People are sharing the cheapest things they’ve ever witnessed

It’s totally understandable to want to save money whenever possible, especially with how expensive everything is right now. Most people will maybe wait for a sale in order to buy a new pair of jeans, or get rid of a streaming service they’re not really using because it’s not worth the money. But there’s a big difference between being smart with money and being so cheap that everyone around you remembers it forever. Some people take frugality to levels that are honestly shocking and awkward.

Recently, redditor Willby3 wanted to know about those wildly frugal people when they asked: “Who is the cheapest person you know, and what is the cheapest thing you’ve seen them do?”

The thread got over 1.7k replies. Below are the top and best stories of the wildest things cheap people do to avoid spending money:

1.“My grandmother was worth a few million. When I saw her using a toothpick, I asked if she had another. She offered me the dry half of the toothpick she was currently using. BONUS: She had a whole jar of toothpicks, and they were stolen from Howard Johnson’s.”

—bunkerbee_hill

2.“A rich kid, son of a lawyer, asked me to reimburse him for a banana I ate at his house. It was a shared house with many roommates that I was very close with. I, the poor kid, frequently brought over food and booze to share! I laughed it off, but he was serious.”

—trumpskiisinjeans

3.“My son has a landscaping business and does jobs for all income levels. If a middle-class or lower-income person feels like the estimate is too much, they will do it in stages or just not hire them. Upper-class people will agree to a price, then complain about the price, pay VERY late, or try to bargain down the price they already agreed on. It’s bizarre.”

—love2go

4.“My wife’s grandma, worth millions, was probably the most frugal person I ever met. She was very intelligent and sharp as a tack. She’d pull the old lady ‘I’m confused’ gag ALL THE TIME to get away with using expired coupons. She’d also take anything not nailed down at restaurants and hotels. The family dreaded going anywhere with her. I was always impressed with her flawless execution.”

—post4u

5.“My dad ordered a Diet Coke in the drive-thru, and then once we got to the window where they give us our food, he asked for a normal Coke. In Seattle, there is a sugar tax, so he prob saved 15 cents or whatever.”

—spursfan69

6.“An old guy, who was one of the highest-paid employees, would bring a bottle of ketchup and a bottle of mustard from his fridge for potlucks. That was his contribution. He would bag up leftovers to take home along with his bottle of ketchup and his bottle of mustard. The secretary told him to at least bring a bag of chips, or he would not be welcome at the next potluck. He threw a fit. At subsequent potlucks, he would bring a small bag of chips about the size you would get out of a vending machine, along with his bottle of ketchup and his bottle of mustard. I don’t think anyone ever opened his bag of chips because the same bag showed up at each potluck. I think people might have used his ketchup and mustard. I never did.”

—Globinnyc

7.“My friend’s parents. Dad was a nuclear engineer designing submarines, and mom was a tenured physics professor. At a sleepover, we were allowed exactly 4oz of orange juice at breakfast. They also split two-ply toilet paper to make two rolls and recycled dryer lint to stuff in stuffed animals to sell at craft fairs. Now I never really cared, but they were not poor. It was just… odd.”

—Curleysound

8.“My 94-year-old aunt had a broken stove upstairs, so she went to the basement to cook using the canning stove for over a decade. When she died, everyone found out she had 8 million dollars in the bank.”

—AshtonKoocher

9.“My aunt had an Airbnb and showed me a giant soap ball and said she had been taking the leftover soap bar she gave the guests and pressing the bars together to use herself. I almost threw up in my mouth. She’s generally the cheapest person I’ve ever met, but I’ve never seen someone do something so disgusting.”

—bostonlilypad

10.“My dad (owns two houses, mortgage-free) sent us a 1/2 gallon of refried beans and some expired freeze-dried space carrots when my kids were 5 and 2 years old to help with our grocery bill.”

—mojo4mydojo

11.“I knew a millionaire who owns a landscaping business. The dude was banned from multiple 7-Elevens for filling up his coffee cup with free soda every morning.”

—alexsi707

12.“My grandfather is worth a few million. His reading glasses broke last week, and he said a new $30 pair at CVS is too expensive, so he’s opted to stop reading.”

13.“I have a friend who pulls the large popcorn buckets out of the trash for refills. They also do the same with cups at fast-food places. They did pause that for about a year after the COVID-19 shutdowns… but that didn’t last.”

—CAPreacher

14.“My boss had me make copies of his daughter’s coloring book so that she would have more pages to color instead of buying another/different one. He was wealthy.”

—Consistent_Guest_201

15.“My grandparents had money. They had a house on Cape Cod, a house in Naples, FL, and would travel around the world multiple times per year. They went to Italy at least once a year. My grandmother loved an early bird special. She loved her coupons. She lived thru the great depression and you could tell. Sometimes she’d drag us to Olive Garden with her coupons, and she’d have us all get a free taster glass of wine. It’s just a splash in a glass, barely anything. But then we’d all have to pour it into her glass so she’d have a free full glass with dinner.😭😭😭 Grandma noooooo. I’ll just buy you a glass of wine. But she was so insistent on us doing that. While wearing a real mink coat. *****, please.”

—biddily

16.“My uncle. He is a cautionary tale. One of the stories I’ve been told is that he took my cousins to Disneyland and, because he didn’t want to pay for tickets, made them stand up outside the entrance and took photos of them. That’s it…the kids never got to see Disneyland, just stayed outside. And they had the money.”

—justanotheeredditor

17.“Had a roommate lock toilet paper inside a chest, and you had to pay him by the square to borrow some. He would also weigh his shampoo after other people showered to ensure no one was using his stuff without paying 💀.”

—No-Importance-2598

18.“My parents live in California, and I live in Georgia. They are easily worth a couple of million; I just get by. They were visiting, and we went to the Publix, and my dad took an entire STACK of plastic bags (10 cents per bag in California). He said, ‘We can use these back home when we go grocery shopping.’ My wife was so embarrassed, lol.”

—troutburger30

19.“My best friend’s parents [successful business owners] invited me to his 15th birthday dinner, and later told me that I had to pay for myself. Keep in mind, I was also 15.”

—ChallengeOk60

20.“Was at my mom’s friend’s house (who is compulsively cheap) and while washing my hands, he scolded me for using hot water and said, ‘What am I, a billionaire?’ He was a millionaire…”

—Xvlly

21.“A friend who reuses dental floss. Not even once — multiple times. He keeps it draped over the bathroom mirror ‘to dry.’ I no longer accept invitations to stay at his place.”

—Tox077

22.“My brother is extremely cheap. He had one job where he traveled for work on his company’s dime. And yet he would still eat food off of other people’s room service trays in the hallway. Yuck.”

—MeanSecurity

23.And lastly, “I used to work for a member of the wealthiest family in the world, and their estate manager rounded up a charge on their company card by 68 cents to benefit a local charity. She later had to write a personal check to the accounting department for that 68 cents. It’s still the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen.”

—Haltercraft

You can read the original thread on Reddit.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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