A self-professed ‘cheapskate’ has revealed what she eats in a day in order to be mortgage-free at 32.
The TikTok user, known as @diaryofacheapskate, lives in a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Yorkshire, with her husband and two children.
The woman describes herself as a ‘big fan of cheap hacks, reusing, living frugally’ – but her recent ‘what I eat in a day’ video shocked her followers, who say ‘life is too short’ to make such sacrifices.
‘This is what I eat in a day as a frugal person as someone that cheaps out a bit on meals,’ she began her video, which has racked up more than a million views.
People were shocked by her frugal ‘life hacks’, which included watering down the milk she uses on her cereal and eating baked potatoes that had started sprouting.
Firstly, the thrifty mother shared her breakfast, which she explains she has ‘pretty much every morning’.
She will usually go for Weetabix – but has the own brand version from Sainsbury’s – and will even ‘water down’ the amount of milk she uses to save money.
She confessed: ‘I am trying to use a bit less of the milk just to save a bit more money.
A self-professed ‘cheapskate’ has revealed what she eats in a day in order to be mortgage-free at 32
‘I’ve been slowly watering it down a little bit more and I can’t really taste the difference. I like it mushy anyway so it doesn’t bother me.’
She then shared a clip of the soggy breakfast offering after running it under the tap.
For lunch, she got out some jacket potatoes from Asda, which were sprouting, and added tuna mayonnaise and cheese.
She said: ‘I had these jacket potatoes that needed to be eaten up. I’m interested to know how many of you would just bin potatoes like these now that they’re sprouting. I just cut the sprouty bits off and eat them anyway.’
‘The rest of the potato is good, so I’m going to eat it!’
The financially savvy TikToker put the potato in the microwave as she thinks they taste ‘disgusting’ when they go in the oven.
She took some sweetcorn from the fridge, mixed it with tuna and mayonnaise, bag of salad – leaving the remaining tuna to use in a sandwich the next day.
She did however admit that her fridge was looking ‘a bit sad’ and admitted the salad was ‘a couple of days out of date’.
She divided opinion when she began watering down the milk on her cereal to save money
For lunch, she had ‘jacket potatoes that needed to be eaten up’ and cut off the bits that were sprouting
For an afternoon snack, she had homemade animal biscuits and blueberries.
Later on, her daughter, nine, was in charge of making dinner for the family – and cooked up some homemade pizzas.
‘It was my daughter’s turn to make tea. This is the nine year old, she can make this completely by herself. She doesn’t need any adult involvement,’ she explained.
‘We do try to make most things from scratch. And by we, I mean my husband. I don’t really do the cooking in our household.
‘We probably have this meal once every two weeks. It’s one of those family favourites where you know everyone’s going to eat it.’
The ‘cheapskate’ was quick to clarify that her ‘frugal’ display of meals was what she chooses to eat on a day while her children are at school.
But not everyone was as thrilled by her money-saving methods, with some people saying she should be ‘living her life to the full’ instead.
Commenters wrote: ‘I genuinely have to ask, what’s the end goal? Are you saving for something or are you just gonna live like this? Cause you only live once and you can’t take your money with you’;
For a snack, she had homemade biscuits and some blueberries to get her through until dinner
‘Why don’t you sit on your jacket potatoes until they are warm? Save using the electricity with the microwave x’;
‘The way my jaw dropped when you but the bowl under the sink..’;
‘You would hate to live with me, I’ve just put £23 worth of out of date food in the bin, also half tin of beans and half a dominos pizza, my heating is on 24/7 & windows open’;
‘Mortgage free but watering down your milk is… a choice’;
‘Life is too short to water down milk on Weetabix’;
‘Girlie, live your life to the fullest, nobody is promised tomorrow!’;
However, another person said ‘Why are so many people hating this??? everything was normal.’
In another video, the cheapskate explained that both she and her husband are on ‘low wages’ and have little disposable income.
But not everyone was as thrilled by her money-saving methods, with some people saying she should be ‘living her life to the full’ instead
She broke down their monthly payments, which include £0 each month on mortgages and rent, £120 on council tax, £100 on electricity, £40 on water, three mobile phones for £15, as well as a Netflix and internet bills.
When someone asked what she’s saving for with all her sacrifices, she explained: ‘There’s a bit of a misconception that because I live frugally and save money that I have a lot of savings. That’s definitely not the case.’
She explained they don’t have a lot of ‘disposable income’ after they’ve paid their bills, so even saving up for smaller things takes a lot of time.
It also allows her and her husband to work part-time, so they can spend more time with the children.
At some point she hopes to re-do the family bathroom, but their main goals were to become mortgage free and be able to work part-time – both of which they’ve now achieved, thanks to their frugal habits.
She’s also saving for holidays abroad, explaining that last year they managed to go away three times.
She says her husband is ‘for the most part’ on board but ‘he’s definitely not as frugal as I am’.
‘If I was single and lived by myself, I’d be much more extreme than I am now. But he’s very much onboard for what kind of lifestyle we’re able to have.’
