Really mean things people do to save money.

Regarding loo flushing .................. If it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow.

Spits certainly made it clear how -you felt about her, plus your obvious glee at "spending all her dosh".
Maybe we felt sorry for her, I certainly did and hope my DDs and SILs never have cause to vent similar sentiments about me.

I didn't imagine people would be so upset by that. So it's okay to be abusive to me? Nasty? Revolting? Ungrateful? Appalling?

I think it was the spitting which upset people. The liver stroganoff ? I have an old loo and a plumber suggested a full litre bottle of water in the cistern would reduce wastage. I think it used many times that still.

Oh dear. It seems I have been judged and found guilty on the basis of two flippant remarks.

My mother in law had absolutely no need for frugality, and I can assure you I spent many years trying to excuse her behaviour.

I obviously misjudged how people would react to my post.

Try liver stroganoff ( replace steak with finely sliced lambs liver) delicious ?

They say that flushing toilets accounts for something like 30% of a households water usage, so there's quite a saving to be had by not flushing it every time you have a wee, even if you were to opt for frugal light (or 'lite' in modern parlance), and only flush every other time you use it
They also say that older toilets (without the small flush option) use 13 litres of water per flush. I don't know about every one else, but when the two of us are at home all day, the toilet is probably used at least once an hour during the day, which is an awful lot of water to just flush away without giving it a second thought!

oops should read sometimes gosh I am really losing my marbles

At my nans we had massive yorkshire pudding with a spoon on mince and onions.Which I loved .Somethings we would have mash but not always

Sadiesnan I don't flush the loo unless really need to! I am on a water meter, and have to make my JS allowance spin out,I dread people coming using the loo and then turning the taps on letting them gush water to wash their hands! If my GS stays I persuade him to go home and take a shower as he is in it for ages. Although the original post says "the mean" things people do to save money, for some of us it is a way of life at "having" to save money.

I did think of putting one of those slot machines on the bathroom door lol you know the ones you put money in to use the loo well! they charge 20p at some places so if you ever come to visit me, make sure you have a bag of 20ps (oh and can you bring your own tea bag pleases)

Tiggypiro - that sounds like our weekly menu now!
Except substitute fish for mince.
I do cook the veg. fresh every day though.

When my 2 kids were about 5 and 2 we were very broke and out of work. I bought a 4lb chicken, 1lb mince and 6 eggs which did us all week.
Our menus were something like this : Roast chicken, cold chicken, chicken bits in something, chicken soup, Shepherds pie. mince pie and egg curry. All padded out with veg from the garden. It can be done - just needs a bit of creative thinking at times.
As they grew up my kids used to say that they ate nothing unless it was on special offer or reduced (not quite true but nearly !) and that I could make a meal out of fresh air (also not quite true!). When they went off to uni they were very pleased with their mum and what she had taught them.

We have friends who serve sausage meat on Christmas Day, to save on buying a turkey.

I knew a woman who didn't flush the toilet because she was on a water meter.

My (quite wealthy) brother-in-law has a great way of saving money. When we are out at a family 'do' in a pub or restaurant, he disappears from the room when it is his round!

Went I was young and newly married teaching myself to cook I tried the hamburger helper. It's basically a package with salty beef seasoning,tiny pieces of dried veggies and either rice or noodles. It's for people who don't cook and want a cheap meal. You just add water.I'm surprised it's still around. Not something I'd recommend.

Old joke - "Would you like some tongue?"
"Oh no, I could never eat something out of an animal's mouth! I'll have an egg".

They had, and may still have, a product in the U.S called Hamburger Helper. I don't know what was in it, but it was widely used to augment the ground beef.

"Relatives you've got whether you like them or not, friends they come and go."

Relations!!

Not food related, but definitely about mean behaviour...
My MiL was extremely mean, and not just with money.
Tea bags were used three times, and hung on a line to dry twice, no light bulb in the fridge, central heating only on for 'visitors' even if there were icicles inside the windows, 4ozs of mince to serve 3 of them, (I was never invited for a meal), only served tea as coffee was too 'expensive', I'm sure you get the idea...
Every Christmas we had to return the card they'd bought us for our first Christmas married, so that they could give it back to us again the following year! They went abroad every Christmas, and never bought presents beforehand, as they would buy everything after the event, in the sales. When DH had a bad back injury and was in traction for three weeks, they didn't visit him, ring to see now he was, or in any way show any concern at all for their only child. I phoned them once to tell them how he was doing, but MiL said she was watching Coronation Street, so I'd have to ring back.....I didn't bother!
The worst thing of all is that she never, ever, not even once cuddled our son! She was cold in the extreme, to the point of weirdness. She even told me once that she was angry that I'd 'stolen' her son away from her, as 'Now I have to do all my own vacuuming and ironing, he used to do it for me'! She was not in any way disabled, just lazy, cold and mean! Both she and FiL dressed for our wedding in clothes they'd had for years, and they didn't buy us a present either!
If they'd been really poor, maybe the money part would be understandable, but when she died it emerged that she had been squirrelling away cash from the housekeeping for 52 years and had three accounts which even FiL knew nothing about, worth £65,000!
Unfortunately FiL is much the same as her, never rings to have a chat with his son, only ever calls to say he wants something doing/getting/fixing. He's 85 now and as fit as a fiddle, but won't do anything for himself, DH has to do his gardening, decorating, shopping etc or he'll make his life hell!
I'd have told him to sling his hook many years ago, but DH can't see it, so we just don't discuss him and I avoid him whenever possible, which doesn't include Chistmas day unfortunately!
And the best thing about all this, he lives less than 2 miles from us!
He asked DH to check his bank statements a few weeks ago, he's sitting on roughly £450,000 and when our DS (his only grandchild) got married earlier this year, he bought them a present for £14-50!
So, when I say that when he's no longer with us, we shall hopefully be moving into his enormous detached bungalow, having wonderful holidays and paying off DS and DDiL's mortgage, I'm not being cruel and nasty, but I would like to see DH benefit in some way after the years of rotten treatment he had from his parents! I say 'hopefully' because I wouldn't put it past him to have left nothing to DH or DS in his will!
I really don't care about how badly they both treated me over the years, but I don't like seeing DH or DS getting dumped on from a great height!

There is far too much variety of food available nowadays. When I was married in 1946, after my husband and I were demobbed, not only did we find it difficult to find somewhere to live we had little money but my children were healthy on the rations available. Those days one learnt to stretch what was available, queuing up every day for fish, potatoes etc. but we were contented and happy. Even though I can now afford it I still economise , cook everything from scratch and deplore food wastage. Old habits die hard.

When my daughter was a teenager she and her friend went to stay with her friend's grandparents for a week. For lunch they had one tin of soup, for four people. My daughter kept phoning to say she was starving. The grandparents just didn't know how much teenagers ate!

MamaCaz I have mixed apple with mincemeat before now as I like the extra zing it gives it.

But that means making mince pies ...
Oh dear

We say that every year OlderNoWiser, but never got around to it. Not that many left now, probably just enough for a couple of crumbles or apple cakes or for a nice layer on the compost heap

Rosequartz .... you could try making cider ... ? .... hick