If you consider yourself poor what does that look like for you?

[flyingdream]

What does it mean to you?

Having less then £5 in bank most days. My cats ill and I have pet insurance but doesn't cover dental and he's been bleeding from his mouth. I have an appointment for tomorrow morning after borrowing £300 off a family member and just hop it covers the bill.

Sal

I used to be poor.

Not eating a meal for weeks and just eating left overs from the kids.

Not putting heating on throughout one winter.

Poor to me was when I lived on jam and bread so dc could eat.. Bills piled up. Phone was regularly cut off.

When we started out we had to do the following;
Eat from the reduced/own brand section ie Tesco tinned potatoes with Tesco beans for dinner.

Boil the kettle once a day and keep it in a flask.
Walk everywhere as I couldn’t put fuel in the car/didn’t have a car.
Bought everything from the FB market place including the Christmas toys.
Phone cut off regularly
The house was so cold we had condensation on the windows each morning and we had to wear multiple layers just to keep warm-no oil.
No tv as couldn’t afford the license.

Took a few tough years but we made it and I never want to get go back to any of that, it was awful!

Why do you want to know? What does it mean to you?

When my kids were little and I was with my dickhead ex and we never had any money cos he was always walking out of jobs etc I was that desperate for money once we upended the sofa, split the bottom fabric and found all the pennies that had been dropped down there over the years. We found nearly five pounds and that went on food. We pawned jewellery, and I walked round with cardboard in my shoes, I skipped dinners and we ran out of electric all the time. Phones were cut off, had no internet, and the bailiffs were always on our backs. It was bloody awful for the kids

Been there.
Once had no electric for weeks because couldn't afford to top up the meter. Didn't eat at all for several days. Pawned stuff. Hid from landlord. Asked bakers for any bread they had left over at the end of the day. Permanently scanned pavements for dropped change. Etc etc.
The result of financial abuse.

As a kid we had no heating at all, mum couldn’t afford it. Used to scrape the ice off the window to see out in the winter.
I had mostly second hand clothes and toys. But I didn’t feel poor as a child.

There was someone on a thread yesterday telling someone to try and save 50pm as it soon adds up. Poor to me looked like going through all my coats and down the sofa for loose change to buy milk.
It was putting one pound on the electric meter to tide us over until child benefit landed in the account the following day.
No money for clothes or haircuts. It was pretty rubbish for a long time.

Going to school with holes in my shoes. When it was raining it sucked. When I was 18 and home alone and the electricity went and mum had no money to top it up or buy food.

Poor was because my parents didn't work/not because they couldn't. They were more than capable!

Scrabbling about at the bus station to find change on the ground that people had dropped , to buy soup. Eating half a can of soup each day and stretching it with a small piece of potato or swede to fill my belly. Having absolutely no money to put on the prepaid electric meter. Feeling poor and and mean because I couldn’t afford to buy the cheapest of Christmas presents. Living in an overdraft for 3 years, before I could start to pay it off. I’ve never forgotten how it felt. It still haunts me,

Growing up we were poor.
No car
No computer/internet
Basic 5 Chanel tv
( all my friends parents had cars, internet and cable tv)

We often hid from loan collectors.

Spent a few evenings sat in darkness as couldn't afford the electricity. I remember having a wind up torch which I needed to use to get to bed one night as the electric ran out. This was around 2006.

All second hand clothes/toys/ furniture.

My parents had it tough.

Not now but when DDs were little our outgoings were high due to nursery fees.

I was part time too.

Nothing like others have posted on here but I used to get cash out each week and after everything was paid for, DH and I had £10 each in cash for 7 days.

Bakerman I also remember debt collectors and my dad telling us to hide behind the sofa when there was a knock at the door.

cannot save £500 to afford a replacement car,
dont go out for meals unless we really tighten our belts
charity shops for clothes

think twice about spending almost every day

I'm not poor now. I'm comfortable and can pay bills when they come in.
I was poor and it was horrendous. We were doing ok and then everything changed in a blink of an eye. We were about to lose our house, we couldnt pay a tax bill due to what happened. Food was stretched out to last. We could hardly speak to each other and our marriage was under so much strain we nearly split.
There was so much stress my insides felt like they were shaking all the time and I kept getting acid reflux.
These days we have quite a bit if money but I'm always penny pinching and cant let it go which drives Dh mad. He tells me not to worry about buying things and buy something if I fancy it.
I try not to verbally moan about a price of, say a cocktail but Dh is all about enjoying life if you can.
Being poor has changed me. I didnt grow up poor so it was a difficult time for me, which was ok but I worried about the children.

Share a little about why you’re asking, OP.

Your thread asks people to post vulnerable, emotive things. It’s only fair to give more information about why you want to read about the bleakest times in people’s lives. Poverty isn’t a spectator game, after all.

I used to have £20 a week left after bills. That had to cover food, toiletries etc. I'm a glasses wearer, my glasses broke and I couldn't afford new ones so I wore the same pair of contact lenses for 6 months and ended up with a horrific eye infection. That was rock bottom.

Why do you want to know?
Forums are generally a bit more give and take .

Op was trying not to do a taat

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4494310-To-feel-fed-up-of-being-poor

But still asks about what cheap bread is like, and multivitamins

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/4466663-how-much-do-you-pay-for-a-loaf-of-bread

@NoSquirrels

Share a little about why you’re asking, OP.

Your thread asks people to post vulnerable, emotive things. It’s only fair to give more information about why you want to read about the bleakest times in people’s lives. Poverty isn’t a spectator game, after all.

Absolutely this. Why have you not shared anything OP, whilst asking that of others?

Back in 2007 I remember reading the Joseph Rowntree Foundation figures for the minimum income standard, that we fell below. And I was really cross that someone had swept along and put our comfortable life, with a new home, new business, new baby, in a box that felt disingenuous. I wasn't poor by any standard that I recognised.

I'm not sure that individuals are a great guage of how well they are doing but I'm not sure it is easily measured from the outside, either.

I don’t really understand why it’s imperative the OP shares why she wants to post. It’s an interesting discussion.

For me it was a vicious cycle. I’d have no money to put fuel in the car so I wouldn’t be able to get to work so wouldn’t get paid. Or I’d borrow money at high interest and that would affect my next pay day because I wouldn’t have enough …

Update on the cat it's gum disease he's had antibiotics injection and been given pain killers. Then needs surgery next week to clean his teeth and she said they can put some special stuff on the gum line to stop bacteria going in. Bill was £70 this morning and been quoted £200 for the surgery. Its the unexpected bills that eats away into my shopping money. Has to be done

Sal