funny examples of when people have been extreme tightwads / tightfisted

[Sensisoul]

i recently fell out with a friend who is known for being exceptionally tight with money.

They have no kids & do anything to scrimp and save so they can afford a champagne lifestyle at the drop of a hat. They buy expensive beauty items with free gifts and then take the items back for a refund afterwards and not return the free gift!

This is a light hearted post about examples of tight friends, partners & family members who have either gone out of their way to be tight or given terrible birthday/ Christmas presents over the years.

NB- This isn’t a criticism on saving money, being mindful of money to stop hardship etc. It is great to collect coupons and vouchers and I do the same. It is more a lighthearted look at how tight some people can be:

Tell me what happened and when & is that person still in your life?

I’ll give a few examples:

this friend requests vouchers from people at Christmas
but always buys people “presents”. These presents can be anything from some old used nail varnish to free beauty samples sachets.

Their family now insist that they buy them gift vouchers as they no longer want their version of “presents”

Only orders hot water in a restaurant/bar- so drinks are always free. sometimes brings own tea bag and milk if they fancy a cup of tea.

Insists on walking everywhere and is spitting feathers when they share a taxi with anyone. They would sooner walk home on their own at night and potentially risk their own safety, than hail a cab and get home safely.

Order the most expensive luxury drink at a bar and then complain said drink is flat and that another fresh bottle is opened. They would then complain again and get another drink free!

Arrange to meet for lunch/dinner at the venue of their choice & then not order anything at all from the venue & say they are getting something from the burger van nearby afterwards. Then watch me eat my food that was ordered from the venue while they sip on a free cup of hot water. ( the hot water was free btw)

Insist on always getting a child’s portion at any eatery. whether this is chips
from a burger van or a posh restaurant.
This person always has to have the cheapest bill at the end of a meal.

Send a sympathy card when my auntie passed away & have the text in the card crossed out!! God knows what the original card said 😂

Once had an argument with someone about whether to bodge repair a broken seal on a toilet or buy a new one for less than a pound. No thank you, I will not be virtually guaranteeing a flooded toilet for the sake of a pound.

I had an old friend who had been with his girlfriend for about 2 years. He drove them to the drive through for a hungover McDonald's and about a week later asked her for the £4.57 her meal had cost. He was absolutely rolling in it financially.

I told him once that he'd end up alone if he didn't loosen the purse strings.

I have an uncle we don't speak to anymore over a family rift about money which he entirely made up in his head.

The last time I saw him, he came over and bought us all donuts from the reduced isle which were 24p.

He asked us to divide the donuts between us and give him back what he's owed. There were 4 donuts and asked us to pay him back 6p each for the 4 donuts he bought round to 'treat' us kids at the time.

I haven't seen him since.

My aunty is well off compared to the rest of the family but sits with the lights off in the dark, waits for other people to phone her and looks for the cheapest option for any food she buys. It drives my mum mad, especially because my mum has far less money but still can't bring herself to cut back like that.

My ex-pil came to visit once. We were poor students at the time and they are very well off. Mil insisted on getting sandwiches from Tesco for our walk rather than eat in a cafe....I thought that was a little bit tight but then they outdid themselves by making us pay for our own 😂

The husband of a couple we used to stay with wanted to eat out a lot, but would almost invariably have ‘left my wallet at home’ so good old dh would over and over uncomplainingly pay for four. The bloke would then say he’d give him a cheque once home again.
But once home he’d never be able to find his cheque book, so would ask his wife to give dh a cheque instead.
We knew she had far less cash than he did (very separate finances) and knew he’d never pay her back, so never paid it in.

There was always plenty for anything he wanted personally though - lots of expensive clothes and gadgets etc. When he died he left a huge amount of cash (I do know this since dh was an executor) and 2 houses paid off.

@veronicagoldberg just for laughs I would have given them a 5p piece and never stopped asking for my "change".

We have friends who absolutely refuse to go out, anywhere. They're a couple, and they drink heavily every night - but only at supermarket prices. Quite possibly pub prices would bankrupt them with the amount they drink, but they will NEVER come out. So if we want to see them, our only option is to go round to theirs (they won't come to ours either as they won't pay for a taxi to get home). Drinking in a house is okay, but sometimes it's nice to go out for something to eat, or to a pub with a bit of atmosphere!

It’s good that they’ve found each other LindaEllen, people like this should always date each other and not inflict their joy sucking ways on the rest of us!

My great uncle is the tightest I know. It's a running joke in the family about how tight he is.

When we were scattering my Dad's ashes (his nephew), right at the sombre moment when we were all gathered around on the grass and reflecting as the ashes were being dispersed across the grass - he bent down and plucked 2p from the grass amongst the ashes, smirked, and popped it into his pocket. Seriously.

My Dad thought he was a tight arse too and would most definitely have seen the funny side of it

DH has a friend who is incredibly tight (usually has water in the pub). DH was at the bar and said friend offered to buy him a drink - first time ever. Asked him what he wanted and then said it'll be a half as you've already had one.

DH was collecting for guide dogs outside a supermarket , at lunch time I took over the charity tin while he took his guide dog for a break. Most people give generously but one very well dressed guy took a big handful of coins out his pocket , sifted through the 1 and 2 pound coins 'til he found a 10p ,made a great show of placing the money in the can . I looked him straight in the eye as I thanked him for his generosity, his face was red with embarrassment when he realised I could see !!

I've recently parted ways with a friend who is so tight it's embarrassing. She invited me and DD out for the day, I didn't have a car at the time, she suggested we get the bus to hers (2 hours on the bus) rather than offer to pick us up (10mins drive) even though I had done exactly that for her numerous times when I had a car. I took said friend to London, hotel, train and theatre tickets, she asked for the £3.50 she'd spent on my meal deal during the day. She sold my SIL a dog at mates rates, turns out she got charged £1k more for her dog than the others she sold.

I worked in a volunteer job where we would get to the office and be assigned a driver for our route. One driver was notoriously cheap and when it was his turn to buy the office biscuits, they were out of date ones from a bargain bin and we could always tell who'd brought them in as they'd be soft and gross.
His local shops would give him their out of date foods for free because he would wait until closing time with a basket filled with everything from the reduced shelves (I'm thinking he dumpster dived too) and they were just wanting rid and to stop him haggling for further reductions on the reduced stuff. He prided himself on this method.

One day his car had broken down. The bosses lent him theirs but told him it needed topping up with water regularly as it had a small leak they were waiting to get repaired. I was with him one day and I pointed out the temperature was rising and it would need water. He pulled into a garage but they didn't give free water. He would have to put something like 20p or 50p in the water/air/vacuum machine. Instead, he poured in a 2L bottle of cheap rola cola he had in the back that he had got from his Co-op for free. He didn't want to waste the petrol by travelling for free water and he hadn't topped it up at home as he was on a meter.

The car did make it back to the bosses that day but the engine blew later. He never told the bosses what he had done.

I did though.

Went for a 2 for £6 dinner - before lockdown but massive value still and nice pub and food - I was paying - ex FWB wanted fish/chips but didn’t like garden peas, and was annoyed they wouldn’t swap for free - I ordered an extra side of mushy peas and paid the added £1 no issue - but he refused to then ‘swap’ for his plate insisting that he still had his small ramekin of garden peas that he would not be eating, as well as otherwise they were ripping us off. Not sure if that’s tight on my behalf or just being a dick but I was embarrassed 🤦🏻‍♀️
Never wanted to waste cash on a coffee either - usually my cash - how kind - but would waste cash most happily on alcohol and betting 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Sensisoul how are you still friends with this person!?

My DB was in a pub in an expensive part of London, he ordered a single but the barmaid accidentally poured him a double, after he went to his seat she realised her mistake, came over took it off him and poured a little bit away and then gave it back…

My parents when going to town would park out of town to avoid the car park fee.

This was about 20 minute walk from town, and an hour long free parking. Well, you can guess the enjoyment of that run shopping expedition.

Cost of the car park... 20p.

Relative that announced that as they were hosting Christmas dinner they were asking we all paid £40 towards the meal. Dh responded that we'd bring exactly the same as they brought when we hosted the previous year-a bag of carrots.
Also to note that we were hosting Boxing day on that year and they weren't expecting to provide anything to that-and no they hadn't hosted boxing day the previous year.

A flat mate at uni once took a bottle of peach schnapps from my room ( part of my birthday present from boyfriend who just happened to have got a discount on it through his cash and carry job) and drank half of it when he ran out of decent booze. Flat mate then offer to replace what he had taken but only if my boyfriend would get him the same discount for a bottle. The difference would have been about a pound.

We used to go out for lunch from work quite regularly. We were in a bit of a hurry so would all just eat 'the special'. I haven't been since 'the incident' The bill was to be divided equally, everyone knew the cost each.

Paying cash, most of us added a couple of pound coins towards a tip for the staff.

Colleague made her contribution last, and only put in enough to make up to the original total, pocketing the tip for herself. She muttered something about them 'not needing any more'

I was so cross i couldn't find any appropriate words. That group of people no longer go out together. We break into smaller groups at stay on the premises.

It stands out to be as the tightest thing I have ever experienced. Glad to get it off my chest.

Hmmm i feel like my DD is one in the making! when she was 11 I cant remember why but i owed her 1p and she hounded me like a loan shark for a week until i had it, i'd come out of my bedroom and there she would be 'have you got my penny yet?'

BIL/SIL who spend lots of themselves and try to show off how well off they are but cheap as anything if involves anyone else. Never provide food and drink, charge you to go for Christmas (only once, won’t go again now). PILs used to take tea/coffee to leave there so they could have a drink. They would use it all and not replace it (so PIL started taking 2 teabags which was hilarious).
send incredibly cheap presents etc. the funny thing is they

Complain about everyone else not being generous with them. Reep what you sow.

@NeedAnOffSwitch did the skin flint get into trouble ?

I have a friend who will invite me out for coffee and then bring her own and drink it in the coffee shop.

On holiday once, we went to a cafe for lunch and her and her son had made their own sandwiches and brought them in a bag and ate them in the cafe (sat on a table outside).

Same friend will always look to share lifts if we are both going somewhere, like a sports event with the dc. She makes a big fuss of it being more environmentally friendly. She always suggests I drive first and she will next time. When it’s next time, she always has a reason why she can’t… like her car is in the garage etc. Now I have realised this, I make my own way to places so she has moved onto asking others for lifts. So far she has never driven herself or her dc anywhere in her car further than the next town.

She keeps her winter thick coat on all day in her house to save on heating - not recently but even 2-3 years ago.

They don’t wrap birthday or Christmas presents.

Her dh is a very high earner too so it can’t be lack of money. Unless he is tight with it!

I've always found my richest friends to be the tightest.
There's one who will holiday 4 times a year to places like Dubai and Mauritius and think nothing of spending £200+ in zara for stuff she says she doesnt even need...but then she orders kids meals for herself and serves up chicken nuggets when at her house and then when i had my baby boy she bought cheap looking clothes for him, the type with not even a label inside.
I mean this girl has 4 houses for Gods sake.
Then there's another who's husband has earns £100,000 a year while I'm on £30,000 in a good year, she gifted me some kids erasers for Xmas one time and bought my baby a £2 toy from Tesco whereas I'd sent her 5 outfits and a blanket. Then she has the gall to ask me to send her anything I'm done with so she can use it for her kid!
No, ill donate to someone needy no problem but no way am I giving it to someone ehi can clearly afford it.
RANT OVER!