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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:
HarrietKettleWasHere · 27/04/2017 00:03

That's right, Gwen, in the winter the potting shed becomes the fridge, everything just gets put out there in a big plastic box!

WinkyisbackontheButterBeer · 27/04/2017 00:10

Oh I always reuse gift bags. One of my lovely work friends always gives me birthday presents in the most beautiful gift bags. My mums birthday is 4 days later than mine so she often gets them with her gift in.

I didn't think that was stingy. Blush

DalaHorse · 27/04/2017 00:14

My dad drives around 20 miles out of his way to use a small diy shop which sells turps or a bag of screws or whatever (we are talking small items not large fences or power tools here) for 50p cheaper than the big chain diy store nearby.

Whereas its great that he's supporting independent business, that's not the reason he's doing it!

LordAnthony · 27/04/2017 00:28

I've known a friend for about 10 years and we've been to the pub with him at least twice a month in that time. He has never got a round in. He uses all kind of elaborate ruses to avoid buying drinks.

WankingMonkey · 27/04/2017 00:51

Placemarking so I can find again..Blush

MissBel12 · 27/04/2017 01:08

My mum re-uses kitchen towels. Like if she wipes up a spill (just water) in the kitchen, she'll let it dry out and use next time.

Cantseethewoods · 27/04/2017 01:31

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

OMG- give them my address. I have hundreds and end up dismantling them for recycling.

And yes to the broccoli stalks- eat them. They're really delicious. In Asia they're a dish in themselves, usually in stir fries.

RE. gift bags, I would think people were weird if they didnt re-use them- why wouldnt you?

This thread is funny but there are a few things where I've thought "yes, I should actually do that". As a society we are shockingly wasteful.

PyongyangKipperbang · 27/04/2017 01:35

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

I do that, why wouldnt you?!

I am drinking the coffee anyway, it is no effort to peel off the stickers and put it on the little card and their coffee is a lot cheaper than the Costa/Starbucks equivalent!

However, I had better no mention the other thing I do with the free coffee thing at McD's lest I get accused of heaven knows what!

NightWanderer · 27/04/2017 02:42

A friend of mine used to steal food bags from the fruit and veg section at the supermarket to use for her dog's poo. You can buy boxes of them at the pound shop. I reuse the used ones for the kitty litter, but I was embarrassed when she started pulling loads off the roll and stuffing them in her pocket.

NightWanderer · 27/04/2017 02:47

Ps. It's interesting that doing the washing up in cold water isn't a "thing" then. I was really shocked that she considered using warm water to do the dishes in winter a treat. I mean, how much money does it really save? There's being frugal and being a bit of a martyr.

PyongyangKipperbang · 27/04/2017 02:58

Night Mum says that she can tell the dog owners in Sainsburys as they are the ones wrapping 2 apples in 18 bags! She blames the likes of them every time the price of something goes up, and I have to say that she has a point.

The water thing, I think its because some people just cannot bear to do anything that costs. It doesnt matter that heating a bowl of washing up water would cost fractions of pennies, but that it costs anything at all. Thats when it is obsession rather than being frugal.

If you ask these people what their plans are for the money they often have stashed away, they cant understand the question. It isnt there for spending, its for having. I saw a program where there was a man like this and you could see that he was genuinely perplexed by the idea he might spend any of his vast savings, he kept saying that his "being careful" meant that he would never have to spend it. The interviewer asked what his saving were for then, and he couldnt answer other than he didnt need to spend them. It was quite sad really especially when you think that a large portion of them will go straight into taxes when he passes, assuming he has someone to leave them to and if he doesnt then they all go to the government. Such a waste.

lavenirestanous · 27/04/2017 03:22

Some acquaintances of ours take splitting the cost of everything to ludicrous levels - I was amused and horrified when she harangued him for the 18p he owed her for something. They're very comfortably off too, both work full time, no kids by choice and have a couple of rental properties. I dread to think what kind of landlords they are.

DimplesToadfoot · 27/04/2017 04:24

I love the people that cut off the ends of the broccoli stalks, my local supermarket lets me have them for free, my rabbits and guinea pigs thank you, they prefer the stalks to the florets, I have no problem buying the whole thing and they never go without but free is always good so keep chopping the ends off please

I have remote controls on my plug sockets, a few clicks and everything is off on a night, when I first bought them it halved my electric bill, I think everyone should have them and I wouldn't call it being miserly

every now and then a friends internet gets cut off as she hasn't paid the bill on time, she has a bus stop right outside her house, the bus does a loop of her estate so she'll get on the bus, she has a free pass, logs onto the bus internet, check her emails, fb etc and then jumps off the bus outside her house 5 minutes later ..

Patienceisvirtuous · 27/04/2017 05:27

Lol at this thread - it's amazing.

I used to sit next to a colleague who was so miserly - she led a pretty miserable existence! She used the same cheap, disposable rusty razor to shave her legs and refused to buy moisturiser (had got her weekly supermarket shop down to £23 which included cleaning products and toiletries) so was always scratching at her dry, flaky legs!

She would make a vat of soup from and eat it all week for lunch and dinner. No variation.

She would charge everything at work and save going to the loo for work too.

I am literally the complete opposite which isn't ideal either. I do reuse gift bags though!

StealthPolarBear · 27/04/2017 05:40

"
However, I had better no mention the other thing I do with the free coffee thing at McD's lest I get accused of heaven knows what!"
Oh please do :o

user1491572121 · 27/04/2017 05:51

I'm in Oz so saving water is pretty much par for the course here. We have a massive water butt and we divert the water that's drained from the washing machine out to the garden to water the plants.

We keep all jars to make our own jam from the trees outside. We've also discovered an area close to us where there were once some old cottages...the cottages were knocked down years ago but all the lovely fruit trees are still there!

We collect this fruit...it's probably someone's land but it's not fenced off and year in year out that fruit is left to the birds.

LightYears · 27/04/2017 06:51

I think the shops stopped doing the vouchers because of cost cutting and hassle for them. They'd have to mess about claiming the cost back from all the individual companies, I bet they didn't bother most of the time. Tesco have stopped doing their double up points scheme too, well in store anyway. Sad

I like the broccoli stalks best too.

hellybellyjellybean · 27/04/2017 06:52

with close family and friends my mum will get us and them to return the tags off Christmas presents to her so she can use them the following year. These originally were made from cut up pieces of old Christmas cards

barefoofdoctor · 27/04/2017 07:04

DM uses 4 sheets of loo roll for a poo, 2 for a wee and reuses lightly used kitchen towel. Goodness knows why as she has plenty of money and happy to splash the cash in other areas! A friends' Grandparents used to splice lard with butter and ask if she wanted some fat on the toast boak. She now has a complete butter type products phobia.

Oh and she also waters down the last remains of liquid soap (rendering it useless) and shampoo, leaving you with a freezing cold puddle of uselessness while leading you to believe there was shampoo left in the bottle and thus not buying a new one...

Housewife2010 · 27/04/2017 07:13

A friend once refused to let me have a quick shower after I'd stayed over at her house because she has a water meter. She used to have showers at her parents every couple of days to save money.

Eatingcheeseontoast · 27/04/2017 07:29

I re use gift bags, why would you throw them away? . Seems really wasteful!

V common with our friends to find the same bags turning up at the next birthday .

I save jam jars for home made jam and endlessly reuse takeaway cartons for freezer etc.

And I reuse plastic bags if they've had something fairly innocuous in them.

To do otherwise seems wasteful and bad for the environment.

FurryLittleTwerp · 27/04/2017 07:30

My PILs switch things of when they go out of the room, & switch the boiler off when they go out.

If they are out with guests, they nip back first to put the boiler on before everyone gets back.

They never have lights on their Christmas tree it looks sad & pathetic & keep switching them off at our house.

I must admit their main concern is preventing things blowing up or catching fire Hmm but they like to save money too!

FurryLittleTwerp · 27/04/2017 07:31

*off not of

redshoeblueshoe · 27/04/2017 08:06

furry - they switch the light off your tree Shock
I'm guessing the Macci D coffee cups thing is taking the stickers off cups that other people have left.
Housewife - I had a friend who wouldn't let me have a bath when I stayed for a week I'm sure she probably timed me as well
One mad thing I do is save the mesh bag from fruit, then when I've made something like bolognaise I use the bag to scrub the pan, then chuck it Blush Grin

Gwenhwyfar · 27/04/2017 08:12

"I re use gift bags, why would you throw them away? . Seems really wasteful! "

I don't have enough space to keep things for years just in case I might re-use it. The 'just in case' mentality is where hoarding begins.