Yesterday, while most of America or at least most of my noisy and obnoxious Facebook friends were prepping to watch the second presidential debate, TLC premiered its latest So Horrible I Can't Look Away reality series Extreme Cheapskates. We met the dumpster-diving PwC tax accountant featured on the show's first episode yesterday but apparently she is not the lone accountant in the group. Color me shocked.
51-year-old Victoria Hunt of Ohio is so disgustingly cheap she pees in a bottle and dumps it in her garden (surely that's a health code violation, our sewer systems do not solely exist as a water bill money-making scheme), which she guesses saves her a few bucks on her water bill every month. Has Victoria never heard of if it's yellow let it mellow? She is apparently an avid gardener and read somewhere that good pee is great for compost. The jury is still out on that but hey, animals do it right?
But Hunt isn't cheap because she's poor. In fact, Hunt is self-made millionaire who owns several houses and has stock and other investments. She retired from her career as an accountant at age 48, and now her primary income comes from her rental properties. Still, she lives on just $12,000 per year, including bills, groceries and even health insurance.
It wasn't always this way; 25 years ago Hunt was a single mother living in a trailer park and receiving government assistance.
"I wanted to be sure I would never be poor again," she recalled about starting her life as a cheapskate around the age of 28. "Some people like pedicures, I enjoy ways to be frugal and save money."
God forbid the cheap accountant stereotype end with weird bathroom routines though. Hunt has maintained a massive spreadsheet that tracks every penny of her spending since 1989. "Every minute of every day has something to do with how I can make a better decisions financially," she points out. Spreadsheets are clearly a gateway drug to pissing in a bottle and dumpster diving (and yes, Hunt – like the PwC cheap-ass we met yesterday – also enjoys a good dive) so watch yourselves out there, kids.
Want to know a super money-saving trick? Kill your cable so you aren't subjected to this nonsense.
Bets on how many accountants make it into the second season?
