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

toothfairybuttkicker

forgot to say yesterday but i'm a toilet roll 'borrower' too.

I also want to say that i have great respect for all those peeps that put food in their kids belly's by any means necessary xx

rdchick

This is a wonderful thread.

Anyone who passes judgement has clearly never ever known what real poverty is - the sort of person to say they were starving because they hadn't eaten for an hour.

Personally, I haven't been in this situation, luckily! However there have been times when I had to have a biscuit or 2 for lunch or a small chocolate bar for tea... letting my ex eat the last microwave meal which I bought with one of my wages from the 3 jobs I had whilst in my final year at uni. I completely understand what people say about letting someone/something they love eat when you go without. Me and my BF (the amazing one) joke when we feed our kitten Whiskas and we have to magically make a meal with the last few things in the cupboard before payday... that cat eats better than we do sometimes!!!

I think those that have been in dire straights shouldn't be ashamed, it should be society that should be ashamed. We live in a 'first world' country where food is plenty, no one should ever go without a meal in their stomach or a roof over their head.

Those that have said about the riots and how we shouldn't complain. Those people that rioted do not know the first thing about poverty. They weren't trying to feed their starving children, or clothe them or keep them warm in a bed. That was pure greed and an excuse to steal. They stole big screen TVs, iPhones and brand named clothes. They will sell these stolen goods for drugs, booze and video games...

Well done for 'coming clean' and never feel ashamed when you are in need xxx

Triker

I liberated the toilet roll, the 'free nappies' in changing rooms, the food from skips....walked for miles looking for dropped money on the floor. Used to go in all the phone boxes when they used to take 10p, 2p, 5p etc for phone calls to see if any change was there.

Ripped and tipped up numerous settees looking for money down the back, queued for free tins of EU meat and butter from the 'mountains, taken childrens clothes from recycling bins to clothe my youngest, spent their birthday money on electric and food (paid it back though). Done the I've lost my purse in the shop and got bread and milk on tick, again always paid them back.

Also 'forgot' my purse at the petrol station and would agree to pay next trip...I used to live in a very rural location so we all knew each other. Always paid.

Also received stolen milk via the doorsteps early morning.
Had stew made from roadkill , taken leave from work because I couldn't afford the petrol near the end of the month, fished potato peelings from the bin and deep fried them to feed a starving friend...I had nothing else in and she was desperate for food.

This is from many years ago but I hated the poverty of the hand to mouth existance that we endured.

Once my neighbour gave me a half gnawed chicken as her dog had been at it, she gave it for my cat....the cat didn't get a look in.:o

The story that sticks with me is fairly recent though, I was working the in court system a couple of years ago...a young lad of about 13/14 was brought in for stealing and criminal damage. He was upset and frightened and at first the magistrates were quite harsh in their questioning.
However as his story unfolded the police had found that he had stolen food from the local shop, some tins of beans, spagetti, stuff like that. When the police arrived at his address he had a fire burning in hs garden from fenceposts he had ripped out of some local fencing (criminal damage).
What the police found was that the lad had stolen the tins of food because his Mum had abandoned the family, he was the oldest, he has 3 younger siblings. He stole the food to feed them and he had made the fire in the garden to keep them warm and to try and cook the tins of food, the electric had run out days ago.....that was only a few years ago in 'modern britain'.

He was given an unconditional discharge and the court staff and police had a whip round to make sure he had a bit of money on him and the relevent support agancies were notified.

nancmat

Really lovely thread, had some tough times but not as bad as some mentioned. Have had times where we have been so skint we haven't been able to eat and one get nappies for the baby. With money given to us to buy premiumn bonds we bought baby milk, nappies, food etc and still have an IOU to pay back once we have some spare cash.

We have sold some of our childs toys at a car boot and a load of CD's left by father in-law to make a bit of cash.

The_Ubiquitous_Mrs_Smith

I'm in tears and humbled.

We've had a 'tight' few months but this post has hit home how easy it is to get into trouble. I keep saying I need to get my spending in order whilst at the same time clicking the 'confirm payment' button. This stops now.

My 9 month old daughter is asleep on my lap. I can't even begin to imagine what people must have gone through when they realised they couldn't feed their children. There are so many things that can go wrong that you can't control, why be silly about those you can?

Thank you for sharing your stories. Sometimes when you hear about people struggling it's sort of abstract and stealing toilet rolls is amusing but this post has made me realise the reality. I'm pleased so many of you have or are in the process of moving on and wish yuou the best of luck. By bravely sharing what you had to do to survive you've made sure this family will do their best to never face those decisions in a way that overdraft fees never could.

Thank you.:grouphug:

Luckystepho

I remember the good old days of cheques and being able to use them to tide me over when I was a few days from pay day- I used to write a cheque for groceries or petrol, knowing I had no money in my account and praying my wages would make it into the bank before the cheque was cashed!

MrsB2100

My word, readin the rest of this thread, I feel thoroughly ashamed now! I dont have kids or pets to feed, so no excuses ... I have tears in my eyes reading some of these posts. Same as a previous poster, I can now appreciate what my Mum had to do to keep us fed and warm when we were kids. (Single mum, 2 jobs, home working and 3 kids to raise ...)

I hope that those of you who have had the most awful, awful experiences never have to live through it again.

As for the rioters ... I'm pretty sure that I'd survive without the latest TV, Iphones & sportswear ... no excuses!

carrielovesfanta

When I was three months without job seeker's and too proud to ask for help from my parents, I had very little food and one survived a week by eating nothing but a tube chocolate body paint :eek:

timbstoke

+1 for the loo roll theives - mine always came from either work or McDonalds.

I'm fortunate enough to have never been unemployed, but my most broke time was after I broke up with an ex at the age of 19 - we'd bought a house together and were both working at McDonalds - minimum wage is very difficult to sustain a mortgage on when there's two of you, never mind doing it alone! I ended up working every shift I could get, both to pay the bills and because it meant free food. I was always scheduled for evening shifts, but that year, all through summer I'd turn up every day at 8am because I knew the morning manager would offer me a shift at Alton Towers because he was too busy to send the staff he'd promised them. I'd arrive back at about 6pm and would immediately be offered my usual evening shift until 2am. Repeat the next day, 7 days a week for about a month. As well as taking 'waste' food at the end of the night, I'm ashamed to say I also took some food from the chiller and stores when I was really broke. Eggs, bacon, milk, tea bags, pots of sauce - all fair game.

How I came out of that with a size 32 waist is one of the great mysteries of the universe.

As long as we're throwing rioter comments in...I heard one guy saying "I'm not saying I condone the riots, but people here have nothing - I'm being fined at the moment because I can't afford to insure my car". My first thought was "Wait...you can afford a car?!? You've got more money than me mate!"

Owain_Moneysaver

FireWyrm wrote: »

Gross but true....

Cat food mixed with onion and paprika and fried like fritters is entirely edible, especially when you smother it with brown sauce.

I was briefly tempted by the juicy meaty chunks in real gravy, but then worked out that actual tinned tuna was about a third of the price of catfood that was usually only about 5% real ingredient.