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.

Those were probably Swan brand triangle ish shaped pans which you could put 3 on 1 ring which then made 1 round one. Lots of people had them in the 50's to save fuel as people cooked on 2 gas rings as opposed to modern 4 ring hobs.

My DH’s aged uncle used to love a glass of tomato juice in the morning. When the price increased slightly, he decided he could no longer afford it. He would buy tomato purée and dilute it with water. He had loads of money (made lots of money on investments) and would have third helpings of food whenever other people were buying.

He also refused to turn the heating on! He would sleep in his overcoat to keep warm. I felt so sad for him. What an unnecessary way to live.

I do this if I'm using it to dry my hands or a small spill. I get the bigger sheet one's though now as they're thicker.

I knew a guy who was working and living at home with 3 other working siblings. He would give them a lift into town each day. One drop off point, not individually to their places of work.
He charged them petrol and wear and tear on the car. BUT charged the overweight sibling more as he reckoned they caused more wearing tear on the car!

This was decades ago and the 'overweight' male sibling was probably about 13 stone

I seem to recall seeing large pans divided into 3 or 4 sections so one could cook a number of things on the same ring.

My example of a tight-wad pales into insignificance with some of these but when we worked with the military one teacher was soooooooo tight, he saw that the Royal Mail were selling books of stamps with a free one, 13 for the price of 12. He phoned his mother in UK and told her to send him one of these books of 13, so she had to buy a stamp to send him his free one. The same man discovered that we'd bought an item in the UK and because we had been given the forms by the store could reclaim the VAT. They'd bought an expensive item too but with no forms. He spent ages getting the correct forms but they had to be stamped at the border crossing, he drove a round trip of about 350Km to get them stamped so he could reclaim about £10! Even 40 years ago it was a mad thing to do.

Some people need it spelling out. Yes it's cringe but for them,not you. They should be bloody embarrassed 😣

years ago my OH's work place did one of those football scratchcard, something like £1 a square, 50 squares, winner gets £25 other £25 goes to the charity that type of thing.

He won, said to the organiser "just give me a fiver to buy a pint tonight, and put rest in with the charity pot".

A few people complained as he'd taken the chance of someone winning £25 away form someone else. Which technically he had, but come on people.

Sold an item in E bay once. As is common on E bay the bidding ended at a random price £19.80. The lady came to collect it and didn’t have the right change, only a £20 note.Most people would hand over the £20 and say don’t worry about the 20p. But no, she stood on my doorstep for a good few minutes whilst I scrabbled around the house trying to find 20p.

This reminds of my ex. Used to moan if I got tins of chopped tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes. This was when they were really cheap in netto in the 90's. Plum were 3p chopped were 6p so a grand total of 3p. So he expected me to get plum and put them in the blender. 1 of many reasons why he's an ex.

I actually think that's fair because it was a sale - on a point of principle not the amount

Are you my buyer? 😅

I think it’s fair to turn up with the correct amount of money when buying something on E bay / Facebook marketplace. If you can’t be bothered to do that then don’t quibble over 20p.

I remember people doing this in the '60s. Also, the using water to get the last of the ketchup manoeuvre mentioned upthread. (Sometimes, vinegar was used - a bit more understandable.)

I think it was a hangover from wartime austerity.

I admit that I'll tear kitchen roll squares in half if it's Regina or another thick brand and that's gong to be enough for the job. I live myself, so no one sees me doing it.

I remember your post about it ages ago :)

Senior manager at work was giving out Easter eggs at work. Left an egg on the desks of any staff that weren’t in that day. Office miser thought her (free) egg wasn’t big enough so swapped it with a larger one that had been left on the empty desk of someone who was off. I was gobsmacked. Same person: “Dress Down Fridays”. Dressed down until it was decided that anyone who did might like to donate £1 to charity to do so. Never dressed down again.

This reminds me of my SIL. I won a raffle at a party we went to like a fundraiser for the house my disabled son lives with 3 other lads. It was a hamper filled with goodies. So I said can I donate it back to the house? My SIL looked gobsmacked & couldn't understand why I would do that. Next day SIL called round for a brew DD wanted a biscuit with her's. SIL said oh your mum gave the goodies she won away and wouldn't shut up about it.

😆 no but I also agree with your point about turning up with the correct change

I used to work with someone who didn't think her secret santa present was big enough so she took two

Another one.. I’d sold a tall freezer on facebook marketplace, it was in perfect condition and only had it a couple of months, put the price really cheap as I didn’t have room in my new house. The woman that came for it was extremely rude and demanded I carry it up the drive because she was in her 70s and tiny, thought it was ridiculous that there was no man there to help, proceeded to shout at me for “damaging the wheels” which happened because she was tipping it too far, finally got it in her van for her to then asked me to drop the price by £30 because she’d had to put petrol in to collect, she’d come from half a mile away! I received abuse from various numbers for weeks after about the scratched wheels and the fact I’d not dropped the price.

This one refused to take part in Secret Santa (gift to the value of £10) in case she spent the full tenner but then received a gift that had cost less. How I used to hold in the anger I’ll never know

Am shocked by a lot of these. The baby's funeral costs one is the worst, absolutely heartbreaking.

My grandmother was notoriously tight with money. Grandparents were actually very well off thanks to property price rises and wise investments but I don't think she realised quite how well off. Also like a lot of people from that generation she'd never quite got out of the wartime rationing mentality. She would buy those sets of Yves Rocher beauty products that would be advertised on the back of the Radio Times - you could get 10 products for £5, so 50p each. She'd then wrap up and give each female relative ONE each for Christmas. We thought it was funny and slightly endearing.

When she was widowed and struggling to manage this due to health problems, she arranged for my mum to have power of attorney. My mum reviewed all her finances to ensure everything was in order and grandma was really shocked to hear she had over a million. Unfortunately she then lived the last two years of her life crying and agonising over "all that money" (IHT) that would be going to the government. But as my mum (who is very matter of fact) bluntly told her "well you'll wouldn't spend it and you didn't want to give any away, so that's what happens".

I used to know a man who refused to claim benefits but also refused to work. He was a total walter mitty, gassing on about his Facebook account like it was a money generating business. It wasn't it was him chatting shit and being rude to strangers of limited intellectual capacity.

He also used it to steal about £7k off a bunch of people by saying he could get them event tickets and just keeping the money they gave him for it?!

He'd steal alcohol from shops and people's houses and try and get me to look after his children so he could drink my alcohol and eat my food!

Once he has his two kids, (ages about 5 and 7, one has SEN) and he produced one of those tiny budget 'pizzas' you give a small child, no bigger than the palm of a small adult hand. One of these pizzas, cut in half. That was the only food he gave his kids in the 24 hours he had them for.

Aren't they the steamer saucepans you can still buy. They are meant to be healthier as you only have water in the bottom pan and then the veg in the other pans are steamed cooked.

My DB gave our mum his password to Now TV so she could watch the golf. My SIL printed out their itemised bill, highlighted the golf and posted it to my mum with SIL’s bank details asking my mum to pay it within the week. This is my Mum who gave them a gift of £50k to build an extension. The golf cost £16.

My late mother in law would regularly buy an outfit in M&S, wear it once, and then return it to the shop.

Headteacher gave us admin staff one bottle of prosecco between the four of us for Christmas. As we were at work we couldn't even open it and drink it.