Tight people and the things they do to save money

[Ari]

Right.

There's a bloke I know who spends his life going through the bins behind Sainsburys for food. He sleeps on a park bench and he begs for money in the high street.

And yet he owns Sweden, Norway, most of Australia, and all of the Arctic.

He owns Buckingham Palace too, and rents it back to the Queen (not many people know that, a bloke down the pub who's a retired member of the SAS (second on 'the balcony') told me).

He's got seven Bugatti Veyrons, a different colour one for every day of the week but he never drives them, except to car dealerships that he's been in that wouldn't sell him a car, just to piss them off.

And he owns P&O ferries, right, yet he swims across the channel to go on holiday because he's too tight to buy a ticket, even though he qualifies for 10% staff discount!

It is, literally, unbelievable!


What do I win?

[DickyC]

Rick101 said:

I'm tight as owt but will spend money on things that are important to me. I account for every single penny I spend and have done so since 2008. Seeing it in black and white makes you realise how much is wasted on rubbish.

I am careful with what I spend...
Wouldn't let mrs buy a bottle of water from vending machine on hotel lobby (£1.50), told her to go up to room and have tapwater if she was that thirsty.
Use showers at gym in morning rather that putting hot water on at home.
Make the most of work facilities, printing, stationery, teabags etc
Regularly visit car boot sales and happy to have 2nd hand stuff, tools, books etc.

But

Have 3 nice cars in the household
Eat very well, home and away
Plenty of trips away/holidays
Kids don't go without
Few nice toys, Lotus, Hi-Fi, BBQ gear, decent AV setup etc.


I makes me cringe when I see colleagues coming up from shop with about a tenners worth of food, snacks, pop etc every single day. Hundreds of pounds a month but then they tell me they can't afford to put anything into a pension.

You're getting away from the OP's question, Rick. What you're saying is horses for courses.

Tell us about tight people and the things they do to save money.

[surveyor]

On one of our visits to the outlaws, my Mother In Law was stamping around the house in a fury....

The reason?

There was a problem with the boiler not delivering hot water. The plumber was looking at the boiler and needed to run the water to help diagnose. All I could hear was muttering about the wasted water.

I thought it not a good idea to ask whether the sprinkler was a good use of water, nor whether she really wanted her hot water back?

[markcoznottz]

NerveAgent said:

Its funny isn't it, there seems to be a lot of people who can't comprehend why there are wealthy people who are careful with money. The simple fact is that a lot of these wealthy people are wealthy BECAUSE they are careful with money.

The same people also question what is the point in being wealthy if you don't splash the cash, another simple answer. Freedom. You can't put a price on it. (and old habits die hard!)

Absolutely. It means you aren't beholden to a boss/employer for mortgage/rent etc, and you don't have to laugh at thier jokes....

[J4CKO]

I just tsee is as, save money on the stuff you have to do, so you have it to spend on stuff you want to.

[talkssense]

Otispunkmeyer said:

let the thing simmer in the pan for ages. Then just ladel it out later.

How much does that cost?

electric/gas
reduced lifespan of pan
reduced lifespan of cooker
hot water to do dishes
reduced lifespan of water boiler
wear and tear on dishcloth
use of washing up liquid

You haven't though this through have you?

I know a bloke who downloaded an app to replace the HOME button on his new iPad. Not because the home button didn't work, but because he had read they can wear out. It takes about three interactions with the touchscreen overbite he could just press the home button.

[shakotan]

Kermit power said:

I recently gave up diet Coke.

I didn't do this particularly to save money, but more because I read an article quoting a study which showed that caffeine doesn't actually make you more alert or awake, but just restores you to where you would've more or less been anyway if you didn't drink caffeine.

I can't stand tea or coffee, and I don't really like diet Coke either. I was only drinking it for the caffeine, so I thought I'd try this theory that I could just stop drinking it, and it's true. I feel just as awake as I ever did whilst I was drinking the stuff.

Three bottles a day, three days per week in the office, 47 weeks a year, £1.25 per bottle... Put the tax and NI back on, and that's the equivalent of a £900 payrise!!

Now, if I can just find three or four similar little things that add up like that...

The caffiene in Diet Coke is the least of your worries, have you researched Aspartame?

[MTech535]

Rick101 said:

I'm tight as owt but will spend money on things that are important to me. I account for every single penny I spend and have done so since 2008. Seeing it in black and white makes you realise how much is wasted on rubbish.

I am careful with what I spend...
Wouldn't let mrs buy a bottle of water from vending machine on hotel lobby (£1.50), told her to go up to room and have tapwater if she was that thirsty.
Use showers at gym in morning rather that putting hot water on at home.
Make the most of work facilities, printing, stationery, teabags etc
Regularly visit car boot sales and happy to have 2nd hand stuff, tools, books etc.

But

Have 3 nice cars in the household
Eat very well, home and away
Plenty of trips away/holidays
Kids don't go without
Few nice toys, Lotus, Hi-Fi, BBQ gear, decent AV setup etc.


I makes me cringe when I see colleagues coming up from shop with about a tenners worth of food, snacks, pop etc every single day. Hundreds of pounds a month but then they tell me they can't afford to put anything into a pension.

You save money on showers, but have a gym membership?

[Rick101]

I'd have it anyway, just now I make a point of training early and showering there rather than having an additional one at home.

Back on topic...I quite like this one actually. Chap invites friends round for takeaway, he's buying. Friends arrive and find chap getting takeaway out of freezer. It's was discounted the previous night so he bought it when it was cheaper and froze it

[Rick101]

MTech535 said:

You save money on showers, but have a gym membership?

You've made me go searching for the figures and actually I reckon there is not that much in it.

http://www.showerbob.co.uk/calculator reckons 44p per shower so say £9 odd but I don't think it accounts for running the 4 lights and extractor fan.
gym membership is £15.99.

Small potatoes but makes a bigger difference than you would first imagine.

[menguin]

BritishRacinGrin said:

I'm not tight, but...

I've a mate who has an iPhone with no mobile internet service at all because work provided a SIM for corporate use which has very little data allowance and is gone in a couple of days. He misses out on all manner of meals and nights out because he doesn't receive our invites on WhatsApp until he gets home and connects to his WiFi.

So send him an SMS, you tightwad

[Sump]

I've alway had the theory that instead of trying to keep on saving money just to make more.

[Troubleatmill]

I had a friend who serviced his own car.

When it came time to do the service - he would rent an identical car from Hertz/ Enterprise etc for a day.

Swap over all of the necessary bits.
eg Wiper blades, tyres, sometimes alloys, brake pads, disks, spark plugs, battery even, air filters.

All he had to do was get some oil and an oil filter

And job jobbed - car looked like new.

[Mike22233]

Rick101 said:

I'm tight as owt but will spend money on things that are important to me. I account for every single penny I spend and have done so since 2008. Seeing it in black and white makes you realise how much is wasted on rubbish.

I am careful with what I spend...
Wouldn't let mrs buy a bottle of water from vending machine on hotel lobby (£1.50), told her to go up to room and have tapwater if she was that thirsty.
Use showers at gym in morning rather that putting hot water on at home.
Make the most of work facilities, printing, stationery, teabags etc
Regularly visit car boot sales and happy to have 2nd hand stuff, tools, books etc.

But

Have 3 nice cars in the household
Eat very well, home and away
Plenty of trips away/holidays
Kids don't go without
Few nice toys, Lotus, Hi-Fi, BBQ gear, decent AV setup etc.


I makes me cringe when I see colleagues coming up from shop with about a tenners worth of food, snacks, pop etc every single day. Hundreds of pounds a month but then they tell me they can't afford to put anything into a pension.

I do shower at work half of the week and I also try to be careful but avoiding showering at home to save a couple of quid does not compute to me.
How much money do you think 200 showers costs?

[ian in lancs]

Troubleatmill said:

I had a friend who serviced his own car.

When it came time to do the service - he would rent an identical car from Hertz/ Enterprise etc for a day.

Swap over all of the necessary bits.
eg Wiper blades, tyres, sometimes alloys, brake pads, disks, spark plugs, battery even, air filters.

All he had to do was get some oil and an oil filter

And job jobbed - car looked like new.

bllx

[berlintaxi]

Rick101 said:

I'm tight as owt but will spend money on things that are important to me. I account for every single penny I spend and have done so since 2008. Seeing it in black and white makes you realise how much is wasted on rubbish.

I am careful with what I spend...
Wouldn't let mrs buy a bottle of water from vending machine on hotel lobby (£1.50), told her to go up to room and have tapwater if she was that thirsty.
Use showers at gym in morning rather that putting hot water on at home.
Make the most of work facilities, printing, stationery, teabags etc
Regularly visit car boot sales and happy to have 2nd hand stuff, tools, books etc.

Living the dream.

[seany87]

I thought I knew a couple of mingebags but fk me its appalling what some people will go to to save next to fk all.

I'm genuinely embarrassed for some of the people that have been mentioned on this thread.

I think I have a nice balance of tight/not tight, perhaps I'm slightly more on the not tight scale.
I've got a 4 year old iPhone that I have no need/plans to change, on a cheap sim only contract, my car that I service myself is from 2002 and does me fine, I very rarely go out and prefer house parties etc. But if my phone dies I'll go out and buy another one similar, my car wants for nothing and I always buy loads of booze for everyone at the house parties.

It boggles my mind that people have the time of day to compare things like toothpaste prices between shops to save 3p and that people are almost proud to announce they refuse to charge their phone up at home lest it waste another 2p. Its fking cringeworthy.

[Mike22233]

Also, not letting your Mrs get a 1quid 50 bottle of fking water?!?!?!!!?! You are serious!

[TonyRPH]

GTIAlex said:

Dont turn the lights on, use a headtorch with solar recharge batteries, left on charge while you go to work

For the ultimate tight arse - charged at work.

[Munter]

Mike22233 said:

I do shower at work half of the week and I also try to be careful but avoiding showering at home to save a couple of quid does not compute to me.
How much money do you think 200 showers costs?

I shower at work too.

...mind you I do work from home. That does save me a fortune in commuting costs, and lunch costs though.