Cheapness vs Frugality

and another expensive thing that aren't worth it is mooching off your friends for drinks and ubers etc. when it was their parents' card. I don't know what kind of situation you and your dad, your mom, whatever got going on, but it's a little bit fishy to me. So my parents grew up poor, like dirt poor. But one thing they always instilled in me since birth, and I'm gonna say in Chinese, is 不要贪便宜 (bù yào tān piānyí), which translates to don't be cheap, don't be greedy, the translation of (tān piānyí) is being keen on gaining petty advantages or being cheap. Or if I put it harshly, being a freeloader. Even though we were super poor and we had to budget our money, my parents were never cheap because being cheap is saving money at the expense of others. That's the difference between being cheap and being frugal. Because if my friends get everything paid for, why would their parents pay for me? Why would that now mean that I don't pay them back for something that I consumed, for something that I rightfully owe? If my friends' rich parents have decided to financially support them, it has nothing to do with me. Nothing. Because if I start deciding how much I owe people based on how wealthy they are, then where is the line? If my friend becomes wealthy, do I stop paying them back? And there's nothing fishy about a parent who has the means to provide for their children, that wants to provide for their children. I don't understand why that's fishy business. So many of us work hard, because we want our kids to have things that we never had. What's weird about that? So for today, let me be your Chinese parent. 不要贪便宜 (bù yào tān piānyí).