Meanest/ thriftiest thing you’ve ever heard of

I'd forgotten about this till reading this thread. I used to be in a 'baby sitting circle ' as was common in the 70's. One family I baby sat for had no heating on in the middle of winter. I was there for hours one night with just the red light on the electric fire for comfort. I knew my friends's husband was tight and she was afraid to question anything.
Eventually they divorced and she went back to teaching and remarried happily.

I agree, and made that point upthread. I'm not blaming my mum - she was brought up in the war - but pointing out that sometimes saving money at all costs has unintended consequences. As I said in my post I would also give the lemonade to the children, and I would find a way to use the wrinkled apples, but I didn't live through food shortages as she did.

I know where that knob would end up! Dreadful man.
Doodle My mother had hard childhood, she would go without rather than let us. I would make a pudding with the wrinkled fruit and eat the fresh, let children drink the bottle of lemonade in one day, think most would. There is a big difference between thrifty and mean.

I worked with a man who used to bring the knob off the central heating system to work so that his wife, who was at home on mat leave with a new baby couldn’t put the heating on

I've just been told that would class as abuse nowadays, as a form of coercive control.
Most unpleasant, and yes let's hope the poor young mum and her baby did leave him ☹️

RosieandherMaw

Momac55

I worked with a man who used to bring the knob off the central heating system to work so that his wife, who was at home on mat leave with a new baby couldn’t put the heating on

A knob indeed

Yes, indeed!

I wonder if she left him?

Thrifty behaviour can be counterproductive sometimes. My mum was a child in the war (born 1935) and was very much brought up not to waste anything and to make things last. This resulted in her buying a bottle of lemonade from the 'pop man' rationing it to a small glass each every couple of days (there were three of us) and not buying a fresh one until the following week. This meant that after the first thimbleful on day one it was flat. In that position I would let children drink it on the first day, on the understanding that there would be no more until the man came round again next week.

It was the same with fruit, which she did encourage us to eat, but if there were wrinkled apples in the bowl we couldn't take a fresh one, with the result that the wrinkled apples got wrinklier and the fresh firm ones started to wrinkle.

... could be, welbeck
😂

Momac55

I worked with a man who used to bring the knob off the central heating system to work so that his wife, who was at home on mat leave with a new baby couldn’t put the heating on

A knob indeed

Golly, Momac , he sounds quite the treasure 🥺

Aldom

Magenta I had a similar experience some years ago. I happened to mention to a friend that I had purchased a Devon Wool mattress topper. When my friend asked me the price I told her £100.00
My friend seemed very out. She said she could never afford that.
I said nothing but noted to myself that she had taken three holidays so far that year. I hadn't been away at all.

Very much the same here Aldom I haven’t had a holiday for a long time, but bought the exact topper you mention, it’s wonderful and worth every penny.

I worked with a man who used to bring the knob off the central heating system to work so that his wife, who was at home on mat leave with a new baby couldn’t put the heating on

Such a difference, as others have said between thrift and meanness. The inlaws used to absolutely refuse to pay for parking, if we went somewhere with them they'd end up parking so far away from where we were going, there'd be a long walk, you'd have less time there than if you'd parked closer and paid, and I couldn't help thinking that all the petrol burned in driving around could have probably paid the parking cost.
I don't much like paying for parking either but sometimes it is better to pay for parking near where you are going rather than park miles away. If I can get somewhere by bus at little extra inconvenience I'll do that, but if I need to I'll get a taxi if the bus doesn't come and I'll be late. Sometimes a little extravagance like a taxi means you can have a longer less tiring day out.They would never have done thatnever have done that I could tell stories of mean ess going out for meals etc, but too many to remember.
My dad told the story about once he and mum were in a Mediterranean cruise, and they shared a table with a couple of ladies, he would order a bottle of wine and offer them a glass, they never reciprocated. One night there was some sort of prize draw, and one of the ladies win a bottle of wine. She took it back to the cabin to take home didn't think if offering mum and dad a glass of wine for just one night!
With mental monitoring what their wife eats that could well be controlling, same someone mentioned someone who wrote down everything she spent and if it went over the limit she'd try and spend less on other days, even though her husband was well paid. Sadly that sort of thing could well be economic abuse, some well off husbands are very tight and limit the housekeeping they give the wife, and would get cross if they overspent.
If I can do something for a bargain price I probably will do that, and splash out a bit on something I might not otherwise be able to afford with what I save.

My ex in-laws took out the double back seat of their car, so there was a single seat remaining in the back, so that the car weighed less and therefore used less petrol! They were very wealthy and didn't drive very far anyway!

I have to confess that I do turn the hot plate off and let the heat finish the cooking.

A wealthy friend always comes back from a holiday and mentions what hotel or bnb she has stayed in, and how much it cost. (Expensive!) She always talks about money and how much such and such cost - dress, lamp, etc.

What we now do is, when we have been away, we mention how little we paid for our (decent) accommodation!

Oh dear I squeeze the last bit out of the toothpaste, never dream of putting a teabag in anything except a pot so it brews properly and I look for yellow labels on luxury items to put in the freezer for treats. I won’t waste petrol going to find the cheapest beer but DH will. Drives me scatty. His dm used to gleefully buy gin 10p cheaper at the airport but who had to carry the bags plus two small children down the plane steps? I did of course. I will not give the hairdresser a tip as I think they should be paid properly but I do give 12 months equivalent at Xmas and on her birthday.

NotSpaghetti

butterandjam I have unravelled jumpers occasionally in the past - and once I bought a hideous jumper from the "cheap" rail at a charity shop. The wool itself was stunning and the jumper had obviously not been worn.
It unravelled beautifully!

That has reminded me of my ‘thrifty’ neighbour! The Bodach ( remember, Gaelic for old man!)’s mother and aunt were beautiful knitters, and our sons’ jumpers were much admired. The neighbour was horrified when I said I put them in the rag bag when they were outgrown, and from then on I always saw skeins of wool hanging on her washing line. I have no idea what she did with the garments she knitted.
The same lady was working with my mother in the local hospital and at supper time the junior nurse came and said somebody had eaten the baked beans the lady had brought for her beans on toast. Inspecting the tin, which contained maybe six beans and some juice, she said ‘Not at all’, and that that was quite enough for one slice of toast!

Franski

DoodleDog

I think your 'friend' wins the gold medal for freeloading!! I wonder what she would say if the same thing happened to her with the Boots Bogof. Awful!!

I know! I didn't do it. I told her I wanted both items and if she wanted one she could get the offer too.

We aren't friends these days. As well as seeing her money as worth more than mine she didn't value my time, and often kept me waiting while she was late because of doing 'important' things without letting me know. I would be standing in the rain whilst she was finishing her make up or trying on a dress in a shop.

She would also leave the labels on clothes so she could wear them and take them back.

In my early 20s I worked with a lady, middle-aged and far from hard up.
She openly admitted she'd wear a new outfit for a particular occasion then purposely tear a seam and return it, complaining about the quality.
She saw nothing wrong with this as it would be an outfit she wouldn't want to wear again 🤨

DoodleDog

I think your 'friend' wins the gold medal for freeloading!! I wonder what she would say if the same thing happened to her with the Boots Bogof. Awful!!

I reuse my teabag!
I think people, maybe most of us, love a bargain.

I've learned as I declutter that it's better to ask for money for things and allow for haggling than to offer things free!
I'm waiting in for someone now who's supposed to be taking away piles of old magazines. I'll bet he doesn't bother to come.

NotSpaghetti

I like weak tea.
I use loose leaf.

Is that the beginning of a haiku ?

The meanest person I ever knew came from a very rich background. He would gleefully add up what he had saved on shopping offers or outings, and gloat over it.

My French gran. 40watt light bulbs, no hot water, worn lino and rag rugs, grill pan put in bin when I made cheese on toast gas was too expensive, sold flowers from the garden, kettle on fire to save gas, no hot water, had to wear shoes that were too small, and coat that was too small. Lived a life of poverty when I was a child living with her.
She owned her house and 5 cottages rented out. Neighbours used to give her coats in the winter. I found her bank books in the 1960s, she had over £70K plus an English and French pension!

There is no shame in being unable to afford things, and nobody's 'fault' if they are hard up. Life just works out differently for all of us, and I don't see it as miserly to prioritise things so that we can buy the things we like, even if that might mean doing without other things. As an example, doing without a big holiday so that you can have butter instead of margarine and put the heating on (or whatever), or going home for coffee instead of paying to have one in a cafe can just be money management, not meanness.

Where I find it irritating is when people try to get one over on friends or businesses. I had a friend who was mean to the point of stingy. She was an accountant, and was used to doing her own books (for her business), and would be 'creative' about that, and it spread to her personal life. She would say to friends 'Oh, I'll charge you 'mates' rates' and you can buy lunch' and not put the transaction through the books. This meant that she would get the money tax free and also get a free lunch.

She always ordered three courses when someone else was paying or the bill was split, but if for some reason we were paying separately she would get the cheapest thing on the menu. We used to meet once a week and often went somewhere with a set menu except that if you had king prawns each course was an extra £3 (ten or so years ago), so her 'share' was always £6 more than mine as she didn't eat meat but did eat prawns. We always split the bill, and this went on for years. When the restaurant closed for refurbishment, we moved to another for a while, and the way their lunchtime menu worked there were no prawns and the veggie option was cheaper than the meat one, so her 'share' cost less. She insisted on paying separately.

That is one example of numerous similar ones, my favourite being when I said I was buying something at Boots, and it turned out to be on BOGOF. She offered to get it using her Advantage card to get the points and she would keep the free one . I thought she meant that she would buy the items with her points, which wouldn't be so bad, but no. She wanted me to pay full price, give her the freebie and put the points on her card rather than mine. I declined. Had she had no money I would have happily offered the free one, but she probably had a higher household income than me. She would also leave the labels on clothes so she could wear them and take them back. That is mean. Being careful because you don't have a lot to spend is not.