Please tell me I'm not the only one - extreme saving

[Bitsandbobs2]

I noticed lots of people in real life and social media started saving this year.
We are not rich by any means - we even receive top up from UC. So ideas about batch cooking, bargains, saving, etc are always with me.
However, this is first time in my life that I noticed that other people's saving plans affecting me in funny way and I believe some of them have zero clue about reality and realistic budget/saving goals:
*Our neighbour - has an idea to save 20k this year on 35k salary and constantly asking me to "be her taxi" as she ran out of petrol budget this week . She will send her son to my door every weekend "to say hi" as she knows I'm batch cooking snacks, so he'll be "ohhhh,smells so good, I would like to have it for my packed lunch". Of course I'll offer some to him .
*My colleague - single, no kids, earns 2x my salary. Decided to save on lunches, taking odd sandwich from home and literally stealing coffee sachets or cookies from my drawer . Coffee sachets are treat as I love coffee and I ended up buying second pack last week!
*Other colleague - 3x my salary, decided to save more than 20k this year for travel around the world, stealing toilet paper from work so we all need to buy our own as housekeeping top up it twice a week and it disappears in first 10 minutes. Hand wash too.
*My friend - constantly asking to be free childcare for her daughter as she has a "saving goal" and can't afford wrap around care.
I'm not even talking about social media - saw some crazy stuff like stealing colleagues crisps as craving but can't go over budget, etc.
I'm not talking about people who really struggling, I'm talking about people with good salaries and unrealistic saving goals!
Anyone else?

I think you possibly are the only one OP.

I've never heard of this at all and I'm pretty frugal by MN standards, although I never take advantage of others to save money.

In fact, quite the opposite, I'm always happy to share ideas on how to make money go further, usually quite painlessly, when I hear of people struggling, or saying they can't afford as nice a lifestyle as they'd hope.

We get free tea, coffee and milk at our place of work

We only get free tea and coffee (basic Nescafe and PG Tips) because our department head has authorised the illicit use of the visitors supply and she was fed up with all the arguments and admin about trying to organise tea clubs etc. She's just banking on no-one ever noticing that our visitors apparently drink an average of 27 hot drinks when they come for a 2 hour meeting.

A lot of schools, particularly small primaries, don't provide tea and coffee.

No money for it.

My work makes a point of saying that you can have "boiling water on tap".

No, I’ve never noticed this in real life and never had anyone try and grift off me in this way. I must be lucky I guess! I also don’t know the salary details and savings goals of neighbours/acquaintances etc.

That’s terrible. I took a couple of toilet rolls from a job years ago when we had nothing at all at home and no money until payday but to steal from work as part of a savings plan is shocking.

That being said I have never had a friend discuss their savings plans with me let alone so many.

What sort of employer doesn’t provide tea & coffee…? The NHS, that sort

The trick is to let people get on with their own lives and not make it your business.
Im not interested in other peoples saving habits

Keep my stuff locked in my drawer at work
Don't engage in who took loo rolls, that's the mangers job( small pack of baby wipes in my bag anyway)
Don't engage with beggy neighbour or their child.
Let people sort out their own transport and child care

Aka as don't bite when they try to involve you .

And police!

If shes not feeding her child enough, report her to social services. Its neglect.

Sorry, but if i went to go to the toilet in work and there was no paper in , i would be putting my coat on and explaining to my manager that im off to the nearest public toilet to go to the loo as someone keeps stealing the paper here. If i needed to traipse home or to the nearest shops 3 times a day on work time so be it until they dealt with it

What sort of employer doesn't provide tea and coffee?

I’ve never worked anywhere that provided any drinks for free.

Saving is fine
saving hard is fine
saving by taking from others is cheeky fuckery

All of those people are taking the piss out of you OP, and you need to stop it from happening. I would also report the colleagues stealing from you and from work because that is theft - pure and simple.

You need to start saying no to your friends and neighbours, and report your colleagues.

Colleague who steals directly from you. Gentle approach: ask colleague to stop. Optionally, tell colleague how much they owe you. Hide these items or put them in a locked drawer/box. Direct approach: report to management/HR with evidence.

Colleague who steals toilet paper. Gentle: tell the office manager that the toilet paper and hand soap currently available is insufficient, if you have the info explain how much faster it's disappearing and since when, let them figure out why things are suddenly disappearing faster. Direct: report to management/HR with evidence.

Child who asks for treats: Gentle: respond "yes, they're delicious - (names of your partner and/or children, if applicable) and I love them in our packed lunches. Next time you come, I'll send you home with the recipe". Direct: do nothing; if asked directly say no; you have made the exact number you need for your family and had not planned to give any away.

Neighbour who asks for rides and friend who asks for free childcare: Gentle: say no each time. Direct: say no I can't do these things for you, most people including me are needing to save more at the moment, please stop asking.

So never worked in the public sector then? It's very normal fo Civil service and Local authorities and some parts of further and higher education.

We also don't get any refreshments for long meetings or lunches for training courses that last all day.

Some places I;ve worked we had a Tea/Coffee/Milk cash 'kitty' we all paid into, for larger teams like I'm in now we all just bring our own. People do nick the milk though, I've resorted to putting mine in a thermos flask!

I've worked in the private sector for large companies, and have always had free tea and coffee.

I also have worked at a smaller company that didn't.

No excuse for colleagues stealing it if they don't though.

mumsnet is such a weird place where everyone shares their salary and financial goals with their neighbours…

I know, I am perfectly friendly with my neighbours but I haven’t got a fucking clue what their savings goals are or how they plan to achieve them 😂

I've been sidelined by your treat making. What treats do you make? Is this a part of your budgeting strategy?