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!

@FionaOgre I would have gone round to her house and demanded it back. If she wouldn't pay then I would have made her pay in another way.

Dementia isn’t a mental health issue as far as I’m aware

Ha ha I’m sure I read the other side of this story on here the whole Friday lunch thing- she missed out though that it was 10p 😕

My brother and SIL. I love them, but so tight. They have no debt (including mortgage) own three properties in the UK and land abroad and earn good money.

But they always plead poverty/ frugality when it comes to going out/ Christmas etc.

Yet if someone else is treating people, for example my sister offered to pay for a nice meal out for us all with Tesco vouchers she had...they order the most expensive thing on the menu.

@Mephisto nope, I never called her and she never called me.

@Boysey45 unfortunately she lived too far for me to walk there and she was back at Uni by the time I had money for a bus to her parent's house.

I hope she never experiences poverty like I was in. My extreme poverty phase didn't last long (just under 6 months) but it was long enough for my teeth to become brittle and start breaking due to lack of a decent diet. I don't think food banks were a thing back then or if they were I had never heard of them.

Uncle - only slicing half the tomato for a cheese/ham type spread so that they can put the unused half away for tomorrow. There were 4 of us.

Dementia isn’t a mental health issue as far as I’m aware

The NHS website states that "dementia affects a person's mental abilities". I don't know how it's technically classified, but surely nobody denies that dementia causes sufferers to exhibit very irrational behaviour suggesting that their brains and minds are far from healthy?

Would you not see a link between the effects of dementia and millionaires devoting hours of their lives to saving literally a penny or two?

Df had an allotment sized back garden full of vegetables, fruit and herbs.
I was a lp and not working.. He never gave me so much as a bean.
He could never have eaten it all between him and awful sm.
Awful right git.
Been nc for over 20 years.

Having been married for 22 years to my DH. We love to go out for a walk with our beautiful doodle and have a coffee. The out laws would often join us and DH would always pay. They are loaded. Been going on for years. Don’t ask them any more. In fact once they may have paid and they shared a cappuccino 😜

FIL always sneaks sandwiches out with us on days out. Budget sandwiches (white bread, one slice of cheese etc) even though he has been told multiple times that we want to get a bag of chips/burger/etc.

He likes all those foods too he just doesn't want to pay for them.

We then feel guilty and eat his sandwiches and don't get a bag of chips.

Poor MiL probably hasn't ate out for years!

Some terrible stuff here!

My parents told me about a friend of theirs who asked neighbours to keep an eye on her house while she went on holiday. The day she left, she realised before she'd driven very far that she'd forgotten something so she turned back. She found the CF neighbours ensconced in the kitchen with a load of washing going in her machine.

Some of these are brilliant!!
I remembered today about my tight ex boss.
He refused to let us have hot water so if we washed our cups we had to boil the kettle , some people didn't bother which was a bit grim . Also washing hands in the winter was awful with freezing water. Anyway one winter the boiler was condemned so no heating so for a whole month we froze apart from those rubbish electric heaters . Eventually it was fixed hooray so I thought may have hot water no still cold . The thing was we used to take it in turns to brew up for the MD he never washed his cup himself so we'd do it but after the heating not being fixed and refusing to have hot water we all stopped so his cup was grim but he still drank from it .

My BIL was taken on a flights and accommodation paid for holiday with my DPs and never offered to pay for a meal (he left his wallet at one of the places they stayed and didn't discover for 3 days!!)

My FIL has a lot of money and wealthy friends but is soooo tight. He regifts presents from his friends to me (complete with label to him). Good job I like good champagne and he doesn't! It's not so much the actual gift as I do like champagne but it's the lack of thought and effort to even relabel! Is very generous with his friends but super tight with me. I think he thinks I'm a gold digger despite earning significantly more than his son for our entire 15 year + relationship!

Sounds like yr FIL is using coercion control techniques and financial abuse against his wife. If she wants a bank account she should have one.

My goodness, what terribly sad lives some people live. I'm all for frugality, and living within your means, but these stories are hard to believe! Couldn't be doing with friends or family acting like this.

"I can't see what's wrong with taking tea bags or cereal on holiday?"

I take teabags, but I wouldn't take cereal unless it was by car and self-catering - they'd take up too much space in the suitcase.

I take a jar of coffee on holiday as I prefer my brand of instant and it is always a bit hit and miss getting a certain brand or an acceptable coffee when we are away

We eat out loads because I can’t cook.

I think if I was so tight we would have starved by now

In my first job before mobile phones existed, we had an in house accountant where I worked.

Every day he brought his house phone in to work so his wife couldn't use it.

It was in the days when you only had one phone in the house, usually plugged in at the bottom of the stairs.

We could not believe how tight he was.

My Grandad (although lovely) was very “careful” with money. My brother called at our grandparents house one day and our Nan answered the door wearing her coat. My brother said “oh are you going out Nan?” She said “no. The cunt won’t let me have the heating on”!
My MIL was also a bit that way. She refused to buy greaseproof paper and would hoard old butter wrappers to line her cake tins!

Overheard at a (primary) school fair, one of my ds friends asking her sd for money to have a go on something. He said no I can't afford it and she said "but I know mum gave you £5 so I could go on a few things!". He just blustered and walked away. I was gobsmacked/upset. Her mum was not there as at home with young baby. The little girl was really upset, obviously, so I gave her £2 just so she could go on a few things while she was there. I presume he pocketed the money as payment for his precious time.

dita I save butter papers . Usually put them over a cake though if it starts browning too much. I don't think that's mean though.

I also save butter wraps, they stop tops burning on various dishes...gratins, macaroni cheese etc.

@SkiingIsHeaven that's not tight, that's terrifying! Bet he locked the doors and windows too. Taking away the phone, the only means of contacting emergency help in those days before smart devices, was an abusive controlling act.

Some of these are just... 😳