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

I would not necessarily believe everything people type on here (which is why I get a bit cross about their posts sometimes).

1. It occurs to me that people may say that they have debt, whereas in fact they may also have extensive equity in a large property, and the 'debt' is secured against that. This would typically be the case if they had decided to buy the partner's half of the house after a divorce in a clean break agreement. So the house could be sold at any time, and the debt would disappear instantly - in fact there may even have been an increase in capital leaving a profit. It's not the same as owing shedloads of money on a credit card and worrying about the repayments.

1. I imagine people may say that they have debt having paid off a partner after a divorce, but this may also be because their partner had another kind of steady professional job, equally worthy, that paid 'normal' money. It does not usually mean the partner sat on their backside doing nothing while the other person grafted. It probably will have meant them working in an employed role with more regular hours. It may have been that because of this, they were able to offer a great deal of practical support to the more entrepreneurial partner, doing more childcare and general organisation during the working week, allowing their partner to work long hours and really commit themselves to building a profitable business or professional practice. In such cases it seems eminently reasonable to me that there is a fairly even split of assets in the case of a divorce.

1. I don't think any of this has much to do with being a woman. That having been said, only the top 10% of earners make more than £50,000 a year, and we should be having debates about how to get more graduate women in this earning bracket IMO, not blaming them (or indeed men) for failing to be top flight professionals overcharging on an hourly basis for providing business advice of dubious merit to wider society (advice we all end up paying for as businesses need to add the cost of this onto the cost of their own products or services).

Now let's get back to talking about whose bra hurts the most today.

I don't think the point is 'everyone should aim to been in a higher paid proffesion as Xenia said though.

Obviously socially this would be completely incapable of working. The point is that any full time job should pay enough to support a family without the need for them to get into debt. The wages just haven't risen along with inflation and then the government wonder why so many are living in poverty!

Xenia, please rebuild your heart quickly.This is not a thread for you to come on to blame people, which is actually what you are trying to do.

This thread has started to become about Xenia which is what she wants, so I agree, get back to the bras!

Looking over this thread has made me feel we are skint, single mum, no support from dds father, p/t nurse but also that we are better off than some on here.

I know we are skint because I can't spend anything without debating it and justifying it in my head for a long time. That said we have enough to eat and clothes to wear (albeit dd is always better dressed than me!!!)

I could earn more but wouldn't want to see less of my dd than I already do and also not sure it would be a good thing for my mental or physical health as it is a stressful job. I do however firmly believe that money isn't everything and think its a good thing that dd is going to grow up knowing the value of everything and not be spoilt.

That said anyone got any ideas what I can get for my dad for his birthday that costs less than a tenner?? He is 61!!

I'm very excited today to not only have my interview (that was me posting last night, forgot to change username back sorry for confusion!) but also that I sold something on the local FB selling pages last night for £25!!!!!
I can now buy a pair of cheap shoes for summer and a few bits of summer clothing from the charity shop or the FB selling thing oh and for the tally (and sure someone has a spreadsheet going ;) ) I have 2 bras!

Going to go back and catch up now, was just so excited I had to get it out :)

fingers crossed you get the job daisy x

girliefriend...what about a nice cheese platter if your dad likes cheese...my dad used to love getting this as a gift x

Girliefriend how about you do a scrapbooking thing full of pictures of his life?

Oxfam sells new bras from M&S for about £2.50. Worth a rummage.

There was an interesting piece on Woman's Hour this morning about people being unable to live on the NMW and discussing the Living Wage.I thought about this thread and if anyone can tell me what to do tech wise,I'd be happy to send it in to them.I'm sure they'd be interested in just how bad things are for a lot of people [mainly women].

www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/womans-hour/contact-us/

there you go Mirage, you'll be able to copy and paste the link into the box :) I think it's a very good idea of yours.

Girliefriend - I quite often make my dad a loaf of nice bread, either honey and oat or a challah plait a jar of strawberry jam and some easy chocolate fudge for his birthday. It always goes down a treat.

If anyone is interested, I have another very cheap meal plan for a family of four or five. it should come in at less than £30 (including spices, stock cubes etc.) with a bit of careful shopping (it does at my asda, anyway)

breakfasts - porridge with banana or toast and peanut butter/jam

Lunch -cuminy carrot and lentil soup, bread, lentil spread on toast, frittata rolls, scrambled egg rolls, peanut butter and apple sandwiches

Dinner - cauliflower and bacon soup with bread, potato, bacon and onion bake with mixed veg, cauliflower and pasta bake, frittata with mixed veg and bread and butter, pepperonata with rice, chilli beans on cheesy toasts, creamy tuna and veg with rice.

if anyone wants recipes or shopping lists or whatever for this, just let me know. It's pretty plain but it will fill you up and if you already have spices/stock cubes/flour and the like, it leaves you room for some cheap squash and a couple of packets of biscuits for the kids still under £30.

Daisy best of luck for your interview.

I have some hardly used bra's from before i was pregnant (which im sure will never fit me again)

i have 34C and 34D (3 or 4 of each size i think)

I have tried selling them on ebay (no one wanted or even watched them), so if things are tight and you are that size PM me and they are yours.

i think they are all george / tesco / primark.

I would rather they went to a good home and to someone who needed them, then sit in my drawer reminding me of what my boobs used to be like

Girliefriend, forgot about this. if you dad likes cheese or ham, you could make him some of Nigella's spiced peaches to go with them. I made them for my parents at Christmas and they loved them. You make them with tinned peaches and if you have the spices already are v. cheap.

Long time lurker first time poster here. Like others, this thread has really upset me and made me realise how lucky I am.
I have a range of bras in various sizes which used (before DD) to fit! A few clothes going spare I doubt I will ever fit into again - all of which are languishing in the bottom of my wardrobe waiting I don't know what!
I would love to be able to make someone's day a little better so PM me bra sizes and I'll see what I can do. I will of course pay postage for the items :)

Oh, and I will have a rummage of clothes and post a list of items too.

Girliefriend - is there any books or DVD's he'd fancy? Agree with other posters that foodie stuff is good too - especially if it's something he'd not normally buy himself.

Ok...

I have New Look leaf green maxi dress size 12 - never worn - vest/racer back style

HnM vest knee length dress - grey and off white blotchy pattern - never worn - size 12/14

Tu black long t shirt short sleeves - worn once - would be a good maternity top/dress for a smallish lady - size 14

will be back shortly with more...:)

Getting nervous now I'm sure I shan't get this one as it's a young hip and trendy place and I think they will assume I am fuddy as I am almost 40. Well let's see, am off now!

If you are into making things girliefriend, then how about bacon jam? If you google or MN search you'll find it, it's apparently bloody gorgeous :)

For cheap presents, go to the Vistaprint website and sign up for their promotional email newsletters. Today you can get 24 types of free or very cheap personalised goods on a special 24 hour deal, for example. You just pay postage, so it works out at about £1.25-£1.50 an item. This includes engraved pens for less than £3 and free black t-shirts with a choice of designs (I just designed one for DH for Father's Day with caricatures of all the kids on). They usually let you put up to four free things in your cart and they seem to have to be four different items - so for example one pen, one personalised cotton bag, one t-shirt and one mug would count as four items and cost a fiver or so to post. Postage on this deal takes 21 days but you can pay extra and get the items quicker if you like.

Vistaprint

You can also get a more limited range of free items without having access to the special offer newsletter - go to where it says 'Business' or 'Home and Family' in the top left hand corner and it will list these in the menu.

I got the following for my 4 DCs of various ages for their Xmas stockings a few weeks ago, in a few deliveries: 4 x cotton bags, 4 x pens, 4 x writing paper sets, 4 x notelet sets, 2 mouse mats and 3 t-shirts, all personalised according to their interests, with their names on as well. I also bought my nephew an engraved pen in a smart box for less than £7. Postage cost me about £20-£25 for all of it, and I think the value in terms of Xmas presents would be over £100.

Blog post on presents (scroll down) but I think people on here are having even better ideas!

Austerity Housekeeping

Vistaprint - from that link go to 'Special Offers' and then 'Business' and 'Home and Family' to find the free stuff. Ignore 'Mummy Central', as that's full of the same things at higher costs, as far as I can tell.

Going through a tough time still. Next week I have to pay a monthly overdraft fee of £46 and £100 to top up HB on the rent. I have a total of £40 in my savings acvount to help with this so after everything has gone out I'm left with £50 to do food shopping for four and with that £30 needs to go on the gas & electric meter.

Ugh. I hate being skint. It's DD's birthday in three weeks and so many MNers have been kind in sending unwanted items for me to give to her. It is overwhelming. Her birthday cake is going to be a stacked tower of 99p for 12 cupcakes in ASDA. I feel awful but I know she'll love it.

How are we all coping? Are things better/worse this week financially?