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.

Also, devastated for the posters who've suffered here from other's greed (the baby funeral, baby belongings thief, and adopted kid especially have brought me to tears). You're all amazing to have survived some truly awful people taking advantage of your trauma.

What is pet mince? 😬 I dread to think!

Wow OP im sorry. What a waste of a man. Glad you are well rid.

I have the MIL from hell. She is wealthy but so incredibly tight with it. I mean fine its her money but we went out for dinner with her once and DS (3) wanted a pound for one of the machines.

She gave it to him (I was at the table didn't even know by the way) then came and asked me for the pound back...

Mince that's intended to feed your animals with......

Thankfully they didn't 😅there's other stuff they did too so they really weren't the kind of in laws you'd dream of having! Hopefully I made their son a bit more empathetic as I did used to call things out after that Sunday "lunch"

My parents could be tight , I think they maybe had 2 of my children stay with them once and when we picked the children up after them staying 2 nights they asked for £ because the kids had wanted a small thing each when they were out and about .
I guess i could understand if they always had them to stay but this was a one off

My father is tight as fuck

It pains him to spend a penny (you should have heard his moaning when his favourite beer went over £1)

Well one day he handed dd (who's now 28) a finger of fudge (which was the only time he ever bought her chocolate)

He demanded the wrapper as he wanted some address off it for some reason ('your mother would go mental if I found and picked up a wrapper in the street!')

It was the cheapest chocolate in the shop

She scoffed it and he asked for the 15p back

I don't see anything wrong with any of that.

Celebs and royalty save clothes and put them on their children.

I have an elderly but very fit and active aunt who is extremely stingy but very wealthy as in multi millionaire wealthy, and can also be quite manipulating.

One day she produced a pair of nail clippers and asked me to cut her toe nails which were really thick, dirty and ingrown 🤮, saying that it was £70 to get it done by a podiatrist and she couldn't afford it! I was so shocked that I begrudgingly obliged, whilst feebly protesting that it really was in her best interest to go to a podiatrist.

So he could write to them, claim there was something wrong with it and get, at worst, a refund voucher but at best, a free box of fudge bars. Sounds like it was a thing he did if he made a point of mentioning him picking up litter.

Bet she was generous Granny for giving your son a whole pound, and that will be how she told the story to her friends "Oh well we know those things are a rip off but when its the grandchildren, you just cant say no can you?!"

Never adding "But I made sure that DIL paid me back!"

Oooh where do you get that from?? We get through so much kitchen roll and it's really not good for the planet

Saves the planet as well

Sounds like something hed do-I didnt think of that

I was too gobsmacked at the 15p

Best laugh is,hes highly allergic to bloody chocolate

I used to work in a large office when I was younger, and we always did collections for special birthdays. There was one guy who was really well-liked, a trainer who worked with pretty much everyone on the floor, when he turned 50 the collection for him was huge.

During all the excitement, another colleague piped up with, “Oh, it’s my 30th next year, I wonder what I’ll get!” The thing is… this was the same colleague who never put his hand in his pocket for anyone else’s birthday, leaving dos, collections absolutely nothing. Ever. And his reasoning was always that his faith didn’t celebrate birthdays - no problem with that.

So I was left thinking… if you don’t contribute to anyone else’s birthdays because your religion doesn’t celebrate them, why would you expect a big collection for yours?!

@momager1I bet their faces were a picture.

As others have said, its not about the chocolate, its about the "win" to him. The fact that the stamp would cost more than the potential 15p he got back is not the point, he "won".

Although......lets hope he couldnt bear to throw them away, and had unpleasant (but not life threatening) consequences!

it was amazing!!! and my lovely abused by them little waitress (she was only 17) was so happy I stood up for her. My PAY YOUR FUCKING BILL NOW..was said very low..almost whisper.. no other guests heard it. They even tipped hahaha

Just use cloths instead! They are even more washable than the bamboo things.

It absolutely astounds me that most of these pathological Scrooges here have partners and families, colleagues and friends willing to socialise with them in any capacity.

Some awful stories here. 😣i have posted about this before, but I knew a guy who was an accountant with a very good wage, he had only one light bulb in his house, he took it with him from room to room.

@letshybernatenow holy moly. How did that relationship end? Was he good in bed? I’ve always found mean people are terrible shags.

My aunt was a district midwife in Co Durham in the 60s and 70s. They used to keep new mams in for a week because despite visiting and telling the dads that they'd need rest and help round the house, the first thing they said when mam got home with the bairn was,

"Aalreet Pet, what's fer dinner? Ye've hed a nice rest noo." as they put their feet up.

Old terry nappies are good......just saying!

You know, I do wonder for some people whether this is like a hoarding behaviour. Hoarding money and stuff, I mean. My uncle was a hoarder of both money and stuff, and I also know another elderly man who is so careful with money it’s pathological, and he isn’t a hoarder but he is incredibly rigid and verging on OCD behaviour.

Obviously some people are just narcissists or sociopaths and immune to reciprocity.

there is a balance of both types of people on this thread.

I do not mind thrift at all, it’s a good thing, but screwing over others or yourself just to save money - that is disordered antisocial thinking.