What is the stingiest thing you've ever done / seen someone do?

[Teadrinker11]

Yourself or someone else, what is the most stingy, mean, miserable thing is that you have ever done or seen someone else do?

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

I was at a funeral where no-one donated! The undertakers felt so bad that one of them made a donation just so there was one.

I wonder if that was down to pure meanness, a very controversial choice of charity, or just that people didn't have any cash on them, maybe only cards - especially in their smart funeral clothes.

[Redsquirrel5]

On moving day we discovered previous tenants had taken the loo roll( child on loo) and removed all the light bulbs!

A neighbour ( same street) pegged out the tea bags to dry out and could be used again. I kid you not!

My aunt ( and dad brought up in the war) saved string, brown paper, envelopes for shopping lists etc, bread bags, cut the buttons off clothing, also zips. She left my sister’s and I the house and a considerable inheritance. I discovered I was doing it for string, brown paper and jars. We found lots of recipes written on cards too. She was in the Wrens at 17 after being billowed out to a Castle during the war when at boarding school.
Recycling at its best.

[Redsquirrel5]

Billeted not billowed. Predicted text 😫

[lborgia]

@squashyhat

I guess this was a product of memories of wartime shortages but I remember when I was a child my Dad would stick the tiny sliver of old soap onto a new bar rather than throw it away. I now get really irritated with my DH for throwing away the dregs of a shampoo bottle rather than turn it upside down and squeezing it into the new one so Dad must have passed on his parsimonious habits

My granny had a mould for this - used to put all the ends of soap in it, and it would squish it into a new bar! Don't ever remember seeing the new bars at all

I have been known to ask for a soft bag for a very small amount of food or sauce. Very sniffy waiters, but often that's all you need to start off a whole new meal, or perk up a boring bit of chicken.

[lborgia]

Soft bag?! Doggy bag!

[WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll]

My ex husbands gran who was very wealthy but never spends anything and will walk to a shop a mile away if it meant it was 1p cheaper

I always really wonder what drives people like that - not those working to a budget but the very well-off who object to spending literally pennies. Does it not occur to them that, when they die, they will leave behind them exactly the same as will a homeless person on the streets: everything?

Then again, if you look at what most billionaires are like: you would think that the main advantage of being in their position is never having to think about money ever again and just having absolutely everything (material) that you could ever possibly want in a heartbeat. Yet they almost all seem to be obsessively driven by how they can make the next billion. Completely defeats the object of being stupendously rich in the first place!

[reesewithoutaspoon]

@Boobahs

Someone I work with told me that she used to pick up long receipts that people had left in the trolleys at Asda and then use them to get money back on the price guarantee scheme (when it was still available). Literally getting other people's money back.

we used to call that 'wombling' there was a guy who used to do it and then use the vouchers to buy stuff for charities and foodbanks.

[ScotInExile]

"Smallkeys

I attended a funeral the other day and there was a collection box outside I was in the Q behind a couple who pretended to donate !

A lot of funerals I have been to have a collection for a charity favoured by the person who has died. Is that not common?"

I have never seen or heard of a collection box at a funeral. Is this a new thing?

[Hawkins001]

Ran out of milk, shops near me were closed after 8pm and had a carton of strawberry flavoured milk, so used that until I had milk the next day.

[BashfulClam]

I was in Wetherspoons with a friend and a group of well dressed women in their 30’s sat down at a table. One of them picked up the half full bottle of mayonnaise from the condiments basket thing and put it in her handbag.

[Houseofvelour]

DH and I went on a double date years ago. After the meal, the other couple underpaid their half so we paid the extra to cover it and then we left a tip on the table. The other couple picked it up and pocketed it. I was gobsmacked and we've not been out with them since.

[Hawkins001]

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

My dad used to follow the coal wagon and catch what bounced off and follow horses with a bucket to catch manure for the roses

I can't see a downside to that at all. Instead of dirty/stinky stuff left all over the road, it gets taken away and properly used. Everybody is a winner.

A relative once told us how he switched off the pilot light on his boiler overnight - every single night - because, if you don't go to the trouble of remembering to go and switch it off/on a mere 730 times a year, it will cost you an extra £1.62 for that year.

On the other hand, I don't know if it makes me stingy, but my heart sinks when I see somebody using one of those Coinstar machines in supermarkets. Maybe not so bad if you only have coppers, but the illustration of 'spare change' on the machine clearly shows 50p/£1/£2 coins in the bag.

They take (IIRC) 8% commission for their trouble; I would never use one when, if I have a big bag of coins, I can simply feed/pour them into the self-service checkouts when paying for my shopping and let that machine count it all, without taking a single penny in commission!

I did that to asdas self checkout machines, a few 5p, 2p, 1p, then after around £5 of loose change the machine was starting to jam and it had to be opened up.

[reesewithoutaspoon]

My nan was frugal, but she was born in 1918 and I think wartime had a lot to do with it.
She saved all wrapping paper and ironed it flat to reuse, cut buttons and zips off every item of clothing that had worn out, clothes were cut up for rags or used to make patchwork items. basically she very rarely threw anything out and would find another way of using it. Old jumpers were unravelled and used to make hats/gloves/scarves. Old tights were stuffed with rags to make draught excluders. or the rags cut into strips to make rag rugs.
She wasnt skint. I just think she got so used to having to make do and mend when she was younger that she just couldnt bear to see anything go to waste.

[tapeandglue]

@Smallkeys

Yes they are common my point is they waited as if they were going to donate and then just pretended to :-) I thought that was a bit stingy and dishonest

I went to a funeral once and no one warned me there would be a collection - I've never felt sicker. I don't typically carry cash and I had literally nothing on me. If I'd known in advance, I'd have specifically taken cash out to donate.

[St0rmTr00per]

A work friend used to bring alcohol to events, drink everyone else's then take his home as it hadnt been touched (as the idea was you drank your own). Same with food if we all had to take something and he would be there with tupperware at events "for leftovers" then be really pleased that it would do him a few days. He was extremely well off so not a money thing. Im more of a "leave for the host" person and wouldnt dream of taking anything back.

[BashfulClam]

@reesewithoutaspoon my gran used all t shorts abs vests cut up as dish cloths. She was wearing purple and olive coloured bellbottoms in the 90’s as they had lasted 20 years. She didn’t care about fashion.

[tapeandglue]

@TheDogsMother

Well I didn't think it was stingy I was berated by the decorator I was making a cup of tea for because I used the teabag to make two cups. Both his and mine at the same time, not reusing later.

Same - I wouldn't use one bag per cup if I was making a pot of tea, so I don't understand why it should be one bag per cup if making a smaller quantity. No one likes their tea overbrewed, surely? Unless they're drowning it in lashings of milk and sugar.

[Hawkins001]

@St0rmTr00per

A work friend used to bring alcohol to events, drink everyone else's then take his home as it hadnt been touched (as the idea was you drank your own). Same with food if we all had to take something and he would be there with tupperware at events "for leftovers" then be really pleased that it would do him a few days. He was extremely well off so not a money thing. Im more of a "leave for the host" person and wouldnt dream of taking anything back.

I don't mind bringing food as needed, but if the host declared that food needed to be used up, then I'd ask to take some back with me, to base.

[RiverSkater]

When my mum died, my brother got to the house before anybody else. For some reason he threw out all my mums cook books 😢and then took everything he wanted ie, anything of value, including the vases bought to hold the sympathy flowers.

[Sweetpeasaremadeofcheese]

DH told me that when they were kids, their dad make them walk on the side of the carpet when walking down the hall, as walking down the middle would wear out the carpet!

[BayesianBlues]

MIL likes to take off the bit of string on teabags that hold it to the little tag and keep it for sewing (after she has used the teabag a thousand times, adding more used teabags to her cup until she has about 10 she has been using all month!). To be honest, she doesn't really sew but she's always delighted if we have a loose button or similar so she can bring out her teabag thread and sew it up

When she was working, she used to shower at her work gym and hold on using the loo in the morning until she got there (it was close to her house) to save on water.

[MaybeHeIsMyCat]

@TheYearOfSmallThings

I once poured a cup of boiling hot tea into a jar of Nutella that was waiting to be washed out. I let it sit for a couple of minutes, then drank it from the jar. The jar was pretty clean, and no Nutella got wasted.

I would only admit this on an anonymous forum.

Best with hot milk or a cup of coffee and get the mocha effect!

[Jamontoast87]

Went to visit an elderly aunt and cousin one Christmas. They were renowned for being tight, despite being well off...
went in, house was freezing as usual, they begrudgingly offered us a biscuit, cousin stood there with the open tin in his hand and tilted it towards us so we could pick one. All digestives and had been snapped into halves and he said "take a piece" and once we did so, he promptly closed the lid and returned the tin to the kitchen. My sister, mum and I were stunned but found it hilarious on the way home in the car

[londonmummy1966]

DM is very frugal as her father gambled away the family money just after the war (when there was also rationing). If she gives you a card , rather than posting it she won't write on or seal the envelope so you can use it again. All wrapping paper is ironed and reused. Birthday and Christmas cards are kept either to make tags or to use by the phone for taking notes. Soap ends pressed in a mould to make new ones and any uneated food bound to reappear in a stew later in the week - often nt envy.

I am probably nearly as bad in some ways - I make gift tags from our Christmas crackers and save the ribbons off chocolate boxes etc. I also save the stalks from caluiflower and broccoli etc to make soup.

[BayesianBlues]

I remember one time a group of work colleagues went out for a meal while on a work trip. This was in a developing country so waiting staff wouldn't be earning very much and service wasn't included in the bill.
The bill came and everyone paid their share plus most left a generous tip (15-20%). One guy said 'OK, I'll pay the remainder'. And then I saw that he had basically made the tip less (think below 10%) and basically paid far less than his share.
I did make a fuss and he put more money in but certainly not enough to cover his full cost plus a tip. It made me angry as he is a well-paid professional stiffing waiting staff in a developing country!