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Original poster

What's the most extreme example of effort to save a few pennies you have heard of?

620 replies

wineoclockthanks · 26/04/2017 15:32

Lighthearted!!

Mine is someone who buys shirts/t-shirts and asks for the hangers, then returns the clothes minus the hangers.

I did mention that Wilkos sell 10 wire hangers for £1.75 but she was adamant it was worth it.

Please can I stress this is lighthearted, I am also on a tight budget and count my pennies so not judging at all.

OP posts:
Swirlingasong · 27/04/2017 14:46

I see nothing wrong with re-using wrapping paper, but only do it for people I know wouldn't mind. My MiL however, takes it to extremes. She is honestly still using paper from the 1970s. She achieves this by asking everyone to very carefully open presents using scissors along the sellotape in order not to risk ripping the paper.

For me, it removes all the joy of present opening if you have someone hovering over you desperate to rescue the paper (even though as I said, i do try to save decent bits rather than just tear). I rebel and refuse to use scissors. I can actually feel her silent panic that I might tear the paper, which also isn't a great sensation when opening a present but I am a grown up and refuse to have her dictate how I remove paper from a present given to me!

MrGrumpy01 · 27/04/2017 14:53

swirl I do have to suppress my urge to yell 'careful' very very loud when the DC are opening presents. Blush

BorisJohnsonsHair · 27/04/2017 15:02

notthe1parrot why not just shove 30 sheets of work toilet roll in your handbag and wee at home?

deste · 27/04/2017 15:12

Friend and i went for a long walk while our DH's played golf. Two miles from home she got a call from them saying they were back and locked out. At this point her pay as you go phone ran out of money. She got a message to say she could put in a small payment of £3.50 to be able to send the message to say we would be back in half an hour. She wouldn't because she didn't have the card with her that she used to top up the phone although she did have another on her. They do have money and you have to wonder why.

BorisJohnsonsHair · 27/04/2017 15:15

MissCherryCakey, the stalks are lovely. Just cut off the outsides and then slice thinly like cucumber. Nice as a separate vegetable or in a stir fry.

paxillin · 27/04/2017 15:22

I keep the last clove of a bulb of garlic, plant it, cut off the shoot when it has grown and a new bulb will grow Blush. I appreciate it is probably more faff than it is worth and garlic really is quite cheap, but the free new garlic bulb pleases me immensely.

ASqueakingInTheShrubbery · 27/04/2017 15:26

My mum does the tights thing. I don't see the problem as long as it's not uncomfortable. It doesn't work for me as I wear thick black ones and find them too bulky doubled up.

QuiteUnfitBit · 27/04/2017 15:35

a small payment of £3.50 You see, it's all relative! I'd say that was a large payment... Grin

Cutting the legs of tights is bizarre and really really stingy But tights are really quite expensive... so I would say that was a lot less stingy than reusing teabags! Disclaimer - I normally wear trousers...

BarbaraofSeville · 27/04/2017 15:43

If it was a £3.50 service charge or penalty that didn't actually benefit her, that's a lot, but if it was £3.50 of credit that she could use, that's nothing unless you are on the breadline.

Maybe entering a different credit card to pay was faffy and she couldn't be arsed. You do wonder why she bothers with PAYG though. You can get contracts from a fiver or so if you're a light user and much easier than having to top up.

calli335 · 27/04/2017 16:07

Ooh I've got one! In the F&V section of the supermarket, grab a few extra clear bags to use at home for sandwiches etc. Smile

PyongyangKipperbang · 27/04/2017 16:10

Cutting the legs of tights is bizarre and really really stingy

Why?

Its very rare that a pair of tights gets wrecked on both legs, and instead of throwing away 2 pairs, you throw away 2 legs and still have a usable "pair". I had to do this once when I was in a rush and poked my finger through the last decent pair of tights I had, and it was the only option rather than bare legs!

calli335 · 27/04/2017 16:12

These may have been mentioned already:
Break the stalk from the broccoli so that it weighs less
Use a food processor to turn granulated sugar into caster

MadisonAvenue · 27/04/2017 16:19

When I was training as a hairdresser part of my job was to unfurl used perm papers (the small pieces of very thin paper that was wrapped around the section of the hair before the perm curler was put in) and I had to dry them to be reused.
The salon owner was very tight. She used to bring in a pint bottle of milk every day for tea and coffee and half had to be poured into a jug and half left in the bottle, both then had to be topped up with water so that there were two pints of very watery milk to use throughout the day.

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 27/04/2017 16:27

I work with a man that only toasts one side of the bread for cheese on toast as having the grill on to toast both sides for one person is wasteful apparently.

NameChanger22 · 27/04/2017 16:28

My friend taught me to search at the back of supermarket shelves for later dated fresh food. It's probably not great for the supermarkets, but it means I can have a couple more days in which to eat things up.

I also remove all plastic packing from packaged vegetables as soon as I get home. They last longer when not in plastic.

I also have a spreadsheet which shows me where to buy the cheapest of everything. I only buy certain items from certain shops. I buy things in multiples so I don't run out and rotate the supermarkets I go to.

onthettcbus · 27/04/2017 16:34

Calli I think that is technically stealing! In Marks and Spencer's I was charged 5p for using one for my items.

calli335 · 27/04/2017 16:36

I once worked with someone who saved the tinfoil from her sandwiches and wiped her dental floss with a tissue to re-use again!

calli335 · 27/04/2017 16:39

onthettcbus - yes you're probably right Blush although it's not like I take the whole box Grin

tb · 27/04/2017 16:53

I can remember my not so 'd'm telling me to cut off the unused portion of a sanitary towel and put it on top of the next one if I were going out.

Having periods that enabled me to soak through a super plus tampon at 14 in just over an hour, didn't make this a particularly useful suggestion.

In her case she never paid for a towel or a tampon, she just used to nick them off the shelf in her father's pharmacy - no wonder he had the bailiffs in several times for unpaid bdh invoices.

MissCherryCakeyBun · 27/04/2017 16:57

Archery Annie
Doesn't worry me in the slightest if anyone sees me break of the stem from the broccoli why should it? I don't but bruised apples or squashed oranges I choose the ones I want....so what's different with the broccoli? I also don't dig it with nails a swift snap and it's done.

I also don't bother using bags for veggies or fruit in the supermarket unless it's lots of little bits like grapes. After all it's not got to be in a bag and I won't use the bag at home so why take one? When I was a kid on the 70's my gran used to take her bag to the grocers to get veggies and spuds at the bottom and veggies on top the only ones that went in bags were mushrooms. We all survived

canihaveacoffeeplease · 27/04/2017 17:08

Shock at using the water from your hot water bottle to make your first morning tea, isn't it all rubbery tasting!?

I'd be dreadful on a water meter, have an absolutely enormous bath and love nothing more than having a huge bath when the kids are in bed. A water meter would probably bankrupt me. Also have one of those enormous dinner plate showerheads which is also pumped for extra pressure Blush

I'm not all and though, it's just bathing im decadent with!
I reuse gift bags all the time. Also my family always reuse Jiffy bags and post-It boxes when sending gifts to each other; they go around many many times just with a new piece of paper taped to the front and the old stamp scribbled over

georgiegirl · 27/04/2017 17:31

My old workmate was incredibly tight. He was going on a climbing/camping trip to Scotland from Cambridge, with 4 other mates and hired the weeniest car (a Panda I think). At least one of these people was incredibly tall and I have no idea how they all fitted in, let alone their vast rucksacks of kit. And he could have hired a slightly bigger car for a few quid more, with the cost shared by 5 people.

BoboChic · 27/04/2017 17:32

I had a Great Uncle (who died many years ago) who drank hot water rather than soup for lunch and always took cold baths.

ShowMePotatoSalad · 27/04/2017 17:36

A friend of mine's parents are notoriously tight even though they're really, really well off.

They go to ASDA really late at night for the cheapest possible price on items like bread which they buy by the trolley load and then freeze.

They won't ever go to a nice pub or restaurant, they've got to go to the cheapest possible dive.

The one time I went out for a meal with them (to a really crap chain pub, of course), her dad bagsyed everyone's leftovers to take home for himself. Friend tells me he never pays for meals, everyone else pays and then they sort it out between themselves so he's always getting off scot free!

They don't spend any money at all on personal hygiene so bless them, they do look like scarecrows. I know that sounds awful but that's the only way I can describe how they look!

gribak · 27/04/2017 17:42

I once house shared with someone who would nick everything from everywhere to save money - including toilet rolls from public toilets!!

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