我曾试图确保《锱铢必较》专栏不是其中之一。
过去的21个月中，我在专栏中写尽了所有的事，从狗（我喜欢狗，但它们的确会让兽医给我们开出大额的账单）到公共图书馆（我们周围最好的廉价选择）再到延长保修期（如果这对你来说是笔好买卖，零售商们不会如此卖力地推销它们。）上个月，我批评剃须刀片行业只费力开发愚蠢的新型高科技产品，而不是努力推动它所生产的已经非常完美的刀片降价。
这是我的最后一篇专栏文章。
事实上关于省钱这个话题，我所有想说的都已经说过了。
我始终相信美国人完全知道如何省钱，办法就是少花钱。
看看大萧条期间发生了什么事。
多年来，美国人不断下降的储蓄率一直困扰着经济学家。但当经济陷入低迷之时，美国人尽管收入下降，却突然又开始存钱了。
然而，知易行难。尽管当前经济遇到了困难，但我们生活在一个物质极其丰富的社会中。每一次我们经过一家购物中心或打开电视，我们都面对着所有这些超棒的商品，它们不属于我们，却能够属于我们。
就算对那些想省钱的人来说，这也没那么简单。我们的配偶对那些最起码的生活必需品有着不同的想法。我们的孩子想上私立学校，而不是好得不能再好的州立大学。到最后，我们常常做出妥协。
因此，我在之前的专栏中并不只提供有用的建议，而是常常借机思考那两股巨大的力量：诱惑与妥协。正是这两股力量让我们花了许多不该花的钱。
诱惑有许多种形式，有时以优点的假面示人。之前的专栏中，我曾说在好市多(Costco)和其它仓储式商店购物可能实际最终会让我们多花钱。我的理由是这些商店里销售家庭装的、各式各样的商品，这意味着我们常常比在其它地方买得更多。因此即便每件东西能少付些钱，但我们的总支出更多。
许多读者表示不满。他们认为在好市多买东西是他们更精明的表现之一。一位读者写来长信，详细解释他如何从未在好市多浪费过一分一毫，因为他会仔细地把所有的东西保存在一个专门的冰柜中，等需要的时候再拿出来用。
我记得当时心想：那么，如果你不在好市多买这么多东西，你会再买一个冰柜吗？这个冰柜一年要消耗多少电？
下面谈谈妥协的问题。
28年前，我和妻子克拉丽莎(Clarissa)结婚的时候，我对怎样省钱有一套顽固的想法。我们会买辆小车。我们会住在一套小公寓里。曾有一度，我甚至建议住在帐篷里。（克拉丽萨把我嘲笑了一顿。）我们会等上几年再要孩子。
婚后两个月，克拉丽萨告诉我她怀孕了。当时我们确实是买了一辆小车，不过我的其他大部分省钱计划基本上都不复存在了。
我们的整个婚姻就是一场财务上的妥协。克拉丽萨很少为自己大手大脚地花钱。相反，她买的都是孩子们需要的衣服，家里需要的物件。我认为，其中大部分物件我们都不需要。不过我常常顺着她的意。
很多读者（几乎全是男性）写信来说我是个只知道退让的傻瓜。有位读者甚至一再地劝我离婚。如果我没记错的话，他抛弃了自己的妻子，现在他更加富有、更加快乐、更加……
我的回答是：金钱并非一切。无论如何，离婚对大部分人来说都是财务上的愚蠢之举──而不是明智之举。
更有趣的是，这个专栏让我和克拉丽莎都发生了改变。正如我几个月前写的，我开始认为锱铢必究不再是完全积极的了。尽管我在大部分事情上仍很吝啬，但我给的小费更多了，通常对小的花费也不再那么斤斤计较了。
另一方面，克拉丽莎说她对购物没有那么强烈的兴趣了。
她还说，在金钱上不再有权力的斗争了。你放弃了，我也放弃了。
你是个锱铢必究的人吗？
做做下面的测试，看看你消化了多少本专栏作者的省钱经。答案见文章末尾。
1. 喝公司免费提供的普通咖啡和花四美元买杯上好咖啡，面对这样的选择，你应该：
A. 挥霍一把买好咖啡──这点钱不足以让你的钱包瘪下来。
B. 带一保温瓶在家煮的咖啡到办公室去喝。
C. 除非免费咖啡难以下咽，否则还是喝免费的。
2. 以下哪种省钱窍门不是本专栏推荐的？
A. 开车旅行时住Motel 6汽车旅馆。
B. 自己种蔬菜。
C. 在情人节后，半价购买情人节蜡烛，然后送给自己的另一半。
3. 以下哪种家庭支出是本专栏作者和妻子没有发生争论的？
A. 在高尚社区买座房子。
B. 花很多钱买一张新床。
C. 翻修厨房。
4. 以下哪种方法是本专栏作者下馆子吃饭时没有用过的省钱法？
A. 不点开胃菜、甜点或酒水。
B. 偷偷自带酒水进餐馆。
C. 在海鲜饭馆点特价排骨。
答案：1. C; 2. B; 3. A.; 4. B.
Neal Templin
I've tried to make sure Cheapskate wasn't one of them.
During the past 21 months, I've penned columns on everything from dogs (love the critters, but they sure run up big vet bills) to public libraries (one of the best bargains around) to extended warranties (retailers wouldn't push so hard to sell them if they were good deals for you). Last month, I took the razor-blade industry to task for developing silly new high-tech products instead of pushing down prices on the perfectly good blades it already makes.
This is my last column.
The plain truth is I've said what I've wanted to say on the subject of being cheap.
I've always believed that Americans know perfectly well how to save money: Spend less.
Witness what has happened during the Great Recession.
For years, economists fretted about Americans' declining saving rate. But when the economy cratered, Americans suddenly started saving again -- despite declining incomes.
The challenge for us lies not in knowing what to do, but in doing it. Despite our current economic travails, we live in a society of great wealth. Every time we drive past a shopping center or flip on the television, we are confronted with all the great products we don't own but could.
Even for those inclined to be cheap, it's not so simple. Our spouses have different ideas on the bare necessities. Our children want to go to that private school instead of a perfectly good state college. In the end, we often compromise.
So, rather than providing helpful tips in my previous columns, I've used the space often to examine those two great forces that make us spend more than we should: seduction and compromise.
Seduction takes many forms, posing at times as virtue. In an earlier column, I argued that shopping at Costco and other warehouse clubs may actually make us spend more in the end. My reasoning was that these clubs sell everything in enormous quantities, which means that we tend to buy more than we would otherwise. So even if we pay less per item, our total spending is higher.
A lot of readers bristled. They saw shopping at Costco as one of the smarter things they did. One wrote me a detailed letter in which he explained how he never wasted anything from Costco because he would carefully keep everything in the extra freezer until he needed it.
I remember thinking: 'Well, would you have bought that extra freezer if not for your Costco purchases? And how much does that freezer burn each year in electricity?'
Now, let's talk about compromise.
When I married my wife, Clarissa, 28 years ago, I had all these rigid ideas on how to save money. We'd buy a tiny car. We'd live in a tiny apartment. At one point, I even suggested living in a tent. (Clarissa laughed at me.) And we'd wait a few years before having our first child.
Two months after our wedding, Clarissa informed me she was pregnant. We did buy a tiny car, but most of my other money-saving plans basically went out the window.
Our entire marriage has been a financial compromise. Clarissa rarely splurges on herself. Instead, she buys clothes that our kids need. Stuff we need for our house. I don't believe we need much of this stuff. But I often go along.
Readers, almost always men, write to say I'm a fool to give in. One reader persistently recommended divorce. As I remember it, he had dumped his wife, and now he's richer and happier and so forth.
My response: Money isn't everything. In any event, getting divorced is a dumb financial move for most people -- not the other way around.
What's more interesting is that this column has changed both Clarissa and me. As I wrote a few months ago, I've come to see being cheap as less of an unadulterated positive. And while I remain a tightwad on most things, I've become a more-liberal tipper and generally get less agitated about small expenditures.
Clarissa, on the other hand, says she has become less impulsive about purchases.
'There isn't a power struggle over money anymore,' she adds. 'You gave it up and so did I.'
Are You a Cheapskate?
Take this quiz to see how well you absorbed Neal Templin's wallet-fattening lessons. Answers are below.
1. When confronted with a choice between drinking free, mediocre coffee at work and paying $4 for a cup of excellent coffee, you should:
A. Splurge on the good coffee -- it's not enough money to dent your budget;
B. Bring a thermos of homemade coffee to work;
C. Drink the free coffee unless it makes your lips fall off.
2. Which of the following money-saving tips wasn't recommended in in the column?
A. Staying in Motel 6s on road trips.
B. Growing your own vegetables.
C. Buying Valentine's Day candy at half-price after the holiday -- and giving it to your spouse.
3. Which of the following household expenses did Neal and his wife, Clarissa, not argue about?
A. Buying a house in a desirable neighborhood.
B. Splurging on a new bed.
C. Renovating the kitchen.
4. Which of the following tactics did Neal not use to save money while dining out?
A. Not ordering appetizers, desserts or drinks.
B. Sneaking in your own liquor.
C. Ordering ribs at a fish restaurant because it was on special.
Answers: 1. C; 2. B; 3. A.; 4. B.
Neal Templin
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