It's OK to steal from people you love

by Harvey Jones on 19 June 2010  |  21 comments
Tweet

Harvey Jones reveals the dos and don'ts when it comes to money saving...

Saving money is important, but so is your dignity. So how low would you go to save a few pennies during these difficult times? Shocking new research shows that most us would happily steal from the person we love.

One in three have taken small change from their partner without their knowledge, according to a new survey by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, and three-quarters didn’t class it as stealing. “What’s theirs is mine” is the prevailing attitude.

Watch out if your partner is from the South East, they would cheerfully purloin £10.20 without permission. The average take in the North West is just £1.50. They’re either more honest, or more broke.

An honest copper

I’ve learned the hard way that recommending extreme money-saving tips can land you in trouble. Last year, when I passed on a tip from somebody who rooted around vending machines and their colleagues’ desks for loose coppers and silver, lovemoney.com users cursed me in their hundreds for endorsing theft.

What an upright bunch. In fact, I had merely forgotten to include the tipster’s advice to “always ask their permission first”, but it was days before I was brave enough to venture outside.

Money saving is clearly an ethical minefield roamed by lovemoney.com vigilantes, and without any rules. So I have decided to produce the following dos and don’ts to guide us all.

Do

Steal from your partner

Three-quarters of you think this is acceptable behaviour, so morally you are in the majority. Anyway, your partner is probably nicking your cash the moment your back is turned, so all it does is even the score. I also think it is morally acceptable to “mislay” your partner’s credit card just before they head out for a massive spending spree, although personally I haven’t plucked up the courage to do it yet.

It yourself

Builders, plumbers, painters and carpenters are expensive, so do as much as you can yourself. They don’t need the work - if they did, they’d charge less and be more reliable. If you’re a DIY softy, like certain self-confessed members of the lovemoney.com team, then ask your dad. Although these days, dads aren’t as handy as they used to be.

Related goal

Make home improvements

Find out how to make valuable home improvements to your home without spending a fortune.

Do this goal

Shop around…

…for cheaper bank accounts, credit cards, loans, mortgages and insurance, because quite frankly, it would be ridiculous to do anything else. And possibly even immoral.

Stand your round in the pub

Everybody is feeling the pinch right now. If you want to drown your shared sorrows in drink, it’s only right you pay your share.

Re-use bits of string...

...and squeeze the life out of the toothpaste tube, walk to the shops, frequent Poundland, use your local library, switch off lights when you leave the room, cancel your gym membership, make your own lunch for work, agree to limit gift giving at Christmas and pursue any other fashionably frugal money-saving tip you can think of. If people call you stingy, just claim you’re doing it for the environment.

Don’t....

Steal

Even a bit of printer paper from your boss. You’re only stealing from yourself, the saying goes, and in my case that would be true, because I’m self-employed. Actually, a bit of printer paper is probably okay. And your boss won’t begrudge you the odd envelope. But a whole filing cabinet?

Go stingy on the tips

That waitress is probably a single mother of two busily serving tables while studying for her life-changing MA in Egyptian anthropology, and you only want to give her 5%? Shame on you.

Related blog post

• Penny Golightly writes:

  A life of luxury for less

  If you fancy treating yourself, here's how to do it without breaking the bank!

  Read this post

Skimp on every luxury

I’m all in favour of frugal, but you can take it too far.

Remember when Asda launched its 2p credit crunch sausages? I’d happily drive a cheap old banger, but I wouldn’t eat one. That’s just me. You will have your own line that you won’t cross.

Download music and videos illegally from the internet

As a journalist I have a vested interest, but I believe people should be paid for their work, even if it is published online. Some of my friends disagree, and recklessly hand their credit card deals to a dodgy Ukrainian website selling a Michael Jackson box set for 3p, on the grounds that “he doesn’t need the money”. I still believe pop stars should be paid for their efforts, otherwise how can they afford all those drugs?

Filch coins from your colleagues’ desks without first asking permission

And if you do, don’t write about it.

More: Designer clothes for less | Easy ways to borrow thousands of pounds