People Are Sharing The Strangest Habit Of The Cheapest Person They Know, And It's Over The Top
Is it expensive to be alive right now? Obviously, yes. But that doesn't necessarily mean that every money-saving move is a win. Sometimes, overly-cheap behavior can push people away, and penny-pinchers may also be depriving themselves unnecessarily and making their lives less enjoyable.
Recently, u/jray1126 asked people on Reddit to share something that the cheapest person they know does, and the comments ranged from some fairly smart habits, like cutting open a tube of toothpaste to get every last bit, to time-consuming and frankly just rude behavior that seems not very worth it just to save a couple bucks. Here are some of the top responses:
1."My sister invited me over to dinner and didn’t put any sauce on the pasta she served me. When I asked if I could have some sauce, she said she thought it was a waste of money to use sauce on pasta."
"She also owns a condo that she rents out as an Airbnb and advertised free Hulu and Netflix. She didn’t want to shell out the extra $7 a month to share her streaming service account, and when one of her renters mentioned that every time they went to watch Hulu it said that she was watching, she called them a pain in the ass. I had to explain to her that people don’t like being told they get a thing and then having that thing not available, so she reluctantly huffed and puffed and upgraded her Hulu account."
2."My very wealthy ex-boyfriend would buy clothes, wear them, and return them anytime he went out or had an event."
3."A friend who used to work in a supermarket told me about an elderly man who used to peel bananas and put them in a plastic bag before weighing them and paying."
4."Some of the cheapest people I've known have been incredibly rich. One of them used to be a client of my dad's. At some point he bought himself a yacht, at a cool price of 5,500,000 euros. It was a huge boat, and he'd hired a Malaysian skipper to captain it and no one else, because he didn't want to spend a lot of money on crewing the boat despite it being huge and needing more than one crew member. One day he's out at sea, just him and the captain, when the weather takes a turn for the worse. Nothing the huge boat can't handle, but the wind blew off a cushion from the open aft deck."
"The sea was rough, and wind was blowing, but for whatever reason this man was so determined to not lose the cushion that he had the poor captain jump in the water and try to retrieve it, all the while he was circling the area with the gigantic yacht and making the water even rougher than it already was.
"He was at it for close to an hour, and at some point the poor skipper had trouble staying afloat himself and begged to be let on the boat, all the while the owner was screaming at him to get the cushion. Ultimately, he relented and got the poor guy onboard again and abandoned the cushion, which he obviously had the money to easily replace.
"That poor skipper nearly drowned because his boss was such a cheapskate he was willing to risk someone else's life than buy a new cushion. I know it was probably an overpriced cushion but definitely not something that would put a dent in that guy's wallet."
5."When I was a kid, the local newspaper had a contest that asked this question. The winner was someone who knew a guy that used the bathroom at other people's houses to save money on toilet paper."
6."When he gives to a homeless person, he takes change. This isn't a joke, my uncle actually did this. His wife told him to give the guy some money, he only had a $5 note, so he took change back."
7."At the bar, we drink in rounds. If there are five of us, one of us buys five drinks, and then the next person buys five, etc. In theory, if everyone buys one drink each, no-one loses money. There's a guy I know who ALWAYS waits until the final round and leaves before he can buy one. Occasionally, he will buy his round but only, seemingly, when he knows people are having more drinks afterwards. Then, when the round comes back to him a second time, he will leave. I totally understand if you're hard up of cash. But it's simple to say, 'I'm only having one or two drinks today so I don't need to be in a round.' You don't have to divulge anything else. It's a really weird and cringey way of conning your own friends out of money. It's so cheap."
8."It's me. I'm the cheapest person I know. I still wear the same swimming trunks that my mom bought me when I was 15. I'm 40 now. I ride my bike most places around town instead of driving (I live in California, gas is really expensive here). I won't buy clothes or shoes unless they are on sale. (Starting to do this with food too). I only subscribe to one streaming service per month (I rotate through them). I drive a 2012 beater Nissan because it's paid off. About 1,000 other things in my daily life. I try to save money literally everywhere I can. I am not poor, far from it. But I grew up poor."
9."On more than one occasion, he would take a road trip, get within 200 kilometers (~124 miles) of his destination. (Max tow limit of his CAA plan). He'd pull his fuel pump relay, then call a tow truck to take him the rest of the way and save gas."
10."If my mom wants a coffee, she drives to her bank and gets a free (although pretty terrible, essentially brown water) cup of coffee."
11."My grandmother lived during the Great Depression and imparted some odd quirks on my father. The food choices were the strangest. He used to make me and himself sandwiches with tomato, peanut butter, and mayonnaise."
12."If I don't think a paper plate is dirty enough, I just wipe it off and use it again. I'm single though so it's not like I'm making other people use it. I also put water in the bottle if I'm almost out of shampoo or body wash."
13."A friend of mine used to use a plastic sandwich bag as his wallet."
14."My mother. She’s almost 90 and grew up on the back end of the Depression, raised by a single immigrant mother. She will rinse and reuse aluminum wrap and paper towels. Yes, paper towels! So that’s fine if you’re living on a fixed income, but she and my dad are very comfortable. Very. Old habits die hard, I guess."
15."My husband wanted to wear a shirt that his ex-wife got him in 1990 to our wedding in 2015. He said it was still in good shape. I set him straight and he ended up 'splurging' on a new shirt. It’s not a money issue because we’re very comfortable. It’s a 'why would I buy something new when I already have something wearable' issue. Also, he has a hat that he wears when he’s gardening or we are out for a walk. The front of it ripped. Rather than get a new one, he sewed a piece of random fabric across the entire front of the hat. He only wears it if he’s going out alone because no one in the family will be seen with him when he wears it."
16."Rarely uses auto air conditioning, for the sake of gas mileage. In Phoenix."
17."My buddy from college was generally extremely cheap to the point of absurdity. He lived with his girlfriend and her three roommates who were on the lease and he wasn’t. His girlfriend’s parents paid her rent and didn’t want her living with him, so he didn’t split it with her. But he also didn’t pay the roommates to offset their share of rent. The two of them didn’t pay for wifi, and instead would access a network that allowed 30 minutes of 'trial access' if you put in an email. So every 30 minutes they’d get booted off and have to make up a new email."
18."This happened years ago, but one guy in our group after going for dinner or drinks would hang back and take the rest of the group's tips and leave next to nothing."
19."Anytime there's a cheap greasy spoon style restaurant where you go to the counter to pay, he'll first take every napkin at the table in those dispensers, then at the counter take every single toothpick and piece of candy. It's even more of a bonus for him if it's a Denny's type of restaurant and they put a basket of individual packs of jams and peanut butter. Eyes light up like it's Christmas."
20."Back in college, we would go to a fast food restaurant to eat. This one guy would get a burger or something that's it. He would pick at other people's fries, and, towards the end of the meal, he would grab someone's cup and go get himself a free refill of soda."
21."My sister in law received private tuition for her two children from TWO different relatives by complaining she needed the money. She is worth many millions."
22."I knew someone who'd 'buy' a pack of batteries or light bulbs, take out the new ones and replace them with the dead ones. The next time he'd go back to the store he'd take the dead ones back and return them saying they didn't work and got his money back. That man had not legitimately bought light bulbs or batteries in years."
23."My cousins once got me a $5.00 Starbucks gift card for Christmas that had only $0.10 on it."
24."My mate who owns a near million dollar property (without a mortgage), makes great money and has good savings, literally just won't eat some times mostly because he's cheap. I remember house mating with him, and his girlfriend would come over at 10 p.m. and be like, 'What've you eaten today?' And he'd answer 'nothing' and absolutely not be kidding. This guy could order Uber Eats three times a day and it wouldn't bother him financially. But he still just literally skips eating out of cheapness."
25."A friend always runs his car on almost empty gas tank. He has run out several times. He has money, but seems to hate to part with it. He also borrows $5-10 every now and then if we are in a shop or restaurant, even if he has thousands in the bank."
26."A woman I used to work with years ago told me that her very elderly uncle only had one light bulb left in his house, so whenever he went into a different room he would unscrew the light bulb from the lamp in the current room and bring it into the new room and screw into the lamp in there. He refused to buy new ones because he thought they’d outlive him."
27."Only flushes the toilet once a day. He boils his hot dogs in hot water, then uses the hot water for his instant coffee."
28."He has calculated how much money he saves by going to the restroom at work instead of at home. He tries to never do it during his lunch break, because then he will also get paid while he is in there."
