The Cheapest Person I Know

[optom3]

I reuse xmas and birthday gift bags,I just note who gave them so I don't give them back. They are stupidly expensive.Ditto ribbons, bows etc. Recently I have started to freeze stale bread to use later for bread crumbs.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I've never done that with bread, Jeff...I usually stick it in the freezer as its expiration date approaches.  But I have done it with cheeses.  I mean, mold is mold, after all.

 

I don't freeze it, I just put it in the refrigerator. But sometimes mold sneaks up on you. ... 

[Katie77]

OH meanness people being thrifty is so funny, when you read about it.

I dont know if you do over there, but we use the term "tight" when we refer to someone who is thrifty or mean with their money. And when speaking about them, we say they are "tight as a fish's arsehole".

The thriftiest story I ever heard, was about my friend's mother in law. A stay at home mother for 40 years, never earned her own income, raised a family of five children on the housekeeping allowance from her husband's wages, which was in the middle income bracket.

They turn 60, and are working out their finances for retirement, when the wife comes out with a bank account where she has been saving her pennies for the past 40 years, un beknown to her husband. She had a nice little nest egg of $150,000...I kid you not, this is a true story. She is Scottish, so that might have something to do with her "thrift".

[Katie77]

We had a bloke stay at our house one time, to house sit while we went away for a week. I told him he could use my car while we were away.

The car had a full tank of petrol when we left, which usually lasts me a two or three weeks running in and out to town.

When we got home, the tank was bone dry, and then the "friend" house sitter told me he had had to put $20 worth in it as well, and asked me for the bloody $20. When I questioned him, as my car runs on the smell of an oily rag, he informed me that he had gone to visit friends some 150 miles away for the weekend, while he was supposed to be house sitting our place...

Told him in no uncertain terms to "piss off"......

[David In Indy]

I reuse xmas and birthday gift bags,I just note who gave them so I don't give them back. They are stupidly expensive.Ditto ribbons, bows etc. Recently I have started to freeze stale bread to use later for bread crumbs.

My Mother always told me never to throw away bread or one day I'd surely go hungry. I realize that is probably just a superstition but I took it to heart anyway. I will throw any stale or unused bread outside for the animals. I also throw the scraps of meat or fat, vegetables, and any other scraps outside for the animals. I figure it is much better to give it to them than to throw it in the garbage.

Fiona, I always save the bows and gift bags too. I also save the shirt boxes. They come in handy not only for gifts of clothes but also for wrapping any oddly shaped items. The two top shelves of the cupboard in the den is stacked full of different sizes and shapes of boxes. They often come in very handy.

[David In Indy]

We had a bloke stay at our house one time, to house sit while we went away for a week. I told him he could use my car while we were away.

The car had a full tank of petrol when we left, which usually lasts me a two or three weeks running in and out to town.

When we got home, the tank was bone dry, and then the "friend" house sitter told me he had had to put $20 worth in it as well, and asked me for the bloody $20. When I questioned him, as my car runs on the smell of an oily rag, he informed me that he had gone to visit friends some 150 miles away for the weekend, while he was supposed to be house sitting our place...

Told him in no uncertain terms to "piss off"......

Boy, he had a hell of a nerve Sue! That sounds like the shit my sister would try to pull.

[Kelda]

I'm so cheap that rather than "waste" a slice of bread that has an area of mold on it, I'll cut the mold away and eat the rest of the bread. ...

Honest! 

I do that sometimes - but only cos I'm a) hungry and b) to lazy to walk to the shops to get another loaf of bread right then and there!

[Kelda]

They turn 60, and are working out their finances for retirement, when the wife comes out with a bank account where she has been saving her pennies for the past 40 years, un beknown to her husband. She had a nice little nest egg of $150,000...I kid you not, this is a true story. She is Scottish, so that might have something to do with her "thrift".

  MISS SUE!!! 

Honestly, I've always found it odd, why  the call all Scots so mean with their money.. I've never seen it myself.. in fact - while I am mean with my money a lot of the time - I'd say the majority of Scots are the total opposite.

[Katie77]

My Mother always told me never to throw away bread or one day I'd surely go hungry. I realize that is probably just a superstition but I took it to heart anyway. I will throw any stale or unused bread outside for the animals. I also throw the scraps of meat or fat, vegetables, and any other scraps outside for the animals. I figure it is much better to give it to them than to throw it in the garbage.

Fiona, I always save the bows and gift bags too. I also save the shirt boxes. They come in handy not only for gifts of clothes but also for wrapping any oddly shaped items. The two top shelves of the cupboard in the den is stacked full of different sizes and shapes of boxes. They often come in very handy.

I would never eat anything that had the slightest amount of mould on it or near it. Just because you cannot see the green colour, doesn't mean that the mould is not there.

I'm like you David, all our scraps and bread go out for the wild birds and animals.

And I have to admit, I am a collector of boxes too. I must say, though, I collect more than I re-use but I cant throw a perfectly good clean shoe box away.

[Katie77]

MISS SUE!!! 

Honestly, I've always found it odd, why  the call all Scots so mean with their money.. I've never seen it myself.. in fact - while I am mean with my money a lot of the time - I'd say the majority of Scots are the total opposite.

My apologies Miss Kelda, I must admit, when I wrote that, I thought of you, and hoped I would not offend.

Yeah, I would be interested to know too, how Scots got that reputation as well.

If anyone knows, please tell.