To enjoy being a bit skint

[Welcometotheterrorzone]

I realise this might sound really privileged to some.
We are by no means struggling to pay our mortgage or buy food. We both have alright jobs, low paid but steady and enough to pay for a lovely house in a rough part of town. Like I said, we do alright but have to budget in order to have Christmas and holidays. We camp, we don't eat out, we share subscriptions with friends, we have one car, we buy second hand everything, we use freetogo apps etc to save. I am an obsessive yellow sticker shopper and do not pay full price for any meat, bread, milk or fruit as I hit different supermarkets at different times and have a huge freezer to store it all in. We eat veggie 70% of the time too.
Yesterday it was a one off treat day for DS as he's starting school. I had £24 for the day and no access to anymore money. We had such a lovely time, bakery lunch, went to a national trust place where just going in the grounds is a lot cheaper than tickets for the house so did that, treated them to an ice lolly and found a Poundland on the way home for a toy instead of getting (the same quality) toy in the gift shop. I was a bit worried at one point as we walked past this amazing sweet shop and I thought that they were going to ask for something I couldn't afford (only had £2 left by this point as we were on our way to the train station) but brilliantly they had a reduced section with these Harry Potter chocolate bars for 50p so still had a £1 at the end of it.
My aibu is that I don't want to lose this feeling of joy that we have found something that fits our budget and makes me feel like I'm treating them. I've had times where I felt really down that I can't just say 'choose whatever you like' but I think every parent sets limits so I'm not being unnecessary harsh. I'm trying to teach them to find pleasure in small things, and that finding the right toy in a charity shop is better than going to a big toy shop full of plastic where you can choose anything. I hope they don't resent me for it.
Luckily it's payday tomorrow!

I don't understand/get the point of your post...

Sounds like you enjoy being frugal. You can be frugal, and still splash the cash if/when you want. If you are proper skint.. there is no option. And that way of living is not fun or enjoyable.

Well you aren’t really enjoying being skint because you’re not skint. Skint wouldn’t be affording a lovely house and days out. Skint is counting out change and trying to make the price of bread and milk, or checking the electricity key and hoping £1.10 lasts till next Friday. It’s not that enjoyable.

You’re enjoying budgeting/frugal living, which is very satisfying. I sorted out all my kids wardrobes last month and was pleased with how their clothes have very little wear and can be shared/passed in. I feel I’ve made a little saving as nice things I saved from the older kids now fit the younger ones and I won’t have to buy them again, including boots and winter coats. It’s not the same as being skint though.

Also, doing things like hitting supermarkets at different times is often not possible for those who are skint - when I was really skint I would have had to walk two/three miles with a two year old and a buggy to check all the different supermarkets. I had to scrimp my money carefully to go once a week and buy only cheap items that I could afford. And certainly no camping! No way could we have afforded tents and the price of travel to a nice camping spot. We just stayed at home and went to the park/the beach. Often I couldn’t even afford to buy them an ice cream or a bar of chocolate so would pack sandwiches and make up bottles of squash for lunch so they had a picnic.

I think the title of this thread is misleading. It sounds like rather than enjoying being "a bit skint", you enjoy the challenge of having an enjoyable day out on a modest budget, and you're pleased that you succeeded in your misson. Mind you, I'm unsure how to word that succinctly for a thread title.

So, YABU for your thread title, but YANBU to feel pleased that you made the most of your low budget day out. People have been a bit harsh on you, IMO, but there are lots of people struggling financially who can barely make ends meet, so some people are bound to be sensitive.

I haven't read all the replies.
Yes, I get where you're coming from it's lovely to be able to spend hardly anything on a budget, isn't it?
So many little cheap and cheerful treats, whether it be a pound football from Poundland, and a picnic at the park.
If you don't have the money for days out, you can adapt and find cheap alternatives to keep them occupied and fed etc.
It becomes seriously tiring, boring, drudging, and monotonous when it's literally your day to day life though!!
Sometimes you'd love something a bit different, like the cinema, or bowling, but just can't.
You remind me of the Pulp song Common People lol.
"Playing" at being poor.
"When you're laying in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall, you could call your Dad and stop it all...."

Your OP has the same privileged vibe.
So YABU

You don’t sound skint but what i would call you is FRUGAL. You sound sensible and have a good attitude to spending money. I do enjoy this when I get into the mindset as it gives me a sense of control but then I have a blowout(posted before about spending addiction-getting better.) I think it’s a good way to be and a great example for your DC to make the most of what you do have. While you don’t sound like your struggling, £24 pounds could easily have cost way more if you had of paid to go in the house, ate and a more expensive restaurant and let the kids have “anything they wanted” in the sweet shop. Easily £124! Probably more.

Yes, FRUGAL is the word... maybe the title should read "AIBU to be pleased that we had a nice day out, while being frugal?"

icedcoffees
Good god the people on here going on about how 'insensitive' and 'privileged' the OP is when half the posts on here are about how your husband earns £100k but won't pay for shopping, or how the nanny/cleaner/butler has BU, or how your neighbour is a CF for parking over your driveway so you can't get your second car in.

The OP can still be considered insensitive even though other people are more insensitive, though
^

^
Threads about "shall I sack my cleaner?" or "is my high-earning husband financially abusive?" aren't generally met with this level of vitriol against somebody just because their understanding of tjhe word "skint" is different, as it is relative in all circumstances, periods of history and countries. I think the way the OP has been spoken to is very unfair, personally. A lot of the vitriol comes across as bitterness: which I understand as I was desperately broke for many years. But this isn't the place to take it out. Contacting MPs would be a better use of time.

I think you mean frugal, which in itself isn’t a bad thing. It’s very smart actually.

I can honestly say I hate being skint, I’ve got 27p to last me until September 6th. No idea how I’m going to buy food for the kids next week, it’s like this every month and I’m throughly sick of it. It’s no fun being truly skint OP. It’s quite terrifying actually.

Stoic quote: Contentment comes not so much from great wealth as from few wants. EPICTETUS. I agree with you OP. I have a ridiculously low income, enjoy simple pleasures and want for nothing. It makes me richer than high earners who feel they still don't have enough.

@Opal93

You don’t sound skint but what i would call you is FRUGAL. You sound sensible and have a good attitude to spending money. I do enjoy this when I get into the mindset as it gives me a sense of control but then I have a blowout(posted before about spending addiction-getting better.) I think it’s a good way to be and a great example for your DC to make the most of what you do have. While you don’t sound like your struggling, £24 pounds could easily have cost way more if you had of paid to go in the house, ate and a more expensive restaurant and let the kids have “anything they wanted” in the sweet shop. Easily £124! Probably more.

Right. But everyone having a massive go at the OP over what is at a basic level semantics is a bit much.

I've lived in damp, freezing houses and often run out of electricity and food before, if that is relevant. It should not be, though.

YANBU OP.

Your day out sounds lovely and your lifestyle sounds actually very environmentally conscious, a lot of us could learn a thing or two from you re this. I also enjoy living a bit frugal, found a Petite Bateau jumper and a Tartine et Chocolate blouse for DS in good condition in the charity shop yesterday, just £2 each, these frugal finds make me happier then going into the brand shop and paying full price for new items.

Well you aren’t really enjoying being skint because you’re not skint. Skint wouldn’t be affording a lovely house and days out. Skint is counting out change and trying to make the price of bread and milk, or checking the electricity key and hoping £1.10 lasts till next Friday. It’s not that enjoyable.

Exactly.
There's a difference between being skint and being "skint."

I’m not sure th op does mean frugal. If you’ve 24 pounds,, on benefits, no savings and had your power switched off twice because you can’t afford the bill, then I’m not sure it’s frugal to spend all 24 pounds. Frugal would be spending a fiver or a tenner, having the same great day out but doing something cheaper, and putting the rest to savings. Spending every last penny of it and being chuffed you got so much for it, on things like chocolate etc I don’t really think is frugal.

@Oblomov21

Why is op getting a hard time? The poster who said she only had £24 for the 6 weeks of the summer holidays?

that was me and I stand by my comment.

People saying the OP didn't mean xyz. Words have power and meaning and at the moment being skint to alot of people means deciding between electricity and food and its not enjoyable.

If the OP had come along and said I love being frugal or I love a bit of a bargain, then I am all for that, but they didn't they used a certain word which to most people means being on their arse and wishing they had £24 for a day out and then went all in with a benefit bashing post.

If someone on here wants to say they bought a £800 watch, or the fact they spend £500 a week on food shopping, I wouldn't expect them to then add but I am skint.

they used a certain word which to most people means being on their arse and wishing they had £24 for a day out

You’re describing poverty. I have never heard people use the word ‘skint’ IRL to describe actual poverty. In my experience, ‘skint’ means that money is tight, but it’s clear from this thread that it means different things to different people. If you accept that there is no real definition of the word because it’s just slang (which you seem to, since you say “to most people it means…”) then why can’t you accept that other people, including Op, don’t ascribe the same meaning to it as you do? Why is only your definition correct? Some words have multiple or ambiguous meanings. It is nonsensical to deliberately take offence at the use of a word like that when it’s obvious you are applying a different meaning to it than the OP. It’s nothing more than a flimsy excuse to pile on an OP who has received scores of nasty comments. It’s bullying at this point.

(You’re describing poverty. I have never heard people use the word ‘skint’ IRL to describe actual poverty. In my experience, ‘skint’ means that money is tight, but it’s clear from this thread that it means different things to different people.*
Money is tight means money is tight.
Skint is down to the bones the brown coins and a few receipts in your purse.

Skint is counting out change and trying to make the price of bread and milk, or checking the electricity key and hoping £1.10 lasts till next Friday.

Says who? There’s no real definition of the slang word “skint”. OP’s definition (that cash is a bit tight for her) is every bit as valid as yours.

Skint is down to the bones the brown coins and a few receipts in your purse.

Again, says who? That’s a definition that you personally ascribe to the word. It’s not what it means to me and it’s not how I hear it used where I live. Why is only your definition correct when you can see that it means something different to other people?

skɪnt/
Learn to pronounce
adjectiveINFORMAL•BRITISH
(of a person) having little or no money available.
"I'm a bit skint just now"

@EmeraldShamrock not sure what you’re trying to prove. “Little money available” is exactly what the OP is describing.

There are lots of definitions available online which all make it clear that this is a slang term and not linked to a specific, definable, financial position. Look at all the examples the various dictionary websites give for usage. A lot of “I’m a bit skint before payday this month”. That doesn’t mean crushing poverty to me.

OP’s use of the word is fine.

This site is bonkers sometimes. All the posting about private schools,holidays, large houses, shopping in high end places. Of course not forgetting the high wages being average and not being able to manage on ridiculously good money.

Yet op gets flak for not being poor enough to call herself skint. After stating she budgeted and really manages her finances. As well as adding she has been even more skint the past. A lot on here would spend £24 ( and much more!) without a second thought.

OP reminds me of this story,
about a private school doing an 'austerity lunch'
www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-44578499.amp

IWantToBreakFree the fact that probably the majority of people on this thread have all pointed out that they don't think 'skint' describes the OP's situation suggests a consensus view that it means 'poor'. Yes, some people say "I'm skint until I get paid"...some people also say "I'm starving, is it lunchtime?" That doesn't mean they actually are starving, any more than the people who use "skint until payday" are actually skint the way most people understand the word.