Why are some people really tight with their money?

haras_nosirrah

For me the difference is this

I am going with a group of 6 to pizza express tomorrow. Night

I have just downloaded the 2 courses for £10 voucher from the website which will benefit the whole table

If I say to my friends when it comes to pay that as I am saving them say £10 Per person by downloading the voucher therefore the free voucher is my contribution towards the whole meal and all my drinks and you can split the remaining bill between you then that would be tight

If however I brought the voucher and said (I know you can't combine these offers with tesco so am just making a point) 'my share of the remaining bill after using the downloaded vouchers is £15 which I happen to have here in Tesco vouchers' then I wouldn't have an issue with this at all.

It so happens I am going out tomorrow to pizza express with this deal but my friends are paying for me anyway as it is my baby shower

Jagraf

If I have vouchers I throw them in and then we split the difference.

If my friend suggested going to a restaurant and paying for foid with all the vouchers, and asked me to pay for drinks I would be miffed. Trying to get free drinks imo.

Alternatively I would pay for my meal in vouchers, and my drinks in cash. But hey, my friends can share my vouchers as you wouldn't really go there if you didn't have vouchers you would go for a pub dinner which is much cheaper usualky.

Person_one

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Hands up! I'm "skint" but with a decent whack of savings.....

That's why I'm "skint" Because I am using all my spare cash to save up for something.

I go out for meals but find vouchers (For everyone to use) I'd rather be the taxi for my friends on a night out and they buy me soft drinks (I don't expect this btw, I do take my own money out but generally they will buy - I DO try and buy their round but they wont let me)

I do buy presents - I save monthly for birthdays/Christmas and buy throughout the year in the sales etc. I use quidco etc for cashback and I play the CC system to earn interest.

I'd rather save money by taking my kids on a picnic in the park and making memories than making them sit in a restaurant with my friends and pay £40 on a meal that none of us will remember


Does it bother me people think I'm "careful with money"? Quite simply - No. I was brought up to make the most of what we had. If you didn't have the money for something then you didn't get it.

Careful is completely different to skint though!

Careful is fine, no problem with that at all, but it's a choice. Skint isn't a choice.

I'm fairly careful these days. I like to buy gifts for others, but look for value for money, I could afford a new car on credit but I run an old banger because it's fine and I don't personally get any pleasure from shiny new cars.

A few years back I was skint. I was on minimum wage, paying a mortgage on my own. It took serious effort not to get into debt and I had no choice about luxuries or socialising, I could only afford the minimum with very careful budgeting regardless of what I wanted.

I wouldn't call myself skint now, even if there was very little in my current account. I'd feel disingenuous and disrespectful to people who truly are still.

Pollycat

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

Hands up! I'm "skint" but with a decent whack of savings.....

That's why I'm "skint" Because I am using all my spare cash to save up for something.

I agree with Person_one. You're not skint in the sense of my understanding of the word.

Person_one wrote: »

Careful is completely different to skint though!

Careful is fine, no problem with that at all, but it's a choice. Skint isn't a choice.

I'm fairly careful these days. I like to buy gifts for others, but look for value for money, I could afford a new car on credit but I run an old banger because it's fine and I don't personally get any pleasure from shiny new cars.

A few years back I was skint. I was on minimum wage, paying a mortgage on my own. It took serious effort not to get into debt and I had no choice about luxuries or socialising, I could only afford the minimum with very careful budgeting regardless of what I wanted.

I wouldn't call myself skint now, even if there was very little in my current account. I'd feel disingenuous and disrespectful to people who truly are still.

I've had a (thankfully pretty brief) period of being skint.
Waiting for payday, knowing there's no money anywhere.
Living on beans on toast and homemade chip butties day in day out.

That's more skint than having savings, new cars every few years etc but maybe there are some people even worse off than that who think subsisting on basic food is better than where they are.

Georgiegirl256

Jagraf wrote: »

If my friend suggested going to a restaurant and paying for foid with all the vouchers, and asked me to pay for drinks I would be miffed. Trying to get free drinks imo.
.

But for the post in question (FM's), they only had one £5 glass of wine! Hardly trying to get free drinks! Even if she'd have had another drink or two it would still have worked out cheaper or round about 50/50 for the friend as she got her meal paid for.

Person_one

Pollycat wrote: »

I agree with Person_one. You're not skint in the sense of my understanding of the word.

I've had a (thankfully pretty brief) period of being skint.
Waiting for payday, knowing there's no money anywhere.
Living on beans on toast and homemade chip butties day in day out.

That's more skint than having savings, new cars every few years etc but maybe there are some people even worse off than that who think subsisting on basic food is better than where they are.

Tha's true, having a roof over your head, running water and access to cheap food makes us rich compared to lots of people in the world.

pollyanna24

I think people say they are skint when they obviously aren't, is mainly because they don't want to spend their money on other people, they want to spend it on themselves.

My sister in law is living in my house at the moment and asked if I would let her only pay £25 instead of £50 as they are so skint as they have just bought a new house. Then, in the next breath, shows me a picture of a 2nd car they are about to buy for her for £11K.

To her, she is skint because she is spending £11K on a car. But forgetting about me and my bills and living with me for pretty much free.

tattycath

Person_one wrote: »

The club card vouchers are a bonus in the same way as the meerkat cinema tickets though. I assume you don't buy stuff you don't need from Tesco just to get the vouchers!

If you don't want to share the value of the vouchers, I'd say it was best to spend them on things other than social occasions, personally. Others may differ of course, but I can't imagine not sharing in that situation.

But feral moon did share by paying the larger portion of the bill, the fact that she used vouchers is irrelevant.
Personally, if I was the friend paying for the drinks etc in cash and my dining friend was covering the meal and paid in vouchers. I would be impressed with how savvy they were by using the vouchers. I would be more interested to learn how they get them etc. I'd have no qualms settling my portion of the bill with cash.

Pollycat

pollyanna24 wrote: »

I think people say they are skint when they obviously aren't, is mainly because they don't want to spend their money on other people, they want to spend it on themselves.

My sister in law is living in my house at the moment and asked if I would let her only pay £25 instead of £50 as they are so skint as they have just bought a new house. Then, in the next breath, shows me a picture of a 2nd car they are about to buy for her for £11K.

To her, she is skint because she is spending £11K on a car. But forgetting about me and my bills and living with me for pretty much free.

That is taking advantage of you - and family or not - I wouldn't put up with it.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

See - I've been worse off and have had a lot of debt (£34k)


I don't look at the money I have left at the end of the month and think "great, I can spend it" - I look at it and think "great, I can save that"


I'd much rather save £40 than spend it. It's not because I'm "tight", it's because I've been there counting the pennies to buy a loaf of break and a tin of beans for dinner.


Each persons perspective is different. I used to think I was "skint" when I was down to my last £10. Now, I try and keep at least enough money to cover the bills for a few months in case anything happens and I lose my job etc.