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

It's not too bad today superScrimper because I got paid on Wednesday. Already half of my pay has gone though on bills etc. I've got about £400 left, plus £1200 od facility. In my purse is £4.35 which will last to the end of the week. That's ok, I've filled up the car for the month now, I've got food for my lunches and dinners at work the next couple of days. Had supermarket delivery on Tuesday so enough food for a week, plus freezer isn't too bad. I'm actually in quite a healthy position this month but of course it doesn't take much to change that. Last month it was three new tyres for the car. What I hate is waiting for the next bit of shit to hit the fan.

OK, I've got my bag of food and toiletries together, and I'm off to norwood.foodbank.org.uk/ on Saturday. I'm also taking a load of worn-out clothes for their fabric/rags collection (they flog them off to the ragman to raise funds).

They have collection points in Ferndale Road Brixton (open Tuesday and Saturday lunchtimes) and Norwood (open Tuesday and Friday lunchtimes).

They also need volunteers to work in the centre or to help with one-off supermarket collection days.

If you're local to Brixton / Norwood and in severe need you can get a voucher for the food bank from a healthcare professional or a social worker.

How do you find out about food banks? I have some stuff I could donate, no idea where/if there's one around my area

they are sometimes run by churches daisy

www.trusselltrust.org/foodbank-projects have a national network and you can search on their site, but there are others as well I'm sure.

If anyone is in or near Preston, I always have a full kettle, some free time and store cupboard food/loo rolls/toiletries as well as an ear you can bend

If anyone is in the east london/essex area i also have a full kettle (even a spare one - ohhh hoo) and have lots of boys toys/ 0-12m clothes, shoes, books going spare

pullupapew, Virgil, headfairy thank you for your kindness it never ceases to amaze me how caring some people can be; I received some pms and some amAzing people have offered help. I did accept a couple of offers and I can't wait to be in the position to offer the help back one day

Your comfortable black flats are coming away from the sole but you still wear them because you have no other black shoes without a four inch heel.

You've run out of floor cleaner so think vinegar will work because you heard it somewhere only to find the house stinks. You try to combat that with £1 air freshener. It stinks more.you realise you cab buy floor cleaner in Poundland.

This thread is extremely humbling. I am in tears, couldn't read and not post.

I have some boys clothing, a few things in pretty well every size from newborn up to a 3, as well as some toddler boys shoes/boots. I am in Canada but am willing to post if you can wait for it to arrive.

I know this is a long shot but I also have a couple of bits of ladies professional/business attire if anyone needs it. I know our sizing is different but could probably match measurements (small).

Nothing is new, but if it helps at all, PM me if interested. Time difference, off to bed now but will get back to you tomorrow.

The last post was a bit of a joke but true. The reality is much more sombre.

Dd1 is 4 next month. I am having to give her a hand me down present from my sister (a LeapPad Tag reader) as I can't afford one and her DD has grown out of hers. I can hope to afford to buy her a new book for it.

I often eat 17p beans from the tin as I can't afford to waste food for the DD's.

Duvets are a staple in our living room to save hot water for baths and washing up. I'm on a prepayment meter and after they take £5 debt off a week we're left with £10 gas that doesn't seem to last the week.

I am constantly making excuses as to why I can't go out/do a play date/take the girls out due to money. Going to the park becomes difficult as they want a drink or an ice cream that the other kids have but I can't afford. Their little disappointed faces make me cry inside.

The iron popped on us to DD1 goes to nursery with the best job I could do with hanging up after being in the dryer. I can't afford another at the moment.

DD2 wears all of DD1's handmedowns despite being shorter at 17 months than DD at almost 4 (one is overweight, the other very petite so they fit ok) as I can't afford to buy clothes that they'll grow out of in a month and even then it's only Asda clothes.

What do you do at Christmas/birthdays for friends and family? My friend always spoils me with lots and I end up getting her little cheap things because I am skint. This year I couldn't afford her birthday present and her anniversary is coming up, then Christmas...

I just feel so shit every time.

I also go without lunch at least twice a week so I can afford food for my puppy. When we got her life wasn't this bad but she is my rock and I wouldn't be without her. She's like my third child.

Gomummygo, I don't know what the economy is like in Canada but I
sure there are people in desperate need in Canada and good causes that you can help. There's certainly a Food Bank Canada network you could look into if you want to.

I know what you mean about birthdays revolution my sons godmother got me a £30 shopping voucher and shes even worse off than me. Shows how kind she is really. Next month is her birthday, have been saving for a few weeks so i can at least get her something around the same value.

Ive always found its the people with next to nothing who will always give you theur last pound, dish up an extra dinner and show you the most kindness when the chips are down. Well all the people i know at least

The only thing I can think of doing on the cheap is to bake some cupcakes in paper casing and spell out Happy Anniversary in pressed out icing decorated with a nice cupcake box and some ribbon that matches the colour theme of their wedding last year.

DD's presents are second hand or coming from ebay. A Dora digital watch and glitter crayons to go with her DS she already has on HP and tag reader. Can you think of anything else cheap and cheerful for a girlie 4 year old with the attention span of a gnat?

I'm soon off to see a friend who has just been made redundant, her dh is also out of work for the last year. I am taking some rhubarb from the garden, and i always pay for the coffee and teacakes - not sure what else i can do to help without makin both of us embarrassed. I think her redundancy will tide them over, but they are constantly short of money.

I'm the kind of person who meets a friend and pays for coffee even.if it's £2 out of my last fiver. I know I have it tough but my best friends are students with children or only working PT so I feel it's my place too as they do it for me.

You start paying for groceries in cash, sometimes you don't have enough, and you get good at choosing what to put back. It happens so often you stop being embarrassed about it.

You put less than a fiver's worth of petrol in the car.

You buy clothes from the charity shops and realise what a great option they are, especially for children's clothes. Whilst there you look for stuff for yourself too !

You buy stuff from the basics range, and you change supermarkets based on saving money - we've been going to our nearby LIDL more recently.

Your children drop their music lessons. You look very carefully at which clubs they get the most out of, and how much they each cost.

On Sunday evening you realise your DCs haven't been out all weekend (apart from in the garden)

With you all on the bra's thing !

My bra is hanging on.by one hook. Not kidding. All other bras are too small.

Re basics ranges. You see the ad for M&S new no-frills line and are filled with a kind of rage at anyone who thinks £1.48 for half a dozen free-range eggs is really competitive pricing.

Your children's best friends live in your street

just reached a new low....

£1.85 for dinner money. i've hunted in all the usual places and in some of the unusual places too. managed to find 47p.

i told dd that i'd pay at the office and took her in. walked straight past the office on the way out. I know they will feed her and i'll pop in with the money later (after i've walked 10 miles to the bank to get it) and make out i forgot

When you get your DCs Christmas and birthday presents from charity shops.
When your 10 year old unwraps a gift and says with actual amazement "Wow, a pencil case! I can put my pen and pencil in it", and you know full well his classmates are ungratefully opening the latest games consoles etc.

Revolution, can you knit, sew or anything like that? My DD always liked things like homemade hair clips - cheap clasps/kirby grips decorated with bits of ribbon or whatever - there are loads of ideas online.

You could also do something like making a batch of cookies, put them in a tin with a ribbon on top and tell your DD that they are special birthday cookies that she can eat all by herself with no restrictions.

You could print out a bunch of colouring pages from the internet (try DLTK) and make a colouring book to go with her crayons.

How about a coupon book filled with coupons for things like a pyjama day, staying up late, an extra bedtime story, her favourite tea, a shot using your camera or other things you think she would like

This site has lots of simple ideas for cheap/free gifts and for repurposing old clothes etc.

Anniversary present - have you any photos that you could use to make a kind of montage that you could stick in a cheap frame, or, if they have a digital photo frame, you could make a slideshow for that.

I often make some nice homemade bread (oatmeal and honey, perhaps) and give it as a gift with some homemade jam and some cinnamon honey butter. People always love to get it