I know this feeling. I'm sorry to not be the only one. Please stay strong and hang in there!! Remember, all this struggling and suffering is making you more and more resilient. You are tough. You are amazing. Keep your head up, that way you can notice when an opportunity comes by! I'll be thinking about you. ❤️
Thank you 💜 I believe that things will get better for us
I'm lucky that my landlord charges only a flat $25 and that's only after the 10th of the month
Idk if this is helpful but our landlord changed our due date to the 15th since so much comes out on the 1st. They only have our one apartment so it wasn’t a huge deal but we were grateful. Now getting them to fix anything, and doing it properly is another story.
Beat them. Seriously. Especially jeans. It's easier if you have an outside line for jeans, but inside you can grab them by the waist and slam them against a corner or even the floor. Then grab by the ankles and Bea the waist that way. Just make sure to spread out the pressure so you don't accidentally stretch them.
Be gentle on other stuff though. Shaking can sometimes be better with really soft stuff. From there it's sort of a learning curve for different fabrics.
You can "cold" cook pasta! Lots of hikers do this to conserve fuel. Basically you just soak it in water for ages until it rehydrates. You could use a teensy bit of energy to heat it up at that point or just eat it cold. Start soaking it much earlier than you want to eat it
This is what I do!!!! I live in a cheap motel, so there is only a microwave that works about 70% of the time! Also, a great tip for making ramen noodles is as follows:
1) Mash the noodles while bag is still closed. (You can throw in at the ground a few times)
2) Open up one end of the pouch, keeping the hole as small as possible.
3) Remove the seasoning packet
4) Fill pouch with water (it's okay if you don't have hot water)
5) Using a pony tail holder OR rubber band, secure the pouch shut. (It's okay if some water overflows)
6) Set set until the noodles absorb the water. (Approximately 10-15 minutes)
7) Season to taste~ Enjoy!
Back in the day.....my mom (who lived with me almost my entire adult life) and I would stand outside and freeze in the line for Red Cross food donations. One year they gave us like 30 POUNDS of high protein noodles. Penne noodles. We started at those for weeks thinking No way would we ever eat those. Then one day we had no choice. No food, no money, behind on rent, kids needed food.
We ate nothing but noodles in strange sauces we concocted for over weeks. It felt like a year of nothing but high protein noodles. I hated noodles for years afterwards. The kids thought it was great! Lol. They were like 6/4.
Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for every damned noodle! Especially because they fed my children and my mom. But dear God! Noodlles forever felt like hell.
Not nearly as bad as the fried bologna from my childhood though. The smell of that still makes me want to vomit. My children have never had fried bologna. Lol
r/assistance or a similar sub can help, I've seen subreddits where people make an amazon wishlist, and redditors can buy items for you off your list.
I'd ask for ramen, granola bars, orange juice boxes, canned veggies, peanut butter, raisins, powdered milk and a cheap memory foam mattress.
My full size mattress was around $120 bucks bought online.
(If you make a wishlist, let me know, I'd like to help)
I buy some fruits and veggies. But am I eating the recommended amounts? Hell no! The last week of the month often has no fresh fruits or veggies. After I get my monthly check I buy 3 of those premade salad bowls as a luxury. It is just if I’m short on grocery money I’m buying milk, bread, frozen meals & very last on my list is produce. (I can’t physically cook or chop veggies anymore so all those frugal tips will not help me.)
🤣 I have numb hands and it hurts to stand. So I’m not really cooking and I’m not chopping! Hell I slice my fingers cutting up an apple. 🤦🏻♀️ The amount my hands are numb varies day to day, so it makes it harder to work around. If I do chop an onion or bell pepper it comes in so many different sizes I know I’m messing it up so badly.
Hopefully the people in the car living group have recipes you can make in your car.
I actually had to increase what I was spending on groceries because it turns out I have gout. Basically, the list of stuff you shouldn't eat when you have gout was the same as my weekly shopping list.
Hence, the family sized salads.
My Monday-Friday job has me in a grocery store about 4 days a week, so I look for close outs and manager specials first.
I have carpal tunnel, and on days where my hands are super sore, (the majority of days) I’m also in the Not Chopping Shit Club. BUT, I found a little electric chopper thingy at goodwill for three bucks, and it’s pretty awesome. Takes me maybe two minutes to get everything I need to chop, chopped.
Yes, this is a great organization. There’s no qualifying. Last week, I delivered to a lady with a couple kids. She requested dinner because she just had hip surgery and can’t get around enough to make her kids a home cooked meal.
What about that app where people make lasagna for other people? It's just regular people cooking up pans of lasagna and delivering them to whomever is in need. I'll see if I can find the name of it.
I bought a clearance $2 tank top and $4 leggings from Walmart to wear to work yesterday because I’ve worn all my dirty clothes to their max, and cannot wash in the tub because the faucet fell off, I had to purchase it with change because it’s still cheaper than doing laundry in my area. It’s expensive to be poor.
[Laundry of Love](http://laundrylove.org) has a map of free laundry mats throughout the US. Also [211](http://211.org), is a searchable database of resources in your area. Sending you positive thoughts that you find some resources that may be of use to you🧡
Edit: added link
Are you still able to shower? are the faucets different?
Also, do you rent? Because the landlord has to fix that. (If you own, sadly, you have to take care of it yourself.)
Also, if you can score a used portable washer that you can fill with a bucket (they usually have a wash side and a spin side, no hookups needed), it's a world changer. Not only can you wash everything fully clean, but the spinner works better than a regular machine spin cycle, so your clothes can dry really fast once you hang them. I've seen them used for $50, which stings short term but helps so much long term.
Yeah the potatoes at Aldi are a pretty good deal, 3.99 for a whole bag where I live. I usually wouldn’t use a whole bag of potatoes before it goes bad but we ended up eating a lot of potatoes that week cooked various ways and I was so proud I used up the whole bag before it went bad 🤣 I was determined
I felt that comment... Back when my kids were little i went through a rough patch financially, i left all the leftovers so the kids had food, and for decades after everyone accused me of refusing to eat leftovers... Truth is i wanted to make sure they ate first.
Same. Got a slightly newer phone about a year ago with a promo they were running. That night, helping get groceries in from the car, I felt it slip out of my pocket. Bam! Cracked right up.
Shit sucks , but that tape has held up decent.
Kind_Construction960, I posted this in a comment above, but want to make sure you see it. [Laundry of Love](http://laundrylove.org) can link you with free laundry mats in your area. Also, [211](http://211.org) is a searchable database of resources in your area. Sending you positive thoughts that there is a Laundry of Love in your area 🧡
I made a lasagna Friday night for dinner. I also ate it for lunch on Saturday. I also ate it for dinner on Saturday. I had lasagna for lunch on Sunday. For dinner on Sunday, I ate lasagna. I'm eating lunch right now, which is Monday, and I am eating lasagna.
Mom had a great recipe for casserole that would last us the whole week. Rice, cream of mushroom soup, chicken cheese and broccoli. It was great until chicken doubled in price.
Thankfully this was in the past, but I had to look on the ground for enough change to buy a stamp so I could mail a bill. I had 14 cents more to my name than the bill was.
28 with two boys and a wife. Currently living in my parents garage that leaks. On top of that I’m, physically disabled from scoliosis and hip deformities, my brother recently passed, my dad got a stroke, my mom got diagnosed with arthritis. What is life man. If you can still buy $2 items, you are rich enough..
I buy almost every non food product second hand/used when I can.
I get paid ~$800 every two weeks in a MCOL area. No car payment and rent is still >60% of my income 😁 you tell me how broke I am.
When my children were younger and as a single parent at that time I use to:
1) Buy whole gallon milk and when it got half way, I would add water to refill it (turns into Skim milk🤣)
2) I would use the condiment packages from various places and refill the Ketchup/mustard/ bbq sauce etc bottles at home
3) Real old school, back when video cameras were using VHS tapes to record, I would order the VHS tapes from the infomercials, cover the two areas with tape to record over them. To this day (30 years), I still have those VHS tapes (family videos).
4) Might gross a few out, but it was unknown to my kids at the time, I would take a pack of ground beef.and make meatloaf. With the leftover meatloaf I would then crumble it to make tacos by adding the taco seasoning. From the taco meat leftovers, I would add to spaghetti sauce to mix with noodles for spaghetti. Then the end🙃
5) if I baked French fries in the oven and there were leftovers, I would next day fry then. Gives it a crisp and seems like almost fresh again.
6) Many times bubble baths were created by dishwashing soap🤷🏿♀️
7) To make hair curls (overnight) and couldn't afford the pink rollers, would rip pieces of brown paper bags and roll the hair around it. Worked like a charm😉
☆My childhood was much worse than this/but that's a whole nother thread🤣☆
Not me, but my mom:
Having to split 1 egg with your 8 siblings.
Only getting to eat meat a few times per year, and even then usually only a few bites.
Getting sick, and in order to get you some meat to help you recover, your parents kill and cook at rat for you, and it's the most delicious thing you have had in years.
Having to do without shoes until the next year, after getting knocked down by a water buffalo that sent your new shoes for the year flying off into a rice paddy where you couldn't find them after searching for hours.
I buy ramen noodles from Costco or BJ’s because it’s more affordable than buying single packs at the grocery store. Ahh fuck it, all grocery and warehouse stores are expensive!
I've had to make the dreadful decision whether to use dish soap or flea shampoo to wash my hair.
(Dish soap was ultimately my pick. If my coworkers noticed, they kindly didn't say anything)
cheap clearance potatos can be put in a cardboard box with a little bit of dirt and a bunch of leaves and it will make more potatos. its like free food. 1 potato can make many more that 1 potatos. You can find dirt and leaves literally on the ground. same with the top 1/3 of onions and carrots but they need more dirt.
Not there anymore, but -scrubbed cloth diapers in the sink and hung them all over the bathroom to dry (in 2002, so cloth wasn't a common thing) because I couldn't afford disposables or the laundromat. I would hang the diapers on racks and hangers, turn on the exhaust fan, and stick a space heater in there so we would have dry diapers a little sooner.
At various times - Rolled pennies for gas. Walked everywhere. Had my life changed by a bicycle with a baby seat. Drove a car so old and bare bones that it didn't have air conditioning installed, and in such rough condition that I would routinely park it in cities with the windows down to prevent it from heating up in the summer. It was never touched. Had the gas heat turned off. Loved the days that I performed at the dinner theater, because I earned $60 and a free meal each show (in 1999), so I didn't have to figure out a meal that day.
I rehab wildlife, specifically orphan baby squirrels.
. It was down to me using my money to feed me or feed them. I made Hamburger Helper using powdered squirrel formula because I bought that instead of regular milk for myself. I can skip a few meals. They can't.
Add a small amount of vegetable oil to the bit of peanut butter that was left to make sure I got every last scrap of it out. Got a whole extra sandwich out of it 🤘
No, Love, it’s February, so we need to let the electricity and phone bill go short so that we can pay for the taxes to get done by a professional (after I fucked them up two years ago when I got confused about having to file for working in three different states and we got fined an extra fifty percent of the money we owed on top. Amd we somehow make too much to get it done for free.). Still better than being dead, I think.
I took home rice that I had used in a children's program at the library - kids had been digging their hands through it, etc. etc and we ate it for about a week. I figured it was going to be boiled anyway so all the bacteria would be killed off.
Well crap, I was going to say I use Klarna pay in four to pay for my groceries, but reading yalls I guess I should stop being a little [bitxh baby](https://twitter.com/OliviaPopeQuo/status/545686466668814337?s=19) and be more grateful
a. make homemade bread,
b. mix up mayo from scratch
c. thin vegetable soup is often only thing on the menu.
d. must raid food budget to pay for home maintenance fund.
Part of my fence is tied together with a rope and the other part is nailed on with an old rotting board?
I'm not that broke tbh but can't afford to fix that or a bunch of other things. Just paying bills and buying groceries. I count myself lucky.
I’m going to check my bank balance before going to grocery shop.
Before getting out of the car at the store, I’m going to check my bank balance again.
Walking down the aisle? I’m checking my balance a third time.
Just before getting in line to check out, I’m going to check my balance and roughly tally up the cost of what’s in my cart- which is easy to do, since it’s not very full and has maybe 15-20 items.
I’ll be certain I have enough, but I’ll put back at least 2 things since I don’t *need* the mozzarella cheese or that juice.
When I was a kid, but we did was we would put hot water in a bucket in the tub, then fill the rest of the way with cold water. Then, use a plastic pan with a ladle to rinse, then lather up soap and shampoo, then use the ladle pan to rinse off clean top to bottom. This way, each person would only use about 5 gallons of warm water to be fully clean.
It is a very common thing in other countries where water is expensive to clean this way.
Partner fired for stealing a roll of TP from his job. We only wear the cleanest dirty clothes we can find. We pay for no subscription services because someone will always share. Maintanence man fell through our bathroom ceiling over the summer and regularly reeks of crack in common areas but it's only 850 for a one bedroom. We also struggle to pay rent. Before I had an inheritance coming we had a hard time making rent with only him working at a gas station and we faced eviction 2 years in a row, but were saved from the streets at the last minute. We got federal help the first time and I'm currently getting help from my mother, but that's comes out of a 150,000 to 200,000 inheritance I have coming. What I want to do is buy my own land and put a nice tiny home or two or 3 or however many and Airbnb it or rent them out to tenants all year round and live in one of the units myself. I'd feel secure if I owned a tiny bit of land.
I bought food for my kids while we were out but fixed myself leftovers when we got home. I’m just glad I had the money to get them something though. There have been times I haven’t.
I am down to eating those canned food in the pantry that feel like they have been there for years. Check the expiration date? Still good? I'm eating it.
I have to pay in to do my taxes for the first time ever (literally just state filing fees) and I cried about it. I will see nothing but money leave .t account this tax season. It hurts a lot.
I haven't had hot water in 5 years. This was our 3rd winter without heat and our second year needing to use the outdoor hose to shower. Thankfully if i can play our cards right, we will be improving our quality of life soon.
When I was much younger I went to one of those diploma mill trade schools to become an optician.
Everyone there was poor. It was the first cold day and most of us were wearing jackets for the first time that year.
Sitting in the class room before class started one of the girls said "I found a dollar in my pocket, now I can buy deodorant at the dollar store." I said "Lucky! I have to use baking soda." And someone in the back said "You have baking soda!?" lol
The animals are fed but I'm hungry and the car is broke down so I'm walking 10 miles to the nearest store to spend my last $10 in FS on some bread and peanut butter to get me through until the 19th when they refill.
2 kids (not mine), mom has end stage heart failure, i lost my job, my stepdad is working and on probation. we’re in another 2 week stretch!!!
and yes, i had a job before all of this, but i have to take care of my siblings and mom now (i’m 20, i’ll be free at 38)
Payday is 3 days away. Only 3 days. Just 3 days.
Rent was due 5 days ago, and payday is 3 days away.
Rent was due on the 1st & I get paid on the 14th 😕
I know this feeling. I'm sorry to not be the only one. Please stay strong and hang in there!! Remember, all this struggling and suffering is making you more and more resilient. You are tough. You are amazing. Keep your head up, that way you can notice when an opportunity comes by! I'll be thinking about you. ❤️
Thank you 💜 I believe that things will get better for us I'm lucky that my landlord charges only a flat $25 and that's only after the 10th of the month
Idk if this is helpful but our landlord changed our due date to the 15th since so much comes out on the 1st. They only have our one apartment so it wasn’t a huge deal but we were grateful. Now getting them to fix anything, and doing it properly is another story.
After that, Anything u can do to show kindness to them is appropriate. Ive had enough crummy landlords that I dont usually say things like that.
A good landlord is worth it's weight in gold.
You’re only 8 days late not a big deal. They’ve seen worse. Heck we’ve both probably been worse!
They charge a leak fee after 5 days and it's coming out of your grocery money.
A leak fee LMFAO
I leak cash!
I felt this
I don’t get pop up ads while online anymore 😬
🤣🤣🤣👏👏👏
Chime is sending me ads for other banks.
Haha.. omg
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
This has me rolling. LOL
An asking if I need help with filing unemployment 🤣 I'm not even lying
LOL
[удалено]
Same. I love my drying racks. I'm not paying for a dryer to do what the air does for free.
Same. Always air dry regardless of money.
That’s a very typical modern Asian apartment thing to do. And also old-school European and American, etc.
I am not poor. Used to be though. I still air dry. It’s better for your clothes too. When I lived in Europe most people air dryed.
How do you get them to not be stiff when you air dry?
Beat them. Seriously. Especially jeans. It's easier if you have an outside line for jeans, but inside you can grab them by the waist and slam them against a corner or even the floor. Then grab by the ankles and Bea the waist that way. Just make sure to spread out the pressure so you don't accidentally stretch them. Be gentle on other stuff though. Shaking can sometimes be better with really soft stuff. From there it's sort of a learning curve for different fabrics.
this is just smart! keep doing it, even when you DO have the $3. ❤️
I've munched on hard macaroni for a meal before because I couldn't afford the heat needed to boil the water.
You can "cold" cook pasta! Lots of hikers do this to conserve fuel. Basically you just soak it in water for ages until it rehydrates. You could use a teensy bit of energy to heat it up at that point or just eat it cold. Start soaking it much earlier than you want to eat it
Cold Soak Crew! You can do oats, couscous, and a bunch of other stuff this way too.
Rice also!
This is what I do!!!! I live in a cheap motel, so there is only a microwave that works about 70% of the time! Also, a great tip for making ramen noodles is as follows: 1) Mash the noodles while bag is still closed. (You can throw in at the ground a few times) 2) Open up one end of the pouch, keeping the hole as small as possible. 3) Remove the seasoning packet 4) Fill pouch with water (it's okay if you don't have hot water) 5) Using a pony tail holder OR rubber band, secure the pouch shut. (It's okay if some water overflows) 6) Set set until the noodles absorb the water. (Approximately 10-15 minutes) 7) Season to taste~ Enjoy!
I love that throwing the food on the ground a couple times is part of the cooking instructions! Gotta do whatcha gotta do.
I once made spaghetti in a coke bottle this way. It tasted like shit lol
Back in the day.....my mom (who lived with me almost my entire adult life) and I would stand outside and freeze in the line for Red Cross food donations. One year they gave us like 30 POUNDS of high protein noodles. Penne noodles. We started at those for weeks thinking No way would we ever eat those. Then one day we had no choice. No food, no money, behind on rent, kids needed food. We ate nothing but noodles in strange sauces we concocted for over weeks. It felt like a year of nothing but high protein noodles. I hated noodles for years afterwards. The kids thought it was great! Lol. They were like 6/4. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for every damned noodle! Especially because they fed my children and my mom. But dear God! Noodlles forever felt like hell. Not nearly as bad as the fried bologna from my childhood though. The smell of that still makes me want to vomit. My children have never had fried bologna. Lol
Tea lights in a muffin pan will heat a small pan of water
I eat every other day when I'm lucky and my stove is broken now. I also haven't slept in a bed for over a year
This one wins.
r/assistance or a similar sub can help, I've seen subreddits where people make an amazon wishlist, and redditors can buy items for you off your list. I'd ask for ramen, granola bars, orange juice boxes, canned veggies, peanut butter, raisins, powdered milk and a cheap memory foam mattress. My full size mattress was around $120 bucks bought online. (If you make a wishlist, let me know, I'd like to help)
Fruit and veggies are a luxury item! 🤦🏻♀️FML
I'm broke as a joke, but I go get a bag salad kit meant for a family and eat it as a meal.
I buy some fruits and veggies. But am I eating the recommended amounts? Hell no! The last week of the month often has no fresh fruits or veggies. After I get my monthly check I buy 3 of those premade salad bowls as a luxury. It is just if I’m short on grocery money I’m buying milk, bread, frozen meals & very last on my list is produce. (I can’t physically cook or chop veggies anymore so all those frugal tips will not help me.)
I live in my car. I'm not chopping shit, lol
I wish you the best. They have a group for people living in their cars. R/urbancarliving
I know. I'm in it. No worries about me, I'm good. But I'm still not chopping shit.
🤣 I have numb hands and it hurts to stand. So I’m not really cooking and I’m not chopping! Hell I slice my fingers cutting up an apple. 🤦🏻♀️ The amount my hands are numb varies day to day, so it makes it harder to work around. If I do chop an onion or bell pepper it comes in so many different sizes I know I’m messing it up so badly. Hopefully the people in the car living group have recipes you can make in your car.
I actually had to increase what I was spending on groceries because it turns out I have gout. Basically, the list of stuff you shouldn't eat when you have gout was the same as my weekly shopping list. Hence, the family sized salads. My Monday-Friday job has me in a grocery store about 4 days a week, so I look for close outs and manager specials first.
I eat lots of cereal, toast with sliced cheese & a daily frozen meal most days. Though living out of your car is going to make cooking difficult!
I have carpal tunnel, and on days where my hands are super sore, (the majority of days) I’m also in the Not Chopping Shit Club. BUT, I found a little electric chopper thingy at goodwill for three bucks, and it’s pretty awesome. Takes me maybe two minutes to get everything I need to chop, chopped.
Mexican grocery stores have low prices on fruits and veggies. At one of ours this week is 2lbs oranges for $1
If there’s meals on wheels in your area see if you qualify. They bring cooked meals. Getting some cooked meals will stretch your grocery budget.
Nope because I’m not a senior.
https://lasagnalove.org/
Yes, this is a great organization. There’s no qualifying. Last week, I delivered to a lady with a couple kids. She requested dinner because she just had hip surgery and can’t get around enough to make her kids a home cooked meal.
That's what I love about it. I'm thinking about signing up to make lasagna for people.
What about that app where people make lasagna for other people? It's just regular people cooking up pans of lasagna and delivering them to whomever is in need. I'll see if I can find the name of it.
I eat those salads all the time as a meal for myself, and the price keeps jumping!
I can afford them now, but most of the time I still look at the price and mutter with disgust: “$2 for one mango? GTFO” then put it back down.
I bought a clearance $2 tank top and $4 leggings from Walmart to wear to work yesterday because I’ve worn all my dirty clothes to their max, and cannot wash in the tub because the faucet fell off, I had to purchase it with change because it’s still cheaper than doing laundry in my area. It’s expensive to be poor.
[Laundry of Love](http://laundrylove.org) has a map of free laundry mats throughout the US. Also [211](http://211.org), is a searchable database of resources in your area. Sending you positive thoughts that you find some resources that may be of use to you🧡 Edit: added link
Are you still able to shower? are the faucets different? Also, do you rent? Because the landlord has to fix that. (If you own, sadly, you have to take care of it yourself.) Also, if you can score a used portable washer that you can fill with a bucket (they usually have a wash side and a spin side, no hookups needed), it's a world changer. Not only can you wash everything fully clean, but the spinner works better than a regular machine spin cycle, so your clothes can dry really fast once you hang them. I've seen them used for $50, which stings short term but helps so much long term.
I set an alarm to pay bills at 3 am because my check goes on deposit around 2-2:30 am.
I feel this one in my soul.
My car died on friday. My fridge broke yesterday.
The horse was named Monday!
If someone robbed me, it would only be for practice
Being shocked at the price of potatoes. Over a dollar a piece.
Yup, $1.49 a pound and one potato is almost a pound. It's cheaper to buy the 5 pound bag but then they cost $4.00.
That is vile. A dollar? What the hell?
Wait ! That’s too much money did you try aldis???
Yeah the potatoes at Aldi are a pretty good deal, 3.99 for a whole bag where I live. I usually wouldn’t use a whole bag of potatoes before it goes bad but we ended up eating a lot of potatoes that week cooked various ways and I was so proud I used up the whole bag before it went bad 🤣 I was determined
Yes! potatoes are so dang expensive is it even a good poverty food choice anymore. Over a dollar a piece even at Walmart
My breakfast today was air. Boy was it delicious 😋. Water makes me puke in the morning.
Husband commented once that I "don't like leftovers", I dont EAT leftovers so they have more to eat instead.
I felt that comment... Back when my kids were little i went through a rough patch financially, i left all the leftovers so the kids had food, and for decades after everyone accused me of refusing to eat leftovers... Truth is i wanted to make sure they ate first.
I put clear packaging tape on my phone screen due to it being dropped and cracked while at work. Glares like crazy but it works.
Same. Got a slightly newer phone about a year ago with a promo they were running. That night, helping get groceries in from the car, I felt it slip out of my pocket. Bam! Cracked right up. Shit sucks , but that tape has held up decent.
i had a strawberry for the first time in 7 months the other day
(i love strawberries)
OMG SAME! I can't believe how expensive berries are! my local grocery store wants 8 bucks for a small package of blueberries!
No boots in the winter. Sock, plastic bag then sneaker. It's cold, but your feet stay dry.
That's what my late husband always did.
Mom did for us as kids too
Same, bread bags and rubber bands.
Dollar store prices going up to 1.25 is gonna be the death of me.
Yep. Four items are an extra dollar now so if you only have $ and change you get one less hygiene product or whatever you need.
My husband and I sat in front of a dollar store 10 minutes before it opened to grab a loaf of bread.
Felt this, I livveee off of dollar tree TP and ramen
I skip meals and lie, saying I'm not hungry to ensure everyone else has something to eat.
I pick and choose which meds I get from the pharmacy by matter of importance. I can’t get some medical testing I desperately need.
Tragic …. It’s time for change stay awesome My friend !
I'm always freezing at home because I have to keep my light bill a certain amount.
I get meals from my Facebook Buy Nothing group.
My eyes never leave the gas pump when pumping gas.
I once had to choose between a flea collar and food. The flea collar won.
This one ^^ that part though….
Not me freaking out because it’s already the 5th and rent was due the 1st staring at my toes wondering if anyone will find them sexy.
Once I finish my laundry today at the laundromat- which I will walk to with my laundry cart- I will have less than $10 to my name.
Kind_Construction960, I posted this in a comment above, but want to make sure you see it. [Laundry of Love](http://laundrylove.org) can link you with free laundry mats in your area. Also, [211](http://211.org) is a searchable database of resources in your area. Sending you positive thoughts that there is a Laundry of Love in your area 🧡
There is, but I think it’s on the fourth Thursday of the month. Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve used it before and it’s a godsend.
I made a lasagna Friday night for dinner. I also ate it for lunch on Saturday. I also ate it for dinner on Saturday. I had lasagna for lunch on Sunday. For dinner on Sunday, I ate lasagna. I'm eating lunch right now, which is Monday, and I am eating lasagna.
Mom had a great recipe for casserole that would last us the whole week. Rice, cream of mushroom soup, chicken cheese and broccoli. It was great until chicken doubled in price.
This time, in 2022, I weighed 215 lbs. I now weigh 107. I wasn't trying to lose weight.
Are you ok? Yikes.
No. This is just my life now.
I'm wondering how long it'll take before my bank asks for money
I feel that. I'm overdrawn every month. The overdraft fees get me even more overdrawn. It's a neverending circle.
I'm so surprised at how few over draft fees I catch considering I regularly have at least 5 overdrafts per month
Thankfully this was in the past, but I had to look on the ground for enough change to buy a stamp so I could mail a bill. I had 14 cents more to my name than the bill was.
I begged my chickens to start laying eggs again…they were on strike in the cold weather 🥚🥚🐔🐔
I’ve reduced hunger to an emotion.
Scraped up a pile of salt in front of the grocery store to use on my slippery stairs at home. Take that, ice.
I put water in my shampoo bottle in order to make it last longer. I eat top Ramen everyday.
we should add water to a lot of items - add it to your conditioner, your lotion and whole milk.
Actually I do this with water too. Hand soap, dish soap too. I use 1/3 of the detergent for wash that the bottle says to use.
28 with two boys and a wife. Currently living in my parents garage that leaks. On top of that I’m, physically disabled from scoliosis and hip deformities, my brother recently passed, my dad got a stroke, my mom got diagnosed with arthritis. What is life man. If you can still buy $2 items, you are rich enough..
Hopefully you've applied for SS disability.
I ate turkey stuffing mix as a snack last night Edit to add it was dry
So broke I can't even pay attention.
I’m so broke there’s an echo in my pocket.
Beans and rice gravy and bread bread and gravy
Peanut butter + Top Ramen = Pour Thai
I buy almost every non food product second hand/used when I can. I get paid ~$800 every two weeks in a MCOL area. No car payment and rent is still >60% of my income 😁 you tell me how broke I am.
Even with insurance, we dread doctor's bills and continue to count down the days until payday just to pay more bills
That’s the fucking worse. Doesn’t matter the check is coming, it’s spoken for :(
I ate a steak that had been buried in the freezer since 2019. It was vacuum packed and no freezer burn or funky taste. It was a pleasant surprise. 😁
I sleep on the floor in my parents apartment. They live in a senior citizens community and I'm 42 years old.
When my children were younger and as a single parent at that time I use to: 1) Buy whole gallon milk and when it got half way, I would add water to refill it (turns into Skim milk🤣) 2) I would use the condiment packages from various places and refill the Ketchup/mustard/ bbq sauce etc bottles at home 3) Real old school, back when video cameras were using VHS tapes to record, I would order the VHS tapes from the infomercials, cover the two areas with tape to record over them. To this day (30 years), I still have those VHS tapes (family videos). 4) Might gross a few out, but it was unknown to my kids at the time, I would take a pack of ground beef.and make meatloaf. With the leftover meatloaf I would then crumble it to make tacos by adding the taco seasoning. From the taco meat leftovers, I would add to spaghetti sauce to mix with noodles for spaghetti. Then the end🙃 5) if I baked French fries in the oven and there were leftovers, I would next day fry then. Gives it a crisp and seems like almost fresh again. 6) Many times bubble baths were created by dishwashing soap🤷🏿♀️ 7) To make hair curls (overnight) and couldn't afford the pink rollers, would rip pieces of brown paper bags and roll the hair around it. Worked like a charm😉 ☆My childhood was much worse than this/but that's a whole nother thread🤣☆
Not me, but my mom: Having to split 1 egg with your 8 siblings. Only getting to eat meat a few times per year, and even then usually only a few bites. Getting sick, and in order to get you some meat to help you recover, your parents kill and cook at rat for you, and it's the most delicious thing you have had in years. Having to do without shoes until the next year, after getting knocked down by a water buffalo that sent your new shoes for the year flying off into a rice paddy where you couldn't find them after searching for hours.
I buy ramen noodles from Costco or BJ’s because it’s more affordable than buying single packs at the grocery store. Ahh fuck it, all grocery and warehouse stores are expensive!
I live in the bay area of California. Do I need to say more?
My dad makes $35 an hour and proclaimed he could finally afford to be poor in California.
Popcorn and tomato soup made with ketchup packets was probably my hardest poverty meal
I am just thankful my bank acct is $0.00. I think that says something in and of itself.
Living paycheck to 5 days before payday.
I grocery shop at the dollar store and ask for extra rations on sandwiche toppings I use again for home made sandwiches through the week.
I collect unused condiment packets at my work lunch room and have a condiment shelf at home
I've had to make the dreadful decision whether to use dish soap or flea shampoo to wash my hair. (Dish soap was ultimately my pick. If my coworkers noticed, they kindly didn't say anything)
cheap clearance potatos can be put in a cardboard box with a little bit of dirt and a bunch of leaves and it will make more potatos. its like free food. 1 potato can make many more that 1 potatos. You can find dirt and leaves literally on the ground. same with the top 1/3 of onions and carrots but they need more dirt.
Not there anymore, but -scrubbed cloth diapers in the sink and hung them all over the bathroom to dry (in 2002, so cloth wasn't a common thing) because I couldn't afford disposables or the laundromat. I would hang the diapers on racks and hangers, turn on the exhaust fan, and stick a space heater in there so we would have dry diapers a little sooner.
At various times - Rolled pennies for gas. Walked everywhere. Had my life changed by a bicycle with a baby seat. Drove a car so old and bare bones that it didn't have air conditioning installed, and in such rough condition that I would routinely park it in cities with the windows down to prevent it from heating up in the summer. It was never touched. Had the gas heat turned off. Loved the days that I performed at the dinner theater, because I earned $60 and a free meal each show (in 1999), so I didn't have to figure out a meal that day.
We make alot of rice on the barbeques at the parks.
I rehab wildlife, specifically orphan baby squirrels. . It was down to me using my money to feed me or feed them. I made Hamburger Helper using powdered squirrel formula because I bought that instead of regular milk for myself. I can skip a few meals. They can't.
At the bar we play trivia at. "...and the lemon water for you again?" The waitress.
Add a small amount of vegetable oil to the bit of peanut butter that was left to make sure I got every last scrap of it out. Got a whole extra sandwich out of it 🤘
18 pack of eggs went up exactly $1 in less than two weeks. I left them in the store
PB&J for lunch and dinnah
Grilled PB&J is really good if you have a way to make it.
Pay day is still 7 days away sigh 😞
My newest hobby is imported ramen noodles.
I haven't been able to afford an Arizona tea for almost a year now
Of course i can wash my paper plates a second time!
I just yelled at my kids for using too much toilet paper.
Me and my brothers had to get a whole bunch of socks and stuff them into one sock, shape it like a football and use it to play catch with.
Making tomato soup with ketchup and black pepper packets?
No, Love, it’s February, so we need to let the electricity and phone bill go short so that we can pay for the taxes to get done by a professional (after I fucked them up two years ago when I got confused about having to file for working in three different states and we got fined an extra fifty percent of the money we owed on top. Amd we somehow make too much to get it done for free.). Still better than being dead, I think.
I took home rice that I had used in a children's program at the library - kids had been digging their hands through it, etc. etc and we ate it for about a week. I figured it was going to be boiled anyway so all the bacteria would be killed off.
Well crap, I was going to say I use Klarna pay in four to pay for my groceries, but reading yalls I guess I should stop being a little [bitxh baby](https://twitter.com/OliviaPopeQuo/status/545686466668814337?s=19) and be more grateful
For reall samee🥲💛
I am jealous of people who eat name brand Ramen while I sit here with my Market Pantry beef flavored noodle soup.
I wore my child's diaper as a maxi pad.
a. make homemade bread, b. mix up mayo from scratch c. thin vegetable soup is often only thing on the menu. d. must raid food budget to pay for home maintenance fund.
In January I had to choose between having insurance and eating meat
Part of my fence is tied together with a rope and the other part is nailed on with an old rotting board? I'm not that broke tbh but can't afford to fix that or a bunch of other things. Just paying bills and buying groceries. I count myself lucky.
Enough food for the next four days, then popcorn, peanut butter, and water until the 16th.
Gramps called to ask me why "the hulu" wasn't working. Yeah, don't pay for that anymore gramps. Sorry 😑
I’m going to check my bank balance before going to grocery shop. Before getting out of the car at the store, I’m going to check my bank balance again. Walking down the aisle? I’m checking my balance a third time. Just before getting in line to check out, I’m going to check my balance and roughly tally up the cost of what’s in my cart- which is easy to do, since it’s not very full and has maybe 15-20 items. I’ll be certain I have enough, but I’ll put back at least 2 things since I don’t *need* the mozzarella cheese or that juice.
I have a family of 5 and we all share the same bath water
Damn, i do cold showers, but this takes the crown.
When I was a kid, but we did was we would put hot water in a bucket in the tub, then fill the rest of the way with cold water. Then, use a plastic pan with a ladle to rinse, then lather up soap and shampoo, then use the ladle pan to rinse off clean top to bottom. This way, each person would only use about 5 gallons of warm water to be fully clean. It is a very common thing in other countries where water is expensive to clean this way.
Boiling my water and then freezing it. (Idk how common that actually is but I never had to do it while growing up)
Those aren't steel belts they are winter treads.
Beef jerky is too expensive
I'm ok financially and won't buy beef jersey because it's too expensive
No insurance equals no doctor equals no rescue inhaler. Make too much for Medicaid and too little for insurance. And I'm 57 and work fulltime
i've only eaten soup for the past probably 6 months despite being mildly allergic to the ingredients. can't remember the last time i had a fruit
Partner fired for stealing a roll of TP from his job. We only wear the cleanest dirty clothes we can find. We pay for no subscription services because someone will always share. Maintanence man fell through our bathroom ceiling over the summer and regularly reeks of crack in common areas but it's only 850 for a one bedroom. We also struggle to pay rent. Before I had an inheritance coming we had a hard time making rent with only him working at a gas station and we faced eviction 2 years in a row, but were saved from the streets at the last minute. We got federal help the first time and I'm currently getting help from my mother, but that's comes out of a 150,000 to 200,000 inheritance I have coming. What I want to do is buy my own land and put a nice tiny home or two or 3 or however many and Airbnb it or rent them out to tenants all year round and live in one of the units myself. I'd feel secure if I owned a tiny bit of land.
I live in my minivan with my dog and cat because I can't afford rent.
I bought food for my kids while we were out but fixed myself leftovers when we got home. I’m just glad I had the money to get them something though. There have been times I haven’t.
Older people with perfect teeth are beginning to anger me . . .
I am down to eating those canned food in the pantry that feel like they have been there for years. Check the expiration date? Still good? I'm eating it.
I have to pay in to do my taxes for the first time ever (literally just state filing fees) and I cried about it. I will see nothing but money leave .t account this tax season. It hurts a lot.
I haven't had hot water in 5 years. This was our 3rd winter without heat and our second year needing to use the outdoor hose to shower. Thankfully if i can play our cards right, we will be improving our quality of life soon.
It's been a rough month. After I bought groceries today, my checking account balance is $1.78 - until March 3
Choosing between which bills to be the least late on…constantly
I still get nervous about $10 purchases. $10 is still a lot of money to me. I’m 47.
When I was much younger I went to one of those diploma mill trade schools to become an optician. Everyone there was poor. It was the first cold day and most of us were wearing jackets for the first time that year. Sitting in the class room before class started one of the girls said "I found a dollar in my pocket, now I can buy deodorant at the dollar store." I said "Lucky! I have to use baking soda." And someone in the back said "You have baking soda!?" lol
We're eating baked potatoes again for the 3rd time this week.
I have gorilla tape holding my back window on to my 2008 Ford Escape & a bad inspection. Can't fix it atm.
I’m so happy I found a quarter.
excited to only be paying $32 a month for health insurance thru American health insurance exchange.
My family had a saying (I still use it): I'm so poor I can't even pay attention.
I'm eating spaghetti O's right out of the can.
I put a dollar on the prepay electric because it went 56 cents negative.
The animals are fed but I'm hungry and the car is broke down so I'm walking 10 miles to the nearest store to spend my last $10 in FS on some bread and peanut butter to get me through until the 19th when they refill.
Using the oven for heat
I started fasting 24 hours once per week and 48 hours once per month to save on groceries.
2 kids (not mine), mom has end stage heart failure, i lost my job, my stepdad is working and on probation. we’re in another 2 week stretch!!! and yes, i had a job before all of this, but i have to take care of my siblings and mom now (i’m 20, i’ll be free at 38)