The difference between being "cheap" and being "tight"

They are more similar than different. Tight meaning you watch what you spend carefully but spend where needed. Cheap being you complain about spending on even the things that you are required to buy.

This post feels more like an OT thread....

I would use them interchangeably. Now, I would say the difference between those two and "frugal" is that the frugal person will pay for value while a cheap person will always pay as little as possible, even to their own detriment.

I reference the term cheap with purchasing things of low quality. I reference the term tight with purchasing few things of high quality.

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Do you consider either to be a negative?

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I consider both cheap and tight to be negative, yes. I don't ascribe any negative connotation to frugal, however.

I think cheap means paying the least amount possible for something, whereas tight/frugal means searching for extreme value.

Cheap would be buying clothes at WalMart. You will the absolute least, but the quality is such that you may need to replace them soon.

Tight would be buying clothes only off the clearance rack at a place like Kohls or Dillards. You might pay a bit more than WalMart, but the value is better since they will last longer. However, a tight person would only buy those clothes off the clearance rack - they will wear underwear with 17 holes in them until such time as they find new boxers on the clearance rack.

Guess I'm tight and cheap since I buy clothes off the clearance rack at Walmart. But I buy Levi's and just plain colored t shirts when they have clearance runs. I personally find them to be of good quality for what I wear them. I go with off brands on a lot of things but do buy quality stuff

Now I'm neither cheap nor tight on some food things..give me Blue Plate or don't give me any mayo. It could be $10 a jar and I wouldn't care.

My wife is cheap, my girlfriend is tight.

Can we throw "thrifty" in this mix?

Aloe Vera TP is the tits

I'm frugal.

Deal with it.