to them! Now that could be a good challenge for him. I am very picky about the quality of my food and have a weak stomach for bad food, so I would be leery of something as cheap as that peanut butter, though. :) Ruthanne
That's a good thought, Ruthanne ~ I'll check the dates on them! And usually, he doesn't coupon at all. I think he used to, but then all of those coupons got to be too much to keep track of. He shops the weekly shopper guides to all of the area grocery stores and makes his grocery list(s) accordingly.
And this note to the joneschronicle folk ~ don't be too terribly hard on Mr. Jones you guys. There are worse things to obscess about . . . and it would be FAR worse if he were the type of person who was negligent in paying his bills, or if he were dishonest with his finances or was a cheat. But actually, he has complete financial integrity and I admire that about him very much. I just wrote this post to tease him a very little bit; and since I love him, I can do that now and then :)
P.S. Mr. Jones reminds everyone of the history of this whole Peter Pan peanut butter thing. If you will recall, Peter Pan was totally off the market for almost a year due to some quality issues at their manufacturing facility. This is the brand new, reintroduced peanut butter ~ AND Ruthanne, it is probably the freshest major brand peanut butter on the market today. By the way, I checked those dates and they all read: "Best if used by July 10, 2009."
That's my dad! I know it can be irking but it is also a good quality to have in a person too. I know too many who have spent unwisely and have had to pay the price later. I do recommend checking the date too- do you remember the cough syrup at Christmas? Hang in there with his frugalness mom- who knows maybe there will be a crown in heaven for you just for living with this trait! :)
Brea,
The cough syrup at Christmas was an old bottle (old purchase) that had been setting around the house and not discarded because no one had been sick.
I don't mean to mock or criticize the ordeal but I find the hilarity the whole thing.
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