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

Gingernutty

I have to say some of these posts have me sitting here with tears in my eyes and some of them have me laughing too.

Can I join the Loo Roll Pilferers' Club? :j

Where I worked previously, the cleaners got quite casual about leaving a trolley full of packets of rolls, hand towels and soap bars (that nasty institution-style 'Buttermilk') out in the corridors while they mopped out the cramped toilets. Packets of rolls and the odd bar of soap came our way.

I also nicked the remnant rolls from my current employer untill they changed the paper delivery system. They still use the huge 'cartwheel' rolls but feed them, one sheet at a time from the centre instead of pulling the paper off the roll spinning from a central spindle.

I bought what looked like a pair of brand new pristine Clark's shoes from British Heart Foundation and when the soles started to disintegrate (because they weren't brand new, they were in storage in the back of someone's wardrobe for years) brought them to the local Clark's shop for a refund. :embarasse

I got £10 off another pair of shoes. I don't enjoy wearing them, even though I need them for work. :embarasse

I have wandered round the streets looking for another 5p so that I can buy a reduced salad in Boots - and found it under one of the shelves near a till.

I have had to walk to work the day before one pay day because I didn't have enough money to manage the £3.60 for a Day Saver and my bus pass had run out too. :mad:

I've returned DVDs to my local supermarket "because I don't have a television and they won't play on my computer".......:embarasse

At one job, for meetings, they used to make enough rolls to fill a massive charger and added crisps, sausage rolls, orange juice, black pudding (:eek:) and sweet treats. We'd get the leftovers when the meeting adjourned. I wouldn't have tea those days.

At another job, I used to hang back and wash the glassware in the lab, because if there was a meeting, the trolley with the leftover food would be left in the corridor by the cleaners - crisps and orange juice for tea. :embarasse

I haven't switched my heating on all of last winter. I really do have a house coat (and blanket for my knees when I'm sitting here). :snow_grin

When I was a student in Barnsley (mid 1990s), I sold my jewellery (all of it bought for me by my parents) and only got £10 for it.

And like Tebheag, I used 'the pill' continuously to avoid paying for sanitary products. Sorry, TMI?

toadyfrog

I don't think things were as bad for us when i was a kid, or maybe my parents were good at sheilding us from it. But our sunday family trip out was a walk to the local council tip for a good rummage. Just thinking about it now my OH will cross the road if he sees a skip because he knows I'll have to have a look in it.

I am also going to show this thread to my son so he will think next time he looks in the cupboard and moans there is nothing to eat.

Owain_Moneysaver

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.

BWZN93

I agree with the poster who thinks this should be nominated for thread of the month, I have literally sat here glued to my screen almost in tears and at various points nearly wetting myself with laughter.

I've never been in any situation quite like those described before, but as a very poor student many years ago I struck up a very good friendship with a chap whose mother used to bring him huge bags full of food, frozen meals, pizza's, those twin packs of chicken breasts in sauce etc, the works. Luckily for me, said chap was about as much use in the kitchen as a chocolate teapot so I basically took over the role of 'mummy at uni', making his meals etc and in return sharing the food.

Similarly, every time I went home I would return to uni having relieved my mothers kitchen cupboards of basically anything that would assist in keeping me going for a term - she's a big fan of bogof purchases and often forgets that she already has 16 cans of beans and 3 tubes of toothpaste knocking around. Loo roll was habitually stolen from the toilets of my uni department by the 3 women living in our shared house, and if we went out we used to flirt with chaps we wouldn't normally consider simply to relieve them of a few quid in the form of the most alcoholic drink available behind the bar. One girl I knew though was taking some dodgy internet diet pills to stave off hunger because they were cheaper than feeding herself. She lost a shed load of weight, and it got her through till her next loan cheque. I'm not advocating it as a good plan or anything because of the inherent dangers of these things, but Christ, she actually did look bloody good for it.

A couple of years ago I did find myself in a bit of a pickle however, I'd broken up with my fella, he'd moved out and I was not earning anywhere near enough anymore as overtime had been cut, and bonuses all but disappeared. I basically lost about 60% of my income, and ended up spending more than I earned in the form of overdrafts and credit cards etc. This didn't last for very long however, as I worked in an industry where financial mismanagement is seriously frowned upon and I was being as careful as I could and saw what was happening to my situation fairly rapidly. I'd hit the point where my income was literally covering my rent and bills, and not much else. Shall we say I had reached a juncture in life where I was at a crossroads, I was emotionally exhausted, bored with the fight and I had to seriously consider what I was going to do about it. I ended up moving out of my rented flat into a house with a girl I worked with and her hubby (she offered, she is an angel) for 6 months, I sold every stick of furniture/house stuff I had, told my boss I couldn't stand her/the job anymore and went and joined the forces. At 29. I think I may have had some kind of mini quarter life crisis or something.

I'm lucky though. I had nothing but myself to look after. Now I live in a tin can where the toilet roll is always available and three meals are provided every day for free. I have no privacy, but have got to the point where my debts are well under control, tiny by comparison to many, and they'll be completely gone by April next year.

Anyway, thanks to the OP for starting this thread. Its brilliant. And you know, as a result i'm going to start keeping my eyes open more in case someone is in trouble and I can help, I cant bear the idea that in this day and age people are struggling on the most basic of levels just to feed their children.

x

determined_new_ms

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.

OMG I did this as well! Totally forgot about it until I saw your post! hahahahaha ooooooo the amount of things that were reduced to 10p :rotfl:

Desperado99

Wow, some great stories on here.

I have to say, I have never been desperate for money, food or shelter. I was lucky enough through my childhood/university that my parents always put us first, and for that I shall be grateful.

My parents, however, have been desperate at times, and have told me some stories, one of which I shall relay to you all.

Back in the late sixties, they lived next to a lumber yard, that went out of business.... for six weeks, every night after dark, my dad would put on dark clothes and blacken his face with boot polish, go next door and acquire wood, until their cellar was completely full.

Not long after, they saw the owner of the yard, who said to them "I should have told you to help yourselves to any wood you wanted, but it's all disappeared now"

vixx

Amazing thread!

Like others, thankfully I have never been in a position where I couldn't feed myself, and I have no children. I can't imagine the desperation parents must feel when unable to feed their kids.

Whilst a hard up student, I'm ashamed to say I re-rolled fag butts in to roll ups (yuuuuuuuk) and also cooked pasta in a kettle as didn't have any pans (it actually works really well - just pop some in your kettle and keep boiling it until pasta is cooked) - dread to think how much electric this was costing me though, definitley false economy!!!
Lived on nothing except pasta with beans mixed in for weeks on end, bland but kinda healthy and I was a skinny-minnie.

Also used to cruise pubs with my mates and get random men to buy us drinks when we couldn't afford it, then get miffed if they expected more, shameful!
Oh, and on occasions would swipe a drink left on the bar and neck it. Really bad.

kittiej

The amount of people saying you used to re-roll your ciggies has reminded me of my student days.

I used to go to my BF house, he still lived at home cos we were both teenagers, and if we had money we would share a cigarette between us. When we didn't have any money we used to get any backy left in the dog ends and put them in his dads pipe and smoke em. Eeeew yuk.

I've taken days off work when I've been short of petrol as well.

Others I tell think this is disgusting but my DH likes his tea strong and I like mine weak, I've tried using a teapot but he doesn't like it so now I put the teabag in his cup first and once I've made his I bung it in my cup. I know it's not really bad but everyone in work thinks I'm a minger for doing it *shrugs*

I've loved reading all the stories in this thread, it's like one of those magazines that have funny and sad stories.

Keep going :T

ceegee

When I was totally skint about 20 years ago, I had holes in the soles of my 1 pair of shoes. I didn't have a car so I walked everywhere. I bought some stick-on soles from Woolies and they did very well.

However, due to the amount of walking I did (taking DDs to school, going to supermarket, walking to work) the stick-on soles ended up with holes in. I couldn't afford to replace them (the stick-on soles) straight away, and it was in a very wet spell of weather. I ended up having to put plastic bags on my feet before I put my shoes on. The rain still seeped up into my shoes though and it wasn't long (only a minute or two) before the bags slipped down to the toes of my shoes and so my feet ended up soaking anyway.

Although that was 20 years ago, whenever I go out in the wet now, I am eternally grateful that I can actually go out without getting wet feet. It had such an impact on me.

They were hard times. Thank goodness things are a bit (only a bit, mind!) better now!

adouglasmhor

When I was at primary school my parents were very short of money at one point and I had to put cardboard insoles cut from the cornflake packet into my school shoes as the soles were worn through and I knew mum and dad were skint and would not ask for new ones as it was near the end of term. When they found out both they and both sets of grandparents bought me new shoes.