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.

So if you want to run it economically, wouldn’t you just set a lower temperature for the thermostat set point? Then it will still operate automatically, but cycle on less frequently.

Sorry for the confusion, I’m a Yank and it’s clear that heating and air conditioning are done differently here.

We usually have a room thermostat that turns the boiler off and on to maintain the temperature that we have set the room ( usually living room) to.
There are often debates on here about what temperature the room thermostat should be set to.
Most people in the UK do not have the luxury of Air Con, but we probably only need it for 1 week a year.

This is one that I have already told on MN and happened many years ago:
Our employer had an annual Christmas Party, with people going to HQ from different locations. As I was on a committee, it was my job to sell tickets for this party. The tickets were very cheap, about £4 in today’s money. The company provided all the food and drink and the price people paid for the tickets, went to a charity. When I collected this money for the tickets, I was left with a lot of loose change. One of the managers where I worked who was on a very high salary could not attend the party at the last minute and the next day sent his secretary down for a refund. I was a bit outraged that he wanted his money back from the charity but someone at HQ overruled me. I paid his secretary in the smallest denominations I could find, mostly 1ps. I told the secretary that I had already sent the notes over to HQ and was only left with the change. In fact, I was due to take the money over the next day.

I hope you told her in a polite way to fuck off.

Erm, no.
It's not on a bridesmaid to pay for everyone's breakfast; if the bride wants that she pays for it!

I looked after my friend's daughter for 5 days while she went to work in Jersey. (She's an entertainer).
When she came back to pick up her daughter (Which I did for free with good heart), She gleefully announced that she had got me a lovely little present. I told her she didn't have to do that, and then she presented me with a tissue from the breakfast table and when I opened it up there two individual butter pats in it.(The sort where you would use one per slice of toast).
I was speechless..

🤣🤣 You have to wonder at the mental workings of some people. How on earth could 2 pats of butter ever be construed as a lovely gift? Was her daughter deprived of things?

My mother had a friend whose husband owned and ran a tailor's in Dublin City centre. They were obviously very well off. My mum used to sew before she got married. On one occasion, my mum's friend asked her if she would complete the work on a barrister's gown as their tailor was off sick. It took my mother a week's work doing intricate work on the gown. My mum also cared for my sister who was severely disabled and needed around the clock care so time was a premium.
When my mum completed the gown, it was collected and sold. In return, my mother received a half pound box of black magic chocolates!!
That's fucking tight!!

No. She was a good Mum.

I just could not understand this.

Why should her friend pay for the wedding breakfast for everyone? It wasn't her wedding was it? She was helping her friend by being her bridesmaid and was sent off to purchase items for breakfast and expected to pay for them as well?
Bride taking the piss if you ask me!

Dump so called friend!

I recall a neighbour popping in for a coffee and bringing a packet of biscuits.
We each had a biscuit and when she left she took the packet with her!

This is a funny one, for me, because if someone asked me to do it, i wouldn’t mind spending the tenner on their wedding day.
I’d just see it as doing her a bridesmaid-y type of favour.

But, if I asked someone to do it for me, I’d give them the money.

I wouldn’t ‘dump her’ for that. The OP looked after her friend’s daughter (like she said) with a good heart. So, she might not have been expecting anything in return.

A decent gift would be polite, and nice thing to do, considering what the OP has done for free!

The butter ‘gift’ is just plain strange and thoughtless. I don’t know how she had the nerve to hand it over at all!

That’s at least some lovely flowers, and a bottle of her favourite tipple.
But people are strange.

Personally, i think that’s a huge imposition, and I wouldn’t ask someone to look after my kid for the best part of a week. Nor would I be happy to look after someone else’s kid for 5 days.
I’d feel like they were taking the piss.
But, that’s a different story

You wouldn't dump her?
What does her behaviour tell you about the type of person she is?
A grifter, an opportunist, someone who takes advantage of her friend's good nature? She's not a friend to the OP, she's a user!
DUMP!

My Mil is as tight as they come. When towels are thread bare and no longer usable as towels, she cuts them up and uses them as cleaning cloths to wipe down the kitchen worktops and the kitchen table! YUK!

I told this story earlier, @Sam9769 - my mum kept our terry nappies, and used them as washing up cloths! I don’t think using old towelling as cleaning cloths is particularly yucky, though - I assume she washed them first.

I really don't get the issue with this. Why would towels that have been washed, but are albeit threadbare, be gross to use to wipe down surfaces?

It's wasteful to throw things away when they can still be used well for a 'second life' purpose. Charity shops gladly take in bags of rags (preferably labelled as such, so they don't waste time processing them as if they were saleable items), as they get a small amount of money selling them to industry - where they use them as rags, just like your MIL does with her own old towels.

But this is normal? Lots of people use old towels this way.

If she was stealing your towels which you still wanted to use to do this, that would be different but repurposing her own old towels rather than buying cleaning cloths seems very sensible.

This seems totally sensible to me and good for the planet

OMG

At least you got presents!
I have been married for 34 years and in all that time I have never received a present from my in-laws! Nothing, in fact as the saying goes 'they wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire LOL!'

What? Towels that people have been using for many years to dry their bodies (including their bottoms) being cut up and used to wipe down kitchen surfaces!
Too cheap to buy a few spontex for a couple of pounds?
You're going to tell me next that you reuse teabags like her as well!

Surely she was having a laugh (and expected you to be in on the joke?)

Yes, it was decided pretty much unanimously on this thread that the bride was taking the piss.

And I bet there’s a whole other side to the story from the bridesmaids viewpoint (as in: Bridezilla who’d gone too far and bridesmaid snapped!)