What makes it being cheap?

One of my brothers said that my husband and I are cheap because we camp so much when we travel.  That's an interesting opinion from someone who prefers to ride a motorcycle instead of a car.  Who is the cheap person here and what makes that person's actions "cheap"? 

Sometimes when my preference of camping causes problems for my brother's plans (in this case carrying something big to store in our house ... along with all my mother's other stuff), he will try to spin his words to make us look bad.  Most of the people I know, myself included, will do this at one time or another.

When it comes to my brother's love of motorcycling and our lack of interest in same, he doesn't think he's being cheap but efficient.  This is the other side of the concept presented above: spinning one's words to make ourselves look good.  Again, most people I know, myself included, do it at one time or another.

So do we actually camp out to save money?  Sometimes yes, but the fact is that we really like camping.  We find hotel/motel rooms and hallways, etc. to be very claustrophobic in nature.  When we camp, we have privacy (no maids, etc.), we have lots of space to set our stuff out, and we can enjoy our day at our speed.  We don't have to follow a hotel schedule about housekeeping and breakfast, etc. hours.  There's no television to distract us.  The neighbors can be friendly or we just ignore them.  The only bad part is the fact that we find ourselves in various stores, cafes, etc. in order to use the internet.  I am too cheap to buy a broadband card.

Cheap Traveling

I have been out for about 2 weeks because my husband and I were camping up north while visiting my mother, other relatives, and some friends. We camp because we like it, but it doesn't hurt that it is cheap, especially since my husband gets the senior citizen discount of 10% off the cost. Actually, the hard work of camping is setting up and taking down our campsite. The rest of the time is pretty easy, and we can slow down so quickly.

No television? No problem. I read Truth plus jokes by Al Franken, 2006, and Rome Wasn't Burnt in One Day by Joe Scarborough, 2004. I find it interesting to see what others say about our political history when it is still rather recent. Aside: Franken's book was not as good as his book Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. I also read a few of Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer mysteries. In the way of e-books, since we have a tent ... on the ground ... with air mattresses and sleeping bags, I read Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Boroughs, Othello by William Shakespeare, and I started The Republic by Plato. It's much easier to read an e-book in a tent than reading a bound book by flashlight. I did not take any school stuff with me because I know that I will never touch it and that it will wear on my brain.

While we were visiting my mother, I worked on the tablecloth that I am embroidering for my daughter and son-in-law. Note to self: never again agree to embroider anything with so many satin stitches in it. It looks more beautiful as I finish each section, but it takes hours to do! Being a person who needs to move while talking, etc., I find knitting, stitching, working crosswords, etc. helps me center on the conversation. Okay. I do not listen so well when I work crosswords, but the rest is true. I wonder if I would have been labelled ADD when I was a student if I were in school now.