@tedsteriscool
Remember cheap is a relative term, but it does seem like any more you spend on a computer is expensive after having spent a couple thousand for hardware, service plan, and applicable taxes. Personally I ended up spending around eighty dollars on memory for my Vaio five or so years ago.
I however applaud your thrift. I never had that kind of resolve to thrift shop for memory. I always found myself looking for memory when I absolutely had to have it yesterday.