How have you hidden your day to day poverty?

[TeaAddict235]

I was described by a friend as 'a lover of the cheep and cheerful' as she deemed that i chose the cheaper of items when making personal purchases (e.g. food or clothes)

In terms of saving the pennies and trying to increase the pounds in your purse/ account, are there things that you do which others may consider 'poverty'? You may do so as these things are non-essentials or they are just habits?

I habitually shop during the sales for clothes.
I scour the reduced aisle in the supermarket
I've worn DH's cashmere top as it was too small for him and I needed a smart jumper for work.
I am tempted by Charity shops

I no longer get a free lunch at work and now work where you have to take your own or buy it, my colleagues are always going to the local bakery or shop for made up sandwiches, cakes, pies etc, I buy a loaf and usually potted meat spread or cheap fillings and make it last all week, if they ask if I want anything i decline saying I'm dieting because I can't afford the additional expense, it kills me when I see some of the nice stuff they have, but yes, it's doing my figure the world of good, and it'll help putting electric on the meter when it gets colder

Do you mean day to day examples of saving money and watching the pennies rather than 'hiding poverty.'

Poverty is something quite different, in my view.

You've jumped from charity shop temptations and borrowing your husband's cashmere jumper to earnestly hoping that staying at your MILs for a week or so will take pressure of the essentials such as heating and water...

OP

tea you can also get washable pads which are pricey to start with but save money in the long run but I haven’t had the spare money to try them yet! I’ve heard they’re good though. The charity shops in my area are really good so I quite often manage to buy brands like boden etc for £5 and sell them on eBay for £20

When I was a student nurse I used to pretend to be on a health kick to excuse my walking an hour plus each way to get there and skipping lunch. I literally couldn't afford food. Most people accepted in, except a very perceptive social work who used to leave sandwiches on my desk. On my days off I used to pretend to have work to do at the Student's Union (I was on the exec there) because I could get free sandwiches while working.

I am pleased not to have to have to do stuff like that any more!

I pretend to my kids that I've already eaten and am full, when they ask why I don't have any dinner sometimes.

Bit more depressing than being, 'tempted' by charity shops ffs.

Walking to work and back, a good 4 miles, because buses cost money. I tell people I like the exercise.

I cut my own hair. I've worn the same clothes for years and my best shoes come from shoezone.

Going to work hungry because I've only got enough food for DD. Going to bed with a cup of tea for a meal, hoping I can sleep. Hiding it by pretending I've eaten at work and I'm not hungry.

I think the OP must mean a low income not actual poverty.
We’ve had a low income for a number of years. Tesco is great for cheap clothes in the sales. I also never get my haircut, but then again I like having long hair and hate the hairdressers.
When my children were born I made sure I breastfed even though it really hurt to begin with. I never bought nursing bras or maternity wear. you can make things last longer by adding water to them, like washing up liquid bottles and hand soap dispensers. We don’t really celebrate birthdays as such, or Christmas although being Muslim helps with this one.

The OP’s examples sound like financial pressure and being ‘broke’ but not poverty. Poverty is having utilities switched off because you can’t pay and being unable to afford basic food and necessities, or children having to leave school to care for siblings so that a parent can work. It is living somewhere that is unsafe because you have no other options and being unable to plan for the future because all your resources are spent just getting through each day. It is having family members suffer because you can’t pay for healthcare and because the state won’t provide it.

Real poverty is about risking your and your family’s lives to get onto a boat, cross dangerous waters, squat in a border town, then hide in a truck that might take you to Britain, because being ‘poor’ in Britain is so much better than the hopeless life you are fleeing.

Poverty is not borrowing your husband’s cashmere jumper. Many (not all) British seem to have no concept of real hardship or the many benefits to them living in this rich developed county. Life can be hard here but it is not real poverty. We have food, free healthcare, free education and are relatively safe. We are all the lucky ones. Time for a reality check!!!

I think your examples are just about being moneywise not poor.
We buy food according to what meals we're cooking - not a big weekly shop that ends up being chucked away.
I buy makeup when old makeup runs out - I don't browse it and treat myself.
I almost never shop from the reduced food items section though, because I think that stuff should be left for people who rely on it to feed their families.

When I feel a bit low I tell myself I'm very lucky to have a roof over my head food a bed to sleep in a toilet a shower and healthcare, an awful lot of people in this world do not have those basic things let alone a jumper

People are being very harsh and judgemental on here. No one knows exactly what situation the OP is facing and she sounds like she was maybe trying to mask how bad things are (to herself) by making her post light hearted.

ScienclsTruth

I’m thinking maybe her reference to ‘poverty’ is just a poor choice of words because shopping in the sales is not an option for anyone experiencing real poverty. I have seen a lot of real poverty and so the middle class grumbles of having once borrowed a cashmere jumper do not sit well with me.

TeaAddict235 I hope for your sake you never discover the true meaning of poverty because you just won't cope.

I am not moaning about my life but I have known times of poverty and am only now crawling out of the last one. Value beans on toast every night for a week isn't a lot of fun.