Do Mean people ever actually spend it ? ?

Ish66 · 23-05-2021 7:36pm #1

All his life, A Neighbour of mine,a single man was known in the area for being tight ! He never paid for bins, Small bags into street bins. He would borrow everything especially lawnmowers. He had a good job with the ESB down where the chimneys are.
Even when he retired he used his bus pass to go down to his old workplace every lunchtime because the lunch was free. He died 2 years ago and a niece got the lot.
I saw his will recently in the Sunday Indo, Including the house (360k) he left nearly 1.9M ! ! What was the point of his lifelong thrift ? Mental Illness ? Otherwise, What was the point of doing what he did for all my lifetime ?
I could write a book telling you what I would do....Utter Madness

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 7:38pm

It’s great to see how saving really pays off for the people we care about in life.

It’s also great to see busy bodies lose their minds over something that has absolutely nothing to do with them.

barneygumble99 · 23-05-2021 7:42pm

People who are too tight to enjoy life when they’re young , will hardly go mad spending money when they’re old. There’s no hitch on a hearse as they say. I’m pretty sure they laugh at people enjoying life, spending money on takeaways, pints, holidays , probably can’t understand it at all.

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 7:43pm

If they weren't thrift they would have blown it and probable worse off in later life. By retirement it's just the way they are.

I completely agree about not just leaving it though. My grandfather left over 1 million behind. Great for my parents.

I don't think they will be doing likewise considering mammy now insists on first class but they worked hard to raise us. Overtime constantly so they have earned it and more

Ish66 · 23-05-2021 7:44pm

JayZeus wrote: »

It’s great to see how saving really pays off for the people we care about in life.

It’s also great to see busy bodies lose their minds over something that has absolutely nothing to do with them.

1st reply...A Tightarse ! It get's them out of the woodwork !

ILoveYourVibes · 23-05-2021 7:44pm

You only get rich by spending way less than you earn.

Although meanness is not attractive.

Maybe he really loved his niece though.

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 7:48pm

JayZeus wrote: »

It’s great to see how saving really pays off for the people we care about in life.

It’s also great to see busy bodies lose their minds over something that has absolutely nothing to do with them.

You are dead, you didn't see ****

pgj2015 · 23-05-2021 8:44pm

I think it is a result of growing up dirt poor. They have a huge fear of being left with nothing, and so they spend as little as possible and try to earn as much as possible. It is kind of like a hobby or addiction for them as well. The number 1 goal in their life. The thing I often think is I hope they don't work away their 20's and then get a serious illness at say 30 and die, then what was it all for? Life is about experiences not wealth, you will look back at holidays, nights out, football matches you were at with friends/family, girlfriends/boyfriends you had etc on your death bed, not the fact you earned 20,000 one month back in 2007.

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 8:49pm

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

You are dead, you didn't see ****

There's always the fool who thinks a full life requires you to spend lots of money, just to keep the curtain twitchers satisfied that you're living it the way they think you should.

For many who grew up in Ireland of the late 40's and early 50's, living life the way that fella seems to have would be perfectly normal. I think the meanness of folks like the OP is the worse kind, worse than the result of growing up learning to spend as little as you need to get by.

flossy1 · 23-05-2021 9:00pm

if you are poor when young and always hungry you are afraid the bad times will come back

RandomViewer · 23-05-2021 9:08pm

Wasn't Benny Hill famous for his meanness ?

o1s1n · 23-05-2021 9:09pm

JayZeus wrote: »

There's always the fool who thinks a full life requires you to spend lots of money, just to keep the curtain twitchers satisfied that you're living it the way they think you should.

For many who grew up in Ireland of the late 40's and early 50's, living life the way that fella seems to have would be perfectly normal. I think the meanness of folks like the OP is the worse kind, worse than the result of growing up learning to spend as little as you need to get by.

There's being thrifty because you haven't two cents to rub together (I grew up in 80s Ireland and can remember my mam making toys out of cardboard boxes!) and then there's just idiocy.

Going through your whole life being too afraid to spend your money and having a mountain of it left when you die is just a waste of a working life. What was the point?

RandomViewer · 23-05-2021 9:21pm

My dad used to buy animals from a wee man that lived in a wee house with a tin roof, no inside toilet,old open fire, he drove an old Peugeot pick up and had the same coat for the 20 or so years I knew him, bar the odd nights drinking every few years he didn't socialise, bought and sold livestock, he'd had TB when young and spent a long time in a sanatorium ,anyway he died and nobody expected there'd be much , left hundreds of thousands to a his niece who lived in Scotland

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 9:38pm

Some people just don't enjoy spending money. I don't. I'm not saving up for anything, I just don't like wasting money. In fact, it annoys me to buy something I don't need.

I was in Dublin last week to go to my workplace, when I realised I forgot to bring a charger. I was quoted something like €20 in the phone shop, no way. I'd rather have no phone for the day, which I didn't have. Similarly, I'd rather buy clothes in a second hand shop than new, where possible. I mend my own jumpers. It's not that spending is unaffordable, it's nothing to do with expecting a downturn, it's just irritating to waste money.

You didn't pick your money up off the ground, you got up early to go to work and probably did a good job to earn it. I'm not sure if any of the above is "stingy", I think it's more to do with having respect for money (without being obsessed by it).

Cunning Stunt · 23-05-2021 9:43pm

RandomViewer wrote: »

My dad used to buy animals from a wee man that lived in a wee house with a tin roof, no inside toilet,old open fire, he drove an old Peugeot pick up and had the same coat for the 20 or so years I knew him, bar the odd nights drinking every few years he didn't socialise, bought and sold livestock, he'd had TB when young and spent a long time in a sanatorium ,anyway he died and nobody expected there'd be much , left hundreds of thousands to a his niece who lived in Scotland

We had an elderly neighbour like that. She lived on her own all her life, in a little cottage, no water supply. We had only moved in next door when she started coming with her two buckets to our house every day to get water, as she had done with the people who lived there before us. Harmless old lady, always same clothes, no car, no tv...no modcons of any kind. When she died she left 3 farms behind her that she had inherited from family down the years. To this day I am not sure if she was just very frugal or if she honestly didnt know how much she had!

Strumms · 23-05-2021 9:54pm

Why would you leave 1.9 million ? Just sitting there ?

If I’d that sort of cash now, I didn’t have plans to spend that much I’d be putting it to good use now... enjoying life, enjoying helping others..

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 9:58pm

o1s1n wrote: »

There's being thrifty because you haven't two cents to rub together (I grew up in 80s Ireland and can remember my mam making toys out of cardboard boxes!) and then there's just idiocy.

Going through your whole life being too afraid to spend your money and having a mountain of it left when you die is just a waste of a working life. What was the point?

Firstly, anyone with access to BBC and Blue Peter made toys out of cardboard boxes in the 80's. Or RTE and Bosco. Ann and Frank were masters of the glue stick, toilet roll and blunt nosed scissors, along with every child and their mother in Ireland. The 80's was a tight decade for a great many, but to equate it to the experiences of those experiencing life a child with parents who had been through 'The Emergency' is just pointless. They were not at all the same thing and only ignorance would lead one to think otherwise.

Secondly, for many a man of his generation and even our own, going to work is how one feels valued and to have a place and a purpose. It's bloody ridiculous to think that a pensioner who's worked and paid for his travel pass through decades of public service should be ridiculed by the OP because he takes the bus down the road to the old works canteen to have a bite to eat and doubtless a chat with some folks he'd worked with for years. Sure what else is an old bachelor to be doing? Porsche 911? A fortnight in Ibiza? A week in Vegas blowing his savings on the tables, coke and hookers?

As a man working for the ESB through the 70's and 80's, that man would have spent a time paying more than 60 pence in tax for every punt he earned. He would have seen the lunacy of tradesmen (likely as one himself) buying family homes, then holiday homes, then investment apartments. And what good did it do for most of them? He would have seen society change, his surrounds in Dublin change many times, his workplace become full of university educated middle and junior managers, while his apprenticeship, experience and increasing years would have had many of same look down their noses on him.

There's nothing to say that fella didn't enjoy his lunch, his chats, his work, his friendships, a few pints, sitting by the canal docks watching the swans or feeding ducks, a fresh cod and chips and a read of the newspaper enough to be happy living the life he lived. The absolute rubbish people come up with, thinking they're superior in some way because they spend what they have or more than it, thinking there's something wrong with the other fella.

There no talking to some eejits though.

KaneToad · 23-05-2021 10:00pm

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Some people just don't enjoy spending money. I don't. I'm not saving up for anything, I just don't like wasting money. In fact, it annoys me to buy something I don't need.

I was in Dublin last week to go to my workplace, when I realised I forgot to bring a charger. I was quoted something like €20 in the phone shop, no way. I'd rather have no phone for the day, which I didn't have. Similarly, I'd rather buy clothes in a second hand shop than new, where possible. I mend my own jumpers. It's not that spending is unaffordable, it's nothing to do with expecting a downturn, it's just irritating to waste money.

You didn't pick your money up off the ground, you got up early to go to work and probably did a good job to earn it. I'm not sure if any of the above is "stingy", I think it's more to do with having respect for money (without being obsessed by it).

I'd have a similar philosophy. I don't really enjoy spending money.

I've read that there is a dopamine rush experience that a lot of people get from shopping. I don't get this. I don't equate not spending money with being mean. Not spending money so that someone else has to cover the cost - that's mean/stingy.

Government buildings · 23-05-2021 10:08pm

He lived his life away he wanted to live it. He didn't like to spend money, so what? I would say that spending money made him unhappy. He was happy not to spend it. Who is to say that what he did was foolish? He was entitled to do as he wanted with his own money.

sporina · 23-05-2021 10:09pm

i'd say for some people its a form of control.. shame though.. but best make a will - so the government don't get it.. now that would be a real shame..

pgj2015 · 23-05-2021 10:11pm

JayZeus wrote: »

Firstly, anyone with access to BBC and Blue Peter made toys out of cardboard boxes in the 80's. Or RTE and Bosco. Ann and Frank were masters of the glue stick, toilet roll and blunt nosed scissors, along with every child and their mother in Ireland. The 80's was a tight decade for a great many, but to equate it to the experiences of those experiencing life a child with parents who had been through 'The Emergency' is just pointless. They were not at all the same thing and only ignorance would lead one to think otherwise.

Secondly, for many a man of his generation and even our own, going to work is how one feels valued and to have a place and a purpose. It's bloody ridiculous to think that a pensioner who's worked and paid for his travel pass through decades of public service should be ridiculed by the OP because he takes the bus down the road to the old works canteen to have a bite to eat and doubtless a chat with some folks he'd worked with for years. Sure what else is an old bachelor to be doing? Porsche 911? A fortnight in Ibiza? A week in Vegas blowing his savings on the tables, coke and hookers?

As a man working for the ESB through the 70's and 80's, that man would have spent a time paying more than 60 pence in tax for every punt he earned. He would have seen the lunacy of tradesmen (likely as one himself) buying family homes, then holiday homes, then investment apartments. And what good did it do for most of them? He would have seen society change, his surrounds in Dublin change many times, his workplace become full of university educated middle and junior managers, while his apprenticeship, experience and increasing years would have had many of same look down their noses on him.

There's nothing to say that fella didn't enjoy his lunch, his chats, his work, his friendships, a few pints, sitting by the canal docks watching the swans or feeding ducks, a fresh cod and chips and a read of the newspaper enough to be happy living the life he lived. The absolute rubbish people come up with, thinking they're superior in some way because they spend what they have or more than it, thinking there's something wrong with the other fella.

There no talking to some eejits though.

Yes, why wouldnt he?

volono · 23-05-2021 10:12pm

Sorry but I'm all for people being sensible with money and like another poster said maybe he enjoyed seeing ex workfriends, sitting on the canal feeding the birds etc etc. What I don't understand is him not paying for his waste, annoying other people for lawnmowers which only cost afew hundred euro and only knows what else. He left 1.9 million behind him.

pgj2015 · 23-05-2021 10:13pm

sporina wrote: »

i'd say for some people its a form of control.. shame though.. but best make a will - so the government don't get it.. now that would be a real shame..

The government wouldn't get it even if you didn't make a will.

That has only ever happened once in Ireland as far as I am aware. an adopted man who had absolutely no family left when he died.

volono · 23-05-2021 10:15pm

Leaving his money to his niece, the tax kicks in after around 35k, revenue will be getting a substantial amount of it

Swindled · 23-05-2021 10:16pm

I remember a group of fella's who thought they were taking a hand at an auld lad at our workplace who was known for being very careful with his money and saving every penny, no smoking / drinking etc. His Son was known for being the opposite.

The group said "Paddy, what do you think of the fact that when you're gone, your Sean is going to straight away blow that small fortune of money you spent your life hoarding up ?"

"Well" . . says Paddy . ."if he enjoys spending it even only half as much as I enjoyed saving it all . . then fair play to the youngfella"

Ish66 · 23-05-2021 10:17pm

flossy1 wrote: »

if you are poor when young and always hungry you are afraid the bad times will come back

But there comes a time, Age, Wealth etc that you know you have enough ?

sporina · 23-05-2021 10:17pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

The government wouldn't get it even if you didn't make a will.

That has only ever happened once in Ireland as far as I am aware. an adopted man who had absolutely no family left when he died.

no my understanding is that if your haven't made a will - then rev get a big %.. am I wrong?

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 10:17pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

Yes, why wouldnt he?

I'd rather a spicebox than a nose full of coke, a few pints in Dublin than a fortnight in Ibiza and if I was only going down the road for my lunch, a bus pass would be a lot more practical and therefore enjoyable to use for my purposes than a 911. The money would have nothing to do with the decisions I'd make.

People are gas. They can't get their heads around a man not pissing away his money, just, because. Do you think he wasn't happy? If having a big balance in the bank made him happy, would that be okay with ye? Or would he have had to spend it on stuff you want him to spend it on for it to be okay with you?

[Deleted User] · 23-05-2021 10:18pm

sporina wrote: »

no my understanding is that if your haven't made a will - then rev get a big %.. am I wrong?

Yes, you're completely wrong.

sporina · 23-05-2021 10:18pm

JayZeus wrote: »

Yes, you're completely wrong.

oh so what happens to one's money if they have not made a will?

Swindled · 23-05-2021 10:21pm

The fact is the less money you can live on, the and more free and independent you will be.

No point earning 70k year if you spend 75k year, the man on 20k a year who can happily live on 15k is better off than you, and far more free and independent.

Do Mean people ever actually spend it ? ?

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