Ikea’s billionaire founder was so frugal that he bought clothes from flea markets and took free salt and pepper from restaurants

As the saying goes, watch the pennies and the pounds look after themselves. But as it turns out, even some of the wealthiest people on the planet follow the money-saving mantra, well after they’ve made it. IKEA’s billionaire founder, Ingvar Kamprad, took his love for budget furniture home with him—literally. Despite having an estimated $58.7 billion net worth and being one of the richest men alive, the late businessman would buy his clothes at flea markets and drove an old Volvo. “I don’t think I’m wearing anything that wasn’t bought at a flea market,” Kamprad said in a 2016 documentary on Sweden’s TV4. “I want to set a good example.” Kamprad could have bought himself anything. But like many average Joes, he’d sneak home little packets of salt and pepper from restaurant visits. Taking his frugality one step further than most, he reportedly even recycled tea bags, ate at his own cafeterias, and flew economy. He once revealed to the newspaper Sydsvenskan that the €22 haircut price in the Netherlands was above budget and that he’d usually get it done while visiting “a developing country.” “Last time it was in Vietnam,” Kamprad added. And although he certainly no longer needed the cash, he kept working at Ikea until he was 87, before passing away in 2018 at 91. Warren Buffett, Mitzi Perdue, and the world’s youngest billionaire are frugal, too When you look among the ultra-wealthy, many opt out of wasting their money on status symbols that drain rather than build wealth. The youngest self-made female billionaire, Lucy Guo; the late founder of Ikea, Ingvar Kamprad; and actress Kiki Palmer all have a beat-up old car in common. Mitzi Perdue, the billionaire heiress of Sheraton Hotels and Perdue Farms, doesn’t even own a car—let alone a flashy one. She gets around by riding the subway instead. “The Hendersons and the Perdues did not encourage extravagance,” Perdue previously told Fortune. “Nobody wins points for wearing designer clothes.”