PixabayIt’s no crime to save your hard-earned cash, use coupons at the store, or eat at home instead of going out to a restaurant. There is a fine line, though, between being frugal and being straight-up cheap. The difference between the two? The initial has an understandable (and healthy) purpose while the former tends to be something that many would consider selfish or just utterly ridiculous.
To understand what it means to be “cheap,” imagine you’re in the following scenario. It’s your birthday. Your friend gets you a gift wrapped in old newspaper (okay, so they’re trying the whole reuse, reduce, and recycle thing). You open it, and what’s inside? A 25-cent notebook they bought during a back-to-school shopping sale. Although you’re a bit perplexed, you presume they’re really tight on money, and it’s the thought that counts, right? So, you give them a warm, “Thank you.” But then a month later, you decide to visit a restaurant with this same friend. They tell you that they’re going to pay, but there’s a catch: you two aren’t ordering dinner, only the cheapest appetizer on the menu that you’ll be sharing, along with a couple of free cups of water.
And a tip for the host? You’re either giving the tip, or there’s no tip at all.
Again, it’s completely understandable why someone would be tight with their money. Some people have a lot of bills to catch up on or expensive college tuition they have to pay next month. Or, maybe their business suddenly started going under, they’re saving money for their unborn child, they just went through a messy and financially-burdensome divorce, etcetera.
But what people share below will completely blow your socks off. The folks in these stories aren’t just trying to save money; they’re being cheap, so cheap that people can’t fathom what crossed their mind to be so incredibly strict with their finances.
Many of these scenarios you might perceive to be self-centered, vengeful, or plain laughable.
30. They Had A Finicky Way Of Dividing Up Their Finances
Pixabay“I once moved in with two girls in an apartment. They had a rent arrangement where they had divided the rent by the square meters of their respective rooms and they paid their shares on the penny. Might not be that cheap, but it struck me as a bit odd.
Anyway, after a while, I started noticing things. When they went shopping, they would divide the cost of two cartons of milk 60/40, as one took milk in her tea, but the other one didn’t.
Many little things like that, but the winner was when I noticed that there all of a sudden were two toilet paper holders in the bathroom. Turns out one of them thought the other one used more, and they mutually decided they would each have their own setup. That’s when I realized I didn’t quite fit in there.” karnstan
29. He’s Rich And Takes Advantage Of The System But Gets Mad When Others Do
PixabayI guess it’s only okay if he does it.
“There’s a guy I know who owns several businesses, a very large house, and multiple cars. He also shops at the thrift food mart/foodbank.
The kind of place that runs off of donations and tries to feed the poor.
One day, he told me that he was really upset because he saw the person that sold him his house in the same store. Complaining how awful it was that they were taking advantage of the ‘system’. I’m like uhhh, you’re doing the exact same thing. He was so clueless.” SmurfJizz
28. He Went To A Cheaper College, So His Parents Could Pay Him The Difference
Pixabay“One of my good friends from college was dating a real piece of ***.* Emotionally abusive, self-righteous, totally full of himself, the list goes on.
We were at a state college, so tuition was very reasonable, but this guy thought he was the cream of the crop and that he was doing his parents a favor by choosing a less expensive school. More than a favor actually, because when he was about to graduate, he actually sat his parents down and explained to them that they should give him the difference in cash.
He actually figured out what the most expensive school he was accepted to was and compared that tuition to what his parents paid to go to a state school and very seriously asked them to give him the $90k or so IN CASH.
He felt he had earned it by getting accepted but not going.
It didn’t work out.” barmasters
27. She Was Late On Paying Her Bill, So She Could Save A Few Cents On Stamps
Pixabay“My grandmother, as she didn’t own a computer, had to mail in all her bill payments. One month, she didn’t get her water bill or it was delivered to someone else by accident. Whatever the cause, her next bill was for both that month and the previous month and included a late fee that was less than the cost of a stamp.
For the rest of her life, she skipped the bill one month and then paid both the next because she saved a few cents by using just one stamp instead of two.
This was a woman who had somewhere around a million dollars in the bank when she died.” ahadyar117
Another User Comments
“My dad used to do the reverse of this out of spite. When he finished transacting business with a company that p*ssed him off, he would intentionally overpay on the last bill so that they would have to spend 40 cents on a stamp to mail him a check for a quarter.” JeanValJohnFranco
26. The Gas Isn’t Always Cheaper On The Other Side
Pixabay“My dad and I were driving home on a Saturday after going out for lunch. His car was low on gas, and we passed a gas station advertising gas for something like $1.50/gallon.
He says, ‘The other gas station down the road is usually cheaper,’ so we skip that one to go to the next one.
The next gas station is advertising at $1.52/gallon. Dad swings around and makes a U-turn to go back to the first one. We get stuck in about 35 minutes of traffic on this short 2-mile road, due to an accident that just happened. By the time we get back to the first gas station, they’ve changed their price to $1.55/gallon.
He cursed, and we went home without getting more gas that day. The pointer was on empty by the time we got home.” ScottyC33
25. My Dad Made Me Wait Until My Birthday To Get Eyeglasses
PixabayWhile having good vision is seen as a luxury for some people, this poor kid couldn’t even see the board in school! I remember how my grades shot up the day I received my first pair of eyeglasses…
“My parents are both very cheap, but my Dad is especially not-generous.
One summer day when I was maybe 13-years-old, my dad finally agreed to take me to get my eyes examined. To his surprise, I did need glasses (he insisted I wouldn’t). He reminded me that he had only agreed to get my eyes examined, not to actually buy me glasses. So if I wanted the glasses, I would need to have them be my birthday present. I really wanted to be able to read the board in school, so I agreed.
My birthday is on Christmas, and I always got a combined gift. So now I had to wait a year and a half to get my next present, and I knew it was my fault because I chose the glasses.
I understand that parents can’t always pay for things, but there was something especially cheap about turning the purchase of glasses into an excuse to not need to get any presents a full six months later. I don’t really talk to my dad anymore.” neurvon
24. They’d Collect Small Bits Of Old Soap And Form Them Into A New Bar
Pixabay“This is my dad’s story. He went for a site visit (he’s in the swimming pool industry), and he saw the owners of the house gather all those itty bitty pieces of soap leftover from showers. Just all these various colored, scented scraps and clump them into one and hand it over to the workers who were in charge of setting up the swimming pool to wash their hands.
This was a MASSIVE pool, and the owners were too cheap to even buy a new bar of soap.” dogecrazy
23. He Took Advantage Of Our Free Lemons And Sugar To Make His Own Lemonade
Pixabay“Buddy who always asked for water and a plate of lemons and sweeteners then made his own sh*tty lemonade. He had a good job and was living in a house his parents bought him at the time. Thankfully when he got married, she made him stop being such a tight embarrassment.
I almost felt the need to tell the waiter I am a good tipper at new restaurants because I was afraid we would both be branded cheap b*stards from the start.
Edit- I would like to add that he would sometimes ask if they were going to charge him extra for the lemons. That was the worst.” GringoKY
22. She Would Reuse Ice Cubes From Empty Cups
PixabayTo think that we take little things like ice cubes for granted. Meanwhile, there’s an elderly lady out there somewhere saving her ice cubes.
“My grandmother used to save the ice cubes in the empty drinks for reuse later. Apparently it was the acceptable thing to do during the great depression. My grandfather went through the great depression as well, but it affected him differently. He’d always dump as much ice in his drink as possible like ice as the bee’s knees.” eyekwah2
21. He Took Advantage Of An All-You-Can-Eat Meal
Pixabay“During Lent, a place near me has all you can eat fish or clam strips for a set price on Friday night.
There are rules. You can’t eat one order, then another, then ask for the third to go. You got to eat it there. One time I saw a guy try to take it home; they said no. So he ordered it anyway, the clams came, he paid the bill and the second the waitress left, I saw him take out his handkerchief (which I pray was clean), dump all the second-order of clams on it and pulled the corners up like a hobo’s sack and walked out.” Reddit user
20. His Birthday Cake Was Free And Half-Eaten
PixabayI’d be hurt and humiliated.
“I had a friend in elementary school who was moving out of state between the fifth grade and sixth grade.
During that summer, just before they moved, his parents had a birthday party for him. It seemed like a normal kid’s birthday party until the cake came out.
His father’s company had held a going away party for him, and they gave him a cake. A cake that when it was brought out to a bunch of 10- and 11-year-olds, had ‘Good Luck Marshall’ sort of scraped off and replaced with ‘Happy Birthday Brian.’ The cake was half-eaten.” Slick_Pumyea
19. She’d Always Complain About Her Meal To Get A Refund
Pixabay“My great aunt would take us to lunch when we were kids, mostly Wendy’s, but also other fast food places.
She’d always get the biggest burger on the menu, eat 3/4 of it, then take it to the front and complain about something. They’d refund her meal every single time. When I got to be 8- to 9-years-old, I started to skip those lunches as it was just too embarrassing. All the local places were onto her, so she would make a bigger and bigger scene each time. Crazy old lady.” eck226
18. He Has A Flawed Way Of Being Frugal
PixabayReading this seems like something I’d watch in a cheesy sitcom.
“My dad is one of those people who is ‘idiot cheap’ – i.e., will buy something extra to get free shipping but will spend $10 more than if he’d just paid for shipping instead, and be very proud of himself the whole time for ‘saving so much money.’
Anyway, his most recent idiot-cheap moment was when he realized he needed a chainsaw because the one that he had wasn’t big enough to cut the logs he was cutting.
When he went to the store to buy one, they were having a sale on a particular brand and size of chainsaws.
The chainsaw in question was smaller than the one he currently had, but it was ONLY $250. So he bought it, took it back to the woods and the logs he was trying to cut, and realized it was far too small to do the job. So, he went back to the store and bought another, bigger chainsaw for something like $700.
He was telling me this story and I was like, ‘Well, did you return the other one?’ He told because he got that one on sale and had saved a lot of money on it.” shiguywhy
17. He’d Hang Up The Payphone After Two Rings To Get 25 Cents Back
Pixabay“My dad decided when it was time for us to be picked up from a movie, he would call on a payphone but hang up after 2 rings and get his quarter back, and that would be the secret signal for my mom.
I tried explaining it wouldn’t necessarily ring 2 times on her end and IT’S TWENTY-FIVE GODD*MN CENTS. My dad made 120k a year. Also, I’m pretty sure my mom confirmed the phone never rang; she just came when it seemed about the right time.” Reddit user
16. He Bathes In The Sprinkler At The Park In Front Of The Kids
Pixabay“Growing up, I lived across the street from a lovely park that had this huge sprinkler running all summer for the kids to enjoy. I also had this cheap-a** neighbor everyone hated (we’ll call him Mr. Zelinski) who would come down every morning in his swimming trunks with a bar of soap, a bottle of shampoo and towel to wash there, so he could save money on the water at home.
Ugh, everyone hated that guy. I always remember my grandpa joking that old Mr. Zelinski hung out in the parking lot at the farmer’s market to pick up all the produce people dropped because he was too cheap to buy his own.” horsecalledwar
15. He Didn’t Want To Pay £3 For Dinner, So He Ate Food He Found On The Floor
Pixabay“I got a kebab wrap on a night out, my friend wanted one too but didn’t want to pay for it (must’ve only cost me like £3). As luck would have it, there was one on the floor near a puddle outside that someone must’ve dropped earlier on.
He picked it up and ate it. Said it was still warm too.” parkes00
Another User Comments:
This one made me giggle!
“Most likely scenario is that a drunk person got one bite in, realized it wasn’t going to stay down, and dropped it.
The little bits of puke in it probably had some nutritional value, so that’s like saving on two meals at once! Lifehack!” WarmBagels
14. She Got Paid To Poop
Pixabay“Save their morning bowel movement until after they clock in.
I used to work with a lady who did this. EVERY morning she’d come into the office, run straight past the toilet to the timeclock, clock in, then run back to the toilet where she’d be grunting and emitting terrible smells for the next 15-30 minutes.
It p*ssed us off because the policy was you were not to clock in unless you were about to take calls, and if you were going to go off the phone for more than a few minutes, you had to clock out. Nobody else needed to be paid to poop, but management never confronted her about this…and I am not exaggerating, this was EVERY MORNING. How can someone that regular take so long to poop?” Reddit user
13. He’d Charge His Own Daughter To Text And Call Him
PixabayAsking her to pay for it isn’t even the main problem. The problem is, he seemingly values his money more than keeping in touch with his own daughter.
Sad.
“My stepsister was living in Australia a few years back. She used to text her father (my stepfather) a couple of times a week, as well as Skype him once or twice a month. When she got married and moved back home, my stepfather asked her to compensate him for the call credit it cost him to receive her text messages and phone calls. He’s the cheapest guy I have ever come across in my entire life.” Young-and-Alcoholic
12. Grandma Bought Us $2 Crackers Instead Of A Meal
PixabayJust wow.
“Back when my brother and I were young kids, we took a trip to the zoo with my grandma.
When my brother and I got hungry, we asked her to buy us food. Since everything at places like these is extremely inflated, my cheap grandma refused to buy us normal food.
She proceeded to walk up to the stand where you can buy crackers to feed the goats and bought my brother and I a handful of crackers for $2. Horrific experience.” GuruDroo
11. In Her Eyes, Expired Food Was Still Safe To Consume
PixabayI feel sick to my stomach just reading this.
“My mum is terrible about throwing out old food. She made a curry once that tasted odd and when I asked what was up she said, ‘Oh, some of the peppers and tomatoes were turned, but I cut the mold off them, so they’re fine.’
I clean out her fridge every now and then, and one time, I found a moldy block of cheddar 2 years past its sell-by date.
A month after I last cleaned it.
Where the **** did she buy already 2-year-old cheese? Did she already have it and hid it when I last cleaned?” Savvaloy
10. My Boss Would Overindulge In Free Stuff
PixabayThis isn’t the type of person you want to bring to parties or events.
“I worked for a short time as a luxury travel agent, and agents get tons and tons of free stuff all the time. Every day, there would be vendors setting up in the conference room for breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks, which we got for free, we just had to go listen to the vendors’ pitch.
This would totally go to some of the old-school agent’s heads. The agents in the office next to mine were notoriously cheap, especially the sixty-something-year-old boss. They would push their way into the conference room, throw their business cards in the general director of the poor vendors, and take as much food as possible. Multiple plates piled high. I’d pass their office and the food would be just sitting out on the desks uneaten.
The boss was known for showing up at vendor-sponsored dinners and events with his wife (uninvited), and they’d bring plastic Ziploc bags and fill them with food from the buffet to take home.
He made a ton of money, so it wasn’t out of necessity; he was just insanely cheap and entitled.
My favorite story about him was that our company used to go around the offices some Friday afternoons in the summer with an ice-cream cart, and everyone would grab something, one each because we’re ******* adults in a professional workplace. Not this guy. He filled a manila envelope with like 20 ice creams, labeled in ‘PROPERTY OF [NAME] DO NOT TOUCH!!!!’ and put it in the office freezer. My sassy coworker used to go steal ice creams from the envelope all the time for our office just to spite him.
Tasted so good.” mockinbirdwishmeluck
9. She Burned The Gas Burner All Day To Save On Matches
Pixabay“When my mother was living in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s in a shared flat, there was one granny who was economizing on matches. Back in the day, the price of a matchbox was 1 koruna (roughly 4 pennies nowadays). 4 ****** pennies. Do you know what that old pepperpot was doing? She was burning the gas burner in the kitchen… all day long. Just in order not to use a new match, she preferred to have an open fire at all times, because in the socialist system, gas was free for retired people.” JAiFauxThe
8. He Offered To Bring Drinks To The Party… For Him, His Wife, And His Grandson
Pixabay“My wife and I were hosting dinner for the extended family during the Christmas holiday.
We were hosting a total of 15 people. When my father asked what he needed to bring, we told him to bring drinks.
When he showed up with his wife and her little **** of a grandson, we found that my father had brought 3 cans of off-brand soda. One for him, his wife and her grandson. I guess screw everyone else! My wife found this so ridiculous that she took a picture of the three cans on the counter so that she could send it to her sister to show her how cheap my dad was.” huskybritches
7. She Weighed My Root Beer Float To Save Pennies
PixabayCall it “quality control” all you want, but this is just crazy.
The only time anyone should be weighing your food is if it’s being sold by the pound or ounce, like build-your-own fro-yo or freshly-sliced meat from your local deli or butcher.
“I went to an ice cream shop last weekend and got a root beer float. When the lady was putting ice cream into the glass, she put it on a scale and scooped up the tiniest sliver to ice cream and put it back in the display case. Couldn’t have been more than $0.05 worth of vanilla that she put back.” adrianmakedonski
6. My Mom Would Reuse Ziploc Bags, Then I Got Really Sick
PixabayI’ve been guilty of reusing Ziploc bags, like for vegetables or non-edible items.
Nothing wrong with reusing your plastics! However, this case is a health hazard.
“My mom when I was a kid.
You know how Ziploc bags are a few cents apiece? My Mom used to be SUPER ******* CHEAP and would save ALL of them (unless they got damaged), clean them, and reuse them…
‘Thankfully’ she stopped doing this because one time she gave me food out of a bag that had previously contained raw meat, and I got SUPER SICK.
Well, she didn’t completely stop, but she does it in a more sane manner.” Endulos
5. They Complained About Their Steak, Got A New One, And Wanted To Keep Both
Pixabay“Complain that a steak wasn’t good quality, too fatty.
Manager provided another steak and was taking away the other steak. They stopped the manager and asked if they could box it up for them so they could take it home for their dog.
They do have a dog, and I believe that’s what they were going to do, but the manager had this incredulous look in his eyes.” jaseguitar
Another User Comments:
“I do hate food waste, and I think that if the world weren’t so full of people trying to take advantage of restaurants by sending back perfectly good food and trying to finagle discounts, then I could see it being socially acceptable to ask.
But as it stands, you’ve gotta draw the boundary somewhere, and I think ‘you pay for one meal, you get one meal’ seems like a pretty good boundary.” geeofficerkrupke
4. She Rolled Up To Costco To Steal Diced Onions From Their Outdoor Food Court
PixabayI mean, at the least, she could have bought one of their $1.50 oversized hot dogs to go with her large bag of chopped onions.
“I was once eating at a Costco’s outside food court, where they have ketchup, mustard, relish and onion dispensers. A saw a minivan pull up to the curb, a woman hopped out with a large Ziploc and filled it with chopped onions.
She ran back to the van and left! Cheap and lazy, onions aren’t expensive in the least.” usuallycrying
3. He Makes Ridiculous Excuses Not To Tip
Pixabay“A buddy of mine is the worst tipper I’ve ever met in my life. Our server at BWW one time ‘brought refills too quickly’ causing her to ‘frequently interrupt our discussion.’ To him, this meant she didn’t deserve a tip from him at all. After my buddies and I scolded him for a while, he left a 5% tip. We figured this was as good as he was going to get. However, after we all left, I looked back and saw that he took his tip money and put it back in his pocket.” MST_ChiefsFan
2. They Raided The Continental Breakfast
Pixabay“I worked at a hotel that served continental breakfast every day from 6 to 10.
We always had guests ask to take extra food around closing, I’d let them take a few pieces of fruit or some yogurt cups since there’s enough to go around. We had a large family stay for one night and they started raiding the breakfast bar when they came to the lobby to check out.
The mom had plastic storage bags in her purse and she gave one to each of her kids and they started taking everything from the jelly, syrup and sugar packets to the hard-boiled eggs we kept in a refrigerated tray. We had to explain that it wasn’t a free for all and needed to leave the rest for the other guests.” **************
1. He Served Us Used, Weeks-Old Broth
Pixabay“My uncle is quite the cheapskate, despite making a lower 6 figures a year.
He’s nice, but he really dislikes spending any money and really loves free ***.
*So that one time, we’re at his place, the whole family, eating Chinese fondue. We’re about halfway through the meal when (I don’t remember how he worded it or why he thought it was a smart thing to say), he declares that the broth we’re eating has already been used by his other friends the last time they came over for fondue. Yep, he served us broth that other people had eaten from and that he had then frozen for a few weeks before serving it to us… Thanks, Uncle.” IronyKitty
It’s hard to understand why some people are cheap.
Whether it be self-consciousness regarding their finances, an inner dream to accumulate a large sum of money so that they can eventually live beyond their means, or an innate stingy personality taking the wheel, there’s usually a reason behind their behavior.
Although it’s never fun to encounter someone who’s over-the-top obsessed with the idea of potentially “wreaking havoc” on their finances by making one small transaction, people being cheap definitely make for great stories.
If you thought these stories were great, check out part one for more great reads!
