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

Those who said above that they can't afford the multi-buy offers, have you thought about finding a friend or two to split the cost with? Get the benefit of the saving without having to spend loads at once.

Not sure if it works out £30 a week (school dinners alone come to £16 so no chance!) and can't account for all fussy eaters, but this might be a typical weekly menu for us (me and 2 dc):
Breakfast: own brand or BOGOF branded cereal, porridge, BOGOF bread or breadmaker bread toasted, homemade yogurt.
Weekday Lunches: kids have school lunch, I take leftovers/batch cooked meals/sandwich (so see main meal for contents!)
Main/evening meal: Turkey mince burgers, £3 (I only buy free range)
Veg hot dogs - £3 for 20 from Sainsburys, so this would do 3 meals.
Pasta with pesto and cheap cream cheese. Jar of pesto lasts abuot 3 meals. Or sometimes use half a jar of a ready-made sauce if on offer, freeze the rest for another time. Or make sauce from scratch with tinned toms etc.
About once a fortnight a chicken which does about 6 meals (mn joke I know!)
Soups and curries with lots of lentils and beans
(Use lots of frozen veg and buy veg from the market when it is good value. Much cheaper than the s/market.)
Pizza with home-made dough from breadmaker.

I don't really meal plan, just buy small amounts of perishables or more if it is a fantastic offer and batch cook around what I have. Be flexible and only buy things on offer!

At the moment I am managing one big shop a month at about £80 then about £20 the other weeks for top-ups, as much as poss done at cheap places like Poundland and the market.

I am not buying crisps or other treats as they are inhaled in a couple of days by dd!

I thought I had been skint when I was younger, but not to the degree I've read here, and when I only had one 19-year-old (myself) to care for. at some posts.

So I've posted on www.mumsnet.com/Talk/for_free/1474481-I-have-x-if-anyone-is-in-need and am bumping here to keep it rolling.

Good tip Housemum - this is my(every four-) weekly menu which is done on the cheap;
Mondays : Macaroni cheese; Baked Potato; Tuna pasta; Spag Carbonara (with ham)
Tuesdays : Poached Eggs; Eggy Bread; Scrambled Egg; Omelette
Weds : Chilli con carne; Sausages, beans & chips; Toad in the hole; Shepherd's Pie
Thurs : Veggie Noodles; Veggie Risotto; Peanut Noodles; Fried Rice
Fri : Pizza or Fajitas; Spag Bol or Lasagne; Pizza; Spag Meatballs
Sat : Chick Curry; Chick wings & potato wedges; Thai Curry; Chick Casserole
Sundays : Chicken Roast

Goes without saying that everything is made from scratch.

Just wondering, on the theme of freecycle, why there is no official mumsnet clothes (and general stuff) swapping section yet ... surely it would help a lot of people and is also extremely eco-friendly. I have been using the Italian website zerorelativo.it which is absolutely fantastic, have saved myself mega-????????? by swapping the DCs clothes and toys for new ones as they outgrow them, and there is also an option where you can donate stuff rather than having to swap. there are uk sites but have no idea how good they are, has anyone tried them?

I am nowhere near as skint as some on this thread (which has left me in tears). I've started a weekly meal planner which has helped me budget better and stops me buying random things we don't need. I often batch cook thick soups and stews and freeze leftovers. My dcs favourite is proper thick pea soup (dried peas soaked overnight, a few carrots an potatoes, an onion. And some veg stock) which is really yummy and very filling.
We haven't had a tv (or licence) for years. Iplayer for the dc as a treat and the odd DVD for dh and myself.
Most of dd's uniform is second hand, as most shoes. Had several pairs of toddler shoes from eBay for 99 pence that looked like they'd never been worn.
I haven't bought shoes for years. No meals out. No going out really since dc.
I was made redundant three years ago while pregnant (short of being psychic I could not have predicted the redundancy) and haven't worked since because I'd lose money after paying for childcare...

lemmingcurd there is a 'for free' section here...

Toad in the hole is a weekly favourite here - by chopping the sausages up first it looks more substantial/is easier to divide up!

There are quite a few Facebook groups popping up to buy/sell things, usually the sort of stuff that would be a pain to list on eBay as it's not worth much and also because it's free to list and cash on collection. Try searching your town's name on Facebook and see what crops up - we have [town name] Fleabay, Buy & Sell Baby and Children's Items [town name], and Buy & Sell Anything [town name] locally.

I feel incredibly fortunate reading this thread - we are not in debt (other than mortgage), but just struggling to get to the end of the month - it's frustrating that externally we appear well off, and DD2 finds it hard to understand how her friend across the road gets to go to the cinema and out to eat. We have bought a Legoland season pass with Tesco points as it's not too far away, and keeps her from noticing that we only do free days out in the park while her friends go to theme parks and days out, and if we take sandwiches it only costs the fuel to get there, but I always tell DD that I haven't brought any money with me in case I lose it so she doesn't keep asking for ice creams and drinks. We've cancelled swimming lessons (will book the youngest into a one week course in the summer at the council sports centre as it's cheaper than a term of lessons, the older 2 can swim enough to keep safe), Sky, on a SIM-only mobile deal (used to just keep on contract and upgrade every 2 years), shop around like mad for cheapest gas/elec/insurance etc. Not sure how much more is left to go in cost-cutting/money-making, everyone is in the same boat so things I could have sold for a reasonable amount on eBay last year like the juicer and carpet cleaner would now make about half of what they would then.

thanks flouncy I have seen that, but the great thing about swapping or bartering is that it's win-win and nobody has to feel like the poor relation. For example the amazing people on here who make their own shoes and rabbit hutches whathaveyou can swap their skills for things like basic food supplies.

Bartering is also great fun. I've swapped outgrown kids' clothes for free range eggs and organic veg from someone who lives down the road from me, and an hour's translation work for a new coat for dd3.

Here are mine..
Your heart sinks when dc bring home a party invite and you're silently praying that the party is after, not before payday so you can afford to take a present. And that the party isn't a half hour drive or taxi journey!

You sweat at the checkout in case you've miscalculated and the shopping is going to be more than you've got in your account.

You curse the fact that paypal funds take 2-3 days to reach your bank account.

Some real kindness on this thread, will try to have a think about what I have to pass on to people.

Eggs are a great cheap meal I had forgotten about. And dd can cook them for herself, which is a bonus!

Paying your ex husband nearly £1m in the divorce settlement including all your life savings and having no savings, whilt over drawn and debt of over £1m, whilst working 6 - 7 days a week as a single mother of five; whilst he pays nothing and does no childcare.

[Not suggesting I am poor on any stretch of the imagination and no compared to those on this thread of course and my "richness" is the children].

Also only drink tap water, dye own hair, cut it.
Remember getting clothes for baby 1 not from the charity shop as you have to pay but their father being given them from church jumble for nothing.

Paying more for childcare than you earn.

However ask any child brought up 4 to a room in a tiny semi without central heating from a loving home how they feel about their childhood and plenty thankfully are very happy. No one should worry their children will remenber a bad childhood even if there is not much to give them.
First of all sympathy for all those on the thread for whom times are hard.

I would be interested in those on the thread in difficulties if there were things they wished they had done differently eg worked hard for A levels, been directed by parents or school to become actuaries or surgeons rather than other jobs and how you might try to ensure your daughters are never in the position you are in?

Paying your ex husband nearly £1m in the divorce settlement including all your life savings and left with no savings, over drawn and with debt of over £1m, whilst working 6 - 7 days a week as a single mother of five; whilst he pays nothing and does no childcare.

[Not suggesting I am poor on any stretch of the imagination and not compared to those on this thread of course and my "richness" is the children].

Also only drink tap water, dye own hair, cut it.
Remember getting clothes for baby 1 not from the charity shop as you have to pay but their father being given them from church jumble for nothing.

Paying more for childcare than you earn.

However ask any child brought up 4 to a room in a tiny semi without central heating from a loving home how they feel about their childhood and plenty thankfully are very happy. No one should worry their children will remenber a bad childhood even if there is not much to give them.
First of all sympathy for all those on the thread for whom times are hard.

I would be interested in those on the thread in difficulties if there were things they wished they had done differently eg worked harder for A levels, been directed by parents or school to become actuaries or surgeons rather than other jobs and how you might try to ensure your daughters are never in the position you are in?

Xenia - you are quite the most monomaniacal person I have ever ever come across.

OFFS.

I have huge sympathy for people particularly on this thread. I am always interested in cause and effect and solutions too.

Well do you have to bring you interest onto this thread?

amazing i did that too

1412
I think you still need to pay tv license if you are using the iplayer.
We don't have a TV but were told we still need to pay the license because we watch some programs through the computer....
Am I right or wrong??? (hopefully wrong, because would rather not pay it)

Thought of a few cooking ideas from when I wasn't working for 18 months after being made redundant.

If you've only a small family it's possible to make a chicken last for 3 main meals - cut legs/thighs off for roasting/baking with veg and spuds, two breasts for curry or stir-fry (curry's particularly easy to bulk out with veg, chickpeas or lentils if you need extra) and whatever's left make a stock. Add any scraps of meat you can pick off with spring onions, sweet chilli sauce, sweet corn and noodles to make a fairly substantial soup for day 3.

Mince will also go twice as far if you add red lentils to cottage pie, bolognese sauce and chilli's (not so nice in bolognese to be perfectly honest but it does the job - would probably be better turned into lasagne).

Strong cheese goes further in sauces, or if really pushed make a white sauce and just sprinkle cheese on the top before browning.

Freeze 'value' fromage frais tubs with the lids off and a lolly stick popped in - 6 ice lollies for about 50p.

'Value' cornflakes/crispies & chocolate to make crispy cakes instead of buying ready made stuff.

And then there's student food - omelettes, jacket spuds and pasta.

The irony is that both of us are working now and I'm still considering reverting to these ideas myself . Would be an easy call to make if it was just me and DD, but unfortunately my DH rarely gets the chance to eat during the day so comes home ravenous.

timetoask as i understand it you have to have a tv liscence to watch iplayer live, but old programmes you don't have to

Thank you stacey.
I hardly ever use iplayer live....
I might cancel it then.

Xenia - I think in the current climate there are no ways to ensure against poverty. Every day more and more are affected. It can happen to anyone. Circumstances change through no one's fault.

Xenia, I wish I had not married someone who turned out to be an alcoholic! (Or rather I wish the man I married was how he used to be and not an alcoholic who hasn't worked for a year and is spending all our savings)

I could have gone into higher-earning work than I did, but I would have seen a lot less of the children and that would have made me sad.

I am very worried about how my children will be as adults having gone through the emotional traumas, not the financially straitened circumstances, associated with our situation, as I am sure we will always get by and luckily have had many years of financial stability and have built up equity in our property before this personal and general downturn struck, so we are just trying to live within our means and not get into any worse problems.