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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:
BarbaraofSeville · 27/04/2017 20:42

I'm another buyer of reduced gift wrap. We have about 10 rolls that I bought for about 30/50p each right at the end of the Christmas sales and because we don't really do Christmas gifts, that probably equates to about 5/10 years worth so I plan to give a couple of rolls each to DM and DSis later this year and it is on the list of things that I have vowed not to buy at any price until I'm down to the last roll or two.

Adora There are a lot of things that are on special offer so often that you really don't need to ever pay full price, tinned tomatoes being one of them, as you have spotted. Same for toiletries, cleaning products, tea bags, coffee, frozen pizza, some petfood plus loads more.

If you have the space and a bit of spare cash, it really pays to buy for the storecupboard when things are on offer, not because you need something within the next week. Keep a few extra packs in stock and literally halve your shopping bill on a lot of items.

AllRoadsLeadBackToRadley · 27/04/2017 20:52

Nominated for classics...

Loving the image of pegging a load of tea bags on our communal washing line- around here, they'd probably get nicked! 😂

juggler4 · 27/04/2017 20:59

My mum carries her phone around in her bag all day... but switched off to save the battery! She turns it on, makes a call and then turns it off again, which is bloody annoying if you want to call her back. She hasn't got her head around the idea of rechargeable batteries.

My MIL reuses the same teabag all day, and leaves it on a saucer in the kitchen. When she comes to stay I can't stand seeing the pathetic sodden thing sitting there and i throw it in the bin, she gets terribly upset about the waste - but it's my house and my sodding teabags!

juggler4 · 27/04/2017 21:03

I refuse to pay foodcourt prices for a cold drink when I'm at the shopping mall. Instead I go to Smiths or Boots and buy a can from there, usually much cheaper. (I'll do this even if it means walking all the way to the other end of the mall, I can't stand feeling that I'm being ripped off!)

When my mum took us shopping she would always make it a treat to buy a four-finger kit-kat. The perfect snack for a mum with 3 kids, we would have one stick each and think we were dead lucky!

NapQueen · 27/04/2017 21:06

H&M baby clothes always come home on their hangers because thats what the shop does. I used them for the babys clothes til they got to school age because thats where all their clothes came from. I certainly wouldnt buy then return just to get the hangers! Thats bonkers+

NapQueen · 27/04/2017 21:09

My mum spends 10 quid on an £11 on an 11 hour coach journey instead of taking an internal flight which would cost £25 and take roughly 2 hours (inc travel to and from and check in time etc). And she could afford it.

woodhill · 27/04/2017 21:10

I admit to using up bits of soap. Reusing gift bags. Re washing dish cloths.

Old pants for cleaning shoes.

bimbobaggins · 27/04/2017 21:13

everyone , you are only meant to toast one side of the bread for cheese on toast and place the cheese on the non toasted side so nothing miserly there.

HunterofStars · 27/04/2017 21:14

I reuse gift bags and any decorations off the top. I have some others that are from various family members/friends.

  1. My ex used to steal newspapers from the shops rather than buy them even when I pointed out it was theft. Hmm. This is part of the reason why he is now an ex.
  1. Some family friends used to buy UHT long-life milk and decant it into the normal milk bottles to save money on buying milk. They would also buy supermarket own brand food and decant them into branded containers, for example, buy value cornflakes and then put them in the Kellogg's box.
  1. My parents used to park in the car parks furthest away from town and walk so they didn't have to pay much for parking.
  1. My grandfather would drive through fords to wash the car as it saved him washing the car. Grin.
  1. My parents used to take supermarket own brand snacks into the cinema. Their then teenage dc used to cringe with embarrassment. I think the worst point for dbro and dsis was when dm made a picnic to take to a theme park. Dsis said it made her feel like a criminal and dbro just wanted chips. But thinking back, it was a good idea as the food prices were shocking.
glasgowLil · 27/04/2017 21:17

My parents wash out plastic food bags and hang them up to dry to reuse. To be honest, I do this too now as I worry about the amount of plastic bags I throw away.

LizzyELane · 27/04/2017 21:20

Booked cheap UK holiday with 16 year old friend in the 80s. Nothing online then. Was asked from her slightly strange mum for 7 and a half pence to pay for half the postage! I coughed up this huge amount without saying anything. But has always annoyed me!

BarbaraofSeville · 27/04/2017 21:25

Unless you like paying a fortune for what is usually substandard food, taking your own food to theme parks, cinema etc, but perhaps having chips or ice cream while you are there, is sensible not miserly.

DM used to offer us the choice of one day out with bought food while we were there, or two days out with picnics and we always chose the latter.

I winced a couple of weeks ago when the family in front of me paid close to THIRTY POUNDS for a crappy looking sandwich plus crisps and drink each at a local country park/petting zoo type place.

ChangelingToday · 27/04/2017 21:32

When my relative goes into town to meet friends etc. he parks in shopping centre pay car park. Gets ticket. Buys an item in one of the centre shops worth £20 so that he qualifies for free parking and gets ticket validated. Then returns the item he bought the next week at the shop near him that has free parking!

One of my old bosses used to have an old beat up car, the passenger door was sellotaped on (he's a consultant dr.) at Christmas party left his employees to pay his meal and several pints. Made me write down what I did every minute of every day to make sure he was getting his money's worth 🙄

StealthPolarBear · 27/04/2017 21:32

Oh I've got one. I use bars of soap in the shower rather than shower gel. When I'm at home and a bar is pretty much done, I stead of throwing it out Iwrap it in cling film and take it the next time I stay in a travel lodge where I use it once or twice more then bin it. Otherwise id either be throwing it barely used bars of soap or carrying them around with me.

squiz81 · 27/04/2017 21:33

glasgowlil I came on to say thats what my mum did, I can't believe someone else does it too Grin

For school lunches we had our sandwiches and cake in freezer bags. These would have to be reused all week (we got moaned at if they got lost) this meant if Jam oozed out on your sandwich one day the next day your marmite sandwiches would taste of it Envy the bags were washed at the end of the week and hung on the line to dry. They were then stored pegged up above the cooker as some kind of hideous display.

WizardOfToss · 27/04/2017 21:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

QuiteUnfitBit · 27/04/2017 21:41

taking half an hour out of your day to save 5p means that you value your time at 10p per hour Or, if you're walking, you could take it as saving gym membership. Grin

AdoraBell · 27/04/2017 21:41

Yep Babara I keep a keen watch on the things I prefer, like the tinned toms, and check what else is on offer. I'm a fussy bugger and prefer one of the expensive brands. In the last 2 weeks I've ordered over a dozen packs of De Cocco pasta because they were 1 quid each Grin

PeanutButterLips · 27/04/2017 21:42

I remember the bloke on Extreme Cheapskates covered his entire house and car in cling film/plastic wrap, so it was as good as new when he sold.
His ex wife later said she thinks he had a mental illness and divorced him because she couldn't my cope with it.
You can't live a life like that.

paxillin · 27/04/2017 21:51

Soap bar extremism seems common.

I have a relative who indulges in it, too. She keeps the foot part of old tights and fills them with left over soap bar ends. Ties a knot in the end and uses this mesh bag full of soap splinters.

HunterofStars · 27/04/2017 21:53

An uncle of mine refused to stop at motorway service stations as they were too expensive. Instead he would either look up the nearest supermarket or pub and buy a drink there as it would save ££.

My parents also whenever we stayed in Travelodge/Premier Inn type places would refuse to pay for us to have breakfast there as the cost was too much, so we would have breakfast at the nearest Tesco or McDonald's.

gardenrosie · 27/04/2017 21:54

Chuck any leftover wine from glasses at parties into freezer bags to put in stews

Grow our own salads and herbs

Chickens in the garden for eggs/keep slugs down

Our dog also has our leftovers and then his food if he 'needs' more calories

Everyone in family has same bathwater

Heating doesn't go on much if at all - wear extra jumpers

Hot water bottles in bed

Burn prunings from garden in stove in house instead of bonfire

Make veg peelings into stock for soups

That said whilst we have to watch every penny people turn up at our house with bottles of fizz for parties, so we do drink a lot of champagne.......

Strygil · 27/04/2017 21:58

My first mother in law [who left nearly £250,000 in her will, though unhappily none of it to me] used to wash out cling-film and hang it up to dry. She also once seriously asked me at the tea-table [we were having ham salad] "would you like half a tomato?" I still regret that I didn't ask her what plans she had for the other half.

woodhill · 27/04/2017 22:02

Isn't someone else's wine dregs unhygienic?

MrGrumpy01 · 27/04/2017 22:06

An uncle of mine refused to stop at motorway service stations as they were too expensive. Instead he would either look up the nearest supermarket or pub and buy a drink there as it would save ££.

We do that when making the journey from the North to the Midlands. There is a Morrison's literally off J2 of the M18 (you can see it from the motorway) It is no more hassle to come off there then at the first services as you join the M1.