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 reuse wrapping paper. Seems a shame to throw it away.

Not about money but DP will insist on cutting up his dinner in the kitchen so he only has to eat with a fork .... to save on the washing up.

It's a knife!! I laugh at him every single time he says this. And also point out that 9/10 I do the sodding dishes anyway.

A bloody knife. Well that's four gallons of hot water and half an hour saved eh? :o

When my friend and I were in our early 20's we used to gatecrash private functions in the upstairs room at our local pub and help ourselves to the buffet .......... it was a long time before I realised this was dishonest rather than 'cheeky'. Likewise nicking the loo roll - from work/pub etc.

When I was a student I lived on the same street as the train station for our town. We used to go in regularly and steal the toilet roll from the toilets on the platforms because they were massive and then cart them back to our student house. We saved a fortune in loo roll!

I asked my mother for a cotton bud, she gave me a used yellow one.

Pirate - what does he use to cut up his dinner in the kitchen then?

The light bulb stories though shock surely it must be burning hot if you try to remove it.

Gone as in the bulb has blown not physically gone.

I have known my PiLs for more than 15 years. They have a piece of foil (I think it maybe started life as the tray from a quiche) that they have been using since I first met them. The thought of the grease that has built up in its creases makes my stomach churn, but I guess we have all survived.

My ex from about 20 years ago would never use his windscreen wipers when it was pouring it down because he didn't want to wear them.out & have to buy new ones!! He'd drive with rain running down the windscreen, struggling to see but never switched them on.

for I think someone did post about knowing someone who had one bulb and moved it around - I could imagine someone doing that.

swirl what do they do with it? We try and reuse foil on holiday for picnics as we have a limited supply, but I only get a couple of times out of it as it tends to go very crinkly and creased and then just rips. I have learnt though and after goodness how many years I will just take a longer one this year.

My Mum and Dad recycle cards to each other. Instead of picking one from the shop they will pick one from the little supply in the cupboard and send it again. The sentiment is the same in the card.

Fantastic thread

Why are coupons not a thing anymore?

I love this thread. I often look at Mean Queen's blog and she does a lot of what's listed here. She's been mortgage free for a number of years, retired at 60.

I think the stalk is the best part of broccoli misses the point of the thread

I had a friend at school who returned a pack of hair grips because the pack said it contained approx. 100. There were 98.

PIL refused to come to DD's 3rd birthday lunch on Sunday. They had googled and didn't want to spend £5 each on the lunch menu.

We were paying, I wouldn't invite someone for lunch then expect them to pay.

Not stopping them going on a £7000 week holiday in a villa in Spain with SIL and DN in a few weeks though.....

I was also told off for not reusing a teabag at breakfast as they told us they weren't coming for lunch.

Tight fuckers.

As for tights, I used to wear them daily at work. If I laddered or damaged a pair, I'd cut out that leg and keep the body and "good" leg. Then when I had a pair of "half" tights, I'd put them on, one over the other, so I would be wearing 2 body sections and 2 separate legs. It basically means your tights last twice as long!

That is just bonkers!

Elderly relatives used to watch lottery results on TV and work out how much they'd saved by not buying a ticket for their chosen jackpot numbers!!! We never heard if they'd missed out on a fortune ....

Some of these read like Viz Top Tips!

The tights one is like something from Viz.

"I am shock at the fridge being turned off! Don't they lose on the thrown away gone-off food what they gain on the electricity?!"

I suppose that in the winter you could keep food cool in a bag outside or in the garage.

Peeling the free coffee stickers from the McDonald's cups and actually using them for a free coffee.

When a relative of mine went on a water meter, he re-did the pipe work to his kitchen sink. He had worked out that by shortening the route from his water tank, he would waste less water before the hot water reached the tap!

He also removed his bath because when his partner stays over twice a month, they had the audacity to use the bath rather than the shower! Apparently, two baths a month was really costing him money.

He also calculates the amount of fuel different routes should take at different speeds, and plans his journeys for the cheapest routes and times!

I don't have any to add here. Just checking in.

I use water from hot water bottles to let a bowl soak in-its not really for the money,more it just seems wasteful to pour it down the sink

My mother reuses gift bags from presents

Overall,we don't seem to be as stingy as I thought