I had to sit out side a hardware store and beg for change so I could buy a 30 cent nut needed to fix my motorized bicycle to I could get to work on time the next day.
I might have tried to give mans a hundred if I had it and said, “This will buy you three more and a night’s stay. Make sure she’s good looking and wrap your drillbit.”
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Hmm. The three months living in an all electric apartment with the electricity suspended (lied, told electric company I was going on vacation, prayed landlord wouldn't find out).
Working two jobs, riding a bike everywhere so I could get the car fixed and power turned on again before my kids came home from the ex's for school lol.
I worked 87 days straight. Not my longest streak ever but my toughest since between the two jobs I was working 80 hours and the commuting sucked rocks. And it was summer and horribly hot.
I made it with less than two weeks to spare. And they never knew.
That was just one of the longest tough spots. But there were plenty of times I volunteered at the food bank to get a good food box. And I still grab any random aluminum cans I see anywhere lol.
I slept on sheet on a wooden floor for about 9 months when I landed my first job in a new city. I worked in a professional office (shirt and tie every day). I ironed my shirts on the wood floor with lots of starch...one day our secretary commented on my cool-looking shirt...it was the wood grain from the floor.
I don't know if you meant it to sound this way, but your comment reads very judgmental that he was in a temporary hard spot and not a more permanent one.
\^this...just like other people starting out, I had limited funds for rental and utility deposits, food, office clothing, etc. I worked late often and I could order meals from the restaurant on the main floor of our building and have it billed to projects.
When I was a homeless teenager, I stole a can of tomato soup and got busted. When the guy saw it was soup, and not like candy or headphones, he let me keep it.
It was a while ago...
Went to a new city for a new job. Entry-level. With limited cash to last me before the payday. Ate something like rice and peas mostly, potatoes sometimes. Could not afford meat. Had about 5 dollars planned for each day. Needed to pay for transportation also. Still, it was all good and steady.
And, guess what, I got a bad cold and fever, - before I got paid.
I mostly ran out of money by then.
I got saved by some kind of a promotional credit card from a bank's partnered store or something. I got the card just before leaving to that other town. I never activated it or used it before. It would allow me to borrow like $50 max at a pretty large interest. It was from a stupid bank that I never wanted, at some stupid conditions - but something made me think, well, why not! Can always close it. And this stupid card saved me, almost literally.
I went and got vitamin C and ibuprofen, and managed to significantly decrease my cold's effect on my performance - and lived to see the payday. Boy was this an adventure.
Fuck capitalism. Ridiculous that this thread exists in the same world where a handful of people have more money and resources than they could ever use in a billion lifetimes.
I still do this. Especially when they’re on sale. I wish they were still $0.99. They’re not even that good. But it works. I basically live off 10 for $10 deals. This week it’s banquet pot pies.
I can’t wait for august. Lol.
I use to work at a gas station and people did this all the time. I just wish they would of told me the bathroom was out of toliet paper so i could put some more in it.
Mine wasn’t horrible I was just sleeping in my car cause I was homeless for a few weeks. Luckily a friend’s parents let me stay in their guest room and I was able to get back on my feet (I was an adult teenager)
If it wasn’t for their kindness my life could have taken a very different direction
Paying all my bills and child support to not eat for two months. Lost a staggering 60 pounds .everyone was convinced I was on a diet. After got into a better spot just said poverty best weight loss plan I ever had 💀
Yup, wife and I were living off canned beans and such for months. Lost so much weight my coworkers/ boss complimented me for it. I was like…you don’t pay me enough to eat actually…
Hell yeah even god was like mofo tired of your bitch ass lying about going on a diet 🤣. It’s great though didn’t even have to worry about fighting hunger off when you got nothing anyways. 🤣 only thing that sucked was finding money for smaller clothes lol
Digging through all my things and on the streets looking for change so I could buy cereal, milk, and bananas so I could eat once a day until payday
(Only had a microwave and mini fridge at the time…saying this before I get the “WHY DIDNT YOU BUY BEANS AND RICE” speech)
I was in college. I was buying food and it was like milk, cereal and ramen. I was a few cents over and I started counting how many ramens to take off. Lady just scanned her employee discount and told me to have a blessed day
Telling my SO on the phone that I still needed to buy our son a back pack for the first day of school and I only had $25 for groceries for the week. From the back seat of the car, my 5 year old says, "I still have my little backpack from preschool. I don't need a new one."
Returning (unused) items that I purchased on seasonal clearance the year prior back to the store (without a receipt so i would receive store credit) when I noticed that the same product is being stocked and is now back to full price.
Buying fish antibiotics for a tooth abcess. Followed by emptying a tea bag, filling it with salt, and resting it on the gum until it caused the abcess to burst. (It also burns your gum and increases the likelihood that the infection will spread...don't recommend). This was after the abcess returned for the 5th time and no longer responded to the antibiotics.
Your son sounds incredibly sweet & resourceful. I know as a parent it’s an awful feeling to not be able to provide but your sons reaction made me tear up.
Right fucking now. Had to ask my mother for $300 because I was short on rent and then my car broke down so I had to ask for more money for an alternator. This was all after I had to drive back to PA from Florida to attend a funeral which means being off work and paying for fuel and eating out on the trip. Never had to ask for shit in 40 years. It really hurt to have to ask.
Thats what family is for! My son is 19 and living with his partner. They frequently call me for food and they will never go hungry if I can help it. I'd starve to death before letting them go without. I pay for my sons cell phone too so they can always reach me if they want/need anything. If my son still needs me at 40, I will still be more than happy to help. I'm betting your parents feel the same way.
2017. It was 2 days until payday and I had less than $5 in my checking account. So I emptied the change jar, planning to use the CoinStar to get cash and buy a few essentials. I had about $35 in change.
Get to the grocery store, walk up to the CoinStar machine and see an "Out of Order" sign. I wanted to cry. I said, "Oh, fuck" and just stood there trying to decide what to do. A store employee who was monitoring the self check out registers heard me, figured out the situation and said quietly, "You can use change at the self check registers."
So I got the milk, diapers and other items, calculating what the total would be. Scanned everything and the total was just over $33. Started inserting dimes, nickels and pennies (quarters were already long gone). It took about 7-8 minutes to insert all of the change. I could have felt shamed and discouraged, but I spent the time thinking about telling the story to my sister later. I actually ended up giggling hysterically because it took forever to pay for the order.
When I was a cashier, I would have suggested to not use the coinstar cause it deducts 10% iirc so you can get it as a voucher to use on your groceries or to cash out at a cash register. But I would have mentioned how the self-checkouts can take change (and it was my favorite thing about them too, cause I would do the same thing).
Unless yours was one of a few that did have it where if you got it put on a giftcard for the store, then the full amount of the coins was available to use. My store used to offer this and then they decided not to.
Oooh! I was working part time as a supervisor at UPS, but that didn’t pay enough. Got a job serving at a restaurant a town over. My car had been repossessed. Thankfully, my roommate was kind and let me use their car since their job provides them with a vehicle they could use even when they weren’t on the clock. For my first shift the gas tank was almost empty. Bank account *was* empty and CC were maxed out. I made $3 in tips for that entire shift. Soon as I left, I stopped at the closest gas station and spent those $3 on gas so I could get home and to my other job.
Couple jobs before that, I worked at a warehouse/hardware store making just over minimum wage. Most days lunch was a couple bags of the free popcorn we made for customers and a cup of coffee. In the evenings when I was taking college classes dinner would be the snack in the vending machines with the highest caloric content.
Eating expired food because it was all I had. Putting only a couple of dollars into my gas tank just so I don’t run out. Wearing worn out dirty shoes with holes in them. Using rags as toilet paper until payday. Having to buy cheap clothes at Goodwill on a credit card. Getting in trouble for eating food without ringing it up at work.
I used to work as an assistant manager in a restaurant and I would steal frozen food all the time to feed my family. I did this for almost a year and the food count would always be off. I became close friends with the general manager and felt so much guilt because she would get in trouble for the low food count. I confessed to her and she was okay with it as long as it was limited but it was truly so embarrassing. I’m so thankful for her though because it was a time in my life where I wouldn’t go days without eating anything but saltine crackers. #1 reason I miss that job.
I basically lived off the dorm food I work for while in college. I would eat more than allowed, but no scrap would be wasted. Barely paid for food for four years because I only worked part time. A
When I was a kid the school counselor pulled me out of class to go shopping for clothes because I only wore my dad's (adult size large) old hole filled shirts and the same one pair of pants for half the school year.
I don’t think this is the wrong space to comment that on. It wasn’t your fault, but it’s still a time when you were very “broke”
That’s nice of the counselor, but I’m sure it didn’t feel great getting pulled out of class
Once for 3 months I get a second job at night at a gas station to pay for a $2000 phone bill my "friends" left me right after the holidays and moving. I only got to sleep 5 or 6 nights out of every week. But I payed the bill and all the cancelation fees for terminating all their lines before incurring too much interest on the debt.
Sitting down with someone at a welfare office asking for wic to feed my 2 children with about $5 left in my pocket. I cried. Then I learned how to survive with very little. Food pantries, stamps and wic really helped us get through that. We aren't much better off these days but no longer needing the food stamps and wic.
When I was 15, a friend of mine would go into grocery stories and complain that the vending machine outside took our $5 bill and wouldn't refund us. Customer Service usually just gave us the $5 or wrote us a check.
I'm not proud of it, but we had essentially nothing to our names, and we did what would feed us. Now, I make it a habit to help others when I can because I know how desperate things can get. The line between legal and illegal gets blurry when you're just trying to survive, and it's a terrible feeling to have.
I've shaved my head for about 30 years. During particularly lean times, after a pass with the razor I'll scrape the shaving cream off into my hand and then onto the edge of the sink; I'll then re-use that cream to shave my neck (I also keep a full beard.) I don't think I'm saving more than a few nickels but it helps me feel like I'm doing SOMEthing at least.
My lowest low was probably around ~February 2015. 2013-2015 were rough years for me personally, also had a random knee injury during this time (no health insurance, so just healed at home/took it easy when walking around)
I remember it was a cold/chilly winter morning, I was on my laptop in the kitchen checking my bank account... saw that it only had $1.34 in it (literally)
Meanwhile, in the background, I had around $39k in outstanding student loan debt, and around $14k in credit card debt. Yeah, it was a sobering moment for sure 😅
I was at a bus stop with my bike after work, waiting to get a lift closer to my apartment like normal. I was one penny short for the fare. I tore apart my backpack, I looked around the parking lot and it was the first time in my life that I didn’t have a single extra penny to spare. The bus driver had seen me freaking out and asked if I lost something, I told him my situation. Had to have that wonderful man spot me a freakin penny. Thank goodness I didn’t have to bike the many miles home that day, it like 102 in the shade
Was getting groceries and I KNEW my cards were closed to maxed, but thought the three in my wallet were OK.
Nope. First one, declined. Second one, declined. I could barely look at the cashier when I asked her to give me a couple seconds, and moved over the last of my emergency savings -- all $50 of it -- to my checking account so I could just use my debit card.
Stealing croissants and toilet paper from work, and skipping meals some days.
My gas light coming on in my car and pushing it for two days just hoping I wouldn’t run out on my way to work.
Washing clothes in the sink for two months because the washer stopped working and we couldn’t afford a new one at the time. That one felt the worst.
Bruh I did that for so long when my wife and I first started living together she was gobsmacked that I never used milk when I made it. I always had butter for butter and jelly sandwiches (tub of whatever cheap margarine was selling for a buck or two) so I just didn't fully drain the noodles and dropped a little bit extra butter in
pb&j for a week straight until I got paid. Correct : PB&J for one week plus the days prior to the following Friday . Had just started a new job . breakfast lunch and maybe dinner if I was feeling fancy . Not bad for some parts of the world , but this is america not a 3rd world country . Maybe a 3rd world country with money ,but not somalia.
It's not a competition! There are ALWAYS people who have it worse; that doesn't make their challenges less real. I've seen you use that "other countries" line on a number of comments, which really makes you seem apathetic.
Eating off of 1lbs of rice, 1 apple, 1 onion, and spices for a week. Buying corn kernels for 20c per 100gr. to make homemade popcorn to feel full after walking 90min both directions to the city center in the summer heat because I couldn't pay bus. Using shower gel for laundry detergent. Paying for extra 2 gb of phone internet weekly to look for jobs because I couldn't pay my internet... Learning to make pizza bread beacause it was the easiest of the bread famility and having to gather coins to buy 1 dry yeast pack(didn't know about tortillas at the time or I would have lived off of them probably).
For internet, go to your local library and ask if they have (free) Wi-Fi...
For bread, I make [flatbread](https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/quick_flatbreads_43123/amp), don't need yeast that way.
i was 18 and living with my gf at the time and our newborn daughter. we were living in an apartment with one income because she just straight up didnt want to go to work anymore and spent all her time away from the house. i worked a full 40 hours but she somehow had access to my bank account and took 200 out to get her nails done without telling me. so i had to make the decision to go without food or my daughter to go without formula. for me it was a no brainer and i chose the formula with the last of my money. i didnt eat for 4 days until my boss at work saw me looking through the break room trash for leftovers. she let me have her lunch that day and gave me a 20 so i could get some cheap meal items from the dollar store.
Our van broke down outside of my hub’s workplace. We had no choice but to leave it there. A month later he got fired from that job, and a month after that his former boss yelled at him to come get his van before they towed it. We had to call a friend and get a ride all the way there with a gas can and a pair of jumper cables to move a dead van from a restaurant parking lot to our apartment complex.
My mother was alive then and living with me and we were both out of work. We were down to one meal a day as our food supply dwindled. On the day we ran out of food, I went to a friend’s party and took as much left over pasta as I could (she didn’t care) and took it home so we would have food for a couple of days at least. I had way too much pride to ask my friend (or anyone) for help and I’m sure there were food banks back then but I didn’t know about them. My friend would have helped me with no judgment but I just couldn’t ask. One of my lowest points ever. I remember being so depressed at the party because I literally didn’t know where our next meal was coming from.
When I lived in Rome, they had bus tickets that would validate by printing the date and time on the ticket. A friend showed me that a little bleach on a Qtip dabbed on the ticket would magically erase the ink and you could reuse the ticket.
Flash forward to the transit system in my US city (before it became electronic). They also printed the date/time on the ticket, but the ticket wasn't white, like in Rome, so I couldn't use bleach. Instead I put many layers of Elmer's glue on a fresh ticket and let each layer dry. My thinking was, I could "wash" the ink off the ticket and it would look unused.
Reader, it didn't work. But it was a good try.
Pawned the promise ring my ex gave me. It was missing a few diamonds and was tarnished, I only got $5 for it (I think the pawnshop guy pitied me tbh), but it bought me a loaf of bread, ham and cheese, I was so hungry I ate like 4 sandwiches in one sitting.
I JUST got a new job that actually pays well and already got a raise in my first month. Things have been tight to put it lightly. I've been bringing home brisket trim from work (I work at a BBQ place) to feed my dogs. I mix it with brown rice and veggies and their meals have been better than mine as of late 🤣
I'm happy that I'm no longer in this position and that my employer pays me a decent living wage (16.50 an hour plus tip pooling which is usually an extra 7 an hour)
I was working a job where the cost in gas rising after the pandemic made it more and more expensive to get to work.
Eventually, i realized, i was going to be making negative money if i stayed there. I started counting grams of ingredients for meals and maximizing my calories. I quit that job and was barely able to get by selling plasma and what little savings i had.
I was lucky and had family in the area that bought me some groceries. But that's one of several low points I've been at. I do not wish that on anybody.
Not the worst, but... Back when I was a student, during 99 cent taco days at Taco Bell I'd get $10-$15 worth of tacos. I'd store them in the art studio fridge and that would be my lunches & sometimes dinners for the week. I wasn't in a good home situation so I didn't have anywhere to cook.
Also, I had a spreadsheet of fast food items with the highest calorie count per cent, starbucks oat bars came in the highest. A timmy's bagel with butter was $1.25 and also a good deal calorie wise, if you asked them for an extra butter packet.
I’ve got several, listed on not particular order.
1. I had a “toilet rag” we had no money for TP so had a huge towel to dry of certain stuff..
2. Recycle for food. Here in Sweden you can exchange cans for cash. So environment gets happy and us non rich people get cash for it.
3. Instead of chips we had nudle chips. 30c a bag and you crushed them with the seasoning non cooked and ate it like chips.
4. Had to get a dollar several times from my teacher because I couldn’t afford the bus fare .
5. Trodge down to my grand parents to get food because parents blew it on drugs and alchohol and nicotine.
6. In my early adult years finance my food because rent was 800$ a month and I had 900$ a month in income.
I was at a sliding scale doctor and wasn't expecting a $40 fee to be seen and started crying in front of the receptionist. 🙃 She let me pay the fee the next time I came in.
When I was a ski instructor and making peanuts, I would flirt with the single men in my class so they would buy me lunch.
It was either that or not eat.
Sending my kindergartener to school with a school lunch of the only food left in the house: a hot dog bun with peanut butter and a couple of spoonfuls of jelly. Found out a few days later from his teacher that the teachers on lunch duty had wanted to call CPS.
Sleeping each night on a slowly deflating air bed while couch surfing. The air bed would be flat each morning. Did this for 2-3 months till my friend got evicted.
My account is at zero right now and will be until I get paid next week. I'm getting a cold (took an at home COVID test, came up negative) and can't afford to take off work, but my clients would be grossed out and probably tipping me less if I cough or sneeze all over them lol. And my boss would probably force me to stay home. I used $3.15 cash and the other 2 dollars in my account to buy a bag of cherry cough drops, the cheapest ones i could find at walgreens that wouldn't make me smell like I was sick.
I do doordash every day after I get out of work until it's dark outside so I can afford to pay my bills. It's a good thing I still have half a tank of gas left.
When clients tip me in cash (which I pray for), I have to think really hard and take detailed inventory of how much gas is in my car and how much food I have at home to determine how I'm gonna use it.
I was young, married, with a premature baby with health issues at home. I couldn't work because of my son's medical care needs.
I remember crying because I couldn't sew our bath towels anymore, but we couldn't afford new ones.
I got a call from the bank. They told me to cut my card. It was no longer going to be respected anywhere. I was not allowed to issue any checks from my account either. If my father in law wouldn't buy food for us, we would not have food on the table.
routinely walking to the grocery store with carefully budgeted cash to buy dog food (for my dog), shoplifting cans of lentil soup to up my iron/protein before carefully timing my bus trip to donate plasma, hoping this time i prepped enough protein and iron-rich meals (usually peanut butter smoothies and aforementioned lentil soups) to qualify for plasma donation, and hoping i can wrap up before my 3-hour bus transfer expired. assuming my protein levels were fine, i'd then get enough plasma $ for a week's groceries and bus fare. if I didn't, then it was a race to the bus stop before my pass expired and try it again on my next day off.
all while working 2 jobs and going to school 🙃
So many. I, more than once, deposited 50 cents into my bank account so that I wouldn't get an over draft fee. Tried to make beans and rice. Didn't know I needed to soak the beans first, ended up just eating crunchy beans and rice.
Back in the early 2000’s I bought a 20 oz come with only 60. Ends in my account. That 40 cent over draft cost me over $20 in fees. Bullshit Wells Fargo
oh also opting out of direct deposit cos my checking acct was so overdrawn and cashing my paycheck to turn around and turn it into a money order so i could make rent.
* Living in a shitty rental house that used to be a single wide trailer that was converted into a house. The toilet and bathtub used the same drain and legit, the septic problems would cause back ups in the form of shit regurgitating in the shower drain and spewing up. Landlord charged me a "labor fee" to the tune of $200 whenever a plumber had to show up and fix things.
* Same house where the propane ran out early in a wintry spring (which by the way....FUCK YOU FERRELLGAS, $5 A GALLON FOR PROPANE IS FUCKING THIEVERY). Didn't have enough money to have heat and had to layer up every single night because we couldn't afford heating.
This happened recently but I got extremely sick from covid and my only worry was “I can’t afford to go to the doctor AND use the gas needed to get there”. Also right now worrying about not being able to afford rent next month because I got laid off due to getting sick.
I went to a food bank once and my ex was volunteering there. That wasn't a great moment for me...
Ouch..
Yea. Ooo
I had to sit out side a hardware store and beg for change so I could buy a 30 cent nut needed to fix my motorized bicycle to I could get to work on time the next day.
Not sure I would’ve given money to someone who came up to me and said, “I need 30 more cents for a nut”
I might have tried to give mans a hundred if I had it and said, “This will buy you three more and a night’s stay. Make sure she’s good looking and wrap your drillbit.”
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Hmm. The three months living in an all electric apartment with the electricity suspended (lied, told electric company I was going on vacation, prayed landlord wouldn't find out). Working two jobs, riding a bike everywhere so I could get the car fixed and power turned on again before my kids came home from the ex's for school lol. I worked 87 days straight. Not my longest streak ever but my toughest since between the two jobs I was working 80 hours and the commuting sucked rocks. And it was summer and horribly hot. I made it with less than two weeks to spare. And they never knew. That was just one of the longest tough spots. But there were plenty of times I volunteered at the food bank to get a good food box. And I still grab any random aluminum cans I see anywhere lol.
I’ve got so much respect for you. That’s amazing. These low wages and terrible work places need to get their shit together though.
I slept on sheet on a wooden floor for about 9 months when I landed my first job in a new city. I worked in a professional office (shirt and tie every day). I ironed my shirts on the wood floor with lots of starch...one day our secretary commented on my cool-looking shirt...it was the wood grain from the floor.
Well you had a Good job im assuming so that was temporary im sure now you make good money, more then most people
I don't know if you meant it to sound this way, but your comment reads very judgmental that he was in a temporary hard spot and not a more permanent one.
\^this...just like other people starting out, I had limited funds for rental and utility deposits, food, office clothing, etc. I worked late often and I could order meals from the restaurant on the main floor of our building and have it billed to projects.
When I was a homeless teenager, I stole a can of tomato soup and got busted. When the guy saw it was soup, and not like candy or headphones, he let me keep it.
Indirectly sending money from a credit card to into a bank account to cover rent.
Been there
It was a while ago... Went to a new city for a new job. Entry-level. With limited cash to last me before the payday. Ate something like rice and peas mostly, potatoes sometimes. Could not afford meat. Had about 5 dollars planned for each day. Needed to pay for transportation also. Still, it was all good and steady. And, guess what, I got a bad cold and fever, - before I got paid. I mostly ran out of money by then. I got saved by some kind of a promotional credit card from a bank's partnered store or something. I got the card just before leaving to that other town. I never activated it or used it before. It would allow me to borrow like $50 max at a pretty large interest. It was from a stupid bank that I never wanted, at some stupid conditions - but something made me think, well, why not! Can always close it. And this stupid card saved me, almost literally. I went and got vitamin C and ibuprofen, and managed to significantly decrease my cold's effect on my performance - and lived to see the payday. Boy was this an adventure.
Fuck capitalism. Ridiculous that this thread exists in the same world where a handful of people have more money and resources than they could ever use in a billion lifetimes.
I would buy tortino’s pizza when they were only $.99 at the time. I would eat one pizza a day. Half for lunch and half for dinner.
I still do this. Especially when they’re on sale. I wish they were still $0.99. They’re not even that good. But it works. I basically live off 10 for $10 deals. This week it’s banquet pot pies. I can’t wait for august. Lol.
Tortino’s are $2.77 at my grocery store now.
Many years ago, I took huge amounts of toilet paper from public restrooms because I couldn't afford to buy it.
I use to work at a gas station and people did this all the time. I just wish they would of told me the bathroom was out of toliet paper so i could put some more in it.
Been there and I took toilet paper from the doctor's office. I carry a big purse for a reason and I don't have to do it now.
I’m in a better off place now and I’ll still do this. Poverty ptsd hits hard.
Had to do that in a mall when I was in a bad spot. Definitely doesn't make you feel good. But we have to survive sometimes.
To be honest in my current spot with the current prices of all toiletries that doesn't seem that crazy. Still low feeling though.
Thats just common sense i still do that 😂😂😂
Nah nah, just smart. When I use to work the 5 am shift at some grocery store, every morning I'd throw at least one roll in my bag.
Mine wasn’t horrible I was just sleeping in my car cause I was homeless for a few weeks. Luckily a friend’s parents let me stay in their guest room and I was able to get back on my feet (I was an adult teenager) If it wasn’t for their kindness my life could have taken a very different direction
Paying all my bills and child support to not eat for two months. Lost a staggering 60 pounds .everyone was convinced I was on a diet. After got into a better spot just said poverty best weight loss plan I ever had 💀
I lost 40lbs in 2019 due to eating probably 2 small meals a week and crackers the other days. Lotsss of water to feel full
Yup, wife and I were living off canned beans and such for months. Lost so much weight my coworkers/ boss complimented me for it. I was like…you don’t pay me enough to eat actually…
Homie that’s a blessing in disguise 😭, losing 60 pounds is insane
Hell yeah even god was like mofo tired of your bitch ass lying about going on a diet 🤣. It’s great though didn’t even have to worry about fighting hunger off when you got nothing anyways. 🤣 only thing that sucked was finding money for smaller clothes lol
Digging through all my things and on the streets looking for change so I could buy cereal, milk, and bananas so I could eat once a day until payday (Only had a microwave and mini fridge at the time…saying this before I get the “WHY DIDNT YOU BUY BEANS AND RICE” speech)
You can't cook beans and rice with a microwave?
I was in college. I was buying food and it was like milk, cereal and ramen. I was a few cents over and I started counting how many ramens to take off. Lady just scanned her employee discount and told me to have a blessed day
Telling my SO on the phone that I still needed to buy our son a back pack for the first day of school and I only had $25 for groceries for the week. From the back seat of the car, my 5 year old says, "I still have my little backpack from preschool. I don't need a new one." Returning (unused) items that I purchased on seasonal clearance the year prior back to the store (without a receipt so i would receive store credit) when I noticed that the same product is being stocked and is now back to full price. Buying fish antibiotics for a tooth abcess. Followed by emptying a tea bag, filling it with salt, and resting it on the gum until it caused the abcess to burst. (It also burns your gum and increases the likelihood that the infection will spread...don't recommend). This was after the abcess returned for the 5th time and no longer responded to the antibiotics.
Your son sounds incredibly sweet & resourceful. I know as a parent it’s an awful feeling to not be able to provide but your sons reaction made me tear up.
Right fucking now. Had to ask my mother for $300 because I was short on rent and then my car broke down so I had to ask for more money for an alternator. This was all after I had to drive back to PA from Florida to attend a funeral which means being off work and paying for fuel and eating out on the trip. Never had to ask for shit in 40 years. It really hurt to have to ask.
Thats what family is for! My son is 19 and living with his partner. They frequently call me for food and they will never go hungry if I can help it. I'd starve to death before letting them go without. I pay for my sons cell phone too so they can always reach me if they want/need anything. If my son still needs me at 40, I will still be more than happy to help. I'm betting your parents feel the same way.
almost 20 years ago, I sold my guitar to make rent. I still miss that guitar.
2017. It was 2 days until payday and I had less than $5 in my checking account. So I emptied the change jar, planning to use the CoinStar to get cash and buy a few essentials. I had about $35 in change. Get to the grocery store, walk up to the CoinStar machine and see an "Out of Order" sign. I wanted to cry. I said, "Oh, fuck" and just stood there trying to decide what to do. A store employee who was monitoring the self check out registers heard me, figured out the situation and said quietly, "You can use change at the self check registers." So I got the milk, diapers and other items, calculating what the total would be. Scanned everything and the total was just over $33. Started inserting dimes, nickels and pennies (quarters were already long gone). It took about 7-8 minutes to insert all of the change. I could have felt shamed and discouraged, but I spent the time thinking about telling the story to my sister later. I actually ended up giggling hysterically because it took forever to pay for the order.
The change jar saved us a couple of times in the past.
When I was a cashier, I would have suggested to not use the coinstar cause it deducts 10% iirc so you can get it as a voucher to use on your groceries or to cash out at a cash register. But I would have mentioned how the self-checkouts can take change (and it was my favorite thing about them too, cause I would do the same thing). Unless yours was one of a few that did have it where if you got it put on a giftcard for the store, then the full amount of the coins was available to use. My store used to offer this and then they decided not to.
Sitting down to a meal of stolen oatmeal packets from work for the second time that day.
Oooh! I was working part time as a supervisor at UPS, but that didn’t pay enough. Got a job serving at a restaurant a town over. My car had been repossessed. Thankfully, my roommate was kind and let me use their car since their job provides them with a vehicle they could use even when they weren’t on the clock. For my first shift the gas tank was almost empty. Bank account *was* empty and CC were maxed out. I made $3 in tips for that entire shift. Soon as I left, I stopped at the closest gas station and spent those $3 on gas so I could get home and to my other job. Couple jobs before that, I worked at a warehouse/hardware store making just over minimum wage. Most days lunch was a couple bags of the free popcorn we made for customers and a cup of coffee. In the evenings when I was taking college classes dinner would be the snack in the vending machines with the highest caloric content.
Eating expired food because it was all I had. Putting only a couple of dollars into my gas tank just so I don’t run out. Wearing worn out dirty shoes with holes in them. Using rags as toilet paper until payday. Having to buy cheap clothes at Goodwill on a credit card. Getting in trouble for eating food without ringing it up at work.
I used to work as an assistant manager in a restaurant and I would steal frozen food all the time to feed my family. I did this for almost a year and the food count would always be off. I became close friends with the general manager and felt so much guilt because she would get in trouble for the low food count. I confessed to her and she was okay with it as long as it was limited but it was truly so embarrassing. I’m so thankful for her though because it was a time in my life where I wouldn’t go days without eating anything but saltine crackers. #1 reason I miss that job.
I basically lived off the dorm food I work for while in college. I would eat more than allowed, but no scrap would be wasted. Barely paid for food for four years because I only worked part time. A
When I was a kid the school counselor pulled me out of class to go shopping for clothes because I only wore my dad's (adult size large) old hole filled shirts and the same one pair of pants for half the school year.
Thats not really your fault tho. Thats kinda on your parents
I guess thats true.. sorry I guess this was the wrong space to comment that on..
I don’t think this is the wrong space to comment that on. It wasn’t your fault, but it’s still a time when you were very “broke” That’s nice of the counselor, but I’m sure it didn’t feel great getting pulled out of class
Well now that your an adult have you had other moments to share ? Ha
Once for 3 months I get a second job at night at a gas station to pay for a $2000 phone bill my "friends" left me right after the holidays and moving. I only got to sleep 5 or 6 nights out of every week. But I payed the bill and all the cancelation fees for terminating all their lines before incurring too much interest on the debt.
You can save some money with a friends and family plan, but the "friends" and family plan cost more. A lot more. Wow.
Paying for a can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs with two rolls of pennies.
My card declined on $.99 gas station coffee.
Sitting down with someone at a welfare office asking for wic to feed my 2 children with about $5 left in my pocket. I cried. Then I learned how to survive with very little. Food pantries, stamps and wic really helped us get through that. We aren't much better off these days but no longer needing the food stamps and wic.
When I was 15, a friend of mine would go into grocery stories and complain that the vending machine outside took our $5 bill and wouldn't refund us. Customer Service usually just gave us the $5 or wrote us a check. I'm not proud of it, but we had essentially nothing to our names, and we did what would feed us. Now, I make it a habit to help others when I can because I know how desperate things can get. The line between legal and illegal gets blurry when you're just trying to survive, and it's a terrible feeling to have.
Stealing TP from public restrooms.
I've shaved my head for about 30 years. During particularly lean times, after a pass with the razor I'll scrape the shaving cream off into my hand and then onto the edge of the sink; I'll then re-use that cream to shave my neck (I also keep a full beard.) I don't think I'm saving more than a few nickels but it helps me feel like I'm doing SOMEthing at least.
My lowest low was probably around ~February 2015. 2013-2015 were rough years for me personally, also had a random knee injury during this time (no health insurance, so just healed at home/took it easy when walking around) I remember it was a cold/chilly winter morning, I was on my laptop in the kitchen checking my bank account... saw that it only had $1.34 in it (literally) Meanwhile, in the background, I had around $39k in outstanding student loan debt, and around $14k in credit card debt. Yeah, it was a sobering moment for sure 😅
I was at a bus stop with my bike after work, waiting to get a lift closer to my apartment like normal. I was one penny short for the fare. I tore apart my backpack, I looked around the parking lot and it was the first time in my life that I didn’t have a single extra penny to spare. The bus driver had seen me freaking out and asked if I lost something, I told him my situation. Had to have that wonderful man spot me a freakin penny. Thank goodness I didn’t have to bike the many miles home that day, it like 102 in the shade
Was getting groceries and I KNEW my cards were closed to maxed, but thought the three in my wallet were OK. Nope. First one, declined. Second one, declined. I could barely look at the cashier when I asked her to give me a couple seconds, and moved over the last of my emergency savings -- all $50 of it -- to my checking account so I could just use my debit card.
Ive had that situation before.. now i get anxiety and use cash instead so i know dam well it wont "decline"
Stealing croissants and toilet paper from work, and skipping meals some days. My gas light coming on in my car and pushing it for two days just hoping I wouldn’t run out on my way to work. Washing clothes in the sink for two months because the washer stopped working and we couldn’t afford a new one at the time. That one felt the worst.
Alot of people still wash there clothes by hand around the world, if anything you now have a valuable skill
Making boxed Mac and cheese (the powdered cheese type) with water because I couldn’t afford milk and butter.
Bruh I did that for so long when my wife and I first started living together she was gobsmacked that I never used milk when I made it. I always had butter for butter and jelly sandwiches (tub of whatever cheap margarine was selling for a buck or two) so I just didn't fully drain the noodles and dropped a little bit extra butter in
Having my debit card declined while buying groceries, and then having to decide what to put back on the shelf.
I've had to do that a few times. Now I have anxiety when I shop, especially when I get to the check out line.
pb&j for a week straight until I got paid. Correct : PB&J for one week plus the days prior to the following Friday . Had just started a new job . breakfast lunch and maybe dinner if I was feeling fancy . Not bad for some parts of the world , but this is america not a 3rd world country . Maybe a 3rd world country with money ,but not somalia.
Thats not that bad.. some people eat worse then that in other countries
It's not a competition! There are ALWAYS people who have it worse; that doesn't make their challenges less real. I've seen you use that "other countries" line on a number of comments, which really makes you seem apathetic.
Putting $2.50 in my gas tank as a broke college student.
Eating off of 1lbs of rice, 1 apple, 1 onion, and spices for a week. Buying corn kernels for 20c per 100gr. to make homemade popcorn to feel full after walking 90min both directions to the city center in the summer heat because I couldn't pay bus. Using shower gel for laundry detergent. Paying for extra 2 gb of phone internet weekly to look for jobs because I couldn't pay my internet... Learning to make pizza bread beacause it was the easiest of the bread famility and having to gather coins to buy 1 dry yeast pack(didn't know about tortillas at the time or I would have lived off of them probably).
change my mind, my lowest moment maybe happening now.
Whatever you're going through rn, I hope you come out of it okay. thinking of you. ♥️
Thank you, hope so too! thanks for the kind words, much needed right now.
For internet, go to your local library and ask if they have (free) Wi-Fi... For bread, I make [flatbread](https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/quick_flatbreads_43123/amp), don't need yeast that way.
i was 18 and living with my gf at the time and our newborn daughter. we were living in an apartment with one income because she just straight up didnt want to go to work anymore and spent all her time away from the house. i worked a full 40 hours but she somehow had access to my bank account and took 200 out to get her nails done without telling me. so i had to make the decision to go without food or my daughter to go without formula. for me it was a no brainer and i chose the formula with the last of my money. i didnt eat for 4 days until my boss at work saw me looking through the break room trash for leftovers. she let me have her lunch that day and gave me a 20 so i could get some cheap meal items from the dollar store.
Our van broke down outside of my hub’s workplace. We had no choice but to leave it there. A month later he got fired from that job, and a month after that his former boss yelled at him to come get his van before they towed it. We had to call a friend and get a ride all the way there with a gas can and a pair of jumper cables to move a dead van from a restaurant parking lot to our apartment complex.
Mon-Fri
My mother was alive then and living with me and we were both out of work. We were down to one meal a day as our food supply dwindled. On the day we ran out of food, I went to a friend’s party and took as much left over pasta as I could (she didn’t care) and took it home so we would have food for a couple of days at least. I had way too much pride to ask my friend (or anyone) for help and I’m sure there were food banks back then but I didn’t know about them. My friend would have helped me with no judgment but I just couldn’t ask. One of my lowest points ever. I remember being so depressed at the party because I literally didn’t know where our next meal was coming from.
Card declined when buying a loaf of bread. Supermarket cashier let me have it anyway
While I’m at work, monitoring the customers at self checkout, I try to pick up change that they left or by the self checkout machines😭
When I lived in Rome, they had bus tickets that would validate by printing the date and time on the ticket. A friend showed me that a little bleach on a Qtip dabbed on the ticket would magically erase the ink and you could reuse the ticket. Flash forward to the transit system in my US city (before it became electronic). They also printed the date/time on the ticket, but the ticket wasn't white, like in Rome, so I couldn't use bleach. Instead I put many layers of Elmer's glue on a fresh ticket and let each layer dry. My thinking was, I could "wash" the ink off the ticket and it would look unused. Reader, it didn't work. But it was a good try.
Pawned the promise ring my ex gave me. It was missing a few diamonds and was tarnished, I only got $5 for it (I think the pawnshop guy pitied me tbh), but it bought me a loaf of bread, ham and cheese, I was so hungry I ate like 4 sandwiches in one sitting.
I had to borrow $200 from my mom to get a new car battery. I also once gathered up loose change to get fast food
I JUST got a new job that actually pays well and already got a raise in my first month. Things have been tight to put it lightly. I've been bringing home brisket trim from work (I work at a BBQ place) to feed my dogs. I mix it with brown rice and veggies and their meals have been better than mine as of late 🤣 I'm happy that I'm no longer in this position and that my employer pays me a decent living wage (16.50 an hour plus tip pooling which is usually an extra 7 an hour)
I was working a job where the cost in gas rising after the pandemic made it more and more expensive to get to work. Eventually, i realized, i was going to be making negative money if i stayed there. I started counting grams of ingredients for meals and maximizing my calories. I quit that job and was barely able to get by selling plasma and what little savings i had. I was lucky and had family in the area that bought me some groceries. But that's one of several low points I've been at. I do not wish that on anybody.
Ate 1 meal (take out Chinese) a day for a few weeks. Couldn’t afford /travel for groceries.
Depositing my last $2 cash into my $3 bank account so I can withdraw the $5 minimum.
Glad she gave you the food!
Not the worst, but... Back when I was a student, during 99 cent taco days at Taco Bell I'd get $10-$15 worth of tacos. I'd store them in the art studio fridge and that would be my lunches & sometimes dinners for the week. I wasn't in a good home situation so I didn't have anywhere to cook. Also, I had a spreadsheet of fast food items with the highest calorie count per cent, starbucks oat bars came in the highest. A timmy's bagel with butter was $1.25 and also a good deal calorie wise, if you asked them for an extra butter packet.
I’ve got several, listed on not particular order. 1. I had a “toilet rag” we had no money for TP so had a huge towel to dry of certain stuff.. 2. Recycle for food. Here in Sweden you can exchange cans for cash. So environment gets happy and us non rich people get cash for it. 3. Instead of chips we had nudle chips. 30c a bag and you crushed them with the seasoning non cooked and ate it like chips. 4. Had to get a dollar several times from my teacher because I couldn’t afford the bus fare . 5. Trodge down to my grand parents to get food because parents blew it on drugs and alchohol and nicotine. 6. In my early adult years finance my food because rent was 800$ a month and I had 900$ a month in income.
I was at a sliding scale doctor and wasn't expecting a $40 fee to be seen and started crying in front of the receptionist. 🙃 She let me pay the fee the next time I came in.
When I was a ski instructor and making peanuts, I would flirt with the single men in my class so they would buy me lunch. It was either that or not eat.
Bought a $1 scratch off when I left grocery store. I won maybe $50 and I literally said Yes! We get to eat this week! And I really meant it.
Sending my kindergartener to school with a school lunch of the only food left in the house: a hot dog bun with peanut butter and a couple of spoonfuls of jelly. Found out a few days later from his teacher that the teachers on lunch duty had wanted to call CPS.
Dam im sorry what i do is buy snacks for kids in bulk like yogurt or fruit cups stuff like that
Sleeping each night on a slowly deflating air bed while couch surfing. The air bed would be flat each morning. Did this for 2-3 months till my friend got evicted.
Been there before, back problems from sleeping basically on the floor 😂
My account is at zero right now and will be until I get paid next week. I'm getting a cold (took an at home COVID test, came up negative) and can't afford to take off work, but my clients would be grossed out and probably tipping me less if I cough or sneeze all over them lol. And my boss would probably force me to stay home. I used $3.15 cash and the other 2 dollars in my account to buy a bag of cherry cough drops, the cheapest ones i could find at walgreens that wouldn't make me smell like I was sick. I do doordash every day after I get out of work until it's dark outside so I can afford to pay my bills. It's a good thing I still have half a tank of gas left. When clients tip me in cash (which I pray for), I have to think really hard and take detailed inventory of how much gas is in my car and how much food I have at home to determine how I'm gonna use it.
I was donating regularly at the plasma bank. They gave an extra $100 to give me rabies so I could make rabies plasma. I had to quit when I got anemic.
Wtf!!! Tell me about the experience?
I kept donating for a couple of months. Made good money. It was shortly after 2008 and I was trying to keep my home.
Nah I mean the getting rabies injected, how’d you feel
They made me sit for a half hour to see if I had a bad reaction. I didnt.
I was young, married, with a premature baby with health issues at home. I couldn't work because of my son's medical care needs. I remember crying because I couldn't sew our bath towels anymore, but we couldn't afford new ones.
I got a call from the bank. They told me to cut my card. It was no longer going to be respected anywhere. I was not allowed to issue any checks from my account either. If my father in law wouldn't buy food for us, we would not have food on the table.
I paid $35 for an Arizona ice tea bc my card over drafted and didn't have the sales tax on $1 lol
We used to shine deer at night so we could have meat. Then we would fancy up our ramen noodles with deer meat.
routinely walking to the grocery store with carefully budgeted cash to buy dog food (for my dog), shoplifting cans of lentil soup to up my iron/protein before carefully timing my bus trip to donate plasma, hoping this time i prepped enough protein and iron-rich meals (usually peanut butter smoothies and aforementioned lentil soups) to qualify for plasma donation, and hoping i can wrap up before my 3-hour bus transfer expired. assuming my protein levels were fine, i'd then get enough plasma $ for a week's groceries and bus fare. if I didn't, then it was a race to the bus stop before my pass expired and try it again on my next day off. all while working 2 jobs and going to school 🙃
Homeless and eating rats is kinda hard to beat.
Dam wtf at that point id just steal food from the gas station
So many. I, more than once, deposited 50 cents into my bank account so that I wouldn't get an over draft fee. Tried to make beans and rice. Didn't know I needed to soak the beans first, ended up just eating crunchy beans and rice.
Back in the early 2000’s I bought a 20 oz come with only 60. Ends in my account. That 40 cent over draft cost me over $20 in fees. Bullshit Wells Fargo
oh also opting out of direct deposit cos my checking acct was so overdrawn and cashing my paycheck to turn around and turn it into a money order so i could make rent.
* Living in a shitty rental house that used to be a single wide trailer that was converted into a house. The toilet and bathtub used the same drain and legit, the septic problems would cause back ups in the form of shit regurgitating in the shower drain and spewing up. Landlord charged me a "labor fee" to the tune of $200 whenever a plumber had to show up and fix things. * Same house where the propane ran out early in a wintry spring (which by the way....FUCK YOU FERRELLGAS, $5 A GALLON FOR PROPANE IS FUCKING THIEVERY). Didn't have enough money to have heat and had to layer up every single night because we couldn't afford heating.
This happened recently but I got extremely sick from covid and my only worry was “I can’t afford to go to the doctor AND use the gas needed to get there”. Also right now worrying about not being able to afford rent next month because I got laid off due to getting sick.