Meanest/ thriftiest thing you’ve ever heard of

Back in the old days of " bring a bottle" parties, someone we knew would bring the cheapest possible bottle of booze, and then help himself to drinks from all the nicer ones on the table! Then later, he'd reclaim his unused cheap bottle and take it home.

If you’ve lived for years on the bare minimum you stay frugal, always afraid of being unable to pay the next bill.
I reuse tea bags because I drink tea very weak and it’s only been in the cup for 2 seconds.

Those on here with psychological knowledge - is there a reason people behave this way?

I dislike freeloading friends :

I have one of thirty years standing and though she can be open ,fun and friendly I'm increasingly tired of her tricks .
She used to be very careful with money now it's become an absolute obsession .
Virtually every time she's got a bit of shopping for me I get billed twice.
If I get shopping or she "borrows food ' she forgets .
If we go out she expects me to pay for her or we go Dutch .
If we go to Costa's and she'll orchestrate a visit there and I 'll pay and she gets points on her card .
A couple of years ago she found someone who wanted a reliable and regular babysitter . She applied and spent so much time working for her that she's lost two full time jobs and sued the companies for wrongful dismissal .
Everytime I see her it's another list of refunds she's getting .
I know that some of her other friends are fed up with her .
The lady who gave her the babysitting work is wealthy (the source of the wealth sounds dubious to me) and now she's almost working for her full time as a sort of domestic /personal assistant ,talks about her non stop and is overwhelmed with admiration .

My Granny was extremely thrifty. Probably a hangover from the war. However, she could be very generous indeed for big things. I'd like to think I'm like her by looking after any money I have but also being able to help out family as required.

I was a private carer about 10 years ago, and the man used to keep all receipts (even if he bought a postage stamp, he had a receipt), then add them all up at the end of each day, write down all his expenditures, put it all in a filing cabinet - daily- then do the same at the end of each week, so that he knew where every single penny went. He paid me £6 an hour at the time, and made sure I earned it. I did the personal care of his wife, all the washing, ironing, cleaning (whole house), shopping and lunches. I also used to take her out in the afternoon. I worked 6 hours a day for 5 days.

loopyloo

My brother used to reuse his tea bags.

My aunt and uncle used to do the same - and they were pretty well-off.

My parents had very little money when I was growing up and frugality was necessary. “Make do and mend” was, I think, a wartime slogan, a mentality I was brought up with. It has made me careful with money, a saver not a spender. I am only just learning to treat myself occasionally. But some of the stories above are taking things too far, either out of sheer miserliness or excessive frugality.

RosieandherMaw

There are some who, as they say, “Know the price of everything but the value of nothing”

Himself & I were saying those exact words about someone we know only just yesterday Maw.

What’s that saying - it takes a generation to save it and then a generation to spend it? 😁

My mum used to treat us all. She said she liked to see the smiles on our faces while she was still here. We do the same with our girls. It gives us great pleasure to be honest.

I remember visiting my grandmother in Yorkshire and seeing the teabags pegged on the line to dry before being re-used.

Don’t mention ‘tips’ - the 2 friends who I went out to lunch with last afternoon, hate leaving tips - ‘oh I’ve got no change’ is the regular excuse. They are good friends but oh my gosh, sooooooo ‘tight’. I passed a hint - ‘at our age, what are we saving our pennies for ?’

collected bits of soap, melted and reformed them
I read somewhere that Princess Diana used to do that. Perhaps the soap was extremely expensive!

loopyloo

My brother used to reuse his tea bags.

When we were camping years ago, I saw a line of tea bags pegged on the line, drying out to be re-used.
That was a Dutch family, perhaps tea was very expensive in The Netherlands!

does anyone remember a tv programme probably bbc, YEARS ago now, interviewing people, couples, nutters
taking frugality to obsessiveness?
the one I particularly remember was a very self satisfied woman in Prenton, who made all the family clothes, collected bits of soap, melted and reformed them, etc., an extreme version of Little House on the Prairie without the charm and bonnets.
Ive just tried to find it but couldn’t.

This is a little different to being careful, prudent or parsimonious even,
then there is meanness, which is
irredeemable.
A malaise of the purse.

Dh’s old aunt (who had plenty of money) was notorious for loathing spending any of it. One thing that stands out is that she got her long-suffering cleaning lady to do her shopping (no extra pay) but would then moan like mad because she hadn’t gone to a different shop for the butter, where it was 1p cheaper.

I was with her just once in a wool shop where she was buying expensive Jaeger mohair. The bill came to £12 plus about 20p, and she argued for ages with the assistant, trying to get her to knock off the odd 20p. The assistant kept saying that it wasn’t her shop, so she couldn’t, so old Queen Midas (as I used to call her) finally had to give in. It was highly embarrassing.

Eventually she had to move to a care home (still mentally with it) but insisted that if the management knew she’d got money, they’d find a way to steal it. So dh had to pay her fees every month, and then get her to write a cheque to him, to repay him. And oh, how she absolutely hated writing those cheques!

Definitely interesting this and I can recognise people I know from this article. My mil never worked a day past marriage had expensive clothes and hair done every week but criticised me for not being in a better paid job! At least I worked!

When I was a teenager, I had a friend whose mother used to wash sanitary towels and hang them out to dry! Someone else I knew had relatives who visited them from South Africa. They were given one cream cracker with a slice of cheese for their welcome tea.

Just what I was thinking Maw.

There are some who, as they say, “Know the price of everything but the value of nothing”

My in-laws used to unplug every electric appliance in the house, including the television and the cooker, before they went to bed, in case the appliances used up electricity overnight and sent the bill sky high.

My MIL criticised me for having expensive hair products which lasted me for months but she used to go to the hairdressers every single week.

Someone we used to go out to restaurants with used to collect everyone’s cash,including all the tips and then pay the exact amount owed on his credit card, pocketing the tips. A couple of us worked out what he was doing so after that we all paid separately. It really wasn’t worth it for him- he lost his reputation and the trust of the rest of us. He was, needless to say, the richest person in the group !

Charleygirl5

When I was working I went on holiday with a now ex friend and each day one of us would pay for everything.

When it was her turn to pay, she resented me having a glass of wine with the evening meal, and I think she would have preferred that I had a sandwich.

It was different when I paid, she chose what she fancied from the menu. Amazingly it was one holiday only.

Yes. The double standards got you.
You cooked her steak; she cooked you boiled bacon.
She would grab your discarded nice clothes and never think of giving you a penny.
These people can be awful scroungers.

My friend had a husband who would quickly blow out the candles on the birthday cake at the same time as the child, so that they could be reused the next year.

And the one after that………..

I think some people really dislike spending money. Raised to be fearful of debt maybe. Then it becomes a mania not to spend.
I have known several women like that; two of them were very wealthy but would look down menus for the cheapest item to order; the cheapest hairdresser etc. which is why they were rich.
It was good for the inheritors, though.

When I was working I went on holiday with a now ex friend and each day one of us would pay for everything.

When it was her turn to pay, she resented me having a glass of wine with the evening meal, and I think she would have preferred that I had a sandwich.

It was different when I paid, she chose what she fancied from the menu. Amazingly it was one holiday only.