Beauty, they say, is skin deep. But cheap goes to the bone.

GAGE: I dated a guy who was too cheap to buy his mom a 99 cent bag of jellybeans. We were dating in high school and college. Neither one of us had much money. It was a long distance relationship and he said he couldn't afford long distance calls or a tank of gas to visit me. (And gas was $1 a gallon then!)

One day I went shopping with him and his mom at a discount store. She decided to buy some jellybeans. She had her checkbook but no cash, so she asked him to buy the jellybeans. He claimed to have forgotten his wallet. So I bought her the 99 cent bag of jelly beans, no big deal. On the way back to the car, he pulled out his wallet. When questioned by his mom, his excuse was that I had already offered to buy the candy, so there was no need for him to pay.

About a year ago, he tracked me down online and we exchanged a few emails. He's a doctor now and money shouldn't be an issue, but it didn't take long before he made a comment about something being "too expensive".

ANDI: I went to a sporting event with a friend of a friend and two other couples. Afterward, we went for pizza. I don't drink beer, so I ordered a Pepsi. The check came and instead of splitting it six ways, Clyde pulled out a calculator and figured out how many glasses of beer each person had and the cost of the Pepsi. He also figured out how many pieces of pizza each person had as well as if they had cheese or sausage. Needless to say, that was the last date.

DREA: I was living in Frankfurt, Germany, and went out with this guy from Hamburg whenever he was in town. One night we went to a steak house. Because it was an odd hour, I ordered just a coffee for two and a half Deutsche marks, which was then $1.25. He had a three-course meal. When the check came, he asked me for my share of the bill. But it wasn't until I discovered that he was also a lousy kisser (yes, we went on another "date") that I stopped seeing him.

MARTIE: He was a Chicago cop, so I knew he made a decent income. He asked if I liked Mexican food. I was happy because there are so many great Mexican restaurants and as a cop, he should know all the good ones. Then he took me to Chili's!

When we were through eating, he asked the waitress to bag the chips!

MAMIE: On our first (and only) date, he suggested we meet at a Chinese restaurant between our homes for dinner. He ordered several appetizers and several entrees to share. When we were through eating, he asked to have the leftovers wrapped up so he could take them home. When he bill came, he split it in half!

Men, surely you've dated some cheap women! Send your tales, along with your questions and problems to [email protected]. And check out my new ebook, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front."

Photo credit: Rory