TIGHTARSE

[Blue Jam]

Reading the Compulsive and Pathological Liars thread I couldn't help but notice that a lot of pathological liars seem to lie compulsively when it comes to money. In some cases you'll get a fur-coat-no-knickers type lying to make people think they have more money than they have, but in many more people will pretend they have less so as to avoid spending it, or so they can spend other people's, from not buying rounds in pubs to buying cheap presents and shamelessly ripping off friends and relatives. My own family all seem utterly obsessed with money, some with flaunting it but most with trying not to spend it. Who's the most tightarsed* git you've ever had the misfortune to encounter?

^{*I mean that in the metaphorical sense of course but I'm not going to spoil the fun for the taggers. Or indeed Your Mum.}

[Subtle Mocking]

Well, when I was a kid I went to get a refund for a book that I bought at a charity fair, and I asked for my 1p back.

[Too Many Cochranes]

What is it that you disapprove of? People saying they've got loads or people being frugal and penny pinching?

[Blue Jam]

TMC- I'm not passing judgement (alright, I am a bit), I'd just been thinking about what a bunch of tightwads most of my family are and could do with some amusing anecdotes to make me feel less Daily Mailed-up.

Plus reading the comments on this article didn't help. Oh Yahoo News, why do I do this to myself? At least the comments here are less racist, homophobic and misogynistic than usual but really, who the fuck haggles in charity shops?

[biggytitbo]

I'm enjoying 'superscrimpers' on Channel 4 where various people offer their amazing thrifty tips, like spending 5 hours making your own lip balm to save 7p, which is obviously time well spent or using old pairs of pants as dusters even though real dusters only cost about 12p each from Wilkos and have the advantage of not being old knickers.


I'm sure 50% of the tips involve lemon juice or beeswax too. Lemons aren't even that cheap and neither is beeswax.

[Blue Jam]

Biggy, my mum was full of little false economies, her favourite was buying shoes that were too small and putting them on a shoe stretcher, because she found it difficult buying shoes in her size (eight) in sales and didn't like to pay full price for anything. When I was clearing out the house after she died I must have found at least ten pairs of shoes on stretchers, all unworn because it's impossible to stretch a shoe by one or two entire sizes. She would have saved more money by paying full price for shoes that fitted and by not buying shoe stretchers.

Another really depressing one was the time I was about six and saw a pretty jewellery box for £1 in a car boot sale- my mum said I wasn't allowed to buy it, and later I got really upset when I saw it had gone and someone else must have bought it. Guess what I got for christmas that year... even at that age I was stunned that someone could be that willing to upset their child to save a pound.

Arrrghh, I was hoping for some funny stories here... anyway, you're right Biggy, lemons aren't at all cheap these days. The bottle of kitchen cleaner spray I have here cost me about £1.20, for that I'd struggle to buy four lemons and I still wouldn't be able to fill an entire bottle with their juice, or clean very much of the kitchen with it. And the cleaner was from Waitrose.

Five hours making lip balm, for a return of 7p? Even Workfare pays more than that for less effort.

[biggytitbo]

Yes, make your own bathcubes by adding together a fairly mind boggling array of ingredients, much of which can only be bought from the internet or specialist shops and spend hours mixing them together.


Fair play if you enjoy the craft of doing that, but the idea it saves money is silly.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Penny pinchers have always been a big pet peeve of mine. One of my friend's parents are incredibly tight, and one night offered a friend a Metro ticket which they were going to throw out.. in return for 50p. I would have refused and said I'd just pay full fare, on general principle. They're devout Christians too, go figure.

[BlodwynPig]

Arrrghh, I was hoping for some funny stories here...

Little Joe saved up the paltry loose change he had after paying his rent and buying the 6 pack of super saver beans that constituted his diet for the week (Sunday he went hungry). After 13 years, he had accumulated a mere £145.46. On the way to the bookies, he was hit by a pig transporter. There is no memorial at the site.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Another really depressing one was the time I was about six and saw a pretty jewellery box for £1 in a car boot sale- my mum said I wasn't allowed to buy it, and later I got really upset when I saw it had gone and someone else must have bought it. Guess what I got for christmas that year... even at that age I was stunned that someone could be that willing to upset their child to save a pound.

Arrrghh, I was hoping for some funny stories here...

To be fair, that is pretty funny...

[Tiny Poster]

I've just remembered that in the early 90s, my parents stopped having a newspaper delivered (the Mirror) because we were finally getting a TV - with Teletext. Not Fasttext though, they wouldn't splash out for that luxury for another 5 years.

[shiftwork2]

I've just remembered that in the early 90s, my parents stopped having a newspaper delivered (the Mirror) because we were finally getting a TV - with Teletext. Not Fasttext though, they wouldn't splash out for that luxury for another 5 years.

I'd peg that as sensible and ahead of the curve.  I bought a paper each day until 6 or 7 years ago when the net started to meet all of my news needs.  If I 'took' that newspaper again today I'd pay £32 per month, more than the cost of my broadband connection.

[biggytitbo]

What about those bell-wiffs who buy all their Christmas stuff for next Christmas in the January sales? Arseholes.

[shiftwork2]

That they're more SMARTARSE than TIGHTARSE?  You have to shop for that stuff at some point.  Do it in January, store it in the loft along with your decorations, save £30 and a trip to the shops during the Christmas rush.

[Too Many Cochranes]

After reading back through this thread it's reminded me of my (now deceased) Grandma. In particular the bit about using old pants as dusters. My Grandma used her old knickers as dish cloths and even in the mid-eighties this was a bit of a running joke between myself, my sister, my mam and Granda.  She would bleach the hell out of them once they were no longer of use as knickers so it's not like they had any skidmarks or anything on them. If anything they were more bleached white than they'd ever been. Still, she used them to wash the dishes and wipe the windows.

My Granda (also now gone) used to tell a story of how they once walked around The Store (vintage North Eastern for The Co-Op) and after filling up a basket she noticed that the can of corned beef she'd just picked up was 2p cheaper up the road, so she made my Granda walk all the way back around the aisles and put everything back. He said it was one of the most embarrassing experiences of his life.You wouldn't just plonk your stuff down in the aisle in those days and storm out: retrace your steps and put everything back to preserve your dignity.

Still, her and my Granda were right plonkies and just about every night the pair of them would be getting merry on a bottle of Teachers whisky, so I'm not sure if it was tightness or just extreme frugality.

[madhair60]

who the fuck haggles in charity shops?

http://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=28630.msg1489191#msg1489191

[Replies From View]

Could buy a lot with two pennies in the olden days.

[Inaniloquent]

My mum (who isn't poor nor senile) demands big brand names for Christmas (she gets angry if she's never heard of the brand, it has to be something she can gauge the cost of), but gets us a smattering of things from the homewares aisle of B&M Bargains (coasters with cats on, egg poacher) and Aldi chocolate. Good on her for being frugal, I guess. (She asks me for a list each year and hilariously ignores it.)

[momatt]

My mum (who isn't poor nor senile) demands big brand names for Christmas (she gets angry if she's never heard of the brand, it has to be something she can gauge the cost of), but gets us a smattering of things from the homewares aisle of B&M Bargains (coasters with cats on, egg poacher) and Aldi chocolate.

Though the double-standards must be irritating, Aldi chocolate is pretty damned great.