What does being skint mean to you?

scottishspendaholic

Hey everyone,

I've been pondering this since yesterday since the girl I sit opposite at work was saying how skint she was. However she then proceeded to:-

• go out for lunch (at least £10) yesterday
• has spent at least £200 on clothes this month
• is getting her hair done next week (£80)
• is planning a big night out tomorrow night in Edinburgh (with meal so £50?)

I know its none of my business what anyone else spends their money on - but it just got me thinking - what does being skint mean to you?

It just struck me that being skint is relative - she is skint because she has lets say £500 left in the bank until payday (I should add here that she is 25 and still lives at home and has no debt - good on her). I feel skint as I have £50 in the bank and have a new car battery to pay for and need to survive until payday at the end of the month - does that make sense? I'm sure other people's 'being skint' is more extreme than this - I only have to worry about feeding and clothing myself, whereas other people have little people to worry about to.

I was just wondering if anyone else had thoughts on this or has had to bite their tongue when speaking to people who don't or don't seem to have money worries?

scottishspendaholic x

lynzpower

I dont bite my tongue! I just say oh for heavens sake, if you were that skint then you wouldnt be spending a fortune on unneccasily luxuries, now shut up moaning.

that usually does it!! Not charming particularly, but i am pretty well liked for my straight talking - I hope!!
:beer:

louB_5

Oh my gosh, I wish I was as 'skint' as her! I do not have an o/d facility through choice, so as long as I am in credit- even in pence, at the end of the month I'm happy.
I moniter my bank account daily and if I know I'm looking a bit short, I'l be careful what I do, ie- beans on toast, invite friends over instead of going out.

Although, I have only recently come to my senses, with the help of this site and suffering the unreasonable bank charges through my own stupidity, I have now become money consious and believe it or not, I quite enjoy it!

Broken_hearted

Living on potatoe and onion soup and not daring to put the heating on. Thank god it's not that bad now.

amosworks

My ex-boss always used to say how skint he was but spend a fortune on prepacked sandwiches at the supermarket every lunchtime, I'd say ever day he spent at least £5 a day.

I never said anything to him, but when he used to say that to me several days after he'd not paid my wages on time and I had bank charges left, right and centre for insufficient funds - it used to make me pretty mad.

But I'm not mad any more, I'm taking him through a tribunal for nearly £5k in unpaid wages and left the company to become self employed.

To me, skint means asking your close friends to give you food to eat :-\

little_miss_broke_2

Skint to me is worrying about if you'll have enough money to feed yourself and your children; wondering if you'll have enough money to pay the bills; knowing it'll be several weeks (if not months) before you can have a night out. It's certainly not when you've got £500 to last you till payday and have just spent £200 on clothes.

Sheesh, if i had her problems i'd be laughing!!

Anniek1969

Skint to me means worrying if i've enough money left to see me through till next payday when there's still food to buy for the family and petrol for the car for my husband to get to work. Juggling different bills to make sure I don't go over my overdraft.

My BIL is always saying he's skint then him and his wife and daughter will go out for sunday lunch. Then he comes in to my house to use the computer to check his bank and in the same breath is talking about laser eye treatment that costs about £800. I'd really like to be as skint as him.

ms_london

I used to be the same to be honest (when I could get credit!!), and now I am careful, and even if I have a few weeks to go & am still on budget, sometimes I still think as though I am skint, which encourages me to keep my spending under control!!

So long as I am on budget that is all I worry about, although sometimes I do overspend!! Doh!!

It does irritate me when people moan they are broke, but do buy lunch everyday and are always shopping (like I used to do!!) - especially if they owe you money!!

xx

TonyS_4

skint to me as the above said means not being able to afford food - taking whatever you can get of friends and familiy and having to postpone paying bills. Last summer the notion of going out, shopping or making choices about what i wanted to do didn't really come into it, I just had to work (15 hour days) sleep and get on with it if I wanted to do what I had planned for the end of my summer.

I'm glad a was skint, really learnt my lesson and it is something I will never be again, being truely skint makes you realise how importnat it is to manage you finances, budget, save and ultimately get more out of life by having greater oppertunites. Rather than having to work you can choose to work - that's what i'm finding now and it's great. I'm still a student so i'm sure this view will change again in a years time!

klare_2

our skint this month is bad... we have about 50 pounds to the end of the month to buy food for the family ( also includes nappys and milk for two babies under 5), the power steering pump on my car has just blown up and the mot runs out next month meaning i will have no transport to get to work ( and no , theres no public transport we live in the middle of no where, ) I have 3 teeth that basically have holes going down to god knows where the fillings came out ( teeth were 70% filling 30 % tooth to give you an idea of the hole!) - i cant get registered with an NHS dentist and even if I could i couldnt even afford their fees, as for going private... not in this life time, and i now have another filling i can feel going as well, both me and the OH have needed prescriptions recently but couldnt have them as we have no money, we havent had a night out for 3 years and its unlikely it will happen for double that again, holidays are only a dream, every piece of clothing we buy has to come pretty much from the tescos value range, one by one things are wearing out and falling to pieces in the house and theres sod all we can do about replacing them . :eek:
I could go on but whats the point, all it does it make me feel even worse. I get really angry when people moan about being skint when they really havent got a clue, but like the OP said, its all relative.

lush_walrus

Im probably not going to be hugely welcome saying this, but skint is definately a state of mind. I save money every month and always have done and always leave more money than I need in my bank account. But, if on a certain month I end up spending it all, I consider myself to be skint. Even though infact Im not as I have transfered x amount to other accounts to save.

To someone else, I without a doubt am never skint, but to me sometimes I am. By the same token someone else who considers their credit limit on x number of credit cards to be part of their potential budget and would never think of themselves as skint until they are up to all of their credit cards limits.

Its all about how you feel in my opinion.