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!

[Daffodils07]

A family members ex wife, she used to get a 3 pack of white t-shirts from primark (£2.50 back then) and then give them out one each for Christmas.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

GunpowderGelatine

Your mother isn’t tight. I think she is selfish.

My mother wouldn’t have dreamed of going for a coffee and paying for it herself

Even though she had made a lot of money and we lived in a huge fancy house we dressed worse than a homeless person.
(Think safety pins holding her trousers together)
If we were out and she wanted a coffee she would stand on the pavement in a busy part of the town and hold her hand out and beg for the money.

She didn’t buy clothes.
She would rather go hungry than buy a meal if we were out for the day.

Growing up she kept a log of everything she spent on me. Including costing out meals, cost of laundry, she would take meter readings to work out how much electric i used.
The total figure was used to berate me with if I did anything that was not to her liking.

If she did buy something she would research it till she had found the cheapest possible place then ask for a discount.

The only time my mother took me to the cinema was in I think 1966. It was when Sound of Music came out.

I can’t remember a single trip into town to do some shopping and have lunch.

The thing is she was so obsessed with the pennies that the pounds marched out of the door.

I went NC with her years ago.

[SVRT19674]

Male friend ages ago, bought a bottle of ammonia to clean the tiles with. I made some joke about him having bought the perfumed one. Next time he saw me he thanked me for having saved him 0.01€, as he hadn't realised he could buy an unperfumed one and save a cent.
The other tight bastard was my ex uncle. He used to hang his dental floss on the shelf in the bathroom to use it more than once! My aunt doesnt like it when I tell her, what took you so long to divorce him! that and the womanising!

[bringincrazyback]

When I was at uni some so-called friends 'bought me' a cocktail on my birthday, then asked me for the money for it.

[Borisdaspide]

BIL gave DS one of the biscuits from a complimentary hotel tray and asked us for 25p because it was rightfully his biscuit. We were in the bloody 250 a night hotel for his wedding.

My own brother nearly got divorced because he wouldn't buy a new kettle and insisted they boil water in a pan for two months. Mum and Dad ended up intervening on that one...

[ginghamtablecloths]

Yes, a family member who will remain nameless with a good job and an index linked pension, now retired.
Always the last to pay for a round. If someone else paid he'd ask for a bigger drink and some crisps. I wonder why he has few friends?
His mother did all the ironing for him and his wife, he paid her a measly fiver - 'it gave her something to do.'
When he gave his mother a lift he'd take petrol money, sneakily helping himself - she was on a very basic pension.
I'm sure there are loads more. He was his mother's least favourite son as he always had an entitled attitude and this was probably his way of getting his own back. A psychiatrist would have had a field day.

[Fabrichearts]

Friend of a friend. Her dad used to organise coach holidays to Spain for his and work colleagues families. He'd get free child places for his family as the organiser. One year his daughter took a friend, friend's mum paid for her. On the trip the friend lost her camera and so wanted to claim on the insurance. The dad prevaricated first weeks. Turned out that he'd registered her on the insurance under a different name to match his families surname so he got an extra free child place for someone else.

[Boysey45]

An ex Friend, must be up there with the tightest of the tight.
I honestly thought she was on the bones of her arse as she said that she couldn't afford anything. I used to give her my various cast off, bags, jumpers etc. She wore things until there was no material left, never mind holes.
She even wore old trainers her SIL gave her which had all rips and holes in. I was embarrassed to be out with her. We went walking and she was falling about on the moor because there was no tread left on her walking shoes and she wouldn't buy anymore.
She wouldn't get involved in any type of round, wouldnt give petrol money for lifts and wanted constant favours off everyone.
The best laugh was she disclosed she bought a house outright in cash to rent out. This is extra to her current property that's bought outright as well. The rental was 140K and she was only on 15K wage! My legs once went dead with the cold when she wouldn't put any heating at all on a freezing cold day.
Eventually I got rid of her thank god.I will never ever be friends with anyone stingy again I cant stand it.

[cricketmum84]

My FIL. Sadly I can already see signed of DH going the same way.

Even if it's snowing he won't let poor freezing MIL put the heating on. He just sits there in his chair with the smart meter thing next to him so he can see how much it's costing him for her to warm a pan of soup. Her hands are constantly freezing and DD refuses to take her coat off while she is there.

I've taken to buying MIL hand warmers and hot water bottles for Christmas and birthdays.

[2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney]

MIL and FIL won’t turn their hot water on. They heat water in kettles on the living room fire all year round including in the heat of summer. The kettles fill flasks which are taken to the bathroom or kitchen.

I refuse to stay anymore. However MIL is always buying extra useless tat. Save your money and put the water on FFS!

[FunkyKingston]

A friend of mine. Expert drinks cadger. If there were say four of us going out, everyone would get a round in, then when it came to buy his, he'd stealthily sneak out, having supped for free all night.

When I'd not known him long, I'd asked him what he like to drink. He asked for a pint of cider, which I'd never seen him drink. It soon became clear why. He owed someone else in the pub a drink and they were jibbing about it. So he took the cider that I'd paid for and gave it to someone else and returned to his own nearly full pint. Stag DOS he loves as there's so many people it's hard to keep track of who has and hasn't bought the last drink, so he can go a whole day and night without dabbing his hand in his pocket. On the last one, the best man knew him of old and said 'let's all chuck thirty quid into the kitty instead of trying to do rounds'. Apparently he was devastated!

He's so brazen about it that it has become a character quirk.

[userxx]

@Hamandcheesebaguette Surely he wasnt being serious?

[Sotiredbutcannotsleep]

MIL.

At my wedding she presented my mum with a gold ring in front of the photographer as is traditional in my culture, but she wouldn't let go of it 😂! In the end my mum just said "ah you shouldn't have" and MIL said "ok" and popped it back in her handbag. She's known for it but I only found out after marriage.......

[EmeraldShamrock]

My BIL he and my Dsis live like paupers.
Dsis is always trying to scrimp, he is loaded they are not married after 20 years. Thankfully her name is on the mortgage.
He knows the price of everything but value of nothing. He charges 20% interest on loans to his DC friendsor family.
Unfortunately the DC now teens are the same, I love them though they've been taught to take, while holding onto their cash.

[myidentitymycrisis]

My Ex used to ask me to pay for small items with my change when he had notes he didn't want to 'break into' (spend): "Can you pay for this Identity, to save breaking into a tenner"

[EmeraldShamrock]

To add he has thousands stashed the ultimate Del Boy.

[lisag1969]

I went to the funeral parlour with my uncle to see my mother, before her cremation.
I was understandably upset, so my mouth was dry, I asked him for a mint, as I know he always eats them.
I unwrapped it and put it in my mouth,
not really concentrating on it,
Only to realise he'd been already sucking on it for a bit, then put it back in the wrapper.
Needless to say I didn't eat it.
🙈🙈.

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

I don't know about the tightest person I've ever met but one of the guys on our University course was notorious for never buying anyone else a drink or a round or anything.
He would take drinks off the rest of us, but was absolutely sure to leave the pub before it was his turn.

It was almost a joke, really - I mean, he might have just been really short of money (and we were in London) - but we didn't ostracise him or anything, we just made him buy his own drinks rather than buy for him.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

Interesting to see that a lot of these tight people end up losing friends

[OhTheRoses]

MIL and FIL
Their children remember being hungry, three dc sharing a cornet in Brid, always a cake for four being stinged around five, never any left for a 2nd helping.

In the house that time forgot, when an old gas fire broke, the gas board condemned both the gas and electricity. Everything had to be replaced. It cost £30,000. DH paid because he knew his parents wouldn't have the money.

DS - first birthday and Xmas present (his birthday is on Xmas day) had to wait until the sales. He got a plastic tractor reduced from £20 to £7 (1995).

Went on hol with them and went to get fish and chips from pub. I suggested we had a g&t and was reprimanded for being extravagant.

When MILs mother died she decided not to visit before the funerL because it would mean buying a full price rather than apex ticket.

1 teabag in the pot - every time they visited "ooh the tea's lovely, what brand is it". Same as yours MIL just use three bags.

Sadly FIL died about 10 years ago. DH had to deal with paperwork as it was very sudden. There was over a million in the bank. And their children remembered being hungry. Disgusting. Oh and she counts food and licks plates to avoid waste.

[Fabrichearts]

A fabulously generous friend was hosting a small teatime get together for her partner's birthday. Lots to drink, few trays of sandwiches as nibbles, lots of cake. A notoriously CF friend (not hard up, constant holidays and cosmetic procedures) texted to say she and boyfriend would be running late so could hostess plate up some sandwiches and keep them back for them. Hostess said no, she's not providing a meal, just nibbles. The CF friend arrived with 4 mini wine bottles, drank one then enjoyed the hostesses copious supply of good quality wine, which the hostess fully expected all guests to. On leaving, the CF went to the fridge, retrieved her 3 remaining minis and took them home. So many examples similar to this.

[fairydustandpixies]

An ex bf - the mother of his two sons was wealthy so he used that as an excuse not to pay child maintenance. He was self employed and always got paid in cash. He'd hide behind me at the bar and pretend to be busy on his phone so he wouldn't have to pay. His clothes were filthy and falling apart, his childrens' were the same (despite 'wealthy mother'), refused to buy food because he could eat with me because I was a single mum and was cooking a meal for my two sons anyway so what was one more mouth (he was 25 stone so one big mouth!), never cleaned his home because that was a waste of money on products (his house was disgusting), didn't have any central heating because his job as a tree surgeon meant free fuel for his wood burner, wouldn't even buy so much as a birthday card, never drove because there was always an excuse why I should (he had two vehicles)...when he looked after wealthy ex's guinea pig when she went on holiday, poor critter didn't even have a top to it's hutch because it had broken and they didn't want to spend the money replacing it - it literally lived in a tray!

[Windydaysuponus]

My dh!!
Dc birthday and we were ordering in pizza. Other relatives came who chipped in a tenner for theirs (with about over towards dc's +) . Dh announced he would just have a slice of everyone's as he couldn't eat a whole one (total lie). I said well people may not want to donate a slice to you - argued in front of the company , mortifying but sheer principle now... He handed over 5.75 in change and ordered the smallest one!
Tight git!!

[SilverySurfer]

An ex friend refused to split the bill because after meticulously adding up what we each had ordered, mine came to 24p more than hers.

I never thought my sister was mean but she visited me a few times when I was in hospital, kindly bringing me a sandwich and some grapes and a magazine and presented me with an itemised bill when I left hospital.

[Hamandcheesebaguette]

@userxx oh he definitely was. The receipt sat on the breakfast bar for about 3 weeks and then it ended up on my pillow.

Eventually I just said are you seriously wanting your 39p? Yes, he said. I have him his 39p and moved out 4 days later. Arsehole he was. Used to turn the sky off at the wall so my programmes never recorded as well