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Original poster

You know you're truly skint when...

999 replies

ratflavouredjelly · 11/05/2012 13:46

I've decided to humour myself and start this thread laughs hysterically. Anyone care to join me with their stories. Maybe we can out skint each other...

So, you know you're truly skint when:
Shopping in charity shops are no longer ironic.
The middle of the month arrives and you panic about feeding the family.
You can not afford the petrol to work.
You're growing your own veg but cannot stretch to compost to enrich the soil.
DS and DD's shoes are too tight (something you never thought you would allow to happen)
Your bra is too tight, buying a new one is out of the question, so you just 'get used' to the pain.
Yadda harumph harumph

OP posts:
madmomma · 22/05/2012 12:07

becca I can't even begin to imagine what that must've been like. Please don't hate yourself

marriedtoagoodun · 22/05/2012 12:13

With the jubilee coming up if any little girls need princess dress and you would struggle to get one let me now as I have several (age 5-7) and it would be lovely if they could be put to good use.

PullUpAPew · 22/05/2012 12:34

It is always good to remember however bad it is, there is always someone worse off. I can see that however poor I've been in the past, my problems are nothing compared to the inability to use imagination or feel empathy poor Smurfette is suffering from.

Iggly · 22/05/2012 12:37

smurf Hmm It's so easy to talk from up there on your perch.

I've been lurking on this thread and have offered stuff on the other "for free" one. I'm astounded at how people have to live but at least it's taken this long before some twat one like smurf to come along and sneer.

PineCones · 22/05/2012 12:41

daisydoodoo you are a STAR. What a survivor.

treadwarily · 22/05/2012 12:47

Sorry this thread is making people cry. Hope it wasn't me! I still laugh a lot and there are some up sides to being skint. Like looking refreshed because you go to bed early to save on power, like losing weight on the Poverty Diet, like realising you have actually nothing for dinner so you tell the kids, Guess What? It's Chip Night! and they squeal with excitement.

peanutbutterandbanana · 22/05/2012 12:48

Don't now ever read a newspaper (get what I can online).
Plan all our meals religiously ensuring that at least two each week contain some kind of meat protein - the rest are veggie meals.
Cancelled all my subscriptions to everything.
Had the heating off during February when it was freezing - we all wore several more layers.
Turning lights off has become a religion in this house.
Stopped all my direct debits to charities (sorry guys) except RNLI and even that may go soon.
Darn socks.
Accept clothing from anyone who gives it to me.
Use Freecycle (ladies - a brilliant website for nabbing things, getting bags of children's clothes, new fridges, freezers, plants for the garden - do try it)

Life is a rich tapestry of ups and downs, thank goodness. If I knew 15 years ago what I know now there are many things I wouldn't have done, but thankfully life is a learning curve. None of us would ever have had children if someone had told us before we had them exactly how much they will cost, not just in financial terms, but in terms of tears, time and tiredness. But thankfully they also bring wisdom, learning and massive joy - all totally FREE OF CHARGE!

If only the rich were allowed to have kids what an awful world it would be.

This thread should be printed out and posted to Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne because this thread is real life for millions of people out there.

captainmummy · 22/05/2012 13:03

Smurf - i too have seen real poverty in the 3rd world - where there is no safety net,no welfare system; if you don't earn, you starve.

And people do. Every day. No money, no food. No shelter. No medicine.

The ones you see begging, are the ones still left alive. You think we are lucky in this country that it has not come to this? Does it have to get so bad before you feel empathy for those in that situation, through no fault of theirs?

We have real poverty in this country, thankfully it is nothing like there, but that doesn't alter the fact that we do have real poverty in this country.

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:07

call me a cynic but i see an internet connection as a luxury to those who are not housebound through disability etc...you could save at least £15 a month

fishandlilacs · 22/05/2012 13:09

Foraging for food in the wild becomes not a vaguely interesting hobby of guardian readers but an actual necessity.

I was gutted to find they are redeveloping some land near our village because for the last 2 autumns the derelict orchard and gardens there has kept us in apple crumbles, jam and chutneys for the last 2 years. There's apples, pears, damsons, rhubarb, fennel and plums growing in that area. :(

DaisyMaisyJessicaEmily · 22/05/2012 13:13

Doormat - you cannot just simply give up your internet though, there are penalty charges. I was looking into getting rid of ours a few months back and it would have cost us 3120 in penalties to cancel it. Same goes for things like phone lines, mobile contracts, sky/bt vision/cable tv etc, taken out when you are comfortable and can afford it of course.

DaisyMaisyJessicaEmily · 22/05/2012 13:14

£120 obviously Blush but that might as well be as much as 3120 for all the chance there is of having it spare to pay in one go.

LieInsAreRarerThanTigers · 22/05/2012 13:18

Losing your internet connection may seriously impact on your children's secondary school education. The lowest packages are far less than £15 a month.

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:19

daisy i have had to do it several times...if i couldnt pay the internet/phone sky bill i would be cut off...i have now gone to bt, alot cheaper than sky ever was....better to be cut off and use the money to feed my family than go on facebook et al....feeding my family is highest on my list of priorities before the internet..sorry but that is my opinion...

DaisyMaisyJessicaEmily · 22/05/2012 13:21

But you are wrong doormat. As I have said I have enquired to getting ours stopped and that is what happened above ^ calling me a liar?

StaceymReadyForNumber3 · 22/05/2012 13:22

doormat not if you are in contract, or you will end up with another debt in the form of a fine for breaking that contract

Iggly · 22/05/2012 13:26

doormat more and more jobs are advertised online. What happens if it's cheaper to have Internet than pay the bus fare to get to a library or Internet cafe every week to use it?

daisydoodoo · 22/05/2012 13:27

Pinecones- thank you nicest thing anyone said to me in a long while.

IBetTheresFlumpPorn · 22/05/2012 13:29

Brilliant plan, doormat. Stunt the education of the children of the poor. Isolate them even further from the rest of society.

And take away their voice. Because the only reason some people have any idea at all about how the poor in this country must live is because they hear from them on threads such as this. Without their voice, their lives really could be swept under the carpet.

But perhaps I should have that comment deleted, just in case Dave sees it. Wouldn't want to give him ideas...

BoysWillGrow · 22/05/2012 13:29

Thanks to thoses who have pm'd me, should be fine though and i'll make things work, we have to.
Things do change quickly smurf, 6months ago I had two part time jobs my DP worked full time and we were comfortable, life happens unfortunately.
So your saying we've fell on hard times I should what? Have taken better precautions in family planning? So how would that work then?

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:31

daisy am not calling you a liar..as i stated my internet and phone are the least of my priorities when it comes to food......

Iggly · 22/05/2012 13:32

I have to say though, no one on this thread has said they don't feed their kids at the expense of having access to Facebook Hmm

babyinarms · 22/05/2012 13:32

yeah in Ireland. On this hread I do realise I'm not as badly off as alot of people. Times are so hard no matter where you live.
I really find GP fees here outrageous! Two years ago i didnt even have to think twice about bringing the kids to the doc but now really have to wait and see, as th uaually 90 euro needed for that ( 50 for GP and usually around 40 for meds) is just not there anymore!
I know David I also 'borrow' the kids money, feel bad too about that:(
Crying after reading about so many people in such tough situations! The leaders o our countres have so much to answer for....maes me so so MAD!!!

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:34

and flump..as for children of the poor and the internet...when i have had it cut off ds has coped fine, he hardly uses it anyway...he plays outside, he goes to library...life does go on without the internet in our household