There's a difference between being frugal and being cheap, and according to one woman's Reddit post, her now-ex-boyfriend managed to turn that distinction into performance art.
The relationship started normally enough. He was caring, supportive, accompanied her to important doctor's appointments, and talked about forever. All the boxes you'd want checked in a serious relationship. Except for one awkward detail: he jokingly called her his "sugar mommy" while she covered most of their expenses.
The Millionaire in Disguise
At first, she had no idea he was wealthy. He lived modestly, bragged about finding $2 shirts at Goodwill, and generally presented himself as someone watching every dollar. Eventually, though, the truth emerged. Inheritance money. Private school education. A multimillion-dollar beachfront house. Three cars sitting in the garage. Enough high-end gaming equipment and surfboards to stock a luxury showroom.
So when Christmas arrived, you might expect someone with that kind of financial cushion to show a little generosity toward the person they claimed to love. Instead, his gift budget wouldn't have covered lunch at a decent restaurant.
She bought him components for his gaming computer and some customized items. In return, she received a plastic necklace from a thrift store, an empty picture frame, and a $3 stuffed dinosaur you can draw on. "I'm a grown woman—why would I want that junk?" she wrote in her post.
From Bad to Worse
When she told him the gifts felt cheap and thoughtless, he didn't apologize. Instead, he went to his friends and family and told them she was "ungrateful." That's when the Reddit comments really started rolling in.
One commenter nailed the distinction: "If he wanted to save money, he could've made you something thoughtful. Instead, he wasted ten bucks on stuff nobody wants." Others suggested she take back the computer parts she bought him and return the favor with similar discount-bin energy. One person's assessment was particularly blunt: "He's a professional mooch."
The red flags didn't stop at Christmas. She shared more examples of his behavior: begging her to buy sparklers on New Year's Eve instead of "overpriced" fireworks, discouraging tipping at restaurants even when he wasn't the one paying, and once pocketing a waiter's pen out of spite. He also mocked her for having "expensive" shoes and an iPhone. For the record, the shoes were Vans that cost $60. "And they last," she pointed out.
The Breaking Point
When people asked why she stayed with him, she admitted it was complicated. He had good moments. Even his friends apparently told her they found him annoying, though she'd kept that information to herself out of kindness. Until the Reddit post, anyway.
In the end, the relationship didn't collapse over the dinosaur or the thrift store necklace. It ended when he came clean about multiple lies he'd told throughout their time together. "He told me he was in the process of making a custom engagement ring," she wrote. "But he canceled it today."
They're still working out how to return each other's belongings. The stuffed dinosaur probably won't be missed.
The Real Issue
This story isn't really about a cheap Christmas gift or a stolen pen from Olive Garden. It's about compatibility in the places that matter. Grand romantic gestures are nice, but everyday values around money, effort, and respect tell you more about a relationship's long-term prospects.
You can be wealthy and frugal. You can be broke and generous. But when someone has resources and chooses to hoard them while their partner struggles, that's not frugality. That's a values mismatch. And those don't improve with time.
Opposites might attract initially, but mismatched priorities around generosity and reciprocity tend to pull relationships apart. These conversations about spending habits, lifestyle expectations, and what constitutes fairness aren't optional nice-to-haves. They're essential, especially before anyone starts talking about custom engagement rings.
Because at some point, you have to ask yourself: do you want to spend your life with someone who views a $3 dinosaur as an appropriate expression of love while sitting on a multimillion-dollar fortune? Some questions answer themselves.