Things you've done when things got desperate!

andan

Hiya, just wanted to bump this up a bit and say how inspirational people's stories have been. My childhood was also growing up in poverty. We only had a gas fire in the lounge so would go to bed wearing our coats. The only time we got new clothes was when we were given hand me downs by the neighbors. It was great fun though, four girls being given black sacks of clothes and deciding who wanted what.

My worst memory though was walking to school and the sole of my shoe had come away from almost all of the rest of it so each time i walked the sole would flap up and down. They were my only pair of shoes, in the end i rather embarrassingly had to ask my friend if i could borrow a pair of her shoes as i just couldn't walk to school in the ones i was wearing. She ended up giving me a pair of shoes.

I'm very proud of the job my mum did though, bringing up six children on her own and with no financial support from me dad, if anyone is my mentor it is her for teaching me that with hard work and dedication you can survive anything.

headoutthesand

Andan - your story just makes it clear how 'spoiled' we all are in todays society.

My OH will go and buy a new pair of shoes rather than put them into the cobblers to get healed.

I'm still teary from watching poor vera pop her clogs - your story has made me blub a little more

tattycath

I remember when I was a child, 3 girls sharing a bedroom. Never had a brand new bed. No central heating, no emmersion heater. A back to back boiler for hot water and heat . Living hand to mouth, hardly ever much food in the cupboards. (mine have always been full since I left home) so cold on a night we had to have old coats laid on the bed to make it warmer. We always had something to eat-even if it was just a jam sandwich and we always had coats and shoes-not often new but we managed. I am youngest of 5 children. and when I tell my girls they don't know they're born they tell me that was in my day!!!

emily_jackson

This is a great thread, very humbling and funny in places.

merchantofvenice

when my mum was bringing up 6 kids in the late 80s early 90s, on her own things were really tough.
Had 4 brothers who were always hungry, so she had to put a padlock on the fridge!
I remember us being given 2 boxes full of butter and stewing steak by the parish council, some sort of EU surplus?? which we lived off for ages. I used to suck lumps of butter when there was no food.
We had a really great chippy, 3 miles walk, which would let us have a meal on tick if our mum wrote a note.
I remember once when I went to my school summer fete and one of my teachers gave me a HUGE, catering size tin of peaches, I was so happy walking home with them...i thought that i'd won the lottery. lol!
One summer our oven and fridge broke, so we kept milk in cold water in the sink, i'll never forget the horrible melted margarine and sweaty cheese...gross

Needcash_3

Great thread ..... when I was a student I used to use Slimfast to supplement my food .....

Careful_with_that_Axe

When I was really hard up, I would go to the cheapest supermarket and buy a loaf of bread, eggs, cheese, cheap baked beans and potatoes. This was my weekly shop for many months occasionally suplemented by the odd tin of sardines (6p!).
I'm very ashamed to say that I took an "industrial" toilet roll from the supermarket toilets when I found one that hadn't been put in the holder. I am still mortified by the thought to this day - this was maybe 12 years ago.
I have also done the "rolled up toilet paper" trick.
I did have a very good friend who used to send me "Red Cross" packages every so often - boxes containing tea bags, some coffee, magazines, money-off coupons etc.
I had told my Sister about my weekly shop, all things financial and how fed up and depressed I was. Maybe a year later when things were financial improving as part of my Xmas present she gave me a baked bean tin shaped savings jar. To her credit she did say that it wasn't until she saw my face when I unwrapped it that I hadn't been exaggerating about my situation.

I think being in severely financial states like this leave an indelible scar on people.

franny

Shaved my hair off so I wouldn't need to pay for a haircut for a few months.

Paid for tube ticket with pennies, the people behind me in the queue were tutting so much it sounded like a big clock was behind me...

Still take toilet roll home from work, a behaviour first picked up at Uni that has never left me.

Spend £1 to get the late bus home to my parents and stay there all weekend and pay £1 to get the last late bus back..

Uniscots97

Offered to colour a then neighbours hair when I was a student for the tiny sum of a pound. Then went and bought a loaf of bread (savers 15p) and stocked up on cheap noodles which fed me for a week.

compulsivespender79

Confession time . . .

I too have done the, ahem, 'rolled up toilet paper trick'. Sanitory products are expensive!!! Fortunately I haven't had to do that for quite a few years now though.
Have also lived on 5p beans and 17p loaves of bread for a fortnight.
Disgusting alert: Back in my student days we used to raid the ashtray for dog ends to roll up into a new ciggy. Euw!!! How gross is that? I still can't believe I used to do that.

I'm so ashamed!!!!