No matter how broke I am, I will not compromise on

[NorthEndGal]

Butter
If I only had a few dollars left, I'd still buy butter.
Not margarine, not 20-80 spread, just real pure butter.

Anything else, I'll do without, or by a substitute, etc

What is your "I'm not going without" thing?

Make up!

and did I mention diet coke?

A good haircut.

And butter.

Tea bags. No cheap shitty gravel water here.

Agreed on the butter and organic eggs -am also veggie and organic and higher welfare is more expensive
Nice fruit( would rather pay more for really tasty stuff which I think is generally more expensive- especially berries) Cheap veg though is normally fine.
Marmite
Face moisturiser

smoked salmon,
parma ham
melon
caviar

Or you would buy supermarket brands

I buy nearly all supermarket brands or shop in Aldi- except for Lurpak, Diet Coke/Coke Zero (don't drink coke unless it's this brand) and Haagen Das ice-cream (only buy one flavour, only eat this ice-cream or nothing, usually every couple of months).

It's possible to be both very thrifty and have the odd 'must have' product. In fact, it would be a 'must have' if everything was a 'must have', would it?

Fake tan.

St Tropez only. No St Moritz, no Boots own. It’s just not the same 😃

As a treat, real coke

I am agog at this thread.

I wonder how many have been truly broke.

I suspect those standards may drop if you are really up shit creak.

My mum is alcohol dependant so no matter how poor she gets or how far in debt she will always priorities buying alcohol.

When our dcs were little we were often struggling for money - many, many days I went without anything to eat until dinner time, in order to be able to feed the children. I walked everywhere, didn't have a haircut for about four years, no make up, used to ask for money at birthdays and Christmas, so we could cover the cost of the gas and electric. I used to ask the chemist if there were cheaper over the counter options instead of paying prescription charges, We bought only economy options at the supermarket, including butter, And only whatever fruit and veg were in season as that was the cheapest. This was before tax credits and apart from child benefit, there was no other benefit available to us.
The things I refused to compromise on were well fitting shoes for my dcs. Due to their size, it was impossible to buy shoes other than from a proper shoe shop. No supermarket shoes for us. Dcs clothes in the other hand...
I understand that it is hard for families now, but just because some of us have gone beyond that stage in our lives, doesn't mean we don't remember.

Takeaways

Toilet paper
Coke zero
Heinz ketchup

Oh also warburtons bread (the orange one) it's the BEST!!

When I first moved to London with a job (but no pay and no place to live for the first two weeks, I'd live on Tesco white loaf and that wafer thin ham. Tea from the office and I remember buying four doughnuts for £1 from the co-op on a Thursday. It would be my treat through the weekend until Monday. I used to come in earlier than anyone else and use the shower in the office. The payroll had my previous address from elsewhere in the UK for that time. Nobody knew I didn't have four walls. Luckily, it was summer time.

Butter
free range eggs
organic milk
organic garlic

I am also agog.
I can’t imagine being so poor I had to beg for a sandwich, so poor I had to sleep in a bus stop, so poor I had to share a single room in a ‘hotel’ miles from my children’s schools and heat baked beans on the radiator for their supper.
I can’t imagine being so poor I walked four miles to fetch water.
I can’t imagine being so poor my children went hungry regularly.
I can’t imagine being so poor I had to steal.
I can’t imagine being so poor I needed to use a food bank or use payday loans.

Would lipstick branded goods or fake tan be top of my list? Definitely not. I suspect many people don’t understand the true impact of real poverty rather than relative poverty.

Free range eggs and real coffee. I would rather go without.

CherryPavlova

Well said. Most people on his thread don't have a clue.

My bone china tea cup.
Good quality toilet paper.
A good selection of good quality cheeses.