A Las Vegas woman worth more than $5 million has revealed that she’s so obsessive about saving money that she eats cans of cat food and only has one set of cutlery. Aimee Elizabeth, who appeared on TLC’s Extreme Cheapskates, admitted that she looks for any way she can to cut her living costs despite being able to easily afford to buy whatever she wants.
- She tries to live on less than $1,000 per month. Aimee explained that even though she’s worth millions, she still holds herself to an extremely tight budget, ranging from $750 to $1,000 per month max. Abiding by these numbers means cutting serious corners and really skimping on things like utilities and basic necessities.
- Who could live like that? Aimee is so cheap that she barely even allows herself to have heat and hot water in the house. “I keep my water heater turned off, I need 22 minutes to heat it up enough to get a shower so I turn it on every morning when I get up,” she said. “I set it for 22 minutes so I know exactly when my shower’s ready because God forbid I waste another minute on that water heater.”
- There are some things in her house that seriously need replacing. While we could all practice better financial habits and save more money, Aimee takes it to the extreme, forgoing replacing things in her house that are well beyond their best. For instance, she only has one sponge to wash the dishes even though it’s “falling apart and rotting” and has one knife, which she refuses to wash with water.
- She’s divorced, unsurprisingly. Her ex-husband Michael left her with the house, but it also left her needing to clean the place. They used to spend about $300 a month on having a cleaner come in, but now Michael does it for her, so she saves that money too. They consider this a “win-win” situation since Aimee gets to save money and Michael gets to stay in shape from all the housework.
- She even eats cat food because it’s cheap. While it seems kinda silly to opt for eating cat food rather than fresh food meant for humans which can also be purchased inexpensively, Aimee still goes for the pet food pretty often. “When I go to these extremes I think people see it and it annoys a lot of them but I don’t care,” she said. “It saves money.”
