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.

[Badders123]

Miserly
Yes
That's the word
Ugh

[PensPencilsandRulers]

I know someone who will only charge phone in work.

Someone who goes to the gp for a prescription for calpol and head lice solution for their DC.

Someone who reuses teabags multiple times.

[tectonicplates]

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

Actually this is environmentally friendly. Urine is a good fertiliser for plants, and people have been using it for thousands of years. Plenty of people pee into compost as it adds nutrients. Modern flushing toilets are highly wasteful of water, and it takes a lot of energy to clean it again to go back into water supplies.

[herethereandeverywhere]

My MIL is loaded has has a few of these traits, like the house being a constant 14c as they'll never put the heating on, scabbing toiletries off me on holiday because she's too tight to pay to check in a case to bring her own. Offering to buy DD a Boden coat but rescinding the offer when I chose one not in the sale (sale criteria not expressed at time of offer. I guess she assumed they were all on sale. I even offered to pay the difference!) My favourite was when we'd been to the shops together (M&S) I'd bought some clothes for the kids. She made me carry her food shopping in the bag with the new clothes (think packs of sausages, all sorts of refrigerated goods with condensation on) rather than pay 5p for a plastic bag. Grrr....

FIL is as bad, they own a holiday home abroad see loaded but he refuses to switch the aircon on in his bedroom, even when it's over 40 in the day and 30 at night. Instead he tries to sleep on a sunlounger on the balcony

[Stiddleficks]

A guy on Facebook told everyone how he took some bottles of smart price lemonade all the way to Florida so he didn't have to pay for drinks when out there!
The episode of extreme cheap stakes where the guy had one light bulb for his house and used to take it from room to room with him.

[SleepingTiger]

I know a guy who deliberately started an argument with another family, so that he could sell their immediate neighbour billions of dollars worth of tanks and airplanes to defend themselves, plus additional services to act as a regional 'minder' got paid in the form of permanent shares in all the oil fields in the region, left behind their remaining now obsolete tanks, which they promptly billed the neighbour for which proceeds were used to develop a new range of smart tanks and airplanes.

Smart move as they saved $ Trillions!

[MrPoppersPenguins]

At uni my housemates and I would walk from our shared house to lectures most days (approx 30min walk) but if it was pouring down we'd hop on a bus to avoid getting soaked. One of our friends refused to pay 50p for the bus and would get drowned - she'd then have to dry out the contents of her rucksack/book bag!

[Cagliostro]

Mushroom man :o that's hilarious and quite clever really. What a fun guy.

[PensPencilsandRulers]

I've thought of a couple more.
Family of four sharing bath water and insisting visiting guests do the same .
Stealing loo paper from public places.

[Elendon]

And let's not forget the everlasting chicken (though I do make four meals out of mine as well).

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/09/how-to-make-a-chicken-last-a-week-angela-hartnett

[toffeeboffin]

I knew someone who used to cut q tips in two. Pretty frugal that.

[Tobolsk]

Turning the fridge off makes sense, last winter DH measured the temperature of both the fridge and our kitchen......fridge was warmer.

[toffeeboffin]

Love the takeaway story

[Clawdy]

My friend and I were helping on a charity stall selling second hand jewellery. She tried on two necklaces and sighed " I love them both .....which one shall I have??" After some more time spent agonising, I pointed out that as they were 20p each, she could have both! After a bit more dithering she bought them both.....

[IHeartDodo]

The mushroom thing is pretty clever actually!
Mine are pretty tame...
If I buy carrots that have stalks I always take them off before paying.
My gran hardly drinks so freezes ice cubes of wine for cooking.
I also use tea bags twice (but only Yorkshire)
I may have stolen toilet paper as a student...
DP saves his "morning poo" until he gets to work, to save our water/loo roll.

[MrsWOLF1]

My dear friend makes her own tampons from cotton wool and uses folded kitchen roll as pantie liners .Said friend also turns her knickers inside out and wears only 2 pairs of socks per week

[Canshopwillshop]

My DH has a nasty habit of putting water in the bottom of our bottles of body wash to rinse out the dregs. If I'm unfortunate enough to be the next one to use it then I end up splashing freezing cold slushy water all over myself. He also used to put vinegar in the dregs of tomato ketchup bottles but the kids complained too much so he doesn't do that any more.

[RomanticWalksToTheFridge]

DH resuses teabags, but he drinks it so weak that it barely has a colour in it, so it gets about ten cups.

Saving the water like Troys suggested is a great idea!

[fannydaggerz]

When the tv remote wasn't working, My grandparents used to take the batteries out of the remote and then run over the positive side with a butter knife.

They insisted it worked and never ever bought or replaced batteries unless it was for a smoke alarm.

[fannydaggerz]

My friend switches his fuse box off overnight so there is nothing on in his house overnight.

[Mossop17]

i broke down this afternoon, stupid car needed a new battery which the AA man fitted there and then for a princely sum (think double plus £20 that the local battery place could have supplied it for)

However to recoup some costs i asked to keep the old one to weigh in! Ta da gets me about 3 quid lol!

We often weigh in metal things if we have them, i rarely buy anything full price except food. We are reaasonably ok money wise but it hasnt always been this way, fear or being broke again drives me to save where possible!

[Dowser]

Clawdy, on a boiling hot day I spent 4 hours in Ikea that I will never get back with a friend.
Two of those hours were spent around he candles and t lights.
Should she have the £1 lavender ones or the £1 rose ones.

Arrrgh! Why didn't I think to buy them both for her. Don't ask which ones she decided on ...as I keep trying to oblige the scenario from my mind.

Just an hour ago I thought dh was doing the same over the £6-99 hosepipe or the £9-99 one. I was coming out in a rash of nervous tension and was about to say oh for goodness sake mr Dowser, get the big one, its three pound difference.

Then I realised the cheaper one had fittings and fastenings with it. So he picked up that one.

Then there was that moment of indecision. Should he buy just one and we haul it between home and caravan.

He saw the death stare and picked up two. Like £14!

He 'saves' used plastic zip Lock bags.
Not the horrible dirty ones, as he'd be ex mr Dowser , the ones that might have had t bags in.

Thankfully these are only used once!

[Dowser]

Oh and a friend of mine would go to a cafe...like Morrisons say ...and would order a pot of tea and a pot of hot water.

Then they'd have several cups of tea with stacks of free milk.
They drank it so weak it was like milky water.
Embarrassing...but he was such a big, friendly guy he got away with it.

[Dowser]

I probably have skinflinty ways as well!

[Unicorn81]

My dad always takes the newspapers from the coffee shop. The ones that they put out for customers to read while drinking coffee, hes quite obsesed about it!