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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:
citymonkey · 22/05/2012 13:36

I am so sorry that in this day and age so many people seem to be struggling with providing basic things like clothes, food, heat and light.

You are all amazing strong women doing the best you can for your families and I really hope better times are ahead.

I have a box of baby clothes (boys) which are brand new and never worn, many still with tags, which were given to me but which my son never got to wear. Various stuff, between NB and 6/9 months. Please PM me and I will happily post.

RatherBeOnThePiste · 22/05/2012 13:37

This is a thread for support, not snide comments, and in this current climate there isn't 'always a way out of poverty'

This is a thread for support.

babyinarms · 22/05/2012 13:38

Well said rather!!

IBetTheresFlumpPorn · 22/05/2012 13:38

Delighted for you, doormat. How does he get to the library?

LieInsAreRarerThanTigers · 22/05/2012 13:39

When he has to do online maths homework, download revision materials and research for an extended essay or assignment, playing outside is not going to be very helpful, but he may have some luck at the library!

ohmygosh123 · 22/05/2012 13:41

upsydaisy - thanks - I've found their details off the web.

PullUpAPew · 22/05/2012 13:42

Doormat you sound so smallminded and measly you know, picking up on the one little thing you can think to criticise. It must be grim inside your head, a world where you're not really poor til you can't afford anything but food.

It's tedious reading the same rubbish time after time 'internet is a luxury' 'don't have kids'.

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:43

piste it isnt a snide comment...it is a reality for some of us...dh and i were both working minimum wage..we got no tax credits/wtc only child benefit...we had no rent rebate or council tax help...our wages paid the rent, council tax, gas, elec/ petrol to get us to work and back/ most days i walked the hour there and back/ not much was left..and what was left was spent on food....cheap bulky food that i make from scratch and stretched it out...

mumwithtwokids · 22/05/2012 13:44

I've been reading some of the posts and it's made me feel really sad. I was in a similiar position for many years and really know what some of you are going through.

What makes me angry is the fact that there seems to be no help for people who geniunly are facing financial difficulties. I used to live next to a single mother who didn't work but somehow manage to drive a car, keep up with the fashions, go on nights out etc. How is this allowed to happen when there are children and families who are practically going hungry?

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:44

flump he walks...it is 5 mins from our house

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:46

thx pew small minded for what...listing my priorities like rent/ council tax/ petrol/ gas/ elec and food...yeh real small mindedConfused

IBetTheresFlumpPorn · 22/05/2012 13:47

Sounds good! 7 miles in our case. But let's hope that both your library and ours will stay open.

PullUpAPew · 22/05/2012 13:48

Doormat Ah, so you're too bitter about your own situation to be kind to other people? Shame. Cos actually everyone here understands how crap it is working bloody hard and not having much left over, we're in the same camp, don't you see?

PullUpAPew · 22/05/2012 13:51

No, it comes over as smallminded when you make snidey remarks about the internet being a luxury. What you wrote came over as really critical, at least to me.

doormat · 22/05/2012 13:55

pew i am not bitter at all, cant i just explain to ppl that im my household the internet is the first thing to go...that i see it as a luxury in my list of priorities..and as for caring...i always give stuff away...never sell it...i am not an ebayer...i would rather give it away as it is no good to me or anyone in my household...

boschy · 22/05/2012 13:56

I would not have a job if I didnt have the internet. Fact.

anyway latest reminder of skintdom: email from cashless catering at school that their credit for meals is running low. that'll be packed lunches til I get paid then.

do you know what, I fucking hate saying 'no' all the time?

PullUpAPew · 22/05/2012 14:00

I just feel it is a bit sad that we are quibbling over internet connection, when surely it is the fact people can't get good jobs, can't afford housing, can't afford food, petrol prices rising which is the real issue. On any thread about poverty two things always get said - you shouldn't have had children and you have internet so can't be that desperate.

Being horribly poor with internet or horribly poor without internet equals pretty much the same thing - horribly poor.

alypaly · 22/05/2012 14:03

when you find all the veg that you have not used and the leftovers from last nights meal and make a soup!!!!!!!!!

veg soup is tasteless.....any hints about what to put in to flavour it?

doormat · 22/05/2012 14:04

and ppl whatever you do..do not get sky..biggest bunch of rip offs on this planet....i was paying over £200 a month for full package/phone and internet...we didnt even ask for sky movies/sports etc..they put them on...they told us i mth cancellation was needed...dh cancelled yet they kept the movies and sports and all the other packages on despite several requests to cancel...as we hardly watch tv.....

in the end we just told them they werent getting the money as despite several requests they had kept the packages on...

IBetTheresFlumpPorn · 22/05/2012 14:04

The "no" all the time may not seem dramatic in itself, boschy, but it really does grind you down.

I'm not in half as bad a situation as many on this thread. But it still hurts like hell to keep having to say no. To say it again, and again, and again, until they stop asking. And when they do stop, that hurts as well, because then I know that they've stopped hoping for the things that other people have.

And I remember deciding that myself when I was a child - that feeling that the things I wanted were all for other people. How limiting it was for my horizons and my imagination, even as an adult, because I didn't look out at the world and see it as in any way accessible for the likes of me. I had hoped that for my children it would have been different.

doormat · 22/05/2012 14:06

aly paly use lots of celery and onion and serve the next day...always tastes better then

doormat · 22/05/2012 14:11

recipe for playdoh if anyone wants to make it with their kids...

2 cups flour (any doesnt matter)
egg cup full of oil
water and food colouring

mix up into a paste...kids have a fab time...use for a couple of days or it starts stinking...my kids are too old for this so i so it with grandkids

to make salt dough
2 cups flour (any again)
1 cup salt
water

as above...mould into any shape....bake in low oven till rock hard...paint with kids paints and varnish

HappyJoyful · 22/05/2012 14:12

doormat, having read this tread and had tears in my eyes whilst nodding head wildly at times in agreement with what people are saying, I was shocked and angry to get to the end and see your rather smug and arrogant comment - just because you managed clearly this thread shows you others haven't always and your lack of empathy horrifies me..

Not seen it mentioned so thought I would.. (I also know it's not particularly 'ethical' and am sure it's not that green either and obviously it does stop things being given to charity shops.. However, for those hard up it does bring in an extra couple of quid) Check out if you have a 'shop' where you can take in clothes and they'll give you cash per kilo.. it can be ripped / stained and in tatters, just bag up and take along..old towels, sheets etc I know we also get leaflets through the door offering same service though I worry about this as notice it's a premium phone line to call so perhaps avoided.

doormat · 22/05/2012 14:14

erm ok happyConfused

5madthings · 22/05/2012 14:14

doormat you are lucky that your library is so close and that its open! my 3 school age children all have online homework to do and tho we have a local library it has very limited opening times, (often during school time and then closing at 4pm) and only 3 computers, which you have to book in advance, really not much use for children with homework to be done that day or in the next day or to.

we arent with sky, we use virgin media for tv, phone, broadband and also now mobile phones as we get very good deal, i agree you do need to shop around but some people arent in a postion to do that, esp when already tied into a contract or depending on their credit rating.

as i have already said on this thead we are foturnate, not wealthy by any means but we get by and can afford treats, holiday in the uk and extras for the children. not always tho, we have had redundancy in the past and health issues etc.

i am just grateful that we are ok and also offering stuff, baby girls clothes, and shoes for boys, pretty much all sizes from toddler through to adult size 5! may also have some dressing gowns for boys (well girls can use them but they are 'boy colours/designs) also a loola pushchair if anyone needs one and is local to norwich? :)