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

rdchick

I think people who have been in a lot of trouble financially or have literally not had any money to their names can be a little bit like anorexics, the thought of money is similar to the thought of food. Anyone else think like that? xxx

Tygermoth

rdchick wrote: »

I think people who have been in a lot of trouble financially or have literally not had any money to their names can be a little bit like anorexics, the thought of money is similar to the thought of food. Anyone else think like that? xxx

I can kind of see your point. The control aspect…

But I personaly say that’s a bit to simplistic.

Luckystepho

Just been in stitches over the cat show story- I'm a cat lover but it certainly made me chuckle- I could imagine this being in a sitcom or something!

rdchick

it's the fear too though I think. The fear of what money can do xxx

zaksmum73

I just tried reading this thread while on a conference call at work, I had to stop because 1) I obviously wasnting listening to the call 2) I was laughing out loud 3) my eyes were filling up. Some of the stories here are deeply, deeply moving and put some other money worries into perspective.

I have 2 stories - when a 'youth' having just passed my driving test I took 3 friends to sunderland in my battered old mini. We had a WILD weekend but they were all students and I was on a very low wage. They all came home with no money and I had my purse stolen - we had no funds whatsoever amongst us and my car guzzled oil. The oil light had been on for ages, I had to pull over. I did and parked in the services car park while my friend grabbed a tub of oil off the forecourt and ran off with it. I felt sick all the way home
When a newly abandoned single parent with a <1yr old and and £20k of debt from my ex, things were bad. I had no money for food shopping so had to revert to using my company credit card to buy food. But then i couldnt pay it back and the card flagged me to my boss - it was a disciplinary offence to use it for personal reasons. I had to fess up, but hadn't told anyone else about my home situation, so it was quite a relief to get it out in the open. My boss did not discipline me, but instead paid it off for me, allowing me to pay him back when I was able

Interestingly i have never borrowed loo roll, but the idea is now quite tempting!

Mallotum_X

Fortunately never been at rock bottom, but i do remember when starting out my parents would visit, and my dad would have to pop out to the shops - he would borrow my car to do it, fill it up with petrol and come back with a load of tins of things to keep me going.

It really did help a lot.

Triker

Funnily enough I went the other way, when I started to earn money I spent wildly but always on food....hoarded tons of stuff, would compulsively buy the reduced food in supermarkets. At one point I had a chest freezer, fridge freezer and boxes and bags of food stashed everywhere. It got really out of control at one point.
Thankfully I've sorted myself out and recently went through all my cupboards and gave my DD and her boyfriend over 20 carrier bags of 'stuff'...jars, tins, boxes of various food items. It was very liberating for me and they were really pleased with the goodies. The chest freezer has gone and I control myself re spending and food.

Stupid thing was most of it would go to waste as I couldn't keep track of what I had bought.

I still remember though the abject sadness that I couldn't afford to buy my little baby more than one yoghurt...it was a 'we live on toast' week but she had her food sorted...I just couldn't afford to buy her anymore than that and that always stayed with me.


So I'd say it was probably 25 to 30 years of poverty and the last 13 of hoarding like a mad woman...the last few months, trying to offload and declutter the piles of stuff.:D

Funny what influences you....

SingleSue

no_choice_now wrote: »

That's fantastic! Like I said in the OP the second reason I wanted to share my confessions was to show people that no matter how bad things get things can be turned around and it sure sounds like you've come up trumps :T

I'm also a hoarder now, I have a large stockpiles of food and non-food items, as well as months worth of living money tucked away in every safe place I could think of lol I also buy nearly exclusively value range and I'm a total coupon junkie too, I love saving every penny even though my debts are nearly all gone now. I will be like this for life!

I wonder if everybody who's been at the worst of times has turned in to a hoarder? :cool:

I'm really touched by yuor story and so delighted to hear things worked out, well done :beer:

No real confessions here but had to reply to this post....in my early childhood days, my parents had very little money as dad had had an accident and was unable to work for a time. This meant that all our clothes were from the jumble sale and food would be on the short side.

As an adult, this has had an impact on me, I now always have a full freezer (take advantage of the reduced items in the supermarkets and freeze them) and generally scared to spend money on frivalous items 'just in case'.

If I don't have a full freezer (for example, if defrosting it or running the food stocks down purposely), I go in a right depressive mood...even if I have money in the bank or in my purse. It really stresses me out...silly really.

And the not buying frivalous things really did my now ex husband's head in when we were married. We were both on decent money, had no debts, had savings but I just couldn't let myself relax and open my purse because I was always thinking "just in case" or "well it could all go wrong and we might need all our money". Shopping with me was and still is, an absolute nightmare, where most enjoy a bit of retail therapy, if I have a bit of a splurge, I get depressed and feel horribly stressed.

Ok, I do have one confession, early days of being with now ex hubby, we were going away on holiday (camping) and realised we only had enough for the site fees and not a lot else, so at the service station we stopped at on the way, we half inched extra milk, sugar, tea and coffee sachets.....I could go without food but not my cup of tea!

Now going away on holiday (still self catering but in a caravan), I take oodles of food with me so that we don't have to get supplies in at the other end, I may be able to go without but my children can't.

MrsB2100

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.

This just reminded me of another thing that we (DH and I) did when we first moved in together ...

We had a friend who worked as a delivery boy at the local Pizza Hut, and at the time they had an offer on, for saving up tokens on takeaway boxes to get a free pizza. (This was back in the late 80's, early 90's)

We had absolutely no money at all at the time, just a couple of pensionable aged carrots in the fridge, and half a box of long life milk and no idea what to do. Well, our friend 'acquired' a stack of said boxes with with the tokens on, so for a couple of weeks, we'd ate free pizzas until payday! We were so thankful, but had to tour the area for different stores so we wouldnt arouse suspicion!

After 2 weeks though, that was it! I cant look at a pizza now ...

Thankfully, our friend wasnt rumbled ... but he didnt stay long after that!

princesst84

This thread is brilliant, i have laughed and cried throughout. I have never been so desparate for food, although im sure my mum has a few stories of her own bringing up 3 kids as a single parent and working. Reading through some of these has had me welling up just thinking how hard it must have been for my mum and how she sacrificed so much for us to have clothes/food.
When i was 16 and living on my own my friend used to work at a takeaway shop in town and had free run of the place really, my freezer was full of their chicken nuggets, frozen chips, deep fry apple pies and haagen daaz ice cream!! My whole diet consisted of what he brought me....if i ever bought food myself it was own brand bread, beans and beef paste for sandwhiches.