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.

@FleurDeFleur I'm hosting a birthday lunch this coming week.
I'm waiting to see what two notorious tightwads do. One of the millionaires invited once offered to contribute to anothet friend's £7 bowl of soup. I said it was OK! 😂

😂😂😂
Keep us posted!

Mortified for you. That’s not how bringing gifts to your hosts works.

If you just lift off then no fuel is injected. If you put it in neutral then fuel is required to keep the engine at idle.

Quite.

A recent example brought by this morning's post. To save on the cost of a stamp, a relative has sent us a family Christmas card, put it in an envelope marked 'Christmas Card' and then tucked it inside my birthday card which is bigger and so is the first thing I opened. My birthday is in January.

Why didn't she want to go in herself, if she was already right outside the shop?

Gross.

They were across the road from the chemist. If it’s a main road and no crossing nearby a lot of elderly people don’t like crossing and will stop and ask someone for help. I’ve been asked to ring a taxi for an elderly lady because the creative arts centre where she usually rang from was closed.

friend has worshipped money since I knew her in school some 20 years ago, she has a good million in the bank from a very successful business. There has been a few occasions where she has done things like jump into my uber behaving all confused suddenly, then suggesting the uber takes her to her home, just so she doesn’t have to pay for one herself / pretended her phone is as glitching so she couldn’t call one herself/ forgot card 😆

Was dating a guy last year, he was very skilled at standing back when the coffees etc needed to be paid for, and most of our dates were “home dates” or “walks”. He was by no means broke, although we earned similar salaries, our situations were different (I had two young children in paid preschool)

He would come to mine at least twice during the working week at night. He was a big eater and me (being a mug!) used to always cook big meals for him. I’m not a massive meal eater myself so he’d often polish mine off too. He had “high quality taste” when it came to food and one day made a big performance about the fact he was going to bring food to mine that evening and cook for me for a change.

He turned up with a box of reduced mushrooms that looked like they were fit for the bin, a lump of ginger that he’d presumably had in the fridge since the stone ages and a reduced stir fry bag. Apparently meat (despite the fact this man was a self professed carnivore) was just too expensive that day!

It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if he hadn’t been so specific about his quality tastes.

I learnt my lesson the hard way. Mean with money=mean with love. Thankfully he’s an ex now

I went abroad for a wedding with a married couple and another single person, Chris. The couple paid for themselves and it was decided that Chris and I would split our costs - accommodation, food, petrol - down the middle.

My attitude in this situation is (perhaps too) relaxed. I'm like 'you paid for dinner last night, so I'll pick up the bill tonight'. In my view of the universe, it all works out about even, give or take.

A few days into the trip, the couple told me, on the quiet, that this comme-ci-comme-ca would probably not go down well with Chris, who was notoriously tight. But Chris didn't say anything so I didn't really think about it.

At the conclusion of breakfast on the morning I was leaving, Chris said, "So, before you head for the airport, we need to settle up."

I thought, "Hello. Here we go."

Chris said, "I've been keeping track of expenditure and if you pay for this breakfast, then..." A calculator was produced, plus a note of expenditure to date. Chris looked at the bill for breakfast and tapped in the numbers "...then, umm, hang on. Yes. I owe you three pounds twenty-nine." Which precise sum was then counted out in cash and pushed across the table towards me.

"Chris, it really doesn't matter."

"No, no - we agreed we'd split the cost. I owe you three pounds twenty-nine."

Tight, yes, but very, very fair.

My father is unbelievably cheap

His passion is motorbikes

Where his lives is a bit of an odd set up-hes halfway up a hill and in a 'square' of houses

He lives at the 'bottom' and would come the 'top' way and down the hill but would turn the engine off at the top and glide home

Just to save about 2p in petrol

The tantrum he threw when he upgraded his bike and it cost more than £4 to fill his tank had to be seen to be believed

He also had a minor accident on his bike (not his fault) but it knackered one of his biker boots (they where on the way out anyway-hed had them since the late 60's and this was 1999-youve never seen such shabby leather boots)

Another massive tantrum and he sewed them up best he could until my mother forced him to buy some new ones in the local shops sale

He sulked for weeks

He once bought some shoes in the early 70's (hush puppies) and they finally gave up 23 years later (he wore then at least twice a week and had them resoled twice)

He was not happy and wrote to the manufacturers,whinging that they should have lasted a lot longer and what where they going to do about it? (Nothing as it turns out)

I know £5 was worth a lot more in those days but still,£5-hed had his moneys worth

He's a millionare

Addicted to the active ingredients. The pharmacist recognises her as a frequent customer and won't sell it.

My mum had several pharmacies on rotation for her Night Nurse.

Exactly! It was rather odd.

God, I'm sorry about that. What do people get addicted to in Night Nurse? Did she ever kick it? Did you know all along what she was doing?

A lot of people take it as a sleeping aid. I advised her that taking it on a daily basis (along with her baffling paracetamol addiction) could lead to liver damage. She now has herbal remedies or the occasional night-cap.

To be clear, this has been following a request to bring a bottle or biscuits (or specific contribution) and then not including that in what is served. If I have been asked to bring 'whatever you would like to drink' and there is a conscious move to keep what I have bought and not offer me or others some of it, then I'm going to ask for it.

If it's a gift from me to them that wasn't requested, then they are free to squirrel away and not share.

I’ve had to comment so I can read all these

I'm so sorry about this and what you went through.💐xx

I wonder if we know the same people 😂we got invited to a BBQ - ‘bring your meat to cook, some drinks and something to sit on, we’ll provide the sauces.’ We did not go.

Beyond awful 💐

(though some in the OP make me smile as I can spot some elements of the behaviour in people I have known and loved)

My friend and I were both single parents.
She had a great idea that we could take it in turns to cook Sunday dinner. One week she would provide the meat and I would bring the veg and the next we would swap.
It took me a few weeks to realise that the dinners were costing her nothing.
On her 'meat' Sunday she would cook a chicken for her grandfather that he had bought....take him the majority of the meat and pick the bones for scraps for us.
On her 'veg 'weekend she had a man friend who ran a market stall and so got all her veg for free .
Didn't take me too many Sundays to get wise to that one

Agree, taking a small gift like wine, chocolates or flowers for the host who has cooked for you is common courtesy. It's up to the host if they decide to share the gift with their guests, I am cringing for the posters who demand it.

Drying incontinence pads...Wow 😶
Some of these people would try to get a refund after spending time if they could