Tight people and the things they do to save money
Discussion
Dog Star said:
Evoluzione said:
I don't know how you can re-use a cut cable tie. Go in with the sharp end of a blade, hold up the little locking ratchet tab and push the tie back through the block. Then you can re-use them. 
Nono - I simply cut the tie where it goes into the locking part; then you simply pull the "used" bit through and discard. You're left with a slightly shorter cable tie.Evoluzione said:
I've been doing my garden lately and went round to get some compost as I know they've got a huge heap of it and at over 70 and a bit frail he's unlikely to use much, "don't take any more!" he warned me when i'd filled a couple of bags.
Yeah Dad, you don't give s
t away!
My dad is the same. Yeah Dad, you don't give s
t away!They don't have a wood fire. Last year they had 8 big (think 100') trees cut down, and a lot of building work. They have kept the wood. There are logs and lumber and other wood stacked around the garden - I am talking TONS of the stuff, logs great for burning, quite a lot of stuff suitable for DIY. It's all there getting wet and ruined. Massive piles of it.
He won't give me a stick of it. Not a splinter.
When I was a boy I used to know a family who would rarely heat the house, and ate as cheap as possible - bulk buying cabbage and potatoes and having them for most meals, for example, yet they ran three cars (for two drivers), with private plates.
However, before the PH 'right on' reaction, these were two Micras and a Corolla. The plates - well A2, A3 and A4 with the first three letters of their surmame. 'Why not start with A1?' I hear you ask. Well - A1 was more expensive!
Odd family.
However, before the PH 'right on' reaction, these were two Micras and a Corolla. The plates - well A2, A3 and A4 with the first three letters of their surmame. 'Why not start with A1?' I hear you ask. Well - A1 was more expensive!
Odd family.
Nickbrapp said:
What's the point in scrimping all though life foregoing doing anything you want to do to save for
Retirement, then retiring and being too old to do anything you wanted to do?!
You are right, I've got this all wrong. I'm not going to make my own sandwiches or drink instant coffee. I'm going to go to Pret every day and buy 5 starbucks coffees. Then I will REALLY be living.Retirement, then retiring and being too old to do anything you wanted to do?!
Edited by NerveAgent on Friday 6th March 12:48
red_slr said:
MitchT said:
Remember, most people are only as tight as their employers force them to be.
No chance. I know plenty of well off people who are seriously tight with money.
RobinOakapple said:
I once worked for a guy who was thinking of getting his widowed mother a new SUV. Well, not actually new, because of the depreciation on the new ones. Nothing wrong with that, you might say, until you knew how rich this guy is. More than half way up the Sunday Times Rich List.
How do you think he got there? No one who is self made and wealthy throws money away just because they can.
I don’t have a problem with people reducing their outgoings sensibly – I take my lunch to work whenever I can be bothered, despite not 'needing' to financially, because paying £5+ everyday soon adds up.
What I hate is people doing stupid things like the guy mentioned above who switches his Caps Lock button off so the light goes out. Or people who don’t buy their round of drinks, or request unevenly split bills because they ate less. Those people are justs.
What I hate is people doing stupid things like the guy mentioned above who switches his Caps Lock button off so the light goes out. Or people who don’t buy their round of drinks, or request unevenly split bills because they ate less. Those people are just
s.
My gran drive my mum mad, she hoards old crap, she lives on her own yet has 12 sets of bedding and six dinner services, everything gets double wrapped and put away, with string to tie it up.
My grandad was the same, he loved a bargain, they were very frugal and careful having lived through war, old habits die hard.
We always thought that though they owned their own house that they lived on there pension, always felt kind of bad when they bought us a present at Christmas, my mum made guilty, made me feel like they were the Indian villagers in Indiana Jones "That is more Quality Street than these people see in a month".
Anyway, my grandad died and after a year or so she had to move nearer us all in sth mnachester, long story short, money was leant by my parents/aunt to buy the new house whilst the old one was for sale, my grand paid the rest from a surprising amount of cash saved, anyway, the new house needed gutting, so thousands spent, again, amazed at the amounts considering we thought they were living hand to mouth.
Anyway, my gran gets a letter and gives it to my mum it said "Dear Mrs ******, you currently have a product which is no longer offered, you will need to visit a branch to discuss what to do with your funds, if we do not hear, do not worry, we will just put the money in a standard savings account, 0.0000001 APR Variable" or something.
My mum says, oh let them do that, it cant be much, my grandma says "no its a substantial sum", and my mum says, how much, thinking a couple of grand and my gran sayd "About eighty odd", my mum nearly fell over or swung for her, they had raided their savings to loan her the moment and she had most of it sat there all along
Got to love her style !
My grandad was the same, he loved a bargain, they were very frugal and careful having lived through war, old habits die hard.
We always thought that though they owned their own house that they lived on there pension, always felt kind of bad when they bought us a present at Christmas, my mum made guilty, made me feel like they were the Indian villagers in Indiana Jones "That is more Quality Street than these people see in a month".
Anyway, my grandad died and after a year or so she had to move nearer us all in sth mnachester, long story short, money was leant by my parents/aunt to buy the new house whilst the old one was for sale, my grand paid the rest from a surprising amount of cash saved, anyway, the new house needed gutting, so thousands spent, again, amazed at the amounts considering we thought they were living hand to mouth.
Anyway, my gran gets a letter and gives it to my mum it said "Dear Mrs ******, you currently have a product which is no longer offered, you will need to visit a branch to discuss what to do with your funds, if we do not hear, do not worry, we will just put the money in a standard savings account, 0.0000001 APR Variable" or something.
My mum says, oh let them do that, it cant be much, my grandma says "no its a substantial sum", and my mum says, how much, thinking a couple of grand and my gran sayd "About eighty odd", my mum nearly fell over or swung for her, they had raided their savings to loan her the moment and she had most of it sat there all along
Got to love her style !
5potTurbo said:
When your parent(s) are out or away, rent a truck, go around and take the lot! I can't believe parents would be so tight and then not have a use for any of it. My Dad would rather go hungry or have worked 40 hours O/T in a week than for any of his sons to have gone without anything, and I'm the same for my daughters.
A truck to take the lot? No chance - you'd not even put a dent in it.You are correct - they have no use for it whatsoever, not only that but it would need shifting under cover, cutting and splitting etc and my dad is no longer in a fit state to do that. It's just there stacked round the house making a right mess.
My dad was always the best, but over the last few years he seems to have got very angry and bitter and you'd think I was the biggest failure and disappointment you'd ever known. It's just digs and jibes all the time, the other day he was having a right old laugh about the fact that in a few years time I'll be 50 and will probably have arthritis or something. Despite a point and crash free history I'm also not to be trusted with vehicles - they've got a Yaris diesel and I am not allowed near it (despite the fact that they've successfully covered it in dings and scrapes all by themselves) because if I drove it I would (and I quote" "rev the engine and I have a 'race drivers mentality'". A couple of years ago I had a perfect storm of bills - car tax, car insurance, VAT bill and a large corporation tax bill. I was about a grand short. Foolishly I rang my parents and asked if I could borrow the money til the end of the following week. Answer: a flat "no". He's got three new cement mixers which will never get used. I had to buy my own as he wouldn't lend me one as I'd get it dirty.
I could go on, but it's all a bit disheartening really.
Where I used to work there were two office buildings next to each other each with a car park and a guy I used to work with always parked in the first car park even though he worked in the second office. He reckoned it saved him £5 a year in petrol. I asked him how much more often he had to replace his shoes due to the extra walking but he couldn't answer...
A few years ago six of us went in two cars to Le Mans. My friend’s car was a company car so thanks to his fuel card his fuel bill for the trip was minimal. I didn’t have that luxury, so my passengers offered to split the cost of the fuel, as did the driver and the passengers of the other car once we were back in the UK.
This didn’t please one of the passengers- he’d only gone in the company car (with two heavy smokers) because he thought he’d get out of paying for the fuel…
This didn’t please one of the passengers- he’d only gone in the company car (with two heavy smokers) because he thought he’d get out of paying for the fuel…
NerveAgent said:
Nickbrapp said:
What's the point in scrimping all though life foregoing doing anything you want to do to save for
Retirement, then retiring and being too old to do anything you wanted to do?!
You are right, I've got this all wrong. I'm not going to make my own sandwiches or drink instant coffee. I'm going to go to Pret every day and buy 5 starbucks coffees. Then I will REALLY be living.Retirement, then retiring and being too old to do anything you wanted to do?!
Edited by fido on Friday 6th March 14:23
Friday lunchtimes many years ago, the management team used to go down the pub for lunchtime drinks. Occasionally mere mortals would get invited. All the management were loaded, but this one chap, if ever he was leading the pack down to the pub, would always stop and tie his shoe laces outside the door, thus making sure he was the last one in and avoiding buying a round.
He built his own house on a large patch of land recently....
He built his own house on a large patch of land recently....
One of my best Mate's in very careful, I wouldn't call him tight because he loves to spend money - but never waste it.
He's been working for the same firm since leaving school - he's not dull, far from, but he's not academic either. They build stands for Trade Shows, Car Shows and whatever else people want to show - it take him all around Europe and can means weeks away from home, the boss can't be bothered arranging accommodation for them so he gives him traveling money - literarily cash depending on where they're staying - it'll pay for Travelodge style digs, a meal in a pub and 2-3 pints - but he has an also encyclopaedic knowledge of cheap working B&Bs and will spend almost nothing on himself when he's away - where as most people can easily burn through £10-£20 'walking around money' he's saving that much. His house is usually freezing but he's used to it, he eats well, but cheaply - he's Aldi's biggest fan but only buys ingredients now pre-made things, he doesn't own a car, he's had a few but can't stand paying for them so 90% of the time when he drives,he drives the works Van for free - but mostly he cycles.
It sounds like a boring life to me, but he works with a good group of lads and it's meant that despite leaving school at 16, not being very academic and doing a job he describes himself as "at best foreman, but really I'm a labourer who drives the truck" he's travelled the world, not working but when he was younger he'd take pretty much all of Dec and Jan off work when they were quiet anyway and backpack around Oz, New Zealand, Asia, he bought his own house about 10 years ago and despite a messy divorce and a long period of negative equity which made his mortgage very expensive he owns about 75% of it now, and has almost enough cash to clear it and he's only 36.
He's been working for the same firm since leaving school - he's not dull, far from, but he's not academic either. They build stands for Trade Shows, Car Shows and whatever else people want to show - it take him all around Europe and can means weeks away from home, the boss can't be bothered arranging accommodation for them so he gives him traveling money - literarily cash depending on where they're staying - it'll pay for Travelodge style digs, a meal in a pub and 2-3 pints - but he has an also encyclopaedic knowledge of cheap working B&Bs and will spend almost nothing on himself when he's away - where as most people can easily burn through £10-£20 'walking around money' he's saving that much. His house is usually freezing but he's used to it, he eats well, but cheaply - he's Aldi's biggest fan but only buys ingredients now pre-made things, he doesn't own a car, he's had a few but can't stand paying for them so 90% of the time when he drives,he drives the works Van for free - but mostly he cycles.
It sounds like a boring life to me, but he works with a good group of lads and it's meant that despite leaving school at 16, not being very academic and doing a job he describes himself as "at best foreman, but really I'm a labourer who drives the truck" he's travelled the world, not working but when he was younger he'd take pretty much all of Dec and Jan off work when they were quiet anyway and backpack around Oz, New Zealand, Asia, he bought his own house about 10 years ago and despite a messy divorce and a long period of negative equity which made his mortgage very expensive he owns about 75% of it now, and has almost enough cash to clear it and he's only 36.
NinjaPower said:
DUMBO100 said:
I wear my "Daily" disposable contact lenses for at least 14 days. I like to make sure that they've actually worn out before I replace them.
I really hope that was just a joke...Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff