Ever had the experience of going to dinner with a group of friends and when the bill comes, someone forgot their wallet? Or when you split the bill and everyone pays with cash, somehow there is not enough money? Do you have a friend who announces as you order that he/she doesn’t have money right now and asks you to pay?

There’s a Two and a Half Men episode where brothers Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer) are on a double date at a restaurant and it’s time to pay. Alan suddenly has to go to the bathroom. Charlie decides to follow him and wait out his ploy to avoid paying. They spend 20 minutes in the bathroom pretending to poop when Charlie finally succeeds in waiting out Alan. Unfortunately, the dates didn’t wait and are gone when they return to the table.

Alan is a cheapskate.

Dictionary.com defines cheapskate as “a miserly or stingy person, especially one who tries to avoid paying a fair share of costs or expenses.”

Who are the cheapskates of the zodiac?

From my experience, cheapskates and “wallet forgetters” come from some zodiac signs and a particular house placement.

Cheapskates

Cheapskates are the folks who just don’t like to spend money on others. Other terms for this trait are tightfisted, stingy and parsimonious. When the trait is not extreme, it’s simply called frugality.

In the horoscope, the 2nd house relates to money and values. Your values are most clearly indicated by how you spend your money. We’ve all encountered someone rejecting an invitation with us because they have no money only to see that person spend the money on something else. That friend is simply indicating priorities (values) with the money they have to spend.

Individuals with sun or moon in the 2nd house are likely to be on the frugal-to-cheapskate continuum as opposed to the generous-to-spendthrift continuum.

Earth Signs

The earth signs are more likely to be parsimonious than the other elements (water, fire, air). Earth signs become cheapskates because they worry about survival. Taurus accumulates, Virgo worries and Capricorn seeks status. Money for the earth signs is saved for these reasons. Earth signs are not overly generous.

Astrologer Liz Greene, I believe, that likens money to emotions. If one is stingy with money, one is probably also stingy with emotions. Earth is not emotional.

Earth is, to me, the only element that truly derives happiness from material goods. The other elements, to my view, seek happiness through material goods but not from them.

Even more than sun sign, I find moon in the earth signs to talk and worry about money. If your friend spends the evening telling you about coupons, this friend may have moon in earth.

Moon in the earth signs will certainly shell out the cash but rarely out of spontaneous generosity. Earth signs follow the rules and if your earth-sign moon friend/family buys something for you, it is probably because it is part of a duty, responsibility or tradition. They will buy you a nice Christmas present, but won’t, in the middle of July, see a bag of your favorite candy and buy it for you for no reason. They might, however, buy it and store it away for your birthday.

Wallet Forgetters

Wallet forgetting is a different dynamic than pure cheapskate-dom. Wallet forgetting tries to get others to pay the bill because it doesn’t want to pay or can’t.

While the 2nd house rules one’s own money, the 8th house (its opposite) rules other people’s money. I find individuals with 8th house sun and moon to seek money from others either voluntarily (such as joint finances in a marriage) or involuntarily (such as forgetting one’s wallet).

The 8th house traditionally represents shared resources, death and taxes. That’s a lot of heavy Scorpionic material. Individuals with an 8th house emphasis are not interested in self-reliance emotionally or financially as are 2nd house folks.

Not all 8th house people will forget their wallets at the group dinner, but the 8th house is not shy about receiving gifts. Because they openly receive, they are also likely to openly give, even if what they are giving is not truly in their possession.

Second house individuals store (and hoard) whereas 8th house individuals share (voluntarily or involuntarily). Second house individuals pay in cash, 8th house individuals like credit cards.

Famous Cheapskates

My Google search turned up Jack Benny as a notorious cheapskate. According to Astrotheme, Benny had a Capricorn rising with sun in Aquarius in the 2nd house.

Leona Helmsley of “only little people pay taxes” fame, according to Astrotheme, has moon in Aquarius in the 8th house.

Google also mentioned a Hetty Green, an early 20th century businesswoman called “the Witch of Wall Street.” The Astrotheme chart for Green has moon in Leo in the 2nd house.

Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes had sun in Capricorn.

Financial or Emotional?

Cheapskates sometimes bother us, even if we don’t need their generosity. Is it because what they are really withholding is something more emotional?

If Liz Greene is correct in connecting money with emotions, this explains why there is often contention during the inheritance process. When the deceased makes financial decisions through the will, there is an emotional impact to those on the receiving end.

This explains why people can react so strongly to the “will” of the deceased. It’s not really about money; it’s about what the financial decisions mean in terms of love and emotion.