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!

One of my boyfriends whilst I was in 6th form - he was really generous usually but when it became clear that I did better than him in my Alevels and was going to uni, he became really narky and tight.
One night he decided we should have a chinese but I was totally skint so he bought himself one and proceeded to eat it in front of me. He offered me a "taste" of his food (a couple of mouthfuls at most) and that was that.
The next week we were going to the cinema and he asked for the money I owed him to go towards the tickets. Apparently those couple of mouthfuls of his chinese the other night constituted half his food and so I owed him half....the thing was he'd actually refused to sub me for some chinese or properly share his at the time!

Used to have a lodger. He was pretty mean, eg, I had a party once and he brought all his friends who drank all the booze and ate all the food I'd bought (they didn't bring so much of a can of lager). Finally I got fed up with him and asked him to leave (he never, ever went out even at weekends so drove me crackers).

After he'd finally left I got a knock on the door and his mother was there, saying he'd left behind a toilet roll, so could he have it back 🤣.

My ex.

I shouldve known the night we met (happened to be my 17 birthday) and he told me he would like to buy me a drink, put his hand in his pocket and said "It'll have to be a soft one though as Ive only got 80p".

It didnt get much better form there, unless he was spending other peoples money he is a tight arsed fucker.

Recently I have been told he was working with a friend of a friend, every day the friend stopped for a morning espresso (its 70 cents where I live) and he "forgot" his wallet every day.

He even whinged recently to pay for one of the boys haircut. To put it into perspective, he is living rent free in our family home, doesnt put the heating on, wont run the irrigation becasue of water and is still saying he has it bad. He is a fucking idiot.

A friend had a notebook in which every day, she’d write down what she’d bought- think milk, individual items of food etc
Then at the end of the week, would pore over it to see where she could cut back further. Would always buy very cheap stuff - beans on toast, reduced food items most nights.
Would never buy clothes, go out for meals.she was 20 at the time
We’ve lost touch, very wealthy now apparently.

On my wedding day my bridesmaid very kindly (so I though) brought round Bacon, Eggs and Bread for breakfast which another bridesmaid cooked for us all.

Months later she texted me asking me to transfer her the £10 cash. She definitely rounded up and forgotten to deduct the cost of her sandwich!

I was so shocked i just transferred it straight over.

(and No I hadn't made them pay for their own dresses or anything, I bought dresses, shoes, hair accessories, hair dresser and makeup)

My brother-in-law. When we moved down to London he came with my sister for a weekend to see where we were. On the Saturday we were going in to London sight-seeing but he said he'd stay home if we didn't mind, asked if we wanted any odd jobs doing. Apparently he didn't want to pay tube fares for two of them. Anyway he came grudgingly. In the afternoon we went in a cafe and my sister ordered 4 coffees. He read on the menu that you saved a few pence if you took them out, as no VAT, so suggested we stand outside to drink them. It was a cold day and my sister was so angry with him. She said "no way"

My husband I’d say! He hates me going food shopping with him cos I add to the cost by buying actual food 😐

He can get a good shop for of us or a week for under £35! Tight arse 😱

I mean he can get a food shop for 4 of us for 35. I go mad

I was doing a retirement collection at work for a colleague, and the director handed over £20 and then asked for £19 change haha. £1 is still kind, but asking for change was a bit stingy.

If he found a plaster he would cut himself.

A former colleague would minesweep other people's leftover drinks in the pub. Revolting in itself, made worse when you learn he earned over £100k and lived rent free with his parents.

He also wouldn't donate a pound to charity to dress down once a month, he'd wear a suit, rather than be so profligate, while we all sat there in jeans.

It came as no surprise to me when I heard he had suggested his wife (because astonishingly he found one in the end) walk home from the hospital after delivering their firstborn, rather than waste money on a taxi, as it 'wasn't far'.

My stingy ex!

He wore the same clothes for years on end, even his sister and BIL would be embarrassed by him. He would always refuse to pay for his round of drinks by popping to the loo when it was his turn to pay, and would only ever eat out at the cheapest dives if we ever went out for dinner.

He wouldn't let me go to visit my brothers brand new baby when she was born because it would cost £40 in petrol and we should just see her whenever we next visited them for other events.

He would also expect me to turn off the heating all day whilst I worked from home but would want it all switched on as soon as he got home.

Went I had DD2 and was in full on labour, he drove me to the hospital but refused to pay the car pack charges, parked on a residential road and had me walk to the hospital, in between contractions, in the middle of the night.

I left him though and I have my heating on full blast already

My uncle. My mother had just died, I was very young and had to write the letters telling everyone. I needed one stamp, I had used up all in the house. I asked him please have you a stamp? He did, and requested the money for it. Two days after his sister had died. Aged 43.

My ex FIL. Many years ago, went to stay at their house, and I asked if I could have a bath. No, I could only have a shower.
We went shopping, in a market. MIL wanted to get some sewing thread, and it was 'buy 2, get 1 free'. She bought 3, but FIL complained all the way home that she only needed the one, so why buy the extra? They literally argued for an entire 20 mile trip.
In their lounge they had one of those 3 bar electric fires, but he had already taken one of the bars out. One Christmas, me and my SIL were sat huddled in front of it, as it was freezing in their house. FIL had been out for a walk, came in to lounge with coat and scarf on and immediately turned the fire off, me and SIL still sitting there with our hands in front of it!

@Sammyp235 Thats being thrifty.... I like it. Please can you ask him to give me some tips :)

A very well paid manager at the big City company I worked for in my teens. I was there for about three years and he wore the same suit every single day. It was shiny and smelt musty. Every day, late afternoon he would disappear off to the adjacent street market and return triumphantly brandishing a paper bag of bruised, soggy fruit, gleefully telling us he had paid tuppence ha’penny for a dozen peaches which would be fine once the bruised bits were cut off. 🤮

My manager refuses to ever go for coffee/a drink/lunch because he can’t afford it, despite earning significantly more than everyone else. We did a sweeper for the World Cup last summer, and he refused to play because of the cost (it was £1 per person). I guess the money saved goes on all the fancy holidays his family have. I know that’s completely his choice, but I think joining the team for an occasional coffee, costing less than £2, would make such a difference in terms of morale - no-one would ever expect him to pay for theirs.

We went for dinner with someone, four of us all paying our way. One person wanted to only buy one drink between us as all it was free refills. I said no absolutely not! We are in no way that close.

My manager refuses to ever go for coffee/a drink/lunch because he can’t afford it, despite earning significantly more than everyone else.

you know NOTHING of his financial situation, so it's really unfair to pass judgments.

He might also try to spend as little time as possible with work colleagues and use the money as an excuse 🤷

Whatever the reason, he sounds very sensible.

I used to live with 2 friends. One was doing a masters, so didn't have loads of money, but was generous with what she had. Both she and I would regularly buy things like milk etc for the house ( I was working full-time).

Other friend was incredibly tight. At first she was a student, but about a year or so into the house share she got a job, which she always boasted about.

However (this was all about 20 years ago):

If she bought milk, she'd come home and ask for 2/3 of the money for it. If it cost £1, she'd ask each of us for 33p or 34p, and would keep tabs on who had paid the 34p each time so she wasn't being done out of 1p.

She would help herself to our biscuits and so on (which we didn't mind), but buy herself things like orange squash that neither of us other 2 drank, and then get really sniffy if we used it (eg if someone called in and we wanted to offer them a cold drink).

Accepted lifts all over the place, and fairly often had other housemate driving out of her way to take her places, but when she got a car would demand petrol money for every trip, even if she was going anyway.

When she moved out (bought her own house, having gone on for ages about her great salary), she took every single thing that she'd bought, including a half-eaten jar of mayonnaise.

Funnily enough, she still lives alone...

I had an ex who was quite a high earner and liked to give the impression that money was always no object/he didn't even think about prices. But in private and with close friends and family he was insanely tight. For example:

• he bought a house and bragged about how he could have afforded something much bigger/better area but he claimed he wanted to live near his friends so instead he spent some of the spare cash on getting an interior designed in to decorate and furnish the whole place. In fact he insisted that he would only but it if the seller left all their furnishings/furniture etc where is was (even pictures other than family photos) for free. He would talk to friends who visited about what a great job 'his people' had done even infront of me when he knew I'd been around when he was negotiating this.
• He would make a big fuss about picking up the tab for everyone if we ever went out for dinner and drinks with friends. The when he got home he would get out the receipt and text everyone with how much they owed him.
• The local farm sold carrots and various other veg for horses etc very cheaply in huge bags. He was adamant it was the same as the expensive stuff so used to but it for himself but put it in a different bag and told everyone he bought organic veg.
• The Christmas before we split up he made a very public show of how annoyed he was that my present had not been delivered. He told anyone who would listen how expensive it was (hinting at v expensive jewelry) and the fact that it had been hand made etc and was supposed to be a Xmas surprise. When we split he told all our mutual friends that he was still going to give it to me but that I had told him it would be too upsetting. Actually I had told him he should keep it and he told me it had never existed, he knew he was going to dump me but didn't want to do it at Xmas so he didn't want to waste money on a present.

themuppetshow I say in my post that he goes on lots of extravagant holidays, and that is obviously his right, but that it might be nice for team morale if he joined us occasionally. He could bring his own teabag and get a mug of hot water - we have a staff canteen, so it’s not like we are asking him to go out to Starbucks in his own time.

I don’t quite understand why you have singled my post out in a thread of 222 similar!

Right..

We once went out with our friends, and their other friends/acquaintances tagged along. There were 6 of us, three couples. We went to the pub, ordered some drinks at the bar (this was done separately) and also a large platter of snacks (onion rings, cheese, etc). Nothing fancy, nothing expensive, the bill wasn't big and our friends and us assumed we're going to split it three ways (3 couples). We all ate pretty much similar amount by the looks of things.

After the bill came, the male of 'acquaintance couple' presented us with a detailed account how much EXACTLY we each ate. I mean: 'Shadow ate 6 onion rings, 4 pieces of cheese, 5 slices of ham, etc, so she has to pay xxx'. We were all left speechless. But this wasn't the end of it. When we finally split the bill between the couples, they (the tightarses boyfriend/girlfriend) split it between themselves the same way: boyfriend informed his girl how many onion rings, etc she had and how much she's supposed to pay. Needless to say, none of us 'normal' four bothered to meet these lovely people afterwards.

When we were very young (and very broke), we had a group of friends. We used to hang out and whenever any of us had some money, we all shared that (drinks, snacks, etc). Once a friend introduced this guy he knew. He didn't have many friends (no wonder) and we invited him to hang out with us. The guy was a bit older, had a good job, came from a rich family.

Once we were at the park and one of the friends just said he's hungry, but broke. The 'new friend' offered to get him a sandwich and went to the nearby pub to get one.

A week later, he asked for his £3 back, as the next week he would be leaving for a trip to NYC, and he'd like to get his money back before the trip. Ah, and let's not forget to mention, that the bar he 'bought' the sandwich from, was owned by his mother. Together with few other shops/takeaways and business in the city. He got that sandwich for free.

Shameless placemarking. I'll be back with my story

First boyfriend/ex. Charged little old ladies that lived down his street to take them to hospitals, hospices and funerals.

He had an exercise book (from school, he'd just taken out the first pages of multiplication, trigonometry, etc) where he laboriously filled in the date, time, quantity, price per gallon and mileage for every visit to a petrol station. I sat there once and did some thinking about Maths (yes, I was very bored). When I pointed out that he was spending roughly £3.50 per trip to the 'cheaper' petrol station to save himself around 5p, as I'd sat there and worked out the fuel economy of the vehicle (he always filled it to the brim, so it was easy to work out), I thought he was about to have a stroke. His solution was to run the tank down more in between filling up so that he saved more pennies on fuel by having to put more in at once - there was a petrol station literally so close to his home that he could put his car into neutral and roll it down there for nothing, but that charged a penny more.

He would insist on going to the seaside and then turn straight round and go home if he couldn't find somewhere free to park.

Foolishly, I stayed with him for four years and when we had our first fulltime jobs from college in the early 1990s(office juniors) made permanent, a new block of flats was being built overlooking a very old graveyard. They were offering a two bedroom flat with parking and private garden, in a naice area, for £27,000. This would have represented roughly twice our combined salary and his 21st birthday present money.

He refused because he wasn't going to move out of a perfectly good four bedroomed house (his parents') for anything less than a four bedroom detached property and suggested that I moved into his bedroom instead, as 'my Dad will pay for everything that way'. The last time I saw one of those flats for sale, it was going for £895,000. Even if we had only had it for the length of our relationship, the price had increased to £75,000 in the midst of the 90s recession, so we'd have walked away with enough to put down £30 grand apiece on houses in slightly cheaper areas of town and needed a whole £12,000 mortgage each. Or bought houses outright in the cheapest areas.

After we split up, he stayed at home. Eventually, he moved a girlfriend in when they were both in their late thirties and had two children. He still refused to move out unless she went back to work and bought a house. Eventually, she received half the value of her old house from her ex husband and got made redundant with a reasonable payout - ex bought a brand new shitty car and insisted that they rented the house next door instead, so they could claim housing benefit. His plan is, apparently, to move back in when one parent dies so that his siblings/social services can't enforce the sale of the house when the surviving parent needs to go into a home or sheltered accommodation.

Last time I saw his poor wife, despite being in her early 40s and earning pretty good money, she looked about sixty and was wearing ragged clothes and knackered supermarket trainers because he said she didn't need new ones.