Things you've done when things got desperate!

victoriav

Kaz2904 wrote: »

I also heard of a friend who's mum used to make her dads porridge with breast milk because they were so skint!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: NOOOOOO! don't tell me any more......

lemontart

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

*ahem* used rolled up loo roll as sanitary towels because I had run out and have no money to go to the shop.... *blush*

Oh yes done that too - using loo paper from public toilets was even cheaper - when pet teen was small I used to spend a lot more time than needed in the nappy changing facilites in a local store as saved using electric etc at home a bit

lemontart

Tetsuko wrote: »

Heheh yep since my oh moved in he's bought himself a PC for over a grand, music equipment, digital camera, an xbox and many many games, a contract PDA, a cat, very expensive sports equipment, goes to a sport events once a month and I'm worse off than the period when I was on the dole before he moved in because I'm unemployed again and get no benefits whatsoever because he earns so much.

But I haven't been able to buy anything or do any of the things I used to do before we met or really anything that isn't related to what he wants as we are far too poor apparently. We just went down the shops and he was counting out the approx £3 he had in his pocket to see if we could afford to buy toilet roll and cat food. But he's off to a restaurant later this evening :rolleyes:

I gotta laugh or I'd cry :rotfl:

gosh what is it with some people my ex hushband thought nothing of buying himself a grate of beer or 1/2 doz bottles or wine and was out every nite yet if I dared to ask for a penny more in housekeeping when I was not working having just become a mother I had to explain where every penny had gone, the only shoes I owned had holes in all our daughters clothes were bought at jumble sales and out of the meagre amount I got for housekeeping I paid all the bills - he smoked, drank, bought what he wanted when he wanted regardless of his families needs - sorry still annoys me he his still the same and often pet teen goes with out if I cannot afford it and he earns a very good wage,

victoriav

stalemango wrote: »

I have ruthlessly exploited this rule, and hidden in toilets to avoid ticket inspectors, or seen one coming and moved into a more distant carriage, then got off the train at the next stop in order to walk along the platform in the opposite direction to the one the inspector was advancing along the train in, just to get back on the train behind them.

Ha Ha that's classic!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: there's initiative for you!!! Sometimes, needs must eh!

Imelda

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Imelda I don't think that reallocating your Dads wallet was shameful. On the contrary, very brave I think and admirable. Has your Mum ever let on that she knew or is it just not talked about?

It has never been mentioned, but I assume she knows, she never usually had more than £20 in her purse and suddenly having almost £200 at the same time as my Dad "losing" all that would have been too much of a coincidence. I guess she didn't want to condone what I had done. Shortly afterwards she kicked my Dad out, she has always said that it was because of me that she did (I think the money paid for her to see a solicitor!).
It was the best thing that ever happened. I now have a very good relationship with my Dad. He learnt a very harsh lesson and definitely regrets how he behaved when we were young. My mum and dad get along fine now and he even gave her £5000 when his father died (half what he inherited), it was a nice gesture and went some way to repairing the past. I think that's why I feel so bad about it now!

victoriav

I have...given an apple which was bad off the floor in the street, to the college snack bar assistant for her to apologise and give me a fresh eatable one...she thought they'd sold it me like it....took bogroll from swimming baths home, and waited to do a number 2 there in another of the toilets whilst weekly looking after 2 posh kids who had swimming lessons there, and raiding their leftover lunchbox (m+s food usually), as a child being took round the market and told by my father to take an apple or an orange off a stall and he would too, and then if questioned tell them he was 'quality control inspector'...being took to a big toystore with not enough money on xmas eve just as they were closing and getting a bargain..so that they could get rid of us and go home? parents asking for doggy bag in a fish and chip sit-down place and me saying 'but we havent got a dog anymore now'...I still take home doggy bags even now....for my pets, I am not bothered! whoever I am with...we had 'broken biscuits' from woolworths regularly, I worked in a posh hair salon for peanuts, was 'used' - so one lunchtime had a brainwave, went to a cheap store bought two plastic 'ketchup' bottles, each week filled them with expensive salon shampoo and conditioner from the store-room, kept me in shampoo for yonks, also progressing to peroxide and bleach powder once I knew how to do streaks thru a cap..and charge folks a fiver for doing it! the peroxide was replaced with water and bleach powder with ajax powder or flour....no-one ever sussed it out and I was considered 'too stupid';) to even discuss it with...in a fast food takeaway I worked once, my boyfriend would ring as a 'customer' at about 20 mins to closing time for a delivery, an address where he knew there'd be no reply, different each week, consequently the food would come back with the delivery driver, shop about to shut could not sell/use it so we ended up with it and I managed to feign suprise each time...we got a well stocked freezer....:eek: bit naughty but was paid peanuts anyway...and had to do serving, window/wall/floor cleaning, counter, food prep, and make the food too...so the food which cost pennies to make it was payment of a kind....also progressed to pick-up orders which were never picked up, to make it less obvious...my dad when little had to put some white cardboard around his neck and trunk for the school photo as he never had a jumper, or was it shirt? think a shirt...1930's, (15 kids) they all slept on hessian sacks on a bare wood floor...

moanymoany

I was telling DH about this thread and he reminded me of something he used to do when we were first married. We had a Honda 50, and we went everywhere on it. We lived in London as DH was a student and I was a clerk. Rent was 3/4 of our income - 2 rooms!

He would go to petrol stations and fill the Honda from the dribbles left in the hoses. We very rarely bought petrol!

smog_2

When I was an extremely skint student I used to:

live on pasta with 6p tinned tomatoes

drink 'pulse' cider for 99p a litre at swanky parties - at least nobody ever stole it!

Use a net washing tablets bag as a purse, and I only gave it up when it developed huge holes, and I couldn't afford more washing tablets.

Walk to town, get into a club for free with my student card, get free drinks all night from a guy that used to fancy me behind the bar, hang about till the end when the lights went on then scoop all the sticky, dirty change people had dropped off the floor under the pretence of looking for a lost ring, then walk home - making a tidy profit of between about £2 - £6 each night we went out.

Phone my mum, and tell her to phone me back to save on phone bills.

And at the time it was great fun!!

xxxx

115K

Victoriav - classic!
Genius stroke at siphoning off hairdressers supplies :rotfl:

harryhound

moanymoany wrote: »

I was telling DH about this thread and he reminded me of something he used to do when we were first married. We had a Honda 50, and we went everywhere on it. We lived in London as DH was a student and I was a clerk. Rent was 3/4 of our income - 2 rooms!

He would go to petrol stations and fill the Honda from the dribbles left in the hoses. We very rarely bought petrol!

Brilliant little bikes, tearing around with a leggy blond on the back and no crash helmets (how did we ever survive).
Mine was second hand, more or less abandoned by its owner just because the rear bearing and its ali housing had chewed up. Bought the 2 spare parts and heated the ali housing on the kitchen gas ring until it had expanded far enough to drop in the new bearing. Because it was getting on a bit, it had started using oil and required an egg cup full to top up its sump. In those days ring pull drink cans had not been invented. So one carried a pointed lever thing that would punch triangular holes in beer cans (one to let the beer out, the other to let the air in).
Oil in garages came in tins with a pull off foil strip that exposed two holes. So to top up the baby Honda, it was fairly easy to stop at a garage. Find the bin full of "empty" oil cans and punch a hole in the rim with the beer can opener and dribble out an egg cup measure of oil.
This trick worked well for a friend's two stroke scooter too, but that needed more that the dregs of just one or two "empty" oil cans.

Happy days,

Harry.