Internet Users Share Their Two Cents on the Fine Line Between Being Frugal and Being Cheap

Sometimes, a compulsive need to avoid spending money could come from childhood poverty. For instance, if you have a grandparent whose parents lived through the Great Depression, there’s a good chance that even now, they still wash and reuse plastic bags. Habits that get ingrained into you during trying times can be hard to break.

So maybe the woman in this story grew up super poor and this is what they did and now it seems normal to her. I do hope that someday she can get to a place where she feels OK buying coffee filters. I’m all for being frugal, but life’s too short to wash coffee filters if you don’t have to.