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Original poster

You know you're skint when...

71 replies

DontLetMeLetYouGo · 10/04/2016 18:56

I know this was done a few years back but thought I'd do another.. The term skint has been debated in my household a lot..

So what do you define as skint? And what does it mean to you?

And you know you're skint when....

OP posts:
IHaveBrilloHair · 10/04/2016 20:22

You invent a game called "house olympics", to try and keep your three yr old warm.
I knew all the tricks when dd was little, I had to.

IHaveBrilloHair · 10/04/2016 20:24

When there's a chap on the door and said three yr old says, "shhh, it might be the lady pennies".
Lady pennies=Provident loan woman.

Shakey15000 · 10/04/2016 20:29

Circa 1992 the only food I had was a single, small potato. And the teensiest sliver of butter. I sliced it as thin as I could and fried it in the butter.

I still tell DS that story to illustrate what skint meant to me.

TheWeeBabySeamus1 · 10/04/2016 20:41

When you've run out of both toilet roll and kitchen roll so use a sock instead Grin

When toast isn't just for breakfast, it's dinner and tea as well.

When the idea of eating 3 meals a day seem extravagant.

When washing up liquid also moonlights as washing powder and shampoo.

When you spend most of your day with your curtains drawn, even in summer, because the vast array of doorstep lenders that you can no longer afford to pay won't stop knocking if they think you're in.

When you break out into a sweat and have to re do your weeks budget if you have to get a bus anywhere.

29redshoes · 10/04/2016 20:43

I think it's when you have just enough to cover the bare essentials - food, utilities, rent/mortgage, travel, basic toiletries - and not a penny more on top of that.

Obviously having even less than that (e.g. having to choose between food or bills) is skint too, but even more so!

scoppp · 10/04/2016 20:54

I find these threads so fascinating.

Skint to me was actually a bit didn't than the norm.

It was to do with massive childcare bills, massive car repairs, insurance and massive mortgage payment all at once

I had a to work (community nurse) so which bill was the priority?

But the. The following month there wasn't really a respite. It was 1 step forward, 2 back.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. that was my skint.

Thankfully no more though

Darrowisred · 10/04/2016 21:04

Things much better now, but when your heart sinks when DC pull a party invitation out as you had just enough cash to last till pay day and now you'll have to figure out a way to pay for a gift and transport to party as you can't bear to let DC down.

DarthPrincess · 10/04/2016 21:37

Skint to me is right now. Can't afford shampoo so sharing the kids Tesco value baby shampoo, cheap food - pasta and gravy, juggling gas electric and petrol.... Should be over in a few months after we finish fighting for dsd in court and don't have legal costs. We both work and usually get by with a few treats but legal costs are high and access to her is a priority and worth no nice shampoo and having to eat cheap meals a few times a week

TrixieBernadette · 10/04/2016 21:43

Skint was getting counting out pennies for gas, electric, petrol. Paying for the car tax and to license weekly with post office stamps. Buying smart price bread and beans and fish fingers for the week.

I never ever want to go back there. It was a horrible existence as a single parent.

murphyslaws · 10/04/2016 21:47

Raided the penny jar. Found £10 worth of pennies and 5p. Got excited pleased and relieved . Yep I am skint

Rainbowlou1 · 10/04/2016 21:50

A few years ago i was seriously skint and I had to at times call in sick because I couldn't afford to get to work. Very often I wouldn't eat so that my dd would have dinner for the next couple of days.
When I found out you could fill your car up if you 'pay at the pump' and only had £1 in your bank I used that...a lot!
I have family members that are skint when they can't afford their 4th Seychelles holiday of the year and have to go skiing in France instead!

TheWeeBabySeamus1 · 10/04/2016 21:51

murphyslaws you just reminded me of another one - when you want to weep when you realise that the coinstar machine in the supermarket is broken. ( walked 45 bastard minutes once with a carrier bag full of coppers... I was a broken woman that day Grin)

7Days · 10/04/2016 21:59

I'm on the Darrowisred level. I wouldn't say every euro is accounted for, but certainly very €5.

This is the wealthiest I've ever been too! I know I'm lucky. But still skint

fakenamefornow · 10/04/2016 22:03

Rationing tampons and then using loo roll.

Rainbowlou1 · 10/04/2016 22:08

I remember once my dd saw an advert for knorr stock cubes, gave me 20p from her piggy bank and told me to buy them because of you put them in water they turn into chicken! Blush

TwllBach · 10/04/2016 22:14

I used to say I was skint when I had to think about whether I could afford to go out for dinner or not. I had no debt, no overdraft, could afford my car and petrol and two pets and a nice house with my then partner etc. Even had a few hundred in savings.

Now I know I'm skint when I've got a massive overdraft that I'm always in, two credit cards, 97p in my ISA.

500internalerror · 10/04/2016 22:15

Sleeping fully dressed including army surplus boots, because it's freezing & the meter ran out.

Budgeting 50p a meal; if the ingredients cost more, we didn't have it.

Getting 30p less dinner money than everyone else, which meant deciding whether to miss the chips, the drink, or the pudding.

CremeEggThief · 10/04/2016 22:42

Growing out your armpit hair as you can't afford a razor for a few weeks.

Not taking a break between contraceptive pills as they were out of own-brand sts in your online shop and the local Co-op only stock expensive Always. Ditto with stocking up on ibuprofen or paracetamol- going without, as you can't afford the brand names.

Longing for a cup of tea, but having to be careful, as there's only a pint of milk for the next couple of days before the online shop comes.

Prioritising which laundry load to do, as you can't afford to just pop out and get more washing powder.

Feeling grateful that you know you only have a few days/weeks before you can afford all of the above items, with careful planning and budgetting.

Zaphodsotherhead · 12/04/2016 14:41

Salary only covering rent/council tax.
Paying all other bills from the overdraft and having no idea how you're going to carry on. Living that now.

Allofaflumble · 12/04/2016 23:16

Things are tough right now especially with council tax kicking in again. For me it is when Amazon and EBay send emails that they haven't seen me for a while!

SecretWitch · 12/04/2016 23:36

Skint to me means your mother making your clothes and other children mocking you as they are not store bought. Skint means having no running water in your home or electricity. Skint means watching your father and brothers work sun up to sun down trying to make a living on the farm. Skint means your mum goes without dinner so you and your brothers will have food.

This is my mother's story. She grew up poor and never wanted her children to live in the poverty she experienced. My heart always broke when she told me those stories.

TheTartOfAsgard · 12/04/2016 23:47

Then - Walking 2 miles to go to the old VG shop so we could get some shopping with milk tokens.

Now - pancakes the day before payday as only have eggs and flour left in the cupboard. The kids think it's a treat! I try to hide from them if I'm low on money as I can remember the fear I felt as a child.

AdoraBell · 13/04/2016 00:08

When you feel lucky that the shop you work in sells food past it's best before date dirt cheap to the staff, because that means you can eat as well as pay rent. I still ended up with rent arrears when other bills came in though.

Never had a snack growing up, there was just enough for meals. Even now I get the jitters when DDs want food in addition to the 3 meals I've planned. Our clothes were homemade and I was the only girl in secondary school who didn't have new shoes twice a year.

Fortunately I haven't been properly skint since having DCs.

ASAS · 13/04/2016 00:12

I often think of Jack Munroe, how after mat leave her flexible working request was rejected and she had to resign. That's how easy it can be to go from sorted to skint.

I was/we were most skint the year after mat leave. Mat leave ate our savings and the double whammy of my returning to work part time and the enormous childcare bill meant the last food shop of the month was put on a credit card. Nothing we could do, all the money had gone by then.

I would often feel overwhelmed if I needed something like new pants or socks. DS was always sorted as I'm diligent with child benefit, but I struggled (psychologically) to replace things I needed for myself. It's only now that DS is 4 I've started being able to buy new clothes for myself, I've worn everything to death and before now either didn't replace or bought second hand.

This has significantly impacted my view on poverty. As much as all of my skint experiences are first world and temporary, they were caused by a system that meant I needed to work to pay the mortgage but working made me skint. Totally futile. It was a hamster wheel but I knew free childcare hours would be the beginning of the end of it. Most of our stuff has survived the period when we'd struggle to repair/replace because we'd bought new, high quality items in better times. I am aware some people have no end in sight, no newish white goods to see them through, no interest free credit card for petrol and food. It makes me incredibly sad to think of how enduring poverty must grind you down.

CherryBlossom321 · 21/04/2016 14:21

I'm really thankful to not be in this position any more, but for us it was walking a 4 mile round trip to the supermarket with a £5 note to buy several basics brand items to last a week. And turning down invitations to meet up with friends and their kids at the local soft play because we didn't have the £2.50 admission fee. Also sitting in the dark or going to bed at 8:30pm to save on the electric.