So Freakin Cheap - General Discussion

[StatisticalOutlier]

I happened to run across this show this morning, and could bear watching it for only a few minutes.  It's so beyond stupid and manufactured.  I don't recommend it to anyone BUT if you have the misfortune to watch, I need to clear up some misinformation.

The mother in the Tran family is obsessive about electricity, and has notes on stuff saying how much it costs to use it.  I guess she's trying to single-handedly counter the stereotype that Asians are good with math because hers is WAY off.  Her electricity is I believe 11.5 cents per kilowatt hour, and she says they open the garage door only once a day because it costs 12 cents every time you do it.  That's insane. 

A kilowatt is 1000 watts, and a kilowatt hour is 1000 watts being used for one hour.  A 1,000-watt hair dryer being used for a full hour would cost about 12 cents in electricity.  A garage door opener doesn't use anywhere near 1,000 watts, and it runs for only a minute or so.   

She had a note on some other appliance (maybe a crock pot or an instant pot) that was equally bogus, possibly based on it using its maximum power for 10 hours?  Whatever--it was as wrong as her garage door opener calculations.

And don't get me started on the other woman who was going to take down a possibly load-bearing wall with a stick stuck in the hole of a brick to make a sledgehammer.  And...if you're so frugal, surely you know not to shop at True Value Hardware.

 

[mamadrama]

The $750 wedding mother was on TLC's similar show, Extreme Cheapskates, about 6 years ago. There are videos and pictures online that prove that the weddings shown on TV (this daughter's and the previous one) were staged. I don't know about the other families, but that one seems to be a fame 'ho who will do or say anything to get on TV.