The worst/naughtiest thing you've done to survive whilst at rock bottom

BWZN93

I agree with the poster who thinks this should be nominated for thread of the month, I have literally sat here glued to my screen almost in tears and at various points nearly wetting myself with laughter.

I've never been in any situation quite like those described before, but as a very poor student many years ago I struck up a very good friendship with a chap whose mother used to bring him huge bags full of food, frozen meals, pizza's, those twin packs of chicken breasts in sauce etc, the works. Luckily for me, said chap was about as much use in the kitchen as a chocolate teapot so I basically took over the role of 'mummy at uni', making his meals etc and in return sharing the food.

Similarly, every time I went home I would return to uni having relieved my mothers kitchen cupboards of basically anything that would assist in keeping me going for a term - she's a big fan of bogof purchases and often forgets that she already has 16 cans of beans and 3 tubes of toothpaste knocking around. Loo roll was habitually stolen from the toilets of my uni department by the 3 women living in our shared house, and if we went out we used to flirt with chaps we wouldn't normally consider simply to relieve them of a few quid in the form of the most alcoholic drink available behind the bar. One girl I knew though was taking some dodgy internet diet pills to stave off hunger because they were cheaper than feeding herself. She lost a shed load of weight, and it got her through till her next loan cheque. I'm not advocating it as a good plan or anything because of the inherent dangers of these things, but Christ, she actually did look bloody good for it.

A couple of years ago I did find myself in a bit of a pickle however, I'd broken up with my fella, he'd moved out and I was not earning anywhere near enough anymore as overtime had been cut, and bonuses all but disappeared. I basically lost about 60% of my income, and ended up spending more than I earned in the form of overdrafts and credit cards etc. This didn't last for very long however, as I worked in an industry where financial mismanagement is seriously frowned upon and I was being as careful as I could and saw what was happening to my situation fairly rapidly. I'd hit the point where my income was literally covering my rent and bills, and not much else. Shall we say I had reached a juncture in life where I was at a crossroads, I was emotionally exhausted, bored with the fight and I had to seriously consider what I was going to do about it. I ended up moving out of my rented flat into a house with a girl I worked with and her hubby (she offered, she is an angel) for 6 months, I sold every stick of furniture/house stuff I had, told my boss I couldn't stand her/the job anymore and went and joined the forces. At 29. I think I may have had some kind of mini quarter life crisis or something.

I'm lucky though. I had nothing but myself to look after. Now I live in a tin can where the toilet roll is always available and three meals are provided every day for free. I have no privacy, but have got to the point where my debts are well under control, tiny by comparison to many, and they'll be completely gone by April next year.

Anyway, thanks to the OP for starting this thread. Its brilliant. And you know, as a result i'm going to start keeping my eyes open more in case someone is in trouble and I can help, I cant bear the idea that in this day and age people are struggling on the most basic of levels just to feed their children.

x

determined_new_ms

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

I did not do this.

But I shared a flat with someone who, back in the days when 'whoopsies' were hand-written, acquired a roll of blank whoopsie stickers.

We ate quite well that summer.

OMG I did this as well! Totally forgot about it until I saw your post! hahahahaha ooooooo the amount of things that were reduced to 10p :rotfl:

Desperado99

Wow, some great stories on here.

I have to say, I have never been desperate for money, food or shelter. I was lucky enough through my childhood/university that my parents always put us first, and for that I shall be grateful.

My parents, however, have been desperate at times, and have told me some stories, one of which I shall relay to you all.

Back in the late sixties, they lived next to a lumber yard, that went out of business.... for six weeks, every night after dark, my dad would put on dark clothes and blacken his face with boot polish, go next door and acquire wood, until their cellar was completely full.

Not long after, they saw the owner of the yard, who said to them "I should have told you to help yourselves to any wood you wanted, but it's all disappeared now"

vixx

Amazing thread!

Like others, thankfully I have never been in a position where I couldn't feed myself, and I have no children. I can't imagine the desperation parents must feel when unable to feed their kids.

Whilst a hard up student, I'm ashamed to say I re-rolled fag butts in to roll ups (yuuuuuuuk) and also cooked pasta in a kettle as didn't have any pans (it actually works really well - just pop some in your kettle and keep boiling it until pasta is cooked) - dread to think how much electric this was costing me though, definitley false economy!!!
Lived on nothing except pasta with beans mixed in for weeks on end, bland but kinda healthy and I was a skinny-minnie.

Also used to cruise pubs with my mates and get random men to buy us drinks when we couldn't afford it, then get miffed if they expected more, shameful!
Oh, and on occasions would swipe a drink left on the bar and neck it. Really bad.

kittiej

The amount of people saying you used to re-roll your ciggies has reminded me of my student days.

I used to go to my BF house, he still lived at home cos we were both teenagers, and if we had money we would share a cigarette between us. When we didn't have any money we used to get any backy left in the dog ends and put them in his dads pipe and smoke em. Eeeew yuk.

I've taken days off work when I've been short of petrol as well.

Others I tell think this is disgusting but my DH likes his tea strong and I like mine weak, I've tried using a teapot but he doesn't like it so now I put the teabag in his cup first and once I've made his I bung it in my cup. I know it's not really bad but everyone in work thinks I'm a minger for doing it *shrugs*

I've loved reading all the stories in this thread, it's like one of those magazines that have funny and sad stories.

Keep going :T

ceegee

When I was totally skint about 20 years ago, I had holes in the soles of my 1 pair of shoes. I didn't have a car so I walked everywhere. I bought some stick-on soles from Woolies and they did very well.

However, due to the amount of walking I did (taking DDs to school, going to supermarket, walking to work) the stick-on soles ended up with holes in. I couldn't afford to replace them (the stick-on soles) straight away, and it was in a very wet spell of weather. I ended up having to put plastic bags on my feet before I put my shoes on. The rain still seeped up into my shoes though and it wasn't long (only a minute or two) before the bags slipped down to the toes of my shoes and so my feet ended up soaking anyway.

Although that was 20 years ago, whenever I go out in the wet now, I am eternally grateful that I can actually go out without getting wet feet. It had such an impact on me.

They were hard times. Thank goodness things are a bit (only a bit, mind!) better now!

adouglasmhor

When I was at primary school my parents were very short of money at one point and I had to put cardboard insoles cut from the cornflake packet into my school shoes as the soles were worn through and I knew mum and dad were skint and would not ask for new ones as it was near the end of term. When they found out both they and both sets of grandparents bought me new shoes.

mrs.butler

I truely was not trying to cause an argument. Just suprised that posts can be deleted. Was not trying to cause offence, think I will just crawl back under the stone I came from.

kittiej

Don't worry mrs b, almost everyone has posts deleted at some point or other lol.

Have you got any interesting stories to share?

Tygermoth

I read this thread at the end of last week and my OH commented that I seemed pensive over the weekend. I must admit that I had brushed some of that gnawing horrible feeling of just not having enough money to heat, feed or pay anything what so ever under the carpet. So I found myself dwelling on it again.

I too stole loo roll, asked for later shifts as the canteen was empty so I could take food from the bins. I would drink tea like it was going out of fashion on shifts because it would make me feel full, warm, and was free on tap. I would eat whole tins of communal biscuits for the same reason (luckily these were bought by the business not by staff and were replaced as soon as they ran out without and query or comment) had to get up at the crack of dawn so I could cycle for miles every day to work in the pouring rain or dead of winter because I could not afford a bus fare with no gloves or coat. I also ducked co-workers collections or put in pennies.

The washing was hand washed in the bath but luckily my uniform was supplied at the beginning of every shift laundered. I used my friends gym card to use the showers and lived in a local large caf!/bookshop which was warm and did 'endless hot chocolate' so I would skulk and wait until a table was vacated and would grab someone's empty cup move tables and could stay there all day reading books getting refills. ( I used to time with the shift changes

In my nasty flat we had no TV (not that the blinking licensing people would believe it!), no phone, no heating, no fridge, no carpets in the winter we legged it over the freezing tiles to the bathroom and back to the warm bed as fast as humanly possible.

The office had bread/toaster for the managers (bought by them) but I used to have two slices every morning with three cups of tea so I had food. I would literally cram it down my neck before someone came and caught me. The weekends were the worst because I didn’t have anything.

Shamefully I helped myself to confectionary or food gifts which were handed in as there always were a surplus so I hoped no one would notice.

I still cant spend money.. I am free and easy up to £20 beyond that I still get the shakes, a crushing feeling in my chest and I cant breathe. It doesn’t need to even be my money! My friend was buying a computer and handed over £900 and I had to leave the store because it just made me giddy. Asked if I was ok and I just laughed it off. Once we had to get something on HP for me as an emergency - my then very new OH had to buy as I couldn't get credit while the bloke was waiting for the bank to call back to say if they accepted the loan - I had to leave the shop because the crushing feeling overwhelmed me and was just crying so hard.

Luckily my OH now does the finances because money just stresses me beyond imagining. He shows me all the balances where the money goes, what bills have been paid and I have a card and I can go to the atm or store and can buy what I want… but I don’t. I still mentally justify every purchase for ages out of fear of going back to that place. I would not wish that horrible horrible place on my worst enemy.

Hoarder moi? oh yes, I second the fort of branstons beans. between them and the amount of loo roll we have I could build a bunker that could likely shield you from a bomb blast. Everything is used to its limits, recycled and reused rather than new. I now have a pantry which would put my grandmothers snow cupboard to shame (they lived in the middle of nowhere and used to get snowed in so she would 6 weeks of provisions aside)

Now I have good credit. live in a lovely house with heating. Have food on the table (its one thing me and the OH now refuse to scrimp on) and I am thankful…. every single day.