To ask of times when you were really broke

[Dollardime]

We've had a really hard time financially the past 3 months. Bill after bill after bill.

My car has just failed it's MOT and needs £230 worth of work done it which we physically haven't got.

I feel really down and depressed today - please give me times of when you were broke and how it got better on the end to give me some hope 😞

Shortly after I'd been a student. I had worked incredibly hard during student days, every spare non-lecture hour that I had, and left with no debt, so that wasn't the problem. It was simply, how do I live now before I have a job?

The way out of lack of income was to build income. No benefits, nothing else, self-sufficiency and I lived within my means and was incredibly careful with every penny, and of course I went without so much. I signed on with an agency from day 1, I temped, worked in shops, took and did any work that was available.

So you asked how it got better OP: I worked and worked and worked until income exceeded expenditure. Every single time I needed to pay something and I didn't have the money, I went out and exchanged my labour for a wage and created the money to pay the bill.

When I was 17 my Mam through me out. I lived off income support as I did my a levels and because I was under 18 I was only entitled to £35 a week housing benefit, because you know how landlords charge less if you’re under 18 so I had £30 a week for everything. Bills, food, everything.
Me and my flat mate who was in a similar position used to buy a tray of eggs from the Asian supermarket for £1.40 and a loaf of bread and make it last all week. It was pretty grim.

I passed my a levels and went to uni where I felt like the richest person alive on my loan.

I now run my own business and have an average wage but feel so lucky.

Aah flowerpot so the answer to not having an income is to just get more income. Great piece of advice I’m sure OP has never thought of that

@springydaffs I use ynab BUT it has recently changed to a subscription model. It certainly has saved me the amount I pay in subscription and more and offers a free trial. I’m a massive fan. However If you are skint for the foreseeable you might want to consider cheaper alternatives. Products I have heard mentioned are mvelopes, goodbudget, tiller hq, everypocket

Sentimentallentil
I see, it's you again, always so positive and cheery and nice to other posters. Here we go. The OP asked please give me times of when you were broke and how it got better on the end to give me some hope.

I gave a time of when I broke and I wrote how it got better. What? You want me to lie and make up a separate reality just to suit you Sentimentallentil because you don't like the reality that some of us lived?

Everything came out on payday and I was left with 4p in the bank to last the full month. I was on a pro rata salary and I hadn’t realised what it would be actually like, and such a drop from my old job. I spent a year having less than £100 to get through the month.

Another time I used to walk past a hairdressers that had a jar of Nescafé in the window and I would fantasise about breaking in and stealing it. I was very poor and hungry.

Things are much better now, but that’s because I changed jobs.

I was very poor for many years when my DC were little, and I completely identify with the others on this thread who say that they are now hoarders as a way of protecting themselves incase those days return: I have clothes I will never wear, toiletries I will never use and food that I don't eat all stored in my home because we had nothing for so long.

Things do get better, OP. All good wishes to you.

I'm so lucky. The only time I really have had nothing to my name was as a student. If overspent. In the last week of term before Christmas I didn't have hammy money left for food and not enough petrol left in my car to drive home for the holidays. But I wasn't properly broke. My rent was paid, I had a car! And I was able to borrow some money off my parents which I paid back once I started my holiday waitressing job.

I'm not rich by any means, I live a much more modest life than I was brought up with, but we own (with a mortgage) a modest house, we save each month, we can afford to treat ourselves, although not extravagantly. It may feel sometimes like we're broke at the end of the month but we're not really. Last month our dishwasher and washer dryer both died, and our roof started leaking. I moaned about how much money it cost, and we'll need to tighten our belts to build the savings back up, but we were able to pay for it all.

Sorry this isn't a brag, just me taking stock. I'm so very lucky. But it's appalling that in one of the richest countries in the world people should have to go without meals to feed their kids, that people should struggle so much even when working hard to try to make ends meet. There is so much wrong with all of it. And meanwhile the very rich just seem to get richer.

My ex and I moved to London with very little money. We couldn't afford to take the Tube and walked everywhere. Our big treat was one coffee out a week or a jacket potato at the pub. Definitely not desperate but lean times.

Yes, several years ago I went six weeks with no money (and i mean nothing other than the odd tenner i lent off friends) after having to move suddenly to a new flat and started a new job at the same time.

I had no money for gas so no heating and hot water, no cooker or microwave so I just ate toast mainly and instant noodles. No fridge or washing machine. Had to boil the kettle endlessly to try and fill a bath with hot water, first to bathe, and then again to try and handwash clothes. And then I had to walk to work. I had no TV and bare minimum furniture for ages too. Oh my days, that was a grim time!

It got better eventually, although i'm still skint most months

Hang on in there, things never stay so shit for long. Focus on what you do have, rather than what you don't have and keep going. Good luck

Sending best wishes x

Before we were married we lived on 1 meal per day which was beans or spaghetti on toast with some grated cheese.
We walked 4 miles to university and back and one of the biggest treats was having a snickers !!!
We both were in uni and working part time jobs!!?

I don't think I have ever been totally skint but this year has been one thing after the other (bill after bill, car repairs and things breaking, vets bills etc...), for the first time ever I have payed for the dd's Christmas presents on cards (credit card and a store card), but I don't call that totally skint. Totally skint is not being able to feed your kids, I hope 🤞 never expereance that.

Toshl is a good budgeting app and free if you don't need the bells and whistles.

But a pen and paper works too...sitting down and writing it all down is the hard part.

I remember putting the ends of various soap bars together under hot water to mould them into something usable. I remember praying each Friday that the ATM machine would give me money to live on over the weekend. I remember being so broke I stole toilet paper from the place that I worked as I didn't have any and couldn't afford to buy any.

It gets better

I'm in a real mess too! I owe money left, right and centre for various bills. I can't seem to budget properly. I really should sort myself out. I have gone into my overdraft big time. I'm self-employed and things are slow right now. I need to give myself a kick up the arse. I'm working on a massive project, but won't get paid until some point next year, so it's hard to motivate myself. I have a mega (mega) rich friend who offered to help me out, but I just couldn't accept it. I tend to forget what a mess I'm in so I can get through the day and then wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding. I know I'm capable of working myself out of this shit, but it does get me down. I feel your pain, OP. Try to see the light at the end of the tunnel and take it into your own hands. If not today, when?! :-) Right... get back to work!

When I was younger I sold a bit of my soul to my colleague for 2 quid so I could pay the bus fare to come in the following day as I'd realised I couldn't afford the bus fare. I made a little contract and all. I paid her back when I got paid and got the soul back too. It was funny but I did actually worry that I would have to call in and say I couldn't come in because I just didn't have the money.

It was a tough time anyway. I found it hard to get a job after university and didn't get any benefits. There were times when I would go to the cash point to get £10 out and wonder why it wouldn't give me the money, and I'd be looking at a big fat zero on the screen. It sucked. Eventually I found a permanent job and things got better. I'm still thrifty AF though as I think all that financial stress messed me up a bit. Being thrifty isn't such a bad thing now that SMP ended and we're dependent on husband's salary now.

Anyway, I found that I'm saving lots by doing my weekly food shop online with Asda, and going to Aldi or Lidl for bits and bobs. I also started cooking from scratch (baby weaning taking place here too so I kind of had to), so just having stuff like potatoes and rice and tinned beans and tomatoes etc in the cupboard at all times helps as you can always rustle up a cheap meal if you must. (Sorry - this is probably obvious but it's really helped me and I've seen our food bill go down quite a bit.)

It will get better OP!

Now. I'm stuck in a tiny two bedroom flat, and were miserable. Can't afford to private rent, cheapest here is 900 a month, and even if we could afford it. We couldn't afford the upfront cost.

When I was pregnant with my daughter. My JSA literally paid to keep my car on the road each month...couldn't get rid of the car because I was living in it 😔 Six months of total hell, luckily i got friendly with a group of homeless folk who took me under their wing & made sure i got fed. The most depressing time ever.

Nothing after that phases me. I can feed myself & small on a fiver a week if i have to.

Right now.
There is so little money on the meter that I cannot put the heating on.
There was two eggs and a bit of bacon in the house but we ate that.
Car went ages ago.
I have to hitchhike to get anywhere.

I moved away from home at the age of 24- spent two years with someone who was not only physically and mentally abusive, also had no job and a drug habit.

He had taken out a credit card in my name with a €3000 euro limit and maxed it out. CDD wasn’t as prevalent then so he put the bills at his address but in my name so I never knew until I came back home and tried to get a £600 loan for a car with my usual bank.

When I came back, the recession had hit badly. I worked for a company for three months before they folded. I lived on a friend’s couch in that time.

I then worked as a waitress and my take home was £720 per month.

I was paying off credit card debt that boyfriend had racked up - £300 per month. Had a pay as you go phone £25 per month, bedsit (it was nasty) £350 per month with water included. The rest (45) was spent on food and electricity meter (no heating), I had a microwave, kettle and two ring hob. I bulk bought supernoodles (one portion lasted two days - I ate them cold the second day even though I had a microwave (because-electricity!) and even now I will cook them and wait for them to go cold ),soup, beans and bread. I had no fridge/ freezer so purchased “real” hard butter and left it on the work top. I allowed the kettle on once a day and that had to fill a cup of tea for me and hot water bottle at night. If I had guests I’d buy half a litre of milk and keep in in the kitchen sink with cold water to keep it as fresh as possible.

I remember finding a pound note on the floor and actually crying. I put it in the electricity meter.

Lived like that for six months then found office work and since then I’m debt free, have a small amount of savings and all is well.
Although I’d like to change my job.

It seems like you’re in a desperate situation right now but as a PP said, it WILL change. Absolutely.

When it does, my advice would be - save whatever you can, even if it’s £20 a month.

Good luck op, brighter days are coming

I lived on sainsburys value fishfingers (20p at the time), cheapest of the cheap baked beans from tesco (were they 5p or am I remembering incorrectly?), the cheapest biggest bag of 'chips' from iceland for £1 - always shitty little ends which mostly just burnt, but the middle of the baking tray was raw - and tesco value bread (25p) and tesco value 'spread' - which is absolutely vile, imagine the worst margarine and then times it by 100.

I think I've still only eaten fishfingers twice since then, this must have been about 2003, and it was a long time until I ate beans again!

A couple of times I even had to get a bus to take coppers to my branch of my bank to pay in and then draw out the couple of pounds so I could buy the above. Other banks or the post office wouldn't change up coppers into pound coins and the shops wouldn't take it.

Selling Jewellery got me about 50 quid for some gold.

Selling CDs to music magpie. selling kids old stuff on Facebook to raise cash.

Buying as much value stuff as I could in Sainsbury's using points to pay.

Loo roll from work. Eating kids leftovers for my tea bulked out by cheap bread.

It sucks having no money, but at least you've avoided £700 of debt. I would go without than worry about debt I can't repay.

I remember writing a cheque for groceries that I knew wasn't covered. I was desperate. When DS1 was small the washer broke. There was no money to replace it. We also had no hot water due to a big dispute over the gas supply (not of our making, it was effectively cut off as the prepayment meter was in the cellar to which we had no access). Moving was not an option and I washed clothes in the bath in lukewarm water after boiling a kettle. Had cold showers when body washes were not enough. Sat next to the toaster with it on to warm my hands over winter. Food - a cup of value tea and a sandwich of a slice of bread with a smear of corn relish was a days food. Or "dough balls", value flour mixed into a paste with water and deep fried. Rank but fills your stomach if you are really hungry. I would take toilet roll home from public toilets so I could spend money on a tin of soup or something. Life with a financially abusive and controlling alcoholic. I'm nearly 18 years free now.

When I split from my son's dad, I was left with a mortgage, £18K-worth of debt that he'd run up in my name, and a part time wage. I'd phone in work sick as I didn't always have bus fare, I lived off cheese butties whilst I bought Iceland 6-items-for- £5. I remember having to ring the bank to give me a temporary overdraft so I could buy food and nappies, or asking my mum to travel 15miles by bus to buy my shopping as my card was declined.
I ended up selling the house and Oakington my debt off but it took me about 10 months to not feel panic at bills dropping through the letter box.
Things always get better OP. Promise you.

I an £3000+ overdrawn and work full time
I consciously chose to rent privately.
I'm constantly at the end of my overdraft and as such am constantly robbing peter to pay Paul.
Regularly go without to give to my 15y-o ds.
There were 6 pieces of chicken reduced last night,
He's just come in and said "what's for tea" I know he can easily eat the lot and more so I say "I'm not hungry"
(Smells fab!)
I had a back Injury that put me out of work and In this position.
Reading some of these posts is pretty humbling and I'm just grateful I have a bed to sleep in tonight.
What's worse is I have a degree and am quite intelligent but sometimes life throws so crappy unforeseen circs at us.

I hope things improve for you 😘