What's the most extreme example of effort to save a few pennies you have heard of?

I used to date this bloke who was a solicitor and drove an Audi convertible (He was certainly rich by my standards!) He would hang around the supermarket until things were down to 7p and then buy them. I remember having an argument about him wanting to buy broccoli for 7p, even though neither of us like broccoli,
"But it's only 7p!"
"Neither of us like broccoli!"

OOOOH oooh ooh! Just remembered an absolutely golden one.

Went on a night out a few years back and a few days later, one of the women who came out with us pulled a load of photo prints out her bag - of photos of the night out obvs. They were just printed on cheap copier paper and were not good quality. She asked me if i'd like one and i said 'yes please', more out of politeness than anything. She replied 'they're 5 pence each'.

5 pence!!!!!!

I do quite a lot of the things listed on this thread.

I also make my own bacon & ham as it's cheaper as well as tasting better.

I use my Kelly Kettle to boil water instead of my electric kettle - this halved my electricity bill.

I also phone my internet/phone provider annually to ask why I should stay with them, 5 out of the last 6 years I've been given free line rental for the year & have no contract so not tied in at all.
Which is not particularly extreme but it all adds up.

A friend came for coffee and brought a half-eaten packet of biscuits. She said her husband fancied a few🙄.

I meant as Tippex - I think that wins ?!

My FIL uses the edges of stamps at Tippex !!!!!

I've posted about this before so please forgive repetition. MIL has a water meter and is particular about wastage when every drop costs*. When she runs the hot tap, a fair amount of cold water flows through before the hot arrives, so she collects what would oerwise go down the drain in empty plastic milk bottles and uses it to water the garden. This explains the collection of water-filled plastic milk bottles lined up by her back door.

*I wish to God her daughter was as particular.

The teabags I will never understand. Why, why do you do that to tea? What did tea ever do to you to deserve that? Just NO! My 11-year-old likes a strong cuppa. Poor tea!

However....."freeze leftover wine to use in soups and casseroles"

Left over wine? This is not a concept I ever intend to become familiar with!

holly my mum used to do that too.

I guess it is no real difference to washing the cups that have attached straws. But I still didn't really like it growing up.

I can't stand feeling that I'm being ripped off!

Me and my mum are the same. She is v wealthy, I am v not!

But the feeling of being "seen off" as she puts it stands for both of us. If something is good quality and worth the price then I will happily pay it, but if it is clearly a rip off then I wont, no matter how much I want whatever it may be.

I haven't read the full thread so not sure if it's been said but DH has a tendency to wash disposable straws...!

When I drive, and I see a red light in the distance, I would slow down, like really come to a crawl, such that by the time I reach it, it would turn green, I keep timing/ doing this so that for an entire journey I never need to break and start again, to save petrol. I don't know if people behind me get angry.

When its a downhill, I would hit the clutch and freewheel down, even if its a very gentle one, and slowly roll down.

When I refuel, I would hold and shake the petrol nozzle thing until every last drop comes out

Oh, and of course I don't own a car, I would buy 12 different items from around the country before I rent a van to collect them all in one sitting. When I rent a van for 24 hours, I collect the van at 755am, and return it at 805am the next day, without stopping!

That's how you cram £1000 worth of delivery costs into a £39 rental.

We are on a water meter and I am slightly obsessed with how much water we use, I now get dd to keep the plug in when she has a shower and I use the water to water the garden I also use the water from washing up, hot water bottles and even the cats water bowl!! The flowers don't seem to mind

Friend of mine creased up that her dad waited to drive into town for dinner until 8.00 pm so he could park in the carpark for free. They are loaded, and he was about to spend a load of money on restaurant food and wine, but didn't want to pay £1 for parking :-D

Wiping and then reusing cling film.

I use ereaderiq to track the books I want to read and only allow myself to buy them when they're 99p.

I've had loads of great books this way but it's probably not as money saving as I'd like to believe as I have about 300 books on my virtual to be read pile, which will last years even if I stopped buying books which I can't while they keep going down to 99p.

DH insists that no bottle is 'empty' even at the point when it is impossible to actually get anything out of it. He will put shampoo bottles back in the shower when I have put them out for the recycling bin, and balance them upside down because he's sure I can still get some more out of them. I go in the shower, squeeze the empty bottle and get a gnat's sneeze worth of conditioner on my hand.

I use a Ecoegg instead of mainstream washing powder/gel. I bought it for 19.99 about 3 months ago and with all the extra pellets they give u your supposed to get 720 washes it's brill I love mine. Used to buy fairy powder so I've defo saved already.
Shop at Aldi, you'd be surprised how much u can buy for 40-50 quid.
I buy a tub of coconut oil from aldi for 2.99 and use it to get make up off, night moisteriser , hair treatment ect lasts ages!
Co-op after 7 ish all the bread,bakery stuff is massively reduced I bought some baguettes for 12p.

This is true; the family would 'dry out' teabags on the boiler and re use them. Time after time.

An uncle of mine refused to stop at motorway service stations as they were too expensive. Instead he would either look up the nearest supermarket or pub and buy a drink there as it would save ££.

We do that when making the journey from the North to the Midlands. There is a Morrison's literally off J2 of the M18 (you can see it from the motorway) It is no more hassle to come off there then at the first services as you join the M1.

Isn't someone else's wine dregs unhygienic?

My first mother in law [who left nearly £250,000 in her will, though unhappily none of it to me] used to wash out cling-film and hang it up to dry. She also once seriously asked me at the tea-table [we were having ham salad] "would you like half a tomato?" I still regret that I didn't ask her what plans she had for the other half.

Chuck any leftover wine from glasses at parties into freezer bags to put in stews

Grow our own salads and herbs

Chickens in the garden for eggs/keep slugs down

Our dog also has our leftovers and then his food if he 'needs' more calories

Everyone in family has same bathwater

Heating doesn't go on much if at all - wear extra jumpers

Hot water bottles in bed

Burn prunings from garden in stove in house instead of bonfire

Make veg peelings into stock for soups

That said whilst we have to watch every penny people turn up at our house with bottles of fizz for parties, so we do drink a lot of champagne.......

An uncle of mine refused to stop at motorway service stations as they were too expensive. Instead he would either look up the nearest supermarket or pub and buy a drink there as it would save ££.

My parents also whenever we stayed in Travelodge/Premier Inn type places would refuse to pay for us to have breakfast there as the cost was too much, so we would have breakfast at the nearest Tesco or McDonald's.