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

HRV

Another toilet roll borrower here (when I was a student).

Also very moved by these stories- thanks for sharing

On a lighter note my OH had entrepreneurial tendancies at a young age. One day after finishing his paper round he found a bundle of old !!!!!! mags in the store cupboard- he took them and sold them to his mates at school !!!!
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

FireWyrm

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

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.

I should probably refine that statement. "Prime" dog food which is mostly chunks of horse (we thought) is good and cheap for an 800g can. Tuna is fine if you can stomach it for more than a day or two on the trot, but I cant quite work out how you got to that price. Animal food was about 16p a can, but tuna was always more expensive at about 50p a can (and smaller cans too). I mostly went after rabbits from the field, but just once, we ran out of options. Unpleasant, but necessary at that point in time. We'd had the mouldy potatoes the night before. :rotfl:

We can laugh about it now, but in the words of Dolly Parton : "no amount of money could pay me to go back and live through it again". Still, if push came to shove, I know I could do it again. DH on the other hand....

Tebheag

Hi what a thread makes me cringe to think of my worst one !!
But here are a couple of others I was a student teenage mum living with the father of my baby and only money I got was child benefit he would only give me £20 for a weeks shopping for three of us. Never mind nappys milk etc
Took toilet roll from college
Got Doctor to put me on pill and never took breaks so would not have to buy toiletries for periods
Pop to see my son in nursery at lunch time as they would give me free lunch as would say wanted to see him and did not have time to make or buy something to eat also take hime out other days after lunch as mates would buy my wee boy things was in the day where you could go days if not weeks without seeing teenage mums so we where a novelty!

skintandscared_2

What a fabulous thread :T I'm totally humbled by some of the stories on here. I just wish I'd thought to nick the odd toilet roll now and again... The only thing I did do was in my first ever job in London. I'd just moved away from home to London and in the first few months I was SO skint. I loved my new job in a posh solicitors but it was quite a small firm and the secretaries had to do all the tea/coffee making, and arrange lunches for clients. After the lunches we had to do the clearing up. Any leftover fruit and cheese was wrapped up and put in the fridge, but leftover sandwiches and cakes were thrown away. I lost count of the number of sarnie/cake suppers I had in my first few months working there! One day there was a glass worth of wine left in a bottle ... it was a VERY nice supper that night!!! :rotfl:

dell33

nat21luv wrote: »

Thank you, it wasnt that I was in debt, I just couldnt afford to live as a single parent and working full time. I had to handwash clothes with shower gel as I couldnt afford detergent. When times were really tough, I asked my boy's dad to have him for a week; told him I was working overtime stock taking. At least I knew that he was warm, fed and bathed until payday arrived.

How quickly life can change; 2 yrs later and im doing just fine now, lovely car, house, belongings and plenty of food in the cupboards. I still buy everything Value or Basics and have a £20 note hidden-just in case

I have spent the last while having anxiety attacks because I am so worried about what might happen 5/10 years down the line and your story has given me the kick up the bum I needed.

Well done to you, you are an amazing inspiration and well done on pulling things around so well.

notatvstar

... what is it with us and loo roll?

I am rejoicing that I am not alone. The loo roll I nicked was last weekend.

(not to posh to be a little bit !!!!!).

scott1358

A lot of the stories on here are very humbling... I've never personally been at the point at which I was hungry and desperate which makes me feel ashamed considering the debt I've built over the years.

I remember when I was a kid and my dad was made redundant, he was unemployed for years. My mum got a job cleaning in the hospital nearby on a night and I remember feeling embarrassed about it, to my utter shame. Now I'm older I remember how much they did for my sisters and me and always put us first. My mum barely ate and always had her tea on a sideplate, something I never understood.

When I think of how much poverty my parents were in when I was a kid and the fact that my sisters and me have grown up to be not so bad and working, went to uni (despite the fact a lot of the people we went to school with ended up in prison) I feel really proud of my parents and how they managed to bring us all up well even though it went against the grain.

My dad always nicked toilet roll... I always thought he was weird, but now I see it's quite normal!

skintandscared_2

Actually, this has reminded me of one thing me and my mate used to do. Not stealing, but pretty embarrassing when I think about it now... When we were both single, 18 and in our first jobs we had no money whatsoever but still wanted to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. So we used to go in the pub and buy 2 soda and limes (at the time, soda was free and a dash of lime cost 6p, so it was 12p a round) With lots of ice in, it looked just like a gin & tonic... As the night went on, we would get more giggly and "pretend" to be a bit tipsy... We just made it into a huge joke and had a great time for less than 50p a night each

sweetpeas_2

This thread is so touching The lengths some of you have gone to put food in your kids mouths is so moving.

I have been known to also pinch loo rolls on occasion, quite often at the end of the pay month (currently we have a work loo roll on the holder )

I've also pinched salt/pepper/ketchup/vinegar from BK etc, and coffee/sugar/tea bags from work.

Also have pinched a packet of pasta in sauce from local shop before to give the kids for their tea between them, gave a bit to DH and went without myself. Amazing how you go into auto pilot when your kids are involved.

Used birthday/christmas money of the kids to buy food/petrol. Sold their toys before for same reason. Dragged them to countless carboots to make enough money to go to the supermarket etc.

Oh, pinched a cabbage from a field before and used it to make "soup" which was basically the water from the boiled cabbage :eek: and also made it last 3 teas after this.

Thought I'd been quite bad off before but reading some of the other posts doesn't seam like I've ever known true hardship.

Have walked to work/gotten lifts cos we couldn't afford petrol and worked from home to save me taking the car out (with jumpers on in winter to save putting heating on)

All these things we've done while we've worked full time both of us, so god only knows how single parents manage :A

Well done on your confessions everyone, chins up :T

mandz1

Well think i need confess, please dont hate me.

The worst thing i have ever done was a few years back now, i have two sons and i was living with my partner aat the time. unfortunately he had problems (of the drug variety and drink), He spent nearly every penny we had on his addictions, i had to feed 4 people on about a tenner a week. my youngest was still a baby and one day, i went to make bottles to find that i only had enough to make about 1 bottle and pay day was about 3 days away. So i had to get a tin of milk from somewhere. I am ashamed that i did it, but i could not let my 4 month old go without milk, so yes i took without paying. I felt really bad and as soon as i got paid i went back and left the right amount of money on the customer service desk and walked away.

Needless to say, i am no longer with the pathetic excuse of the man. And i have never done it since. i am now soo much better of without him.

NCN ur story is really funny.