Share your stories of desparation!

Molanole

KittyKate wrote:

I once sewed my knickers back together when they literally wore apart at the sides..oh the shame! I also regularly wore two jumpers, a scarf, a hat, gloves, snuggle socks, in the house, with a duvet wrapped around me rather than turn on the heating!

Definitely had to do this as a student. I think I wrote my entire dissertation in a purple puffa jacket, scarf and fingerless gloves as we couldn't put the heating on. It meant I "never felt the benefit" when I went outside though

But I am one of those people who has always fallen back on credit to get me through the tough times. There was a thread the other day about robbing Peter to pay Paul and I definitely went through a long patch of withdrawing money on my credit card so that I could make the minimum payment. Hmm, can you see how I managed to rack up 40K of debt then??

anniestar

Ages ago(1986 ish) in the fab days of being a student at the start of the new accademic year they were giving out these food parcel kind of things my best mate was told by her brother that there was 4 different ques for the goodies and as long as you changes what you were wearing a bit you could get more than 1 box we did it and it worked got a few "looks" when we were exchanging some of our clothes in the lift though! Also have to confess that I too am a (or rather was a loo roll nicker) M/C Poly for it was there the henous crime(s) took place had those mega rolls that they tied to the cysten thing with string well I had a large bag and very little money... Alex my mate told me about that as well(was very grateful to her she had a fab criminal mind!!!) By the way Alex is now a very successful barrister!!!! As for me well Im reformed and get my loo paper from costco now.

Luckystepho

When I was at Uni I was so skint in my final few days that I couldn't afford food, so I raided my foreign coin collection, collected up all the coins which were the size and weight of a 10p peice and fed them into the choccy vending machine at Sheffield train station!! Ohh the shame!!! :eek:

KittyKate

Pinching never felt like pinching when it was to survive did it! I remember going into the function rooms at uni to eat the sandwiches and crisps left over from meetings - they'd been there most of the day so we'd avoid seafood! Also been a frequent loo roll pincher - hey, my uni fees were huge, they could afford it! Also used to work in a restaurant and regularly ate 2 meals there during a shift so as not to make any food at home - and stole the little jams, mints etc - it was a hotel so used to lift shampoo and soaps from the housekeeper's trolley as well - never more than I needed though.

Now I'm sitting at my desk at work filling out freebies on the net and eating from a leftover fruit platter from a meeting - some habits stay!

LittleL_4

I love this thread so much. I also remember going through every jacket, coat, anorak pocket in all of the wardrobes (when I lived at home with my mum and sister) in the hope of finding something. Oh and down the back of the sofa was the best.

My worst ever was when I sold a ring my gran left me when she died just for a lousy £20! Makes me so ashamed that I'm still struggling with money 10 years later.

Little L
xx

summerday

Before my Mum got into taking out credit cards and loans, after my dad left and I was about 13, sisters 6 and 11, Mum was so broke one day she had to call round a house clearance/ antique man. He basically looked round the house and picked up anything of any value, took an armload of stuff and gave my Mum £30 or something. She was a bit upset because she had to sell an ancient (1700s or something) recipe book (at the time I was happy to see it go though as it had gross recipes like pigs trotters etc!) that had been passed down the family for generations. But as soon as he had left we jumped in the car and to the supermarket as luckily the next few days meals had been sorted until payday!

netally

This thread makes me feel a little relieved! My OH has knicked a few loo rolls from work when we've been desperate. Although one weekend he forgot and we had to use newspaper! (Use it sparingly, I managed to clog the loo!)

I've also gone 3 days living on monster munch and pasta with nothing on it before. Oh and making roll ups out of the leftover baccy in the fag ends in the ashtray!

cathybird

blimey, this loo roll thing has turned out to be popular!! :rotfl:
and there I was totally embarrassed to confess and thinking all these years I was on me own...

Headintheclouds_3

rog2 wrote:

Anyway, I thought that those days were firmly behind us, until one day, five years ago,whilst staying in Manchester, with a workmate. With less than a tenner between us, we were advised that a pub in Dukinfield did a carvery for £3.00 and were offering a 2 for 1 deal before 7.30. Off we went and duly ordered.

Heh - this reminds me of my childhood days (one of 2 kids of a lone parent family; £10 per month support from my old man in those pre-CSA days) where my mother took my brother, myself and a pal on a day out to Exmoor and the 4 of us shared a Ploughman's lunch in a pub. It was such a treat to eat in a restaurant!

Every evening meal was heralded by the question 'Sausages, beefburgers or fish fingers?' and we had baked potato and beans cooked atop the fire on Saturdays as a treat. I don't honestly know how my mother coped.

Some great stories here which make our situation look like the lap of luxury!

LJD1_2

When I was little my dad used to travel a lot with work. He always used to bring back the little sachets of tea, coffee and sugar etc. for me and my sister to play with. Years later (and we're talking about 15 years later) I was at university and as I didn't drink tea or coffee I wasn't wasting my limited money on it. When people popped round i'd offer them a selection of teas and coffees. They thought it was a fab idea....thank god they didn't know how old it all was!