To ask about the tightest person you've ever met

[GunpowderGelatine]

I'm not talking about skint people, frugal people or those doing good for the environment - but who have you met who is the biggest tightwad without the need to be tight?

Mine is my mum unfortunately. She's just been for a week-long visit and I swear she gets worse with age (though she's not even 60 so not old). She's well off enough that she retired aged 47, hasn't had a mortgage since 2002 and her husband earns a very good living. She wears designer clothes and has lovely jewellery, so I don't think she's secretly skint or anything.

We went shopping in town one day during her visit and both got the odd thing from places like Primark, Superdrug etc ie nothing expensive. Because I had DS in the pram which is awkward round small and busy aisles, when coming to pay one of us took the others' stuff up with them to pay whilst the other one of us waited by the doors with the pram. Stuff we bought cost us each no more than a fiver altogether. We then went for lunch in M&S, mum got a table whilst I went up with a tray, got toasties and coffees and paid then and there. Cost about £19 for the 3 of us to eat and drink.

At the end of the day I figured we were probably even in what we'd paid for and I would've said nothing more about it. However 10 minutes after getting home she presented me with 3 receipts for places where she'd gone up to pay for stuff, with my stuff highlighted (she must've brought a highlighter with her as I don't have one in the house 🤣) and the amounts written on - the amounts were £2.99, £2.62 and £1.49

She then said she wanted to "treat us all" to the cinema as the kids wanted to see the Lion King. So off we went, I packed some mini bags of popcorn from M&S and some bottled drinks as otherwise I'd be spending around £20+ for the equivalent in the cinema. I packed enough for everyone (this is allowed in our cinema). When we went to buy the tickets, she bunged me a fiver (the cost of her ticket) - so much for treating us! And then I thought we were going into the cinema but to my surprise she proceeded to get a large popcorn, large coke, a hot dog and Maltesers for herself. Which cost her £16.99. We had to all carry something as she had so much 😂 I was and thought it's a good job I have a sense of humour. She then wouldn't let my kids have some of her maltesers because "your popcorn is enough you'll get sick" - and then left a half full packet on her chair at the end

I don't think I've ever known such a tightwad! She's like this with other people - she gives her elderly neighbour a lift to the supermarket when she goes, and takes petrol money off her! Even though she's going anyway.

And no I didn't ask for money for lunch and what I paid for in shops, or for lunch, because i refuse to be like that. I also didn't want to mention about her treating us at the cinema because she'd no doubt say something passive aggressive like "oh I didn't know you were skint" 🙄

Cheer me up please by regaling me with your best tightwad stories!

I had been going through an awful lot - illness/death.job loss - proper stress, and my lovely but tight friend offered me use of her holiday flat by the sea for a night - just to get away from it all.

Part of my stress was that I had just lost my job and so I said no at first.
I was really clear that I didn't want to take advantage and couldn't really afford a night away in the current circumstances. She insisted it was fine as it would just sit empty, and went on about how it was not going to be used by anyone (out of season) and no family wanted it that night, and i must just take her up on her offer.

Eventually I gratefully agreed and decided I would leave a bottle of wine for her as a thank you for when she next used it and gave her some flowers to say thank you.

The day before I was going she called me to say that she'd been thinking about it and she definitely didn't want me to pay for the stay but the bedding was a bit shabby and perhaps I could buy 2 single and 1 double duvets and covers instead of paying money. Not just the covers - three actual duvets as well as covers.

I was so gobsmacked that I just said ok and went to Sainsbury to try and find cheap and cheerful. Still ended up costing me the best part of £150 though.

And I still left a bottle of wine to say 'thank you'

We were on a fantastic girls holiday when we had just that week finished university, 4 of us. Every single day I bought a paper which cost about £2 a day back then, some 20 years ago. Everyone read it after me. When we left the room our toilet seat had broken and we were told we had to replace it (wasn't our fault at all but we were young, naive and stupid) so I paid it. It was the last of my local currency but I figured I didn't really need it as we were going home.

Got to the airport just as 9/11 kicked off so we couldn't fly for 36 hours so had to sleep in the airport. When I asked for some money to get something to eat not a single one of them gave me a penny. They all had currency left over and bought sweets and pringles etc - shitty airport snacks. I ended up crying in the toilets and a very nice lady from Manchester gave me about £10.

I never spoke to them after we got off that flight.

My grandma literally told me off for doodling on a raffle ticket because it would waste the ink in the biro. Picture the size of a raffle ticket and the potential for ink wastage. The killer was the further reasoning: "The refills cost two shillings!" (She said this about 10 years after decimalisation.)

I had a boyfriend many moons ago who used to climb over toilet doors to save the penny charge. Tore his jeans doing it on one occasion.

Friend who came to a BBQ where everyone was meant to bring along a dish - she brought one sausage just for her and asked if she could borrow a bun.

When DH and I bought our house we were both earning pretty nice salaries for our age & the house had been fairly cheap compared to others like it. It was a 3 bed so most weekends when DH wasnt working we would invite friends round including a friend i worked with, lets call him P.

Gradually our mortgage increased as we were on a tracker & eventually our money was being squeezed more. But by this time P would show up at our house saturday mornings (he lived with his very wealthy parents) like 7.30am and wait outside until we let him in (his door bell ringing often interrupted us having our "intimate" couples time) and he wouldnt leave again till late sunday. Meanwhile we fed and watered him including alcohol.

After the birth of our second child he was round the minute we got home from hospital. We fed our elder daughter and i sat to nurse our son. Dh goes "come on P, hows about you get us all a pizza since we've fed you every weekend for the last 5 years" and P literally acted like DH hadnt spoken. It was so weird DH and i kind of just looked at each other awkwardly. So DH goes in the kitchen & cobbles a buffet style meal together out of frozen bits (think onion rings, nuggets, garlic bread kind of things as this Farmfoods style shop was all we could afford) and P gets up before even myself & helps himself to a massive plateful, eats & leaves.

We never heard from him again, and i never returned to work. Last we heard he was married, would be early 30s by now, and he and his wife were still living with his parents.

A friend of a friend refused to "waste money on a takeaway" at the end of a big night out. (For perspective, she has a house with no mortgage and very little outgoings and a big fat inheritance) As we scoffed our kebabs her jealousy was obvious. I encouraged her to buy some chips at £1.50 for a portion, she refused stating she would eat when she got home... we continued to devour our food and I watched her follow another customer outside, she saw him throw the remains of his food in the bin which she then proceeded to get out and eat!!!

My sister.

I hosted a family party for 16 people - prepared a 3 course meal for all and provided 6 bottles of wine, soft drinks and nibbles. My sister brought 2 bottles of prosecco. I had spent over £120 - she had spent £14.

As my Mum was leaving she asked who had bought the wine - my sister piped up 'I did' so my Mum gave us each £20! The cheek!

She also charges my 90 yr old Dad for everything she gets for him - the rest of us just buy him the things and don't ask him to pay us back. Last time she was there she asked to be paid back for 2 envelopes and a jar of jam. For context she is very well off - paid her mortgage off years ago and has tons of savings. Tight wad.

I love these threads!
My MIL is as mean as muck, will happily walk from one side of town to the other (which is >1mile) to save 10p, which is a feat as she has terrible COPD! When I dare to mention there will only be a minimal saving for all of her effort, she calls me fancy for saying I’d rather pay a few pence more! She is not badly off by any means!

I had a colleague once who had a DD about 3 years older than my eldest. She came in one day with a used tube of childrens toothpaste. Said that her DD did not like the taste and would my DS like it? I sort of shrugged and said 'Um... okay'.

At which point she measured (using how much had been squeezed) how much ahd been sued, worked out the brand new cost and subtracted the approximate of the used bit and told me I owed her about 79 pence.

that was 'how much had been used'

A past boss, many years ago. We had to transfer data over from one computer system to another. I was young and strapped for cash, so volunteered to do it, and was told he'd "see me right". It took me over 30 hours, working at home over a couple of weekends and several evenings.

He thanked me profusely and presented me with a bottle of wine, making a great show of it. Told me to save it for a special occasion as it was a good bottle from M & S (I checked - it cost the equivalent of a tenner now). I was very young and not confident enough to say that I'd actually expected to be...er...paid.

Some of these are mindblowing. I am not good with money, but when I'm skint I don't keep on letting other people pay for me.

My Granny (mum's mum) used to send my mum to the shop when we were kids. She'd give her an itemised list of what she wanted inc the price of everything. If anything had gone up even a couple of pence she either didn't want it, or would accuse my mum of having stolen a few pence and make her pay the difference. We didn't have a lot of money growing up but this was extraordinary.

Two guys on my course at uni used to argue (to the point of fists being raised) about who owed the other a match after lighting their cigarettes. I'd just buy them a box of matches every week to improve the atmosphere in our common room!

'diluted' crunchy nut cornflakes with regular cornflakes

An aunt who complains she's poor but isnt. Everywhere she goes she say she only has a few pennies in her purse so other people pay. She deliberately wears old clothes to look poor. She goes on about how she can't afford things such as glasses so relatives will buy them for her. She gives people Xmas presents of things she has at home, e.g. she gave my ex a water stained picture for Xmas once that she no longer had use for. She gave her sister an old ladle. She's awful.

I have no issue with frugality and best use of resources. Save the planet and your wallet etc. That's fine. Frugality is not the same as being mean or a tightwad though as it is usually within your home I reckon.

But honestly, if you are going to go out with people and don't want to spend much, say it out loud. No one will give a shit.

It is the freeloaders I do not like. Well they have all been ditched by me now anyway. Took me a while, but there are no freeloaders left in my circle anymore. Leeches.

I reckon they have issues and are totally insecure. Well that's their problem now. And isn't it incredible that they seem to have no embarrassment whatsoever about their meanness. Nope. All over for me anyway, and am so much the better for it now too.

They may have moved on to others. God help em.

I was going to say "me". Till I read this thread, then realised that actually I'm not so bad! I was a student for 6 years, and then had 18 months where I was struggling for work so very little money coming in, so over the years I have lived to be pretty frugal. I'm not on a huge wage now but enough to live comfortably at least, but old habits die hard...

I do hate the idea of owing people money, though.

My nan, refuses to do shopping for herself, or pay for anyone to get the shopping for her (just paying her own groceries) so my parents ended up spending a load each month for years to buy food etc for her, making themselves skint in the process, and its come to light recently that she's got half a million in the bank, as she never spends anything and is so grabby I can see how she has that much.

An ex I had even on our first date insisted on splitting the bill directly in half and did so for the rest of the 2 years we were together. We both had our own houses but he preferred me to come to his, which was a 15 mile drive away. He would cook the meanest portions and I would always still be starving. I would take food over to contribute but it actually cost me money to date him with all the driving and running my own house as well as contributing to his. Holidays together were a nightmare because he insisted on both of us getting exactly the same amount of currency and pooling it so that we used money out of the pot as it were, however he ate more than me and drank far more, I would only have a half of lager and he would be on the spirits, wine and pints!

Me and two girlfriends went on a cheap all inclusive package holiday. Myself and "Emma" earned a lot more than "Jane" so we ensured we all enjoyed the same extra experiences by treating her to lots, and we didn't begrudge a penny, we're only talking about a couple of hundred each, over the course of a week, but it was on quite frivolous things like a lobster dinner, footing her share of a lounge area at a beach club etc. She happily came along, and we were just glad all three of us were having a nice time.

On the last day, we went and got some souvenirs, and I paid for my shopping by card as I'd used up all my euros. After paying, I realised I needed a strong bag and there was one for 1 euro. The clerk said she couldn't put a 1eur card charge through, so I asked "Jane" for 1 euro. She actually tutted at having to pay it, then later at the airport, said I could buy her a coke, as she'd paid for my carrier bag.

She then said in the carpark that because I'd driven myself and Emma to the airport, she'd take "Emma" home, which was fine, we all lived within 3 miles of each other, so it really made no odds, and wasn't really any kind of gesture as we were all going that way. She then asked "Emma" for £20 petrol money for dropping her off.

I worked with someone who famously (in our company) paid off his mortgage by age 35 by eating beans on toast for dinner every night for 10 years. Not an exaggeration. He never went out, never ordered takeaways, never strayed. And not Heinz and nice bread either, the ASDA cheapest own brand tins and cheapest white bread. His dinners cost about a fiver for the week (if that).

He also used to keep track of when there were big lunch meetings at work as they’d likely be catered, and because the office manager usually over-ordered, the leftover sandwiches would be brought out for the office about 2pm - so he wouldn’t bring in lunch for those days. He would mark the dates in his calendar and not bring in lunch on the chance of leftovers.

Every year it’s tradition to bring in cakes/treats for your birthday and every year on his he would ‘forget’, despite being happy to tuck in for everyone else’s.

At work drinks he would only get tap water but happily allow drinks to be bought for him (although he never returned the favour).

Also once he found an unopened tin of tomato soup on the floor by the bus stop (guess it fell out or someone’s shopping) and he came in bragging he’d got a free meal.

The funny thing was he was on about 60k, no dependants. He must’ve been absolutely rolling in it.

My grandmother's friend visits her every weeky gran buys in cakes and makes tea for her friend each time. The other day her friend came round with a bag of doughnuts (she never usually brings anything) and as she left asked my gran for the money for them.

A now ex friend. Background is I use a wheelchair but when out with someone they don’t need to care for me. Perhaps move a chair or hold the door.

We went for coffee. She insisted we went to an independent not a chain because it’s nicer (true) and easier for my wheelchair (no difference IMO) but she turned up with a steak slice from Gregs and sat in their eating it as the food was too pricy.

A few months later she called and asked if I wanted to go to the theatre the next night as she’d just found out a friend of hers was in the show and that was the last night. I wasn’t desperate to (seen it a few years before) but hadn’t seen her for a while and figured it was better than a night in.

We got the train. As I travel in my wheelchair my train ticket and that of a companion is half price. The theatre comped her ticket as a carer. Normally my friends split the ticket with me if it’s somewhere they wanted to go too. On the way home, slightly drunk she told me she’d planned to go alone but then realised it would be a lot cheaper if I went too...