My first instinct is to consider myself "cheap". I'm quite conservative with money and material possessions, though I always attributed this to my grandparents, who were financially conservative SJ, sp-first bankers who lived through the Great Depression. I was taught to "save whatever you don't absolutely need". And for the most part I do--I get a paycheck and put it all in the bank.
The money I spend is usually on food and rent. Just the necessities. I don't like getting into debt; even on my credit card, I won't buy what I don't have backed up by the bank (I think the current financial situation is just bizarre--I can't imagine people could be that stupid!). I'm always trying to find a better deal, minimize my needs and expenditures, get more for less, etc.
Basically, I live off nothing and try to save half of whatever I earn.
Ah, but I wouldn't be me without a massive dollop of contradiction to all this.
Basically, though I try to conserve it as a resource, money holds little interest to me beyond covering my ass and giving me the ability to do what I want. I've no desire to center my life around the acquisition of money--any acquisitive tendencies I have are a game and nothing more. If I get incorrectly charged for something, it's going to take more effort for me to speak up about that than it's worth to me (like one time I refused an Amazon purchase, but they charged me $20 anyway, and I didn't even bother to contest it).
I'm also inclined towards spending my hoardings in stupid ways--penny wise and pound foolish. I'll spend forever finding the "cheapest" internet cafe for instance, to save 50 cents...then spend 50 dollars on books. I'll live off slices of bread for a week to save money, then spend it all on a movie. I'll put money away for years, then obliterate it on an extended vacation. PRIORITIES, people!
Plus, I also do that thing when I come into civilization again and see all the sparkly stuff and delicious food around me...and it's like an Se binge.
And if I have a solid number in the bank, it's actually harder for me to break that than it is for me to conserve the cash I have on hand. If you give me a debit card, I'll rigorously maintain the balance because I don't like watching the number get pared down. But if you put a $50 bill in my hand, it will be gone within 48 hours.
So I'm not sure if I'm a spender or a saver. There's two distinct halves to me here.
I imagine instincts are at least AS important as enneatype here.
I am 4w5 sx/soc