Couldn't see old friend due to lack of funds.... what to do?

krlyr

burnoutbabe wrote: »

I'd have assumed you were making an excuse - you could have gone along for a coke - borrowed £10 from somewhere? absolutely totally skint to me would be someone on benefits, down to nothing, not someone with a mortgage etc (as if you were that skint, people may get a 2nd job to provide some spare cash)

Why would you have to be on benefits to be skint? It's not like OP could say to her mortgage provider "Sorry mate, can we knock £10 off my payment this month so I can go out for a drink with my friends?" or decide to sell up to free up her cash just for her friend's visit. Perhaps she gets by each month just within her budget (hence deciding to buy a house) but has a very low amount of spare money to use for non-essential things and an earlier/larger than expected DD or other essential expenses this month ate up that last £10 she thought she had.
(and, according to your theory, if these benefits people are that skint, why don't they get a job to provide some spare cash? Life isn't that black and white!)

19lottie82

burnoutbabe wrote: »

I'd have assumed you were making an excuse - you could have gone along for a coke - borrowed £10 from somewhere? absolutely totally skint to me would be someone on benefits, down to nothing, not someone with a mortgage etc (as if you were that skint, people may get a 2nd job to provide some spare cash)

Eh? That's a bit of a narrow minded viewpoint.
It was the end of the month (a month that had thrown up a lot of unforseen expenses) and then the little cash that I thought I had was eaten up by an overlooked bill coming out of my account. That's hardly a rare event for a lot of people.

And in terms of a second job, I actually had one for 6 years but it only paid NMW and after tax I was only walking out with £4.80 ph in my hand, so I decided it wasn't worth giving up 2 nights a week for that.
I worked in bars for 12 years and trust me a lot of the regulars were on benefits and they seemed to have a lot more cash to spend on socialising than I have ever had! (not making a sweeping generalisation here, just telling you what I saw)

raven83

I think you should of been up front from the start and spelt out to your friend as to how skint you are, like someone else said, maybe she didn't realise as to how skint you was that you had zero money. On the other side though if i had been away for a year, and was coming to see my best friend, and she told me she was skint, i would of said i would buy her drinks etc because i would of wanted to spend time with her. Saying that maybe, she thought you saying you was skint was an excuse and that you wasn't making an effort. Personally though any good friend would of said they would get you a few drinks if you come out as you are skint.

19lottie82

mildred1978 wrote: »

Less than £4k per year?? :huh:

Ooooops I meant 15% less than the national average, well spotted!