Mary Hance, The Tennessean’s “Ms. Cheap,” was in the office today to speak to our staff. Although she’s undoubtedly famous in Middle Tennessee for her budget-minded columns, you might not know that she’s covered several other beats during her 30-plus years with the paper and with the now-defunct Nashville Banner. She’s reported on local police, government, Metro and business news during her career.

It was as a business writer that she first took on the “Ms. Cheap” moniker in 1994. The move was a “fluke” experiment based on the observation that more readers responded to reporting about bargains than anything else. While she reports that “little old ladies” frequently tell her they don’t like the negative connotations that go along with the word “cheap,” Hance’s psuedonym of sorts has definitely resonated with cheapskates large and small around town. Here are a few other tidbits she passed along this afternoon:

• She’s not solely focused on “cheap” news. Bargains are what she’s most interested in, and that can mean saving big on a big-ticket item, too. It’s only a bargain, she cautions, if you actually need what you’re buying.
• She fooled her husband for a long time by pouring generic mouthwash into his Listerine bottle. He never knew the difference until she fessed up.
• Her column years ago about sneaking snacks into the movies generated a ton of negative response from readers, so much so that she’s sworn off writing about the practice.
• The readers were concerned about Hance influencing impressionable young minds. I learned the trick from my teetotaling grandmother before I ever arrived in  elementary school.
• Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck donated what amounted to his entire kitchen to the Habitat HomeStore when he decided he didn’t like it. Not long after that, a homeowner looking to furnish his own home purchased all of it for a fraction of the original cost. Hance conservatively estimates that the bargain hunter walked away with $40,000 to $50,000 in merchandise.
• Hance “didn’t know what a blog was” six months ago but is now maintaining her own  on a regular basis. It’s “another beast to feed,” but it’s also a convenient way to get timely information out to her readers.