Being old-stylers when others aren't

ouraggie

Just wondering what other other o/s diehards do when dealing with friends, visitors, family etc who aren't.
I try to be money saving but am frequently gobsmacked by the wasteful ways of others. Recent examples:
- a friend who spilt a couple of drops of milk on my worktop and tore off 6 sheets of kitchen roll to wipe it up, then binned the lot, mostly unused
- a house guest who unpacked, switched on the TV in her room with no sound on (why??), switched on the bedside light and then spent the evening downstairs with us. On arrival in the lounge she said she had left everything all ready for going to bed later. I had assumed she meant pyjamas on pillow and toothbrush out ready till I nipped upstairs 3 hours later!
- my mother in law, who threw a jar of jam in the bin because "there's only a bit left"(about an inch left)
- my sister, whom I sent to buy some washing up liquid from the nearby Co-op for me. We were in there again the next day and it was on BOGOF. I said " oh, look. I should have sent you today. It's on offer now." She replied casually "oh, yeah, that was on yesterday as well. We only needed one, though."
Anyone else horrified by this sort of thing? What do you do/say to them? (Usually if I say anything they reply along the lines of " you tightwad" or comment that they can't be bothered as "it's only saving about 3p". )

THIRZAH

Your family sounds similar to mine or rather DH's. I'm convinced my MIL has shares in a kitchen roll company.

monnagran

But in time to come, when you outright own your own house, have a lovely holiday, treat yourself to a new car or whatever, and they ask how you can afford it, you can tell them, (and try not to sound too smug), "Oh, because I was a tightwad and looked after the pennies."

There will come a time, be assured of that, when they will hit hard times and wish they had saved their pennies while they could.

Atta, girl!

x

ArtDecoGirly

My DP uses more toilet roll than anyone I've ever known, it can be half full then the next time I go to the toilet it's empty and a new one is on! I'm still training him... seriously thinking about buying him the really cheap stuff until he learns the error of his ways...

thriftwizard

Yup! I'm continually finding rejected jam jars in or around the sink, with an inch still in the bottom. And packs of cheese with an inch or so left stuffed into the bin; not enough for a massive round of cheese on toast, therefore not enough to bother with! If the packet's at the top & folded over so there's no danger it's let anything else in, I'll whip it out, grate the cheese & freeze it to add to toppings.

Not to mention two inhabitants who honestly believe it's disgusting to hang your washing out on the line, and would rather festoon their rooms with damp washing for days on end, or worse still, leave it un-hung until it needs washing again. One of those earnestly believes that it's filthy to re-use a towel, even if it's just been used to dry relatively clean hands once. I'm gritting my teeth & hoping they'll be more sensible when they have homes of their own; I don't seem to be able to reason with them, and laying the law down just results in me finding bags of unhung-up washing days later. Sigh!

miniondancer

Im lucky then my partner understands and is quite a good old styler, he gets it from his mum who is Queen of the Charity shops for a bargain - rest of his family are good too and so are mine

Im disabled and i have carers x 4 times a day, there is one in particular i have told her dont panic about the fridge il sort it, she chucks things that are at use by date which are sometimes ok like packet of unopened smoked bacon - its quite safe

i store pints of long life milk in the drawers in the bottom of the fridge and every blooming time she is here she opens a new carton whether the old one is used or not, its put straight back into the fridge after each use

it does make me angry at times

monnagran

ArtDecoGirly wrote: »

My DP uses more toilet roll than anyone I've ever known, it can be half full then the next time I go to the toilet it's empty and a new one is on! I'm still training him... seriously thinking about buying him the really cheap stuff until he learns the error of his ways...

I trust you squash the roll so that it's difficult to pull too much off. I must have saved a fortune over the years by doing this in a house full of trainee wasteful men, (teenage boys).

x

moneyistooshorttomention

miniondancer wrote: »

Im lucky then my partner understands and is quite a good old styler, he gets it from his mum who is Queen of the Charity shops for a bargain - rest of his family are good too and so are mine

Im disabled and i have carers x 4 times a day, there is one in particular i have told her dont panic about the fridge il sort it, she chucks things that are at use by date which are sometimes ok like packet of unopened smoked bacon - its quite safe

i store pints of long life milk in the drawers in the bottom of the fridge and every blooming time she is here she opens a new carton whether the old one is used or not, its put straight back into the fridge after each use

it does make me angry at times

Don't get mad - get firm.

Tell her - firmly and clearly - "This is MY food and drink. Shopped for by ME. Paid for by ME" and "Therefore it is to be used with respect - and I am the only one that makes decisions about binning it/opening new packets of it". I would be making it very plain that if she wanted to make my decisions for me - that would be okay by me PROVIDED she did the shopping and the paying for it. Otherwise..........

If she still tried to make my decisions for me - then I would put in an official complaint to whoever supervises her and get them to make it plain to her that she either stops or gets replaced - her choice.

maman

I'm fortunate that my DH is on board with OS ways so no problems at home. He's proud of me. I'm OS because I hate being ripped off or wasting money that we've worked hard to earn.

With friends and family that think it makes them look good to shop in Waitrose or call into shops daily for 'a few bits ' and spend loads I just feel smug. I know we eat really well from Aldi and I can't admire anyone that's so disorganised they have to call into shops midweek.

I've got spare cash to spend on whatever I choose so I know who's the winner.

GreyQueen

I was once house and pet-sitting for friends, an affluent dual career couple when, during the departure, one of them noticed that there was a tiny greyish mark on one of the bananas in their fruit bowl and put it straight in the kitchen bin.

Their car had barely cleared the drive before I had that out of there and peeled. As I had suspected, the bruise hadn't even marked the banana's flesh.

Whenever I see what I consider to be acute wastefulness, I hear my late granny saying some people deserve to be poor. Which will sometimes be the outcome of wastefulness, sadly.

Don't know what you can do to change any one else's behaviour other than to live a thrifty life and go travelling with the proceeds, as I once did, to the astonishment of pals who were much richer than I've ever been but who lived up to and beyond their income.

t14cy_t

i agree with all the above. i hate waste, it costs money and i hate wasting money and am called a tightwad too...am i bothered, er no! i choose to spend my dosh wisely! and i make use of others so called waste. xx