Cheapest thing a person has ever done

[Unorganisedchaos2]

Inspired by the children's birthday party thread, Im sure this has been done so many times but humor me as Im stuck at home with a poorly DD...

Our family once knew a couple who were convinced that the baby they were due to have shouldn't cost them any more than the family allowance and a grant I believe you used to get in the early 2000's. Some of the things they did:

• Commented that it had worked out well that the baby was born 2 months prem as they had been able to claim family allowance but he hadn't cost them anything yet as the hospital were providing nappies, milk etc.
• Refused to visit the baby until the hospital had issued a free parking pass then only visited 3 times a week because they were tired and as it was a 30 minute it was already costing a lot in petrol.
• Did a separate food shop for him of all supermarket own brand food and £1 meals, she actually had "his money" in one of those money bags the bank used and made the checkout person run it through as two separate shops.
• Spent hours in charity shops buying up the next few years with of clothes for him, at his second birthday they were asking us to buy clothes for 7-8 year old.
• Asked my mum to register as a childminder so they could claim childcare but expected my mum to do it for free (not honestly sure how that was ever going to work out)
• Not child related but he refused to drive above 50 MPH because he believed it was uneconomical, even if he was late for work or holding up a queue of traffic.

I worked for a guy (owned the small company) who would hang his tea bags up to dry before reusing them. Fortunately I only drink coffee, but did mention to him that I love gold top milk in my coffee, far prefer it to the semi skimmed we tend to have. The following day he came in with a bottle of (part used) gold top for me. It was a bit crusty around the top but was apparently ‘ quite fresh, we buy it for the cats’. 🤢

Wow that's so petty @miniaturepixieonacid !

Your post reminded me of when I shared a house with three other women and we had a phone call log book for our landline which worked out well until the bills suddenly shot up.. One of my housemates had a fit and refused point blank to pay towards it. Back then you could ask for a call read out from the phone company to be posted to you. Turned out that when she came home (over an hour before anyone else) she would ring her mum on a daily basis (in another part of the country at the most expensive time of the day!) for that hour. Presented with the evidence she grudgingly agreed to pay up. We had never caught her on the phone, so she must have hung up as soon as she heard a key in the door. We couldn't believe she was prepared to lie and get us to pay for her. What a nerve! She was also the wealthiest out of us by far and (rich) mummy and daddy were topping her wages up and whenever she went on one of her many spending sprees she'd say "oh I'll just sell some of my shares to cover it"!

I was seeing a guy (Mark) years ago. He still lived with his mum so he was always at mine. I'd make dinner every night he was over. One night we got a takeaway and I put £20 on the table to pay for it. Mark said it's OK I'll get it. The £20 was still on the table when we went to bed. Got up the next morning, when Mark had left to go home so had the £20

A night out with my friend and her boyfriend we stopped at a chippy to get food. In the Q I said to Mark, what do u want? He replied, I'll sort myself out. He bought his own food and left me to buy mine. In the taxi home my friends came to stay the night. My friends boyfriend said he'll pay the taxi and Mark let him. He did get his wallet out but put it back in his pocket when my friends boyfriend said he'd pay it. I was mortified.

This! It’s so easy to say why do people enable it but usually the CF are very thick skinned and don’t care. Sometimes their behaviour is basically just a low level scam to get others to pay or give them things through manipulation.

It takes a lot of self confidence to assume a friendship or relationship can involve one party 'winning' in a continual frugality war.

Edit to add the one I remember is receiving a discount coupon.

Some friends and I were planning to meet up in a self-catering hotel in a city so we could all get ready for a party that was happening there. One of the gang told us they'd sort dinner. Turns out they'd made some large dishes of (watery) pasta at home, then put it in the back of their car under some tin foil for three hours, then reheated it when they got to the hotel. Ok, fine. But then they charged us all for our bowlfuls.

Last time I mentioned this story in a thread (many usernames ago), I got a scolding for being a snob. Maybe I am, but my snobbishness means I don't charge my friends for my home cooking, so they're all presumably fine with it.

@NoodleHorses Wow - that's appalling! I'm glad you got away and had nothing more to do with them. And I hope you are ok now.

I can understand that. It's easy to forget how much your wedding costs your guests. Travel, accommodation, time off work, a gift, hen night etc. The things you paid for were things she had to have for her role and were absolutely on you. Asking her to pay for everyone's breakfast was unreasonable. Unless there is a back story. I wouldn't have billed you in her shoes but I'd have been a bit annoyed.

I'm so sorry, what an awful, selfish woman @Achewyhamster

I can go one better - my mum saved all the terry nappies that she’d used for me and my sister, and used them as washing up cloths for years, until she finally ran out of them and had to actually buy a washing up cloths.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

eww!

What are they? Any photos?

HNRTT beyond the first few heart breaking posts but will risk posting something light hearted. A school friend's father hated changing gear when driving as this wore out the clutch and required expensive repairs so would drive using the fewest gear changes possible, ignoring racing engines when in too low a gear or labouring engines when in too high a gear. Dangerous driving, wear and tear on the engine and gearbox and impaired fuel economy were ignored to preserve the clutch. His family said he still had about the same number of clutch replacements, too, with the cars he kept over the duration of the childhoods.

I once went out with a man who was a fairly high earner (and liked everyone to know it), living in a large house in the same town where his parents, who had a very low income, lived in a small council flat. He did his supermarket shop with his Mum every week and she cleaned his house as well as doing all his washing and ironing etc. Some of his friends laughed about his mum still doing all these things for him (she went to his place nearly every day to do his washing up, make sure he had shirts for work, hoover round etc) but he maintained that he only let her do it because he paid her and it was his way of helping her out financially. I assumed he meant that she wouldn't let him just give her money so he paid her well for cleaning services and probably paid for her shopping when they went to the supermarket together.

I found out eventually that he paid her a tiny weekly 'wage' for all her work (far less than the going rate for just an hour or 2 of cleaning each week) but deducted fixed amounts from this if she used things at his home (eg £1 per wash if she washed his clothes in his washing machine, 50p per cup if she made herself a cup of tea). When they went shopping, they each had their own trolleys and paid for their own shopping (fair enough) but all cleaning materials including washing powder etc were paid for by her- even though she bought separate items to leave at his place for his cleaning. He also charged her £5 each time for driving her to and from the supermarket on the basis that she would otherwise have had to get a taxi which would cost that amount each way so they were 'sharing the benefit'. He had to drive past her flat on the way to the shops.

https://salter.com/products/timeless-3-tier-steamer-18cm-stackable-cooking-pots.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22683769194&gbraid=0AAAAADhulJSUFgC5eZ6ddEzu8TyHw7muc&gclid=CjwKCAiA8vXIBhAtEiwAf3B-g7V9FBtAneFMI88X-qDXHD9i_7s7e3LENTrLaGpZrbZxiqn-Gvh7bRoCLa4QAvD_BwE

These are similar to the ones I use. I expect cheaper and/or better might be available if searched.

That's down right evil!!
How can these type of people look at themselves in the mirror of a morning.

Omg that's exactly like them! I'm going to ferret about in the cupboard of doom under the oven to see if they're still there & sell the fuckers!! I had to Google trypophobia, not come across that before.

A notoriously tight woman I used to work with stayed in a nice hotel in Barcelona (I think...) was a Groupon so not as expensive as it would usually be. This hotel had a lovely rooftop restaurant but was obviously quite pricey. Tight pair bought a couple of takeaway snacky things and a bottle of cheap local red from a nearby Spar shop and sat at a table and ate it there. How they had the brass neck I will never know - also why they weren't thrown out!! Would've given me great pleasure if I was the restaurant manager...

So shocking!! How can parents treat their kids this way!!

Ah yes thanks! I have a single one of those that sits on top of a saucepan.

Same,except I did go. Massive millionaire's row type house in St Albans. The hosts only provided a few cheap Tesco baguettes. We sat on the grass as we'd come on the bus. Some of the guests hadn't realised it was BYO and there was a lot of frantic whispering about who was going to run out to Greggs and get what.

I suppose it's better to warn people up front than just under-cater so everyone just gets 2 quorn sausages each. (The quorn sausage people were loaded too, seems to be a theme on this thread...)

Have skimmed the start and end of the thread and am in despair. I'm reminded many people have a deep, compulsive love affair with money to whom they will be faithful above all others for life, irrespective of anyone's judgement.

My dad once gave me a London A-Z for my birthday , then asked for it back "because it's the only one in the office". He also took a holdall full of Pot Νoodles on holiday to Paris - they never got eaten because the hotel didn't provide a kettle. He is sporadically generous but then does these random stingy things.

HNRTT fully but have seen shameless 'tip surfing' where the same family member offers 'to pay', and takes the cash to pay for the meal and add nothing or the minimum to make up the difference between each family member's contribution plus tip and the total without a tip. When everyone realised what was happening, much grumbling when they were made to pay their share fully and then add a handsome tip on top. No financial problems either.

She re-uses wrapping paper. She'll open gifts really carefully, pick off the sellotape, fold the paper and re-use it next year!

This is pretty ggenerational, my grandparents did this (war generation). You'd never know. Tbh when I've seen how much I've spent on Christmas wrapping paper the last few years it's seemed like a great idea!