Those of you who live on a (tight) budget..

[JustifedAndAncient]

I KNOW there are some on here.. not just me :)

So what do you do when you literally have days and days to go before you have any money again.. there is hardly any food in and you have just filled the car with petrol (necessity) knowing that doing so is going to incur lots of horrid bank charges..

There is literally no money with which to 'rob Peter to pay Paul' this week.. sent DS to school with a really crap packed lunch this morning.. hope nobody looks at it too closely, there were not many food groups represented and the lentil weavers on here would have had a field day with it!! Usually I can juggle things when we have weeks like this.. I also get a buzz out of being a tight wad when I have to and seeing how many days I can go without spending anything. But I'm going to need bread and milk and stuff.. and there are no yogurts and things like that for the kids.. I can usually juggle the money on weeks like this but this weekt there is nothing to juggle..! (Have 'online banked' DD's money from her account to mine already.. to try to keep us under overdraft limit.. and that was before I bought petrol. Will pay her straight back again when I get paid of course.. but that's how the vicious circle works, it's like having a much bigger and unaffordable over draft..)

So who else has weeks like this and how to do you manage them?

Oh no.. no no.. please.. not my Take That ticket.. I have looked forward to it all year..... :( :(

And oh God now I have extra guilt about borrowing DD's money.. :(

there have been many many many times. when i have sent my kids to school with 2 slices of bread - a bag of crisp and an apple - and told them to make crisp butties.

why not give us an inventory of what in your cupboard and maybe we can help with a few menu idea ( wel not me cos i can't cook)

also

have you turned the settee upside down yet? seriously i bet you find enough for bread for a few days.

and in future - i would have no hesitation in not sending kids to school if i did not have the petrol money and it was either that or food - food comes first always.

look get real here - and i mean it - organic smorganic. for fucks sake - are you really skint or would you just like to be able to eat organic and yoghurts?

really am serious - theres a difference.

Its me.... this is all about me.

I am skint 24/7... other than the first 2 days of the month of course.

Not sure what happens, but i know the £400 debt repayment is crippling us, but it was essential to go down that route (we were paying nearly £900 a month pre-kids) thanks to DH's "borrowing" before we got married.

We literally live week to week on the tax credits. so £70 a week to feed, clothe and fill the car with petrol etc

We have been skint since thursday, my dad lent me £40 on friday - i have £2.95 left. Tax credits go in tomorrow, and we need bread/milk/fruit etc.... BUT the kids never go hungry. I couldnt live with myself to deprive my kids of anything - i would rather not eat for a day than cut back on them.

One day we will be in a better situation, but right now, we have no choice but to grin and bear it but I for one - HATE IT - I HATE being skint.

Would you be able to get a loan and pay your catalogue's off. Do you get cash back on the payments you make use this to pay off bill too.
I would only go the loan route if you know 110% that you won't use them again.
Cloths are much cheaper from the high street,but you are in a situation where as you don't have the cash.
I went bankrupt in feb and hopefully getting an early discharge. I had catalugue debts and it is so nice now to have the cash to buy from the high street.
Do you have any other family/friend you could have tea with.

what did you do with the 40 quid JARM?

and in reference to organic stuff - neither of my kids have ever eaten organic ( we seriously cant afford it ) andthey are both very healthy little girls.

£22 a fortnight for a veg box - that could buy a lot more fruit and veg from tescos or asda and last a lot longer too

£40 went on shopping for the weekend (bread/milk/fruit/veg/babywipes), and we had a wedding on friday where drinks were £4.80 to for 2 pints of coke!

I dont mind being skint. What I do mind is when theres not £13 to buy school jumper and the kids look like skanks till there is £13 saved up and when the doctor writes me a prescription and I cant afford to get it.

I am not buying organic yogurts Custardo.. just veg!

I have just had some of DS's birthday cake for lunch so that's me sorted.. :) (Luckily two of the kids have free school meals.. and the other has his unimaginative packed lunch! )

Just off to up-end the sofa...

you don't have to use your catalogue, u chose to.

agree witht eh coppers thing - many a time have I ransacked the house 3 days b4 payday to find my £1.11 for 4 pints of milk to see us thru a few days. poor guy in the shops let's me pay with that as well.

organic - hmm for the minute i'd say don't get it if u can't afford it. do u make ur own meals form scratch? i've found this saves a lot of money.

Ok..Cringe at the prices of the drinks.

lol, jarm u sound just like me! lol.

JARM.. my sympathies honey. I squirreled away £40 over the last fortnight so that we had something to spend when we took DS to see Thomas the tank engine y/day for his birthday treat yesterday. Now I am wishing I hadn't spend it.. and hating myself for begrudging it!!

agree with organic thing. At the end of the day its either £11 per week on veg or £5ish in tesco...buy what u need and will eat nothing else

Throw ur catalogues away, u don't need new clothes, make do or save to get more from matalan or asda

Munz I know what you are saying.. but when you need a new cooker, what are you to do? That was our last big purchase.. and I didn't get the cheapest one either because we had a crap, cheap Beko one before and it lasted a year!

Oh oh.... my organic veggies... I am getting depressed now!!!

Thomas the Tank is a rip off, £40 to spend once you have already been ripped off with the ticket prices isnt being skint, its spending money on stuff that you neednt....stuff that will be stuffed under the bed never to be seen again.

J&A - no need for sympathy hun, at the end of the day we are up the creek without a paddle because of some silly stuff we did before we got married.

As long as kids dont go without, thats fine with me. Im lucky in the fact my dad is there if i need him, but i cant keep asking for money!

I know hon it's easy done, (I should know!) clothing etc is a lot more expensive on catalogues thou I feel.

would you post your I&E then maybe we could help you out more for next month and see if we can get some of the exp's down.

perhaps the extra bank borrowing isn't a good idea then! lol. do u shop weekly/monthly? I find mothily better than weekly.

CC, I had booked hima party at a local play centre but they sent the cheque back 3 weeks ago saying they had gone bust! So I had to think of something quick. He was 6 (y/day) and had cerebral palsy so can't do most thing others kids can do.. but adores Thomas, so we paid for us and two of his friends to come. I was quite proud of having saved up the £40 (which I knew we'd need for them all to have a little treat, drinks etc) as I did it bit by bit by not buying other things. I have to make the kids birthdays special. I can't not do that.

I did buy a couple of other things (Thomas socks, an apron etc) but I paid for it out of his birthday money.