What is the difference between being conservative and being cheap?

The fundamental difference for me is the ability to recognise value/quality.

Consider how a conservative person looks to buy food with $10:

• Conservative person will buy the most nutrient dense foods, and cook a nutritous meal at home for 2. It would likely not be meats/seafood, so a conservative person with a $10 budget would think about what would give the most nutrition for his buck.
• A cheap person can use $10 to buy the most food, for eg, 20 packets of chips. Gives alot of bulk, but no nutrition.

Likewise, for clothes:

• A conservative person would consider Cost-per-wear
• A cheap person would buy the cheapest thing, without consideration for quality.

Being conservative is being smart with your choices. Being cheap is for no reason. Just cheap. Bad nevermind, as long cheap.

A conservative spender would spend $300 on shoes if they know it'll last a decade. A cheap person will buy from China only during a sale because best deal ever only for it to spoil next month.