Things you've done when things got desperate!

Tetsuko

"My ex used to throw all bank statements and letters from the bank in the bin unopened"

Yep my bf does that with bank statements and with credit card statements.

We have no money when it comes to food or if I need anything (so I have to borrow to buy when I have no income at the mo -still job hunting with no joy )but money amazingly appears from the air (bonus at work, credit on the catalogue account, someone paid for something on Paypal etc etc) when he wants something blokey and unnecessary :rolleyes:

Softstuff

I think packet noodles should win some sort of culinary award. They're what kept me alive at uni.

A weeks food used to consist of 7 packs of packet noodles, 1 loaf of value bread, 1 packet of value pasta, an onion, 100g thin sliced ham, 200g cheapo grated cheese and marg.

At the time this cost about 3 quid! I was also a size 10 then :eek:

Mum would bring me food parcels, though I would occasionally sell parts of them for money!!

cdg1111

I've laughed and cried while I've read these posts - keep them coming - but it does make you realise that we have all lived to tell the tale, literally!

Sunshine_and_Roses

This post has had me in stitches. I had to laugh at a local pizza place recently - eat as much as you want for £3.99 or similar. Some young lads had refilled their plates quite a few times, then when they were all stuffed they asked for a takeaway box to take their leftovers home in, to save wasting what was left on their plates. The young lad willingly got them a couple of boxes, and as soon as his back was turned they cleared out what was left on the hot plates.

Brilliant - I just wish I was that cheeky. I would have been tempted to do the same but I was doing a mystery shop at the time..... I got mine for free!

NekoZombie

Fantastic posts on here!


At work we always have meetings where biscuits are provided with bottles of water and tea and coffee. At the end of the meeting when I have to return all the items to catering, I place all the biscuits in my trusty tupperware, and the bottles of water go in my desk. At a recent party, I managed to get my hands on 4 bottles of red wine

I also use the padded jiffy bags at work for any ebay sales I make rather than buy them. Dodgy, I know.

fraz1975

When I was about 18 I went on holiday with no money. 1st night Manchester, put on my suit, found a likely looking wedding and drank the table wine chatting to people I never knew. Moved onto the bar and was rammed for a conference, spent night chatting, getting a drink off a round and then moving to another group of people. Great laugh and with them all on expenses nobody cared when I wasnt in their company to buy the next round. Slept in car and moved onto Blackpool, worked as a short order cook in a greasy spoon 4 hours a day, drank the cash in hand at night and slept in car. Managed 4 nights in Blackpool and then drove back home.

Even now things arent so tight I buy the 3kg bag of pasta in Asda for £1, the cheapest special offer cheese and whatever is on the Whoops! shelf to put through it. Easily get 14 meals for less than £10 if you go at the right time, buy meat and freeze the lot.

dreams_R_free

The house next door was rented out for about 6 months once and the tenant was constantly strapped for cash. There were always what looked like 'collectors' ringing our bell asking if we knew when she'd be back(although I knew full well she was hiding in her house pretending to be out). She became something of a 'professional mourner' going to all the funerals and then just gravitating back with the mourners to the wakes held at all the local village pubs where there was a buffet spread laid on. It's surprising how many she managed to find in 6 months across 8 large villages and a small town:rolleyes: . She ate her fill without ever having known any of the deceased people:eek:.

Eventually she was rumbled as it was rather a close-knit community where everyone knew everyone and it began to dawn that absolutely no-one had a clue who she was. Apart from those outings she never seemed to leave the house! She was actually asked to leave one wake but what did she care, it was a couple of days before she did a moonlight flit from the house anyway:eek: . I often wonder what became of her.

lauren_1

Oh god this one made me cry

My mum used to work friday and saturday evenings at a chippy and often would bring home bags of soggy chips, turkey sticks, king ribs and anything that was left in the warmers that didnt sell, that would be our lunch and dinner for the next few days coupled with a can of kwiksave 8p beans. Funnily enough i learnt to love soggy reheated chips.

I can also remember eating a whole fried onion and rice for tea once because thats all they had but could always find enough money for their cigarettes.

I think the worst things i have done were

Taking as many nappies and wipes as i could from the baby changing room at asda and morrisons

stealing bin bags and cereal from work

Pinching 3 towels from my mums

Fed my daughter on readybrek, pasta, breast milk and water for 3 days because tax credits were taking so long. That one was heartbreaking.

I put on a presciption form that i was entitled to free presciptions when i had bhronchitis once and had about £3 left for the week, again very shameful.

PigginSkint

Storm wrote: »

i'f you're rolling from cigarettes, why not just buy a pouch of tobacco? It's so much cheaper, you can make the cigs as thin or fat as you want, plus have a few drags & let it go out again when you don't want a whole one!

I used to do that as well. The town where I was at uni had a really good tobacconist which had lots of different tobaccos which were very good prices - I seem to remember a cherry one that was really nice.

PigginSkint

I've just remembered another smoking related one!

In my 3rd year at university we lived next door to a corner shop. The shopkeepers were lovely people and would let us buy single cigarettes (about 10p-12p a time I think!) when we were desperate. I didn't do that a lot because I think that was one of the times when I was trying to give up!! My friend that I lived with did it quite a lot though!