You know you're truly skint when...

[ratflavouredjelly]

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

Hi - have you looked on the dreaded Facebook as there are loads of selling pages with cheap clothes, toys etc on them

I made over £40 on my local facebook pages last week, definitely worth seeing what you can sell.

When you walk round the supermarket with a calculator so you know to the penny how much your shopping is going to cost. Gone are the days of sauntering round throwing things in willy nilly.

When you sit on the floor of the kitchen and weep because the cat managed to steal the chicken leftovers. I had meal planned - sunday roast chicken, monday leftover tea and two days packed lunch sandwiches...DS hated what was on the school dinner menu for mon/tue.
I shouted at DS for leaving the fridge door open, collapsed on the floor and wept.........DS bless him patted my shoulder and told me it didn't matter, he would just go for (free) hot lunch at school.

I solved the pasta dilemma by mixing it with a tin of beans, some chilli added and will add potato slices on top tomorrow.

The hairdryer is an electricity wasting luxury.
You make semi-skimmed milk into 'skimmed' milk by adding water to the last half pint.
You have a jar that you save pennies in regularly for emergencies.
You use shower gel as shampoo and vice versa.
Still smiling though!

I remember asking my mum what was for tea when I was little- "jokey" response was always either bread and pullit (ie a piece of bread that you pulled apart so you had two pieces instead ;) or bees knees and melted butter. i.e. not much! It would always make us smile even though it wasn't far from the truth some days! Remember asking if my best friend could come round for tea and mum being cross that I'd asked when said friend was within earshot- because she couldn't say no and she was worried about not being able to stretch it to another plate. Bless her.

OK, just read all these posts and I will no longer moan 'I'm skint'

I feel quite embarrassed I've moaned so much, when I see what some of you have to do? Not sure I can defend it, but when my husband left me I went from be able to buy loads and not having to worry about money, to having to be uber careful

Superscrimper, what size feet has your little girl got?

Other ladies, I've got bags of age 2-3 girls clothes here, I was going to ebay them, but someone or a few of you can have them? PM if your interested?

I've also got two bags of size 14-16 ladies clothes going, some of them are in really good nick? Oh and size 6 shoes/boots. Again PM if you want them?

Big hugs to you all xxx

you know you're broke when...

You have your morning coffee at work because its free and will save milk.

You feel relieved when your boss says theres leftover milk in the fridge does anyone want to take it before the weekend then you nab it when nobody's looking.

You buy second hand clothing off ebay for your dds and when granny asks where did you get those lovely shoes from they reply ' from the postman' and you hope they dont give it away and change the topic.

your heart sinks when theres a work do.

You youtube how to patch up holes in clothing esp. tights

You make a meal last days. freeze a third, refrigerate the other, recreate the rest.

you've lost a ton of weight living off lentil soup and porridge made with water. and you were already slim to start with (dd's take whatever chicken or meat /veg/rice we can afford)

your dds sole recreational activities are the park and library cos they're free (forget about cinemas, bowling, ice skating, or even inviting friends round anymore).

you take empty tubs to grannys house to fill up with leftovers that you will freeze/eat the rest of the week.

could go on forever really

thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/for_free/1474481-I-have-x-if-anyone-is-in-need is still going if people are kind enough to offer things

This is the first time I've ever posted on mn but this thread has had such an effect on me that I had to.

I've been moved to tears by your stories and have nothing but admiration for you all.

I have several coats/dresses in size 6 and 8 that anyone is welcome to and I'll gladly post for free. Please pm me if you're interested in them and I'll send details.

Totally agree with previous posters; people in government need to see these comments.

Big hugs to you all xxx

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/for_free/1474481-I-have-x-if-anyone-is-in-need even. Sorry for rubbish link

Chocisafoodgroup, lovely to hear how supportive you are with your friend
I am doing all the things people here are doing to save money already....

Where i work the manager lets me take loo rolls home, washing up liquid, kitchen cleaner and also lets me tumble dry clothes at work in the winter!! Without all that things would be even tougher.
I always so no to work do's as i can't afford one drink let alone a night out....you do feel abit 'out of the loop' though as everyone kind of bonds on these nights out.
i truly have no more tips for money saving or 'getting by' i'm doing it all already, sadly.

Another one here who has gone through times when I pinched toilet roll from work.

I add red lentils and grated carrots to all sorts of stews and soups. You can stretch another portion or two, and no-one notices. My slowcooker is a godsend; tiny amount of electricity and works best with cheap cuts of meat.

When some motherfucker steal your purse from your changing bag when distracted by your toddlers tantrum and you know you can't buy nappies for a week bec the fucker stole your loyalty cards. And you can't afford to replace the purse or the driving licence.

when you have had a chest infection for three months but haven't gone to the doctors because you can't afford to pay the prescription charges. Then you cry with relief when you DS suddenly gets an ear infection so you can swig some much needed antibiotics :(

when you start eating leftover snacks from surestart centres that are meant for the children

I'm with you Seabright on the carrots and lentils - I add plain tinned beans, tomatoes, chickpeas, onions and courgettes if I can too. Delicious actually.
It's all a bit ration-book, war-time stuff. Caught myself picking rosemary from a bush of it in the park the other day!

This thread is upsetting me. I have plenty of spare clothes (including baby clothes) so if you are a size 8 UK and need some nice clothes or a size 39 in shoes, please message me.

I live in Australia but I can send.

when you're gp writes with your blood results saying you're severely low in cortisol and vit d and iron.... and you know because youre too embarassed to be seen in your clothes and are eating the bare minimum to try and pay bills...

Ruby gates that's a great idea, off to do it now !

We spent the first 7 1/2 years of our marriage absolutely skint and in huge debt (we've been married for 8 1/2 years!) Things are so much better now (mostly because we moved abroad for a better paid job for DH) But I have done most of what others on here have done at times just to get through another month.

so, you know you're skint when:

• you can make a whole chicken stretch to 4 meals for a family of 4 (roast, chicken and veg pie, chicken fried rice/noodles, soup)
• you cut your DC's jeans into shorts when they get too short, or the knees wear out
• 99p plimsols are standard footwear (better for foot development actually, and DD prefers them!)
• you raid the kids' piggy banks to buy bread or milk
• any money the kids' get for birthdays or Christmas is used to buy their new clothes/shoes or even just pay for that week's food. (We felt bad, but feeding, clothing and housing them was more priority than toys)
• You would rather invite people over to yours and feed them because you can do that more cheaply than going out to eat (I am a fab cook if I do say so myself!)
• you've hardly EVER bought lunch at work, packed lunches all the way

To be fair, even now that we are better off, I still do the above quite a bit as once you realise how much money you waste otherwise, you're loathe to pay out hand over fist.

Hugs to everyone on here - I hope things improve for you all too! x

You gather up all the old 5p, 2p and 1p pieces from the back of the drawer and exchange them at the bank

You dread bumping into people in the supermarket because of embaraassment of all the cheap food in your trolley.

When a mum assumes the cheap bread you brought is for the duck pond when actually it's lunch for the week.

I'd just like to say that like some of you guys on here I often use birthday and Christmas money meant for the kids for essential everyday things. I do feel guilty but at the end of the day I think it is more important that the kids are fed, clothed and warm than have the latest toy. So what I am saying is let's not feel guilty because we are all just doing our best

bottles of sun cream do last for years. and i dont believe anyone who says they lose their strength