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

[wineoclockthanks]

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.

I saw an episode of Extreme Cheapskates that featured a man who, when at the cinema, raided the bins for drinks containers. He'd got into the men's room, wash the cup out and then take it the counter for a 'refill' so he got free fizzy juice.

That's not being a cheapskate, that's plain old stealing.

I love Extreme Cheapskates. There was one woman who peed in a bottle and threw it in the garden so she didn't have to flush her loo.

During the War and the Great Depression (I am no spring chicken, but NOT old enough to remember these by the way!), a lot of these practices were seen as commonsense. Running your home as economically as possible was the norm. I could be a lot more economical than I am, to be honest.

My grandmother once explained to us that she used one sheet of loo paper for a wee and 2 for a number two. Needless to say this philosophy did not catch on...

My DH2b despises having to pay 5p/10p for a carrier bag in a shop if we forget one, to the point where we have left some shops with my handbag and our pockets stuffed full with things, all while holding armfuls of larger items. Or if they have a box available every single thing will be shoved into that even if it doesn't really fit.

Wait to use the loo on arrival at work.
Use the loo at work on leaving.
Saves 30 sheets of home loo paper a week.

My millionaire sister saw that something she'd bought mail order was now on offer.

So she sent back the original item, then bought it again with the reduction.

I once went on holiday with a couple who insisted my then-husband took all the backroads and mountain roads (in the Italian lakes) to avoid toll-roads. The car ended up breaking down because it couldn't cope with the gradients. I wouldn't mind, we'd paid for their holiday and the hire car.

Do shops still actually let you have the hangers? Every shop I have bought clothes from recently never offer,and when I have asked its 'Oh no,we reuse them'. This includes Primark,Evans,Bonmarche and Marks and Spencer. The only shop I can remember that let you keep the hangers without question was C and A. How I miss them.....

Ooh, another one. I had an uncle who was a proper miser, who carpeted his house with the free carpet samples given away by carpet shops.

It created a pleasing patchwork effect

I'm on a water meter and when running the tap for hot water I collect it in an empty 4 pint plastic milk carton.

Oh I love this - not to save pennies but to save water, because it's just raised up in me to save water.

My bathroom hot tap runs cold for ages & now I will use the water to fill the (very slow filling) water cistern. thank you.

On a similar theme I don't have baths very often, but when I do I leave the bath water in and manually fill the loo up with it I recognize this as a bit nuts, but hey ho!

'There was one woman who peed in a bottle and threw it in the garden so she didn't have to flush her loo.'

Was she the one who turned the hot water off on her boyfriend because he was in the shower for more than 1 minute?

The one that got to me was the woman who didn't have a bed, she didn't want to pay for one, instead she fished a used gym mat out of a skip and slept on that. Ewww.

She also showered in her clothes so she didn't have to use the washing machine.

My mum and dad bought a second hand washing machine for 60 quid, they had thousands in the bank !

Extremely wealthy XMiL used to drive her Mercedes 6 miles to the next town to do her food shop as she reckoned the lettuce was 2p cheaper .

Dh's brother turns EVERYTHING off before going to bed. Wifi, oven, kettle, everything that has a plug. Except the fridge freezer, although I'm sure he'd turn that off if he could.

I also do this. I thought it was normal to be honest.

From DH'S family:

Use a quarter of a Tesco value dishwasher tab in the quick wash setting, then wonder why things aren't pristine

When making parsley sauce from a sachet, only use half the sachet and use water instead of milk, then wonder why it doesn't taste of anything.

Keep toiletries you got for free during intercontinental flights and give them away as Christmas presents (yes, I'm talking socks and toothbrushes in their original, airline-branded plastic bags).

The usual trick of not turning the heating on, ever, doesn't matter how uncomfortable guests are or how many people refuse to stay because they're cold (toddlers' bedroom at 14 degrees etc).

This is a way of life for some people. They seem to love it but it looks so miserable from the outside.

Oh I forgot! Don't change sheets in between guests because "they are family and they don't have anything and it's only been 3 nights"

Love the extreme cheapskates examples, must share with DH to show him the error of his miserly ways

I might add that I don't actually need any more clothes hangers! I have got an suitcase stuffed full of the things stashed away on top of a wardrobe.

My nannan used to make a cup of tea on a morning, with one tea bag, and leave it to stew. Throughout the day she'd pour a little bit of this stewed tea into her cup and top up with hot water (she liked her tea incredibly weak and with no milk). This way she could get a million cuppas out of one bag.

Use a quarter of a Tesco value dishwasher tab in the quick wash setting, then wonder why things aren't pristine

Interestingly, I forgot to take the wrapper of a dishwasher tab the other day and the load still came out pristine There were no cooking pans on there but I was still a bit surprised!

Local guy is a notorious miser.

He goes to the pub, then rings the take-away next door that offers free delivery. He orders a delivery to his house, then sits into the car with the driver.

Ex husbands boss's wife ( multimillionaire farmers) always irons tissue paper to reuse. Also she has been known to buy reduced sausages about to go out of date, coat in vinegar( to kill any germs) - and then wrap individually in cling film and freeze so she never takes out more than she needs!

When we got our smart meter, DH experimented to see whether it's cheaper to boil water on the gas hob or in the kettle. I can't remember don't care which one it was.

I have an uncle who used to switch his engine off when going downhill to try to save fuel . No amount of telling would convince him this was a really bad idea. Until he couldn't brake one day and went through a hedge at the bottom and wrote his car off, costing himself thousands. Thankfully, neither he nor anyone else was hurt. And he never did it again.

miL reuses paper plates. For years.

I've only very recently discovered this.

babymouse you mean your gran is nicking crockery?! Have you explained to her that it isn't meant to be taken?