What's the naughtiest thing you've done at your most skint?

John_Pierpoint

bananachip wrote: »

I get furious with my own child sometimes because of how spoiled she is relative to my upbringing and how she takes things like having good food, clothes etc for granted. We are far from being rich but she has such a casual attitude to money and possessions that it really annoys me.

I put my two on an allowance at the age of 16 & 14, it had to pay for EVERYTHING outside of the heat and food in the home.

They soon got the message and altered their behaviour.

There has been another thread just like this one about two years ago,
when I can make time, I will see if I can find it.

Found it:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/477274

Devonian_Rodders

Having read most of the contributions on this thread, reminded me of my childhood, and how I was taught the value of money.

Following the end of the 2nd world war, money was tight and indeed some items of food etc, were scarce or pricey. Since I only had one parent (who worked six days a week) responsibility for food shopping was left to me. I would be given a list of food items to buy, with prices alongside (as sort of budget) which I had to stick to, since I would be given a 10 shilling note and change was expected.

Those times were a lesson to me, never to overspend and be careful with money. In the 60 + years since, I have never been in debt (apart from Mortgage) and held down employment despite medical problems.

What I do not understand about the minority of todays society is they have to have all the top gear, rather than start with the basics. Yes its nice to have Plasma TV, App Phones, Laptops, the list is endless, BUT if you cannot afford to pay your way then what is the point. ?

With further Government cuts looming, perhaps lessons in self control, along with MSE will enable people to avoid massive debts.

This site has illustrated many times the high cost of living on credit.
The short answer is IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD IT, WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN. You might even find you no longer need it !

Reggie256

Have to admit, though I didn't appreciate it at the time, even at my lowest point I was lucky.

Approximately six years ago I separated from my (now ex) wife – my own doing I will admit, but the exactly circumstances surrounding that are something I’m not comfortable making confessions about.

Anyway – the confession. I’d been kicked out and had absolutely no-where to go. I therefore contacted a friend, who (at the time) rented a room in a large house a few miles away, and asked if I could kip on his floor. He told me to pop over so that we could discuss this. I obviously did so, and he explained that I couldn’t kip on the floor of his room as it would cause some glaringly obvious ‘privacy’ issues for him and his new girlfriend! He did however point me in the direction of an empty room, one of which the landlord didn’t seem interested in letting as it had no working heating and no furniture other than a mattress on the floor. It was suggested that I talk to the other tenants, and if none of them objected, set up camp in said room as a temporary measure until had the money for something more permanent. The other tenants were all fine with it, so I decided to ‘borrow’ the room, which involved quite a few games of ‘dodge the landlord’ and a few close calls!
Fortunately this didn’t last for more than a fortnight as managed to locate a reasonably priced room on a farm, with a landlady willing to allow me to pay the deposit/first month’s rent in instalments – something which I could never thank her enough for!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

The cat story is one of the funniest things I've ever read on the internet. You ought to sell the story to one of those "Real Life" magazines.

Reading this thread had made me think about the time I considered myself to be "poor". This basically meant living in London on a rubbish salary and not going out or buying clothes as often as I would have liked. I could pay my rent, bills and pay into a savings account and budgeted £10 per week on groceries (this seemed excessive, as when I was a student in the late 90s I refused to spend more than £5 per week on food). Realistically I never had to worry about my next meal, so it has been very humbling to read these stories of genuinely living on the edge.

The skankiest thing I ever did as a student was to scrape a dropped meal off the floor and eat it. Our lounge carpet was truly rancid; covered in months of hairs and crumbs as the Hoover was broken. But I was hungry.

Really relieved to hear about other people's bog roll habits. I started doing this as a sort of game when I was living abroad in a poorly paid job that involved working in lots of different companies. My flatmate and I competed to bring home the best haul; often arriving at premises early and scouting the toilets on every corridor. I once hit the motherlode with a huge, untouched roll for one of those giant dispensers left out. I still get a shiver of excitement if I go into a cubicle and see a half used roll left out by the cleaners, even though I can now afford to buy it in a respectable manner.

ElmerFudd

I gave blood a number of times for tea and biscuits. I've lived off noodles. Dropped money would pay for these delights. I've been living on the bread line, but still with a roof over my head. I must admit I have taken a loo roll or two in my time. Credit released me and burdened me from this at the same time. I'm not doing this now and am trying to pay off the debt but those were bad times.

karenb33

This is an amazing thread and I have had a good cry at some of the stories. I have been very lucky and not had to worry about surviving although I did eat cheese, rice and milk for a week as a student as I had run out of money for food. Not good for the digestive system!!

Sulevia

Yeah, done the loo roll thing too.

Worst thing for me was when I had two small children, just finished a job, signed on. Made the mistake of being honest and telling them work owed me 2 weeks money for the last fortnight I had worked (which basically ended up in the bank's coffers as I had maxed my overdraft anyway), so they said, no money for you for two weeks.

After a week we had run out of everything except dried soup mix, flour, sugar, raisins, and marg. Lucky I can cook and the oven still worked. I ate the soup (the kids hated it and wouldn't have it) and the kids had Eccles cakes for almost a week. Lucky it was half term so no-one had to find out. At the end of that week I got my Family Allowance so we were able to eat again over the weekend before they went back to school.

mr.brightside87

ElmerFudd wrote: »

I gave blood a number of times for tea and biscuits.

That's me as well. You get tea and biscuits (although sometime they throw a curve ball and give you juice) and you get a sense of self satisfaction for saving someone's life. :beer:

The other thing I have been known to do is fill up my little container of liquid soap with the stuff from the toilets in supermarkets. Might smell rubbish but saves some money

I've also been known to sit down and busk when I haven't had enough money for the train or the bus when I've been going to perform.

And, if I'm honest, the day of mine and my ex's anniversary, I did steal flowers from somebody's garden. I booked the table at a restaurant but had no money for another gift. When my money came through, I did buy a bunch and went and placed them on the doorstep of the person I stole them from with a note saying "sorry".

It's become a game since I've become a student. What freebies can we get today.

When Krispy Kreme was opening in Cardiff, for the month before they were giving away boxes of 12 donuts. Every week, I managed to get a box. Safe to say, I didn't need to spend money on food that month!

Cazzdevil

I went through a tough patch not long after buying my house. I split from the person I bought it with and after bills were paid I had about £80 a month spare (not good when your travel to work costs £60). So for a few months until I got myself together I ate all of my meals at my parents house and had Findus frozen macaroni cheese every day for my lunch (my Dad worked for Findus and got packs of 10 of them for £1).

I even tried cheating my travel ticket once by getting a friend to buy one using her dole card (50% cheaper) and putting the card in with my photo pass, thinking that because the inspectors NEVER got on the bus that I'd get away with it. Day 1 of my fraudulent use I got caught. 2 inspectors had to come round to my house and I was going to get prosecuted but I think seeing how upset I was and hearing the sob story about how I'd been left with the house and a lot of debt weakened their hearts a bit and I never heard anything more of it. I've never fare-dodged again that's for sure.

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.