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

aintshesweet

I feel so grateful and lucky to have been born into relative wealth. My parents have had "hard times" but nothing like the stories here.

As a student I was so determined to be independent I never asked my parents for money. They paid for my tuition and rent but I covered everything else (phone, electric, gas, water, food... etc). I managed to live off £3000 a year (the max loan I could take). I struggled but I know that ultimately it was only a test of independence and not true struggling because I could always have gone to my parents or granddad for help if the situation ever got too dire. I did a lot of the things people have listed here to get by - stealing toilet rolls from uni toilets, making associatons with the SU to be able to use their facilities for free (they allowed me - I could make calls on campus through SU instead of using my mobile). I even used to have about 5 phone numbers to maximise the amount of free txts and calls if I ever ran out. I always cycled or walked everywhere to avoid bus fares (6+ miles a day). I used to avoid eating until I could make it to the 20p soup machine on campus. 31 calories! for 20p! Crazy. I used to handwash all my underwear in the sink to avoid paying for the laundrette. If I was careful with budgeting, I had £10 to spend each month on clothes washing.

The most shameful thing I ever did was loot parts from the Halfords skip to fix my bike. :S It was my only mode of transport at the time. I also stole shopping baskets from Asda to use as a stackable makeshift chest of drawers. I used to check lockers at the gym, trolleys, and phone booths for coins. Sometimes I'd find £5 - £6!

I know that now it is possible for me to pay for things up front and avoid using my overdraft I find it's actually easier to save money. Seems to me the more money you have the easier it is to get the best deals. It's crazy.

mr.brightside87

aintshesweet wrote: »

I used to check lockers at the gym, trolleys, and phone booths for coins. Sometimes I'd find £5 - £6!

Condom machines in pubs are a goldmine. People pay with notes and forget the change either because they are too drunk or just want to get horizontal with someone.

DarnIt_3

I thought of my mum when I saw this thread, she crept out in the middle of night when we were younger to a neighbours garden and dug up all his vegetables just so we could eat!

My worse thing...shoplifted, never got caught but the OH was at uni and we had a baby I was on maternity. Baby needed to eat and I would do it again if I needed too! I was to proud to ask for help!

gelato_cat

I can't think of a confession but have been reading through and don't understand this... do you mean you ate the chicken and then took the empty packet back to Tesco and said it was off? Or bought the chicken, realised you needed the money more and then brought the chicken back for a refund which you could spend on cheaper things?

Suze

MrsB2100 wrote: »

I've also done the 'off' chicken trick at Tesco's ... thankfully, the sweaty-sickly look also ties in with something being off, not just overwhelming guilt!

juno

They do refund and replace. So buy chicken, pretend it's off, then get money back and more chicken.

ThinkingOfLinking

Mags_cat wrote: »

Living away from home for the first time also resulted in the invention of "gunge" - mashed potatoes, fried onions and baked beans, all baked together. If we were flush, there was grated cheese in it too. Still make it now :rotfl:

That actually sounds really tasty...I'm going to try it!!

ShAnE

aintshesweet wrote: »

As a student I was so determined to be independent I never asked my parents for money. They paid for my tuition and rent but I covered everything else (phone, electric, gas, water, food... etc). I managed to live off £3000 a year (the max loan I could take).

This is so easy to do as a student. I have friends who are proud they survived on £3000 a year with their parents paying rent.

While the rest of us survived on £5500 a year paying £350 a month rent plus bills.

ArseandElbow

My worst habit when absolutely skint was ignoring the train guards collecting, I'd just put my headphones on and close my eyes. and then if I was asked for tickets on home journey's say I got on the last stop to save me the fare. Though now I buy monthly tickets not ever a problem.

Also I try to be honest but I have found money on the floor and left in cash points and just kept it.. felt a bit guilty about that.

I've had to ring into work ill because no money to get into work.

A nice low point is having to walk a 12 mile round trip to get my last £30 out of the bank as I couldn't afford bus fare to the branch I'd forgotten my pin number and and was overdrawn in another account so couldn't move money there. The local branches had all closed, I tried ringing them explained the situation to see if thye let me take out of main account by dropping the O/D (as they were charges anyway) and I was told only thing I could do is go to branch..... cue several hours walking in the sun (prob only warm day of the year) 2 mins in branch got money out, decided to walk back to save bus fare. I almost passed out through dehydration as I the last 3 miles were all uphill and had massive blisters all over my feet at the end of it.

SUESMITH_2

this thread is giving me a lump in my throat.

when we were really hard up i would feed 4 of us on a tenner a week. our families never commented that we appeared at mealtimes and they too used to give us food they thought needed eating up (actually we all knew it was cos they were worried how we would eat). searching the car in case we had dropped any change.

the worse thing i ever did? prob when i paid in cash and they gave me £5 extra back in my change, only a fiver but it meant we ate better that week - still feel guilty.

lowest ever was when the bank took more off me in charges than i earned so that month we had no money at all and nothing in the cupboards. a friend found out and took me shopping so we could eat that month.

things much better now, my cupboards are stuffed so full they won't shut properly and i think it comes back to the worry about feeding us and knowing that if the worse came to the worse we would still live

John_Pierpoint

ArseandElbow wrote: »

My worst habit when absolutely skint was ignoring the train guards collecting, I'd just put my headphones on and close my eyes. and then if I was asked for tickets on home journey's say I got on the last stop to save me the fare. Though now I buy monthly tickets not ever a problem.

On the line now known as C2C there is a more robust attitude to fare dodgers.

I've seen youths trying to "do a runner" wrestled onto the concrete.

Some bling designer clothed youth tried to do the "I've fallen asleep" trick, while wearing headphones loud enough to waken the carriage.
His feet were kicked until he "woke -up" and displayed a total lack of remorse or intention to pay the penalty charge.

He thought he had got away with it until the train stopped at an out of the way station (where it was not scheduled to stop) and the driver and guard chucked him out to try and make arrangements when the next train came along in an hour's time.

Late one night, when inspectors are usually tucked up by their fire-sides, a woman dressed as a medical worker genuinely had fallen asleep. The inspector woke her up.
Late at night it was possible to put any coin into a machine next to the stairs and get a "permission to travel"; this was a back-up to the unreliable ticket machine.
The technique was to produce a battered fiver when questioned and explain the machine refused to accept it. Then trade in the the 10p permission to travel. Of course the permission-to-travel said it was a concession and should be presented with the missing fare as soon as possible.

The startled exhausted female worker scrabbled to find her permission to travel - unfortunately she had been doing this for so long she had got blas'e and produced yesterday's permission-to-travel. Her second attempt produced half a dozen permission-to-travel chits.
Unfortunately, I had to get off and never found out the conclusion to the:
"What have we here. Let us see, that will be a £10 penalty for today's attempt at fare evasion , £10 for yesterday's, £10 for Wednesday..............." discussion.