9 Rich and Famous People Who Are Total Cheapskates, and Why They Are Cheap
The word “cheap” has a negative connotation. It’s often used to describe a person who is stingy. You might call a bad tipper “cheap,” or use the word to snub a wealthy family member or friend who always eludes the check at the end of restaurant gatherings. But “cheap,” when reframed as “frugal,” can actually be a great quality. It means you spend and save money smartly and don’t splurge just because you can technically afford to.
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A number of rich and famous people with tremendous net worths are frugal, or, if you insist, “cheap.” Though dripping in wealth, they may skimp on eating out at fancy places on the regular or hold back on staple luxury services like paying someone else to do their laundry. Let’s look at nine rich and famous folks who distinctly live below their means, and why they do so.
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar, best known for her star role in the popular ’90s TV series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” is worth $30 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. She can surely afford to be racking up bills here and there, but the actor has been open about her frugal ways.
“I cut coupons to this day,” Gellar told CNBC Make It. “I’ll never forget, one time I was at Bloomingdale’s and they had these coupons — Bloomingdale’s has really good coupons — and I was taking them all out, I was doing holiday shopping. And someone behind me turned around and said, ‘I can’t believe how long you’re taking. Why are you using coupons?'”
“I remember looking at her like, why should I pay more?” Gellar said. “Like, if there’s a coupon there, I’m going to use it. Just because you’re successful doesn’t mean that you should be errant in your spending. I’ve never believed that.”
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Mila Kunis
With a net worth of $75 million, actor Mila Kunis can certainly afford to dish out tons of dough on a luxury lifestyle, but the “Black Swan” and “Family Guy” star is frugal-minded. Kunis has implied that her budget-consciousness stems in part from being an immigrant (she was born in Ukraine).
“If you’re an immigrant, you have a very different mentality,” Kunis said on the podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend.” “Because I am an immigrant, I think that creates a different perspective on what the value of a dollar is and what hard work is.
Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks, a supermodel, producer, writer, television personality and actor isn’t short on cash. The media mogul is worth $90 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. But deep pockets don’t mean a frivolously spendy lifestyle. Banks is exceptionally frugal, explaining that she’s just not that into material possessions.
“I was always more interested in experiences over things,” Banks told Money magazine. “Things didn’t make me happy. I saved, saved, saved. But I saved to a fault. About 15 years ago, my accountants pulled me aside, and they were like ‘Tyra. You’re not spending money. Nothing. You’re just giving it away to the government. You need to spend some damn money!'”
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood’s net worth is $140 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and based on her frugal approach combined with her continued success, she’ll be worth more in no time. The country singer and fashion designer likes to live below her extravagant means. In 2012, she admitted to doing her own laundry at a laundromat, for instance — with quarters.
“It makes tour life a little difficult because those are things that I really don’t have time to do,” the star told Oprah’s Next Chapter. This was quite some time ago, so maybe Underwood has started living a little more lavishly by doing laundry at home.
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence has long charmed viewers with her quirky relatability as she does things like falling down the stairs at awards ceremonies. Fans will be pleased to know that she’s even more relatable than we may have previously thought. The “Hunger Games” star embraces a number of budget-efficient practices including coupon clipping.
“I still look for bargains when I go to the market,” Lawrence, who is reportedly worth $160 million, once said.
Dave Grohl
The Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl sports a net worth north of $300 million, according to various sites — but he’s not a flashy guy and appears to live below his ample means. When asked what he does with all his money during an interview with The Red Bulletin, Grohl answered, “It goes straight into my bank account, where it turns all moldy and smelly.” Grohl is also a pretty regular guy on the road, favoring a family SUV over a sleek sports car. That said, he does own a $140,000 Tesla, which he has scoffed at, calling it “impractical.”
Grohl’s thriftiness isn’t just a quirk; it’s tied to family financial trauma.
“I remember coming back to the house that night, alone with my sister and looking at the piece of paper [my mother] was writing to the IRS on as she started to have her stroke,” Grohl told The Guardian in 2014. “And it left this indelible mark on me that was ‘Money will kill you,’ that people spend their lives dying inside because of money.”
Jay Leno
Former talk show host Jay Leno is well known for his massive rare and vintage car collection, but this may be one of the only areas in which the NBC alum flashes his cash. He’s particularly cheap when it comes to dining out.
“To this day, I still get all my meals from guys in paper hats,” Leno told CNBC Make It. “I’m not a fancy restaurant guy. My favorite steakhouse steak went up to $70. I don’t go there anymore. That’s ridiculous. There’s no reason a steak should be $70.”
The former “Tonight Show” host sports a net worth of $450 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Zooey Deschanel
In 2012, when Deschanel divorced rocker Ben Gibbard, court papers filed were available for public access, and her personal financial details were leaked. The “New Girl” star listed an average monthly income of $95,000 with $1.57 million in the bank and $1.6 million in stocks and bonds. Her financial output looked to be on the lower end, considering. She spent $22,550 a month and had the following allotment: $1,000 for groceries, $500 for eating out, $2,000 for clothes, $600 for laundry and cleaning and $1,500 in charitable contributions. For most Americans, this would be extravagant, but for a rich and famous actor, it’s practically peanuts. Deschanel also listed three credit cards, each with a $0 balance.
Today, the actor is worth $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Warren Buffett
He may not be gracing celebrity magazine covers, but Warren Buffett is rich, famous and thrifty. The finance mogul, worth $118.9 billion, according to Forbes, is known to live quite frugally. Perhaps the most striking example of Buffett’s money-minimalist lifestyle is the fact that he lives in the same quaint Omaha residence that he bought in 1958 for $31,500. The Oracle of Omaha also spends under $4 on a simple egg and cheese biscuit breakfast and buys a new car only when he really needs to.
In all, it may be difficult not to envy the rich and famous, who surely do not have to live with, say, student loan debt or medical debt hovering over their heads, but we should also admire those who are taking proactive steps to make their wealth last. Goodness knows there is no shortage of tales of celebrities who blew all their riches in the heat of the windfall.
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