A TWO PERSONAL CHEAP SKATES reveals how their children were forced to dig through garbage bags looking for sweets and spare change.
Patricia and Raul Pinto take their four children to the carwash every day so they can use the vacuum cleaner.
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The couple then tell a clerk at the garage that the vacuum cleaner has swallowed up one of Patricia’s earrings so that they can have access to the vacuum bags – giving the kids the opportunity to search for hidden treasures.
Speaking on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates, Patricia says: “The kids love going to the carwash because it’s like a treasure hunt for them, we have found earphones, jewellery, change of course, a lot of change.”
The family have even been known to pick out candy from the bag to enjoy later – as long as it’s sealed.
And once they have emptied the bag of all its valuables, Raul will place a decoy earring among the dust before letting the clerk know they’ve found it.
Raul: “Going to the carwash is like playing the slots – the dollar I put in I know I am going to get back.”
After a long day at work, the family will head to lunch at a restaurant. Raul is sure to have found ways to save money.
He stated: “As a family of six we consume lots of food and now that my two oldest children are back home for the summer I have to be very very careful not to go over budget.”
Raul prefers to order six meals and six beverages, and insists that his children drink tap water. His wife, however, can have unlimited refills of coffee.
The couple will then order a club sandwich each, before asking for two extra plates each and some extra lettuce and tomatoes on the side
Raul explains: “Diners usually serve you these huge portions, a club sandwich is pretty much like getting two or three sandwiches into one and I always get the extra lettuce to make it a little bit more bulky.”
The family will fill their pockets with as much sauce, sugar, and salt as they can before heading home.
Monica is the eldest daughter “The waitresses think we are psycho, they give us the dirtiest looks I have ever seen in my life.”
Raul will do anything to make a quick buck when it comes to his fridge.
Instead of buying bottled water, Raul refills empty bottles before coating the top with clear non-toxic nail polish so when his kids open the bottle they think it’s brand new.
Raul wants to reduce the price of beer now that his older children are at home from university.
He has now taken all his expensive beer bottles and washed them, then refilled them with a cheaper beer.
“He thinks we don’t notice but we notice,”Monica with Raul Jr. adding “it tastes like c**p.”
When you do go to grab a beer from Raul’s fridge you better be quick about it with the dad-of-four implementing a strict time limit on it.
He stated: “Everybody is only allowed to open the fridge doors once a day, they have 24 seconds to do so, and if they don’t do it in that time too bad.”
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