Thursday, August 28, 2008

Cheapskate's Adult Daughter Moves Back Home: WSJ

The Wall Street Journal has a relatively new feature called Cheapskate by Neal Templin. This week the Cheapskate writes about the thrifty lessons his daughter learned during college and after graduation.

Frugal College Years

Mariana --the daughter -- traveled a frugal path through college. (Tuition was covered by a partial scholarship and parental contributions.) Here's how she did it:

  • Cut her own hair
  • Purchased second-hand clothes
  • Shopped for groceries at a store that offered huge price cuts
  • Worked two part-time jobs to pay for living expenses

Post-College Return Home

After graduating from college, Mariana found a position with a New York publisher. Good luck! When I found my first publishing job in NYC, I silently wondered if the job came with food stamps and an application for Section 8 housing. The salary was about $15,000 and I had to work at night as a waitress to pay the rent on an apartment I shared with two girls.

Mr. Cheapskate has an accurate grip of the situation:

If she lives in New York, I suspect her paycheck will be gobbled up by rent, groceries and the like," Templin writes.

Faced with that reality, Mariana will move in with her parents. Her father --the Cheapskate -- doesn't plan to charge rent. He's grateful to have her home.

It's a great read with frugal nuggets.

Here are links to a few of his columns:


We Managed to Sell Our Home And Keep Our Marriage Intact


The High Cost of a Bargain Meal

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I also started in publishing--$9K and "overtime" pay--which was eliminated the second year when my salary "shot up" to $11K. How did I do it? Parents who helped, sharing a one-bedroom apartment with another girl (also earning nothing), figuring out how to go to museums and other events free, getting to know people in my business (lots of free parties, free books, and if one got to know music publicists, free music), second-hand clothes and careful maintenance (I could and did sew my own blouses and suits), and cooking at home. When I finally got a real salary, it was like a miracle! Then I quit and went to grad school: back to bargain time! Good training for everything, frankly, although I have always carried a little extra debt (like a little extra weight).