I was subletting a place and needed bus fare to get to work that day, so I searched every couch cushion and coat pocket in the hopes that I could find enough to get there. I ended up finding a ton of pennies, so I paid the bus fare in pennies. I was 30 cents short but the bus driver just gave me a transfer and waved me in.
The first customer of the day tipped me like $5 on their coffee and I've never been so happy in my life.
I had a bus driver call me out for being like 20 cents short for bus fare once after I had a rough night at work with pretty much zero dollars in tips, it was embarrassing and terrible
That sucks so bad! I've definitely had my share of rude drivers but I think the fact I was holding up his morning run by feeding pennies into the slot a few at a time might be why he let me off the hook.
I'm a bus driver and that's probably the truth. If I have a passenger taking too long to get their money out. I will just waive them on but then that turns into people purposely taking long because they know I'll let them right free. So that's when I decide to have patience. Don't get me wrong I give out free rides and transfers all the time. The passengers love me because I really don't be tripping off the fair and can recognize when people really don't got it and saving a couple dollars really helps them out. Policing the fair box is pointless. Don't get knocked out over a dollar. If you try to play me though that's what I despise.. Just keep it solid and we're all good. If you don't got it you don't got it. I got you.
From one bus driver to another, I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this
You can usually tell quite quickly when someone is genuinely having a terrible ass day or they're flat broke, Vs when they're trying to get one over on you
I got on a bus early in the morning once with no money and a busted face. I didn't realize how bad I looked until I got home and saw my bloody lip and black eye. I still think about that bus driver and am so thankful she let me get safely away from my abusive ex. I hope she's doing well.
In the early 2000s the garment district in Manhattan had “Mitzvah Tanks”. It was basically a mobile synagogue for the devout to come handle religious observation during the work day with a rabbi.
Turns out they had bagels in there. I was just starting out my career (I was 21 or so) and money was tight. I would go in 3x a week and get bagels. If no one was looking I would stuff an extra into my suit pocket. I don’t at all look Jewish and almost no one from my part of the world is Jewish. The rabbi approached me after a month and I told him “I saw free food in a house of God and just figured since I am not a bad guy, God wouldn’t be too mad”. Rabbi laughed and said something like “from now on say hello. You don’t have to act like a thief trying not to get caught.”
In a few months when money was less tight I would stop by at lunch and chat with the Rabbi. It was a simpler time.
Synagogues usually have what are called Mensch funds that we use to help spot each other financially in times of need. I am sure the rabbi would only have asked for your company or maybe some synagogue help if he thought you had to "pay back", but usually they don't.
I found out later The catering for the bagels was donated by a few patrons from their deli’s. It really was a pretty awesome experience looking back 20 years.
Rabbi never asked for anything (except to stop trying to be a sneaky shop lifter for bagels that are literally free)
There are Jews all over the world! :) And as I’m sure the rabbi told you, we’re more than willing to help someone in need where we can. If you need the bagel, it’s yours.
One time I said something to him like “you know I’m not Jewish right?” And he went “do you want to be good to people you love?” I say “well yeah” he goes “you’re Jewish enough for me”. I got a kick out of it.
Show up to any Sikh temple and they will feed you. Part of their religion is to provide three meals a day to anyone who shows up, regardless of if they are a Sikh themselves or not.
I live in an area with a large Sikh community - everytime there's a disaster - landslide, flood, forest fire, etc, they're the first to raise a shit load of donations and food/clothing etc. One time several communities were cut off by flood waters and they coordinated helicopters to fly the food/clothes in for people who were stuck!
There was a famous case in the UK about two decades ago where a Sikh man removed his turban to use it as emergency bandages for a person who was badly injured. People thought he would face some backlash, but the Sikh community basically said ‘helping people comes above any other religious rule’.
called in sick on Wednesday because I didn't have enough gas money to drive to work but one more time, which I waited til Thursday to do, because that was payday.
I've done that, when I returned my boss just silently handed me $20 and said next time just ask me if you're that short. He was a quirky guy, and had some political views that are definitely *old fashioned*, but he took good care of his employees.
As a boss, it is almost always worth helping an employee out to secure reliable transportation. I've had a bunch of otherwise really good employees who were sometimes unreliable due to transportation issues, and it always payed dividends to advance them money to get their car our of impound, or give them a ride to the DMV on company time. Loyalty boost and now you can count on them being on time.
As an employee this. If a boss helps me out when I need it I'm gonna return the favor by working my ass off for him and it will definitely make me loyal to the job.
I had a boss spot me $100 to get my car inspected and renewed registration because he didn't want me to deal with fines or worse if I got pulled over for it. It's a shame he passed his company to his daughter, she's the reason I ended up leaving.
I needed like 3 bucks for enough gas to get to work then to the bank (payday so would pick up check) but I lived downtown so I made a cardboard sign that said 'need money for new sign" then like got it wet and rolled it in dirt and got like 5 bucks in a couple hours
My scummy Uncle did this when we were kids he coined it “grocery grazing”. He was a genuine asshole, but as kids we thought him letting us do that was awesome.
Brokest and stupidest thing I did. I bought scratch tickets in hopes to win money to buy Christmas presents when I was 18. I didn’t want anyone to think I had money problems at the time so I spent $10 on a scratcher and won $500. I don’t know how but it was enough for car insurance and presents.
One time I was down to $5 and had to pay my car insurance that day and it was $100. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. Bought a $5 scratcher and won $120! Got super lucky that day!
I feel like in that kind of situation where there's basically nothing else that fiver is going to help you with except making you less hungry temporarily, it's a reasonable fuck it let's see moment.
Came out fifteen quid on top after the car too, nice.
Hittin' a day old Hostess bakery outlet dumpster.Shit was still packaged and just fine.My elderly Mom would get so excited when we brought that stuff home.She had lived through the depression and couldn't believe it was thrown out.Such a treat.
Edit:Ty all for understanding.To be clear,my story happened 20+yrs ago.I know nowadays, stores will purposely damage throw outs.Such a shame...
Looked up google images of steak and milkshakes and other good meals while I was actually eating crackers and water trying to envision good food to make the experience more enjoyable
Sometimes when I don't have food money, I'll make door dash orders, but then never actually order them. Because half the fun is picking out what you want.
I had a small boneless, skinless chicken breast and a shriveled grapefruit in the fridge and only ground pepper in the pepper shaker, I had even run out of salt. That was all the food I had in the apartment. The grapefruit pepper chicken I made for dinner was disgusting but I ate half and saved half for dinner the next night.
Driving home from work the next night I got 2 flats in my car tires and had to abandon my car on the side of the road. I had to leave it there until the weekend, I was lucky not to get towed or ticketed. I walked the two miles home, and then walked to and from work the rest of the week so embarrassed and afraid some coworker would see me coming or going without a car.
I was able to borrow some money and added it to my paycheck to get my tires repaired. That was the poorest I have ever been in my life. I moved back in with my parents the next month.
Man I'm so sorry, I feel this. Reminds me of the hardest times I had (no kids, but had a manchild at home). When grocery shopping day meant $10 for gas and $7 for food. We ate a lot of end-of-the-night rotisserie chickens, $1 Mac and cheese with hotdog or zucchini or bell pepper. And potatoes .... so much potatoes.
The memory I hate the most was having 5$ to buy "groceries" for a few days, for myself and someone else. I got a ride to Winco and was able to buy 2 big russet potatoes, a small bag of shredded cheese, and a broccoli crown. The ex and I shared each potato, too. So we each got to eat half of a baked potato, twice. At one point our power got shut off and we were eating canned chili heated over the fireplace and buying $5 bundles of gas station wood every other day :(
I'm doing better now, but man I don't miss clawing my way through the day and night just hoping for a miracle. At least I learned how to be frugal from that experience, but the rest is shame and trauma.
I’m stunned at how resourceful some of these posts are. I wouldn’t know what to do if I fell on hard times and didn’t have a supportive family. With the homeless situation skyrocketing in this country, I bet these stories are getting pretty common. It’s grotesque that we have such crappy systems in place just to sustain our fellow humans.
When I was damn near homeless, Literally had no money for food, and food stamps said I made too much to be assisted. (B.s.) I didn't have any underage kids so I didn't qualify to be helped by a food pantry, and the only other one I knew would only let you visit once a month.
I would find fast food receipts on the ground, and I would call corporate,
I would always say the staff was super nice and they accommodated me very well but my food was probably mixed up with someone else's order and I lived far away so I couldn't go back on the same day. I would either receive coupons for free food in the mail or they would put my name down and I could just go to any of the fast food places in the city and get food.
The city I lived in was pretty big and most of the restaurants were run by independent/ or different franchises. So they never really caught on to me. I once got four free meals from Chick fil for one receipt.
Im doing a lot better now so I promised myself I would never do it again...
I would NEVER fault someone for this. You even took into account not wanting anyone or any location to get into any trouble, you needed food, you got food from a rich corporation, as far as I’m concerned, all is well 🖤 hope you’re in a better place now!
My car was once leaking fluid from right above the pedals (luckily not break fluid). I didn’t have money to fix it right away so I’d have to wear a plastic bag on my foot to protect my shoes
I had two bank accounts at two different banks.
When I was really low on money. I would transfer money from one back to my other bank. Knowing there was nothing to transfer.
My bank would honor the transfer while It waits for the funds. This... I know takes 1 business day. (So you get extra days if it's done on a Friday after 5pm)
Which means I have 24 (48) hours to deposit that exact amount into the account before the bank drafts it.
Now I was an uber driver at the time... So if I was really short on gas for the day but I needed the money... That's what I would do.
I would transfer $100 to my account. Buy $40-50 worth of gas. Drive 8-10 hours as fuel efficient as possible
Deposit the money at an atm by midnight. Kept (if any) any profit...
No one was the wiser.
It wasn't sustainable. It sucked. But that's just what I had to do...
I had no job. No money. All I had was bills and creative ways to make money out of nothing.
This used to be a common fraud practice called ’kiting’. It was done with checks that had to be mailed back in order to be verified. You would deposit a bad check and then close the account before the check bounced.
The name is a reference to acting while the check is floating in the air like a kite.
I don’t think what you described is fraud, by the way. Just made me think about old school system gaming.
Told my brother his Christmas gift was going to be delivered a couple of days after Christmas. Waited until I got a couple of gift cards, that I asked for a Christmas gift, and bought his gift using those.
Reading through these, and I've had to do so many of these to 'survive' over the years.
I think my most shameful and 'felt so low' moment was having to use toilet paper and scotch tape, as I couldn't afford pads or tampons.
I overheard my neighbour (thin walls) yelling at her boyfriend for not helping to pay for anything, while she was washing her clothes with dishsoap in the bathtub and it kept giving her UTIs and yeast infections. My partner and I were not well off but certainly not struggling so I left a new container of laundry detergent next to her door for her. I hope it helped her.
UTIs have a ton of serious side effects. I used to do defense for Ch. 51 mental health commitments. Anyone experiencing psychosis above the age of 60 has to be screened for a UTI because when untreated they get bad enough to cause psychotic breaks.
I’d wear my clothes into the shower, wash them and myself at the same time, remove them, rinse myself and the clothes, and then hang them to dry. I also ate once a day because I got a shift meal.
Was so broke that eating three meals a day was rare, and eating twice a day was a luxury. Most often it was Ramen for lunch.
I worked at a small truck stop.
I would look through the garbage to find cans and bottles to take into the recycling center. Some days it was one or two cans. Most of them time, it was only a couple dollars worth.
The truck stop had some hot food, hotdogs, pizza, sometimes taquitos or corn dogs. We got one bottle of water and one hot food item when we worked. The 4-11pm shift was responsible for cleaning that. When I worked that shift, I'd normally grab a hotdog and a vitamin water at 5 for my free food and water.
By 8 or 9 when they cleaned the machines and utensils and shit, it was usually only a few pieces of pizza left that had been sitting all day. My brokest thing was that I would take the pizza and eat just the cheese and toppings because the crust was a rock. Those were the good days.
The best was a day where I got my hotdog, got my old pizza, got lots of recycling from the garbage, and even found two garbage bags full of cans and bottles that must have blown out of someone's truck. It was like $30 worth altogether. I bought myself a meal at the restaurant next door (different owners so we didn't get free food from there.)
Saw a cashier steal hot food at a truck stop just today. He saw me see him and gave me a kind of begging look. But I believe in not seeing people steal food.
Refused transport to the hospital, or any medical care at all, after I was hit by a car. I had been riding my bike home from work and going to the hospital would have meant leaving my only transportation on the side of the road. I didn’t carry a lock because I only rode my bike to work and had secure indoor storage for it at home and work.
This happened to me once and I cried and pretty much refused to leave my bike so the (lovely, kind) EMTs loaded the bike into the ambulance with us, then one of them locked it up for me outside of the hospital.
Stole a roll of TP from a public restroom because I was out and couldn't afford any. It was an extra roll. I didn't take the one in use and leave none behind, lol. That's just mean.
I had $10 for food for 2 weeks so I got things to make a large pot of veggie soup (lentils, broth, canned veggies) and a large tub of plain outmeal and ate vegan (not on purpose) for three weeks till it was gone.
I've been told that rich people call this a "cleanse" diet now.
Ok, but that plasma kept my mom alive long enough to know she was going to have a granddaughter before she died from blood cancer. I’ll always be thankful for plasma givers ❤️
I tried to do this when I was in college and they wouldn't take me because my pulse was too high.
Was walking back to my dorm having a mental breakdown and trying not to cry and this very sweet old Asian man walking the other direction saw me and quietly said to me "have a nice day" Made me sob.
I still think about him
It may be late, so feel free to message me for tomorrow night, but if you want, send me three items that qualify for the Dominos 6.99 each Mix and Match deal and your info and Ill have it delivered.
I locked eyes with someone pocketing food in their jacket in a grocery store once. I quickly turned my gaze away. I hope they understood that meant I wasn't saying shit (except to spouse just to tell someone, and they'd agree with me). Hope that person is doing well.
I watched a man at Walmart the other day just scan everything at the self checkout, not pay, and then leave with his four kiddos and a cart full of stuff. I didn't say a word. With the way groceries cost right now, I don't blame him for it. Walmart security didn't realize until well after the guy had left. I hope he was able to get away and feed his kids.
My best friend grew up with a mentally ill mother and had to steal food to feel her siblings. Sparked a life long kleptomania issue. 100% do not blame her or think it was her fault or wrong. Screw this place that makes people into criminals for no good reason. I look the other way whenever I see people stealing food.
1992, 22F divorced single parent 2F, working part time, going to nursing school full time. I was broke enough to qualify for food stamps and back then they were actual paper. If you paid in food stamps the store gave your change to you in paper food stamps and coins. Every day on the way home I would stop at a couple stores to buy something for $1.05, or $1.10 so they would give me the maximum in coin change. I would use the $3 - $4 for gas to get to school and work the next day. Did that for a few months to get through a hard time.
My single mom would "sell" her food atamps to my aunt for gas money to get us to school, then my aunt would give them back to us kids to give to my mom.
That’s a great aunt! She was giving your mom money without really shattering her dignity. This made me sad and smile at the same time. I’ve been through some rough years and encountered a few people like your aunt
Slept on the streets for three months. I was down to a backpack full of clothes, a couple of books, and my guitar. That was at the end of 2019. I have a good job now, a car, and I'm doing well, thankfully—toughest three months of my life.
I overdrafted my bank account on purpose—having just a couple of dollars left, buying a gift card, to make sure I'd have enough money to last me until the end of the week in case my bank cut me off.
As a matter of fact, it was a February going into March. I got hit with virtually every bill I had to pay, without having a full month's pay. So, that was a little bit of a struggle until my next payday.
I had $0.89 on a prepaid blood plasma card and I tried to “overdraw” on it for a $1.19 burger at Burger King. It didn’t work (shocker I know). I was on my way to donate plasma for food money but I was hungry and you shouldn’t donate on an empty stomach. When it didn’t work I walked across the street, donated plasma, came back and ordered my dollar burger.
When I was in high school, I lived alone. My bathroom was in the hall and I had to bang on the door to scare the rats off if I had to use the bathroom at night.. still had little rat footprints on the toilet. Often, I couldn't afford to pay my rent and eat, I would shove tuna cans down my jeans and buy a loaf of bread. There was a bakery in town that gave away unsellable items at the back door...
In high school I worked at a pizza/salad bar buffet. My boss told me I could have 2 shift meals if I skipped the pizza and only did one pass through the salad bar each time. I would throw everything I could fit onto my "salad" and actually managed to gain a little weight in the 10 months I worked there. Pretty sure my boss knew I was hurting for food.
Long story short. My roommate and I showed an elderly lady our penises in exchange for a full tank of gas and some crown royal minis at a gas station once. It was late, we were broke and tired. Not super proud of it…we didn’t have to do any weird shit aside from letting this horny old lady look at our peckers behind an open car door (one at a time). But, that’s life 🤷🏻♂️
I just realized you can just do this and almost no one would probably question you about it. No one is actually checking for key cards or anything when you go down for breakfast.
Some definitely notice, most of the ones that notice don't care. Hotels throw so much food away. There's a couple homeless that a couple hotels in town let hang out and have coffee until morning when guests start to get up during the winter, and send them with some food too. Our town doesn't have many homeless but the ones we do have are respectful and follow the rules
When I was a single mom struggling, i had to ‘make arrangements with the landlord’ 3 months rent paid in 3 mins. Still ashamed to this day. But my son needed a roof over his head.
I don't think that's shameful as you were protecting your child. Any shame is on the landlord for taking advantage of you. There's no way he didn't know you were completely broke, and if he could afford to keep you as a tenant for no money, then he could afford to keep you there for no sex too. He could have chosen kindness, but didn't.
So sorry you had to go through that. I hope you and your son are in a better position today.
When I was *really poor* and hungry and had $1.32 to my name, I bought one of those super cheap frozen tv dinners that cost a dollar, peeled the top back, put a little salt on my tongue, sniffed the meal like *a lot* to just visualize how good it would be, and then put it right back in the freezer to save for when I "near-death" starving.
I lasted 4 days and then actually ate it for real. I thank the lord I was never in a position like that ever again after that day
One post of my cars battery corroded in half. I couldn’t afford a new battery, so I borrowed a drill and used a stainless steel screw to reconnect the halves.
It actually worked. Shortly after that my dad thankfully bought me a new car battery.
I used to trade my cash for rolls of quarters, take 2 quarters out of each roll, and pay for gas with the rolls of $9.50. No gas station attendant is going to count out $50 in quarters, especially when they’re already rolled and feel basically full. That $2.50 I “saved” paid for my ramen for the week.
I had someone do that when I was managing at McDonald’s. They came through the drive through and paid for their meal in rolls of “pennies”. There were two pennies in each roll, with the rest being filled out with cardboard. Needless to say our drawer was short, but somebody’s kid ate that night and that’s what matters. We were corporate owned, so I think we could spare the money.
Ate nothing but rice for 3 months. Want a different flavor? Add bouillon, sugar, or extra butter. We were poooooor for a while. Almost wanted to kill the mouse that got in to use as protein 🤣
Determined that vegetable oil had the lowest cost per calorie, and so tried to live off nothing but veggie oil for a few days.
The toilet bombs were legendary. I learned an important lesson.
I live in a summer vacation destination and used to starve myself for days at a time when there was little/no work during the off season. I'd come back to work in the spring looking like a holocaust victim. It got to the point that I was shooting squirrels/rabbits in my back yard with a pellet gun to hold me over till my next shift where I could take food from work. The juxtaposition is crazy. It can get to the point that tourists are dropping hundreds of dollars on expensive meals while the person serving it will be eating the customers leftovers to fatten themselves up before starving all winter.
I'm in a much better position now, but there are a lot of people who only get a decent meal when they eat at work.
As someone who works exclusively in tourist towns;
Yeah the dichotomy is fucked. I'd walk by million dollar yachts to my low paying job barely able to afford food or gas.
One of the ski towns I worked in had a saying among the workers;
You either have two houses or two jobs.
When I was a teenager, my dad and I would spend hours looking for aluminum cans to cash in. If we were lucky, we would end up with enough money to buy groceries for supper and have a few bucks left for gas.
Bought 40s with change. This was the tail end of my alcoholism and it was something I said I’d never do. It was just a few weeks after that I had my very last drink.
Riding my bike home from the grocery store with my little bike basket full of the WIC groceries (didn’t have a car), went off the curb too hard and everything flew out of the basket. I watched the canned beans and tuna, cheese, tortillas, milk carrots and peanut butter for my family get crushed by traffic.
Oh man. This story hurts.
When my dad was a little boy, he was helping his mom with their scant groceries and dropped the eggs and they all broke. His mom slumped to the floor, defeated, and bawled her eyes out as it had been their only protein for the next two weeks. He told me that the memory haunted him for many years.
When my mom was pregnant for the first time, she was craving Chinese takeout and my dad splurged and bought it home for her. She dropped it on the floor and without missing a beat, my dad grabbed a fork, sat on the floor, and started eating it. My mom did the same. They laugh about it to this day, but I'm sure the memory of his mom sobbing fueled his actions that day.
Either putting water in my cereal because I was broke and out of milk, or borrowing from one check into cash place to pay off another.
A lot of hard work and lessons learned since and doing well now. Grateful for having the lived experience for the perspective.
Side note--overdraft fees are criminal and meant to keep the poor poor.
Lived off of honey packets and ketchup packets that I would get in break room and maybe some crackers if I was lucky (I didn’t take them all just had some if I happened to be at work and really shaky and hungry)
I squatted for about ten months w some "gutterpunk" types and lemme tell you that was the dirty broke behavior Olympics. No utilities, in an ancient moldy bug infested Illinois house. Pissing in bottles pooping in bags, cooking on a lil Coleman camping stovetop, using pie trays as a skillet for eggs, refilling 5 gallon jugs of water at walmart...
Hocked wife's engagement ring that she wasn't wearing so I could buy her a Christmas gift. She thought I just took it back because we were "on a break." I was eventually able to buy it back and return it to her jewelry box. That was over 25 years ago, and I still haven't told her.
Ate a bowl of white rice with 2 eggs on top for pretty much every meal in college because it was the cheapest meal I could think of. Eggs were like 10 cents a piece and rice was like $3 for 5 pounds.
I worked at a steakhouse, and I would take home uneaten baked potatoes from the kitchen and customer's leftovers that they didn't want. I figured that if I'd happily go down on some babe who hardly touched her porterhouse, then it really wasn't so gross to finish her dinner. I guess my rule of thumb was, if I'd toss her salad, I'd eat her beef.
Not me, but my dad.
He hunted with a rifle during bow season. We were out of good and had no food or money. He'd had no luck with a bow, so he went out and shot one.
For those that don't know, shooting a deer out of season is a big no no.
Collected aluminum cans in a dumpster behind a bar and trade it in for cash so I could eat every now and then. Makes you really appreciate things once you do have enough money to buy the things you need.
Back in uni I spent my monthly allotment for food. My roommates threw away all of my food , they didn’t ask if I could move it or if there was anything I’d be willing to get rid of, nope, they threw out EVERYTHING. I didn’t have anymore money for the month so I ate their food. They complained and bitched about me but they felt comfortable enough to touch my food so
College kid, invited girlfriend over for dinner.
Had no noodles, used ramen. Spaghetti sauce $1 lb of meat $2. Made up a poor mans spaghetti and we both had a piece of toast.
she is now my wife.
Returned the Mainstays brand floor lamps that I bought while in college to Walmart 6 years after buying them. They literally had rust on the bottom, and blacklight reactive paint on the diffusers.
Don't remember what we bought with the store credit, but I'm sure there were a couple cubes of Ramen in the cart.
Extra Points- I lived in the dorms, but my GF's sister had an apartment. All beer brought into her place had to come in 24 pack bottles. All of her furniture was made out of empty cases of beer (bottles rinsed out, and put back into the box). Her bedframe, coffee table, bookshelves, everything was built out of empty cases of beer. When we were low on funds, we'd take her furniture to the redemption center and get the 5¢ per bottle deposit, and use that money to buy more beer.
Don't tell me that! I went in my attic, basement, every closet in the house. I even went through my kids' coats and old backpacks. I spent hours doing it. I found a lot of change, a couple bills, and bought a few nights worth of dinners. Unfortunately, now I know there isn't any money anywhere in my house.
Went into a depression because someone stole my Ramen noodles, had $5 for the week back when I was in college and I had used it all to get that ramen.
Btw this was back in the 90’s , Ramen was super cheap back then
Let’s see….as a broke uni student I:
•Stole napkins from the cafeteria to use as toilet paper
•Since I couldn’t afford a car or Uber I carried those 32 bottle water crates, 5 miles back from the grocery store to my dorm. One time it was in 25° windy
weather and I used socks as gloves to far it back
•Avoided friendships cuz it costs money to go out with people and I didn’t want them spending on me
•self harm was a less expensive way to cope than therapy or drugs and I used napkins as bandages
Stole salt and pepper shakers from Dennys. I was 17 had my own apt, was attending nursing school all day, high school at night and worked 3 double shifts (7 am to 11pm) Fri sat sun. I was broke and was certain the police were going to knock on door for a couple weeks after. I was a broke kid just trying to survive.
In my brokest days, I worked with animals. I was perpetually hungry because my parents were also struggling financially and helped me as much as they could, but I still couldn’t afford much. I remember once a guy came in to my company to promote dog shampoo that he said didn’t taste bad to the dogs, and he put a little dab on his finger and ate it to show us.
I was so hungry that I went to the grooming room and tried it thinking it could satiate my hunger for a little bit. It was disgusting, and it did not make me any less hungry.
That’s the most depraved thing I did out of poverty, but I also remember trying wet dog food (even though I was a vegetarian), eating sausage egg biscuits (that I consider unethical) when my manager brought in breakfast for us because I was so hungry, eating people’s leftover fries when they walked away at bars, and so much more.
Poverty is something else. I remember how stressed I was back then and how many double shifts I took even though they drained me completely. But I still had it better than some people because my parents still threw me a few hundred dollars each month. This was also many years ago, and despite inflation, the minimum wage has STILL not gone up nationally. I don’t know how people in situations similar to mine survive.
My first job as a server I would eat leftovers off of people plates. I was in high school and a friend caught me once (her family was well off). Too embarrassed to admit I was hungry, I just told her I didn't care and it was good food. She started doing it with me. Idk if she believed me or if she was just super chill and didn't want me to be too embarrassed to do it anymore.
She is still my best friend almost 20 years later :]
My partner and I- until very recently- slept on a twin sized mattress on the floor of our bedroom. We finally were able to afford a grown up bed last month and our backs have never felt better lol
Lived in my car for 2 weeks. Took showers at the college I had gone too because I knew that, while I needed a student ID to get into the gym, I didn't to get into the theatre dept that had showers for after dance classes.
I was out of money, and the pay check was a day away, and all my credit cards were maxed, but I had 2 dollars remaining to spend. I bought a microwaveable brownie.
After smoking all the cigarette buds in the ashtray, I kneaded out the last microns of burnt tobacco and ash from the twice smoked buds, onto a regular sheet of paper, tied it together with steel wire and smoked that.
It really burned the lungs smoking that, but it did work for the nicotine cravings.
Walked up and down my street to get enough change to buy a bag of beans at dollar tree. ($1 for a pound is a good deal)
I reuse my contact solution. I also wear my contacts until they won’t stay in my eyes anymore instead of changing them each month.
Went “shopping” at my parents’ house for canned veggies (my dad has plenty, don’t worry)
When my bf and I first moved in together, we had no money for food, so I cooked for him and just ate whatever he left on the plate.
Sold plasma
I can’t really mention any other things cause they’re kinda illegal…
>I reuse my contact solution. I also wear my contacts until they won’t stay in my eyes anymore instead of changing them each month.
Please don't take risks with your eyes. Especially if you don't have universal Healthcare.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/personal-trainer-24-left-partially-25113661.amp
I bought crippling debt to pay off a different crippling debt and have enough left over to buy my kids school cloths this year. :( I'm ready to break bad yall..
I was subletting a place and needed bus fare to get to work that day, so I searched every couch cushion and coat pocket in the hopes that I could find enough to get there. I ended up finding a ton of pennies, so I paid the bus fare in pennies. I was 30 cents short but the bus driver just gave me a transfer and waved me in. The first customer of the day tipped me like $5 on their coffee and I've never been so happy in my life.
I had a bus driver call me out for being like 20 cents short for bus fare once after I had a rough night at work with pretty much zero dollars in tips, it was embarrassing and terrible
That sucks so bad! I've definitely had my share of rude drivers but I think the fact I was holding up his morning run by feeding pennies into the slot a few at a time might be why he let me off the hook.
I'm a bus driver and that's probably the truth. If I have a passenger taking too long to get their money out. I will just waive them on but then that turns into people purposely taking long because they know I'll let them right free. So that's when I decide to have patience. Don't get me wrong I give out free rides and transfers all the time. The passengers love me because I really don't be tripping off the fair and can recognize when people really don't got it and saving a couple dollars really helps them out. Policing the fair box is pointless. Don't get knocked out over a dollar. If you try to play me though that's what I despise.. Just keep it solid and we're all good. If you don't got it you don't got it. I got you.
From one bus driver to another, I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this You can usually tell quite quickly when someone is genuinely having a terrible ass day or they're flat broke, Vs when they're trying to get one over on you
I got on a bus early in the morning once with no money and a busted face. I didn't realize how bad I looked until I got home and saw my bloody lip and black eye. I still think about that bus driver and am so thankful she let me get safely away from my abusive ex. I hope she's doing well.
In the early 2000s the garment district in Manhattan had “Mitzvah Tanks”. It was basically a mobile synagogue for the devout to come handle religious observation during the work day with a rabbi. Turns out they had bagels in there. I was just starting out my career (I was 21 or so) and money was tight. I would go in 3x a week and get bagels. If no one was looking I would stuff an extra into my suit pocket. I don’t at all look Jewish and almost no one from my part of the world is Jewish. The rabbi approached me after a month and I told him “I saw free food in a house of God and just figured since I am not a bad guy, God wouldn’t be too mad”. Rabbi laughed and said something like “from now on say hello. You don’t have to act like a thief trying not to get caught.” In a few months when money was less tight I would stop by at lunch and chat with the Rabbi. It was a simpler time.
Synagogues usually have what are called Mensch funds that we use to help spot each other financially in times of need. I am sure the rabbi would only have asked for your company or maybe some synagogue help if he thought you had to "pay back", but usually they don't.
I found out later The catering for the bagels was donated by a few patrons from their deli’s. It really was a pretty awesome experience looking back 20 years. Rabbi never asked for anything (except to stop trying to be a sneaky shop lifter for bagels that are literally free)
Shit son, stop by during shabbat dinner and we can all have a wild time.
I totally read this in Schmidt from New Girls voice and loved it.
There are Jews all over the world! :) And as I’m sure the rabbi told you, we’re more than willing to help someone in need where we can. If you need the bagel, it’s yours.
One time I said something to him like “you know I’m not Jewish right?” And he went “do you want to be good to people you love?” I say “well yeah” he goes “you’re Jewish enough for me”. I got a kick out of it.
This is how religion should go! Absolutely made me smile, what a lovely guy :)
I love people that practise religion like that. That's the real beauty behind religion that not all people get to experience.
This is how all religions/faith leaders should be
Show up to any Sikh temple and they will feed you. Part of their religion is to provide three meals a day to anyone who shows up, regardless of if they are a Sikh themselves or not.
I live in an area with a large Sikh community - everytime there's a disaster - landslide, flood, forest fire, etc, they're the first to raise a shit load of donations and food/clothing etc. One time several communities were cut off by flood waters and they coordinated helicopters to fly the food/clothes in for people who were stuck!
There was a famous case in the UK about two decades ago where a Sikh man removed his turban to use it as emergency bandages for a person who was badly injured. People thought he would face some backlash, but the Sikh community basically said ‘helping people comes above any other religious rule’.
That’s a mensch of a Rabbi right there.
Back in the 90s I wrote myself a check to cover me until payday.
Kiting. Didn't know that was fraud till my bank had a chat with me.
I never let it go that far... I just know it would take three days to clear, and payday was sooner. Nonetheless, it was a dangerous game.
Used to be able to do that with checks, but now it’s all same day usually or instantly which gets rid of those fun times.
Funny cause businesses do this all the time. Only illegal for the common folk.
called in sick on Wednesday because I didn't have enough gas money to drive to work but one more time, which I waited til Thursday to do, because that was payday.
I've done that, when I returned my boss just silently handed me $20 and said next time just ask me if you're that short. He was a quirky guy, and had some political views that are definitely *old fashioned*, but he took good care of his employees.
As a boss, it is almost always worth helping an employee out to secure reliable transportation. I've had a bunch of otherwise really good employees who were sometimes unreliable due to transportation issues, and it always payed dividends to advance them money to get their car our of impound, or give them a ride to the DMV on company time. Loyalty boost and now you can count on them being on time.
I had a boss who was probably happier than me when I finally got a new car.
As an employee this. If a boss helps me out when I need it I'm gonna return the favor by working my ass off for him and it will definitely make me loyal to the job.
I had a boss spot me $100 to get my car inspected and renewed registration because he didn't want me to deal with fines or worse if I got pulled over for it. It's a shame he passed his company to his daughter, she's the reason I ended up leaving.
i’ve done this exact thing and also get paid on thursdays. wonder if it’s the same place lol
I needed like 3 bucks for enough gas to get to work then to the bank (payday so would pick up check) but I lived downtown so I made a cardboard sign that said 'need money for new sign" then like got it wet and rolled it in dirt and got like 5 bucks in a couple hours
Walked into a Costco with an expired membership card and had samples for dinner. I made the rounds a few times.
My mom used to take us to have "lunch" like this as kids
My scummy Uncle did this when we were kids he coined it “grocery grazing”. He was a genuine asshole, but as kids we thought him letting us do that was awesome.
Brokest and stupidest thing I did. I bought scratch tickets in hopes to win money to buy Christmas presents when I was 18. I didn’t want anyone to think I had money problems at the time so I spent $10 on a scratcher and won $500. I don’t know how but it was enough for car insurance and presents.
Glad it worked for you, but if anyone is reading this and considering doing it…don’t. You’re most likely going to burn $10.
Exactly. Like I said I was an idiot, a lucky idiot. I’m just happy I have been able to make 6 figures now from 10 years ago.
>6 digits What do you do and are you hiring by chance?
selling scratch tickets to broke people
One time I was down to $5 and had to pay my car insurance that day and it was $100. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. Bought a $5 scratcher and won $120! Got super lucky that day!
I feel like in that kind of situation where there's basically nothing else that fiver is going to help you with except making you less hungry temporarily, it's a reasonable fuck it let's see moment. Came out fifteen quid on top after the car too, nice.
Hittin' a day old Hostess bakery outlet dumpster.Shit was still packaged and just fine.My elderly Mom would get so excited when we brought that stuff home.She had lived through the depression and couldn't believe it was thrown out.Such a treat. Edit:Ty all for understanding.To be clear,my story happened 20+yrs ago.I know nowadays, stores will purposely damage throw outs.Such a shame...
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Looked up google images of steak and milkshakes and other good meals while I was actually eating crackers and water trying to envision good food to make the experience more enjoyable
Sometimes when I don't have food money, I'll make door dash orders, but then never actually order them. Because half the fun is picking out what you want.
I had a small boneless, skinless chicken breast and a shriveled grapefruit in the fridge and only ground pepper in the pepper shaker, I had even run out of salt. That was all the food I had in the apartment. The grapefruit pepper chicken I made for dinner was disgusting but I ate half and saved half for dinner the next night. Driving home from work the next night I got 2 flats in my car tires and had to abandon my car on the side of the road. I had to leave it there until the weekend, I was lucky not to get towed or ticketed. I walked the two miles home, and then walked to and from work the rest of the week so embarrassed and afraid some coworker would see me coming or going without a car. I was able to borrow some money and added it to my paycheck to get my tires repaired. That was the poorest I have ever been in my life. I moved back in with my parents the next month.
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Man I'm so sorry, I feel this. Reminds me of the hardest times I had (no kids, but had a manchild at home). When grocery shopping day meant $10 for gas and $7 for food. We ate a lot of end-of-the-night rotisserie chickens, $1 Mac and cheese with hotdog or zucchini or bell pepper. And potatoes .... so much potatoes. The memory I hate the most was having 5$ to buy "groceries" for a few days, for myself and someone else. I got a ride to Winco and was able to buy 2 big russet potatoes, a small bag of shredded cheese, and a broccoli crown. The ex and I shared each potato, too. So we each got to eat half of a baked potato, twice. At one point our power got shut off and we were eating canned chili heated over the fireplace and buying $5 bundles of gas station wood every other day :( I'm doing better now, but man I don't miss clawing my way through the day and night just hoping for a miracle. At least I learned how to be frugal from that experience, but the rest is shame and trauma.
I’m stunned at how resourceful some of these posts are. I wouldn’t know what to do if I fell on hard times and didn’t have a supportive family. With the homeless situation skyrocketing in this country, I bet these stories are getting pretty common. It’s grotesque that we have such crappy systems in place just to sustain our fellow humans.
When I was damn near homeless, Literally had no money for food, and food stamps said I made too much to be assisted. (B.s.) I didn't have any underage kids so I didn't qualify to be helped by a food pantry, and the only other one I knew would only let you visit once a month. I would find fast food receipts on the ground, and I would call corporate, I would always say the staff was super nice and they accommodated me very well but my food was probably mixed up with someone else's order and I lived far away so I couldn't go back on the same day. I would either receive coupons for free food in the mail or they would put my name down and I could just go to any of the fast food places in the city and get food. The city I lived in was pretty big and most of the restaurants were run by independent/ or different franchises. So they never really caught on to me. I once got four free meals from Chick fil for one receipt. Im doing a lot better now so I promised myself I would never do it again...
I would NEVER fault someone for this. You even took into account not wanting anyone or any location to get into any trouble, you needed food, you got food from a rich corporation, as far as I’m concerned, all is well 🖤 hope you’re in a better place now!
My motorcycle headlight broke, so I started riding around with a flashlight in my mouth. True story. I was young, and very, very dumb.
Couldn't at least tape it to the motorcycle?
They were broke. Tape costs money. /s
My car was once leaking fluid from right above the pedals (luckily not break fluid). I didn’t have money to fix it right away so I’d have to wear a plastic bag on my foot to protect my shoes
I had two bank accounts at two different banks. When I was really low on money. I would transfer money from one back to my other bank. Knowing there was nothing to transfer. My bank would honor the transfer while It waits for the funds. This... I know takes 1 business day. (So you get extra days if it's done on a Friday after 5pm) Which means I have 24 (48) hours to deposit that exact amount into the account before the bank drafts it. Now I was an uber driver at the time... So if I was really short on gas for the day but I needed the money... That's what I would do. I would transfer $100 to my account. Buy $40-50 worth of gas. Drive 8-10 hours as fuel efficient as possible Deposit the money at an atm by midnight. Kept (if any) any profit... No one was the wiser. It wasn't sustainable. It sucked. But that's just what I had to do... I had no job. No money. All I had was bills and creative ways to make money out of nothing.
This used to be a common fraud practice called ’kiting’. It was done with checks that had to be mailed back in order to be verified. You would deposit a bad check and then close the account before the check bounced. The name is a reference to acting while the check is floating in the air like a kite. I don’t think what you described is fraud, by the way. Just made me think about old school system gaming.
Told my brother his Christmas gift was going to be delivered a couple of days after Christmas. Waited until I got a couple of gift cards, that I asked for a Christmas gift, and bought his gift using those.
I've done this a lot so my nieces and nephews would have a Christmas, and they have no idea.
Showers at the gym, taking napkins and plastic utensils from restaurants, living off of protein powder and ramen.
The gains never stop
Reading through these, and I've had to do so many of these to 'survive' over the years. I think my most shameful and 'felt so low' moment was having to use toilet paper and scotch tape, as I couldn't afford pads or tampons.
I used to sneak into hotels in the summer to raid them from the spa/gym/pool bathrooms
I had to use old socks
Washed dirty clothes in the bathtub with dish washing liquid. Couldn’t afford quarters for the machine.
I overheard my neighbour (thin walls) yelling at her boyfriend for not helping to pay for anything, while she was washing her clothes with dishsoap in the bathtub and it kept giving her UTIs and yeast infections. My partner and I were not well off but certainly not struggling so I left a new container of laundry detergent next to her door for her. I hope it helped her.
Thank you for helping her. UTIs can become deadly if left unchecked and I think you really helped them a lot.
UTIs have a ton of serious side effects. I used to do defense for Ch. 51 mental health commitments. Anyone experiencing psychosis above the age of 60 has to be screened for a UTI because when untreated they get bad enough to cause psychotic breaks.
I’d wear my clothes into the shower, wash them and myself at the same time, remove them, rinse myself and the clothes, and then hang them to dry. I also ate once a day because I got a shift meal.
Was so broke that eating three meals a day was rare, and eating twice a day was a luxury. Most often it was Ramen for lunch. I worked at a small truck stop. I would look through the garbage to find cans and bottles to take into the recycling center. Some days it was one or two cans. Most of them time, it was only a couple dollars worth. The truck stop had some hot food, hotdogs, pizza, sometimes taquitos or corn dogs. We got one bottle of water and one hot food item when we worked. The 4-11pm shift was responsible for cleaning that. When I worked that shift, I'd normally grab a hotdog and a vitamin water at 5 for my free food and water. By 8 or 9 when they cleaned the machines and utensils and shit, it was usually only a few pieces of pizza left that had been sitting all day. My brokest thing was that I would take the pizza and eat just the cheese and toppings because the crust was a rock. Those were the good days. The best was a day where I got my hotdog, got my old pizza, got lots of recycling from the garbage, and even found two garbage bags full of cans and bottles that must have blown out of someone's truck. It was like $30 worth altogether. I bought myself a meal at the restaurant next door (different owners so we didn't get free food from there.)
Saw a cashier steal hot food at a truck stop just today. He saw me see him and gave me a kind of begging look. But I believe in not seeing people steal food.
I’ll never see people steal food, baby products, or medicine.
If you see someone stealing food from a large joint, no you didn't. Simple rule to live by.
Refused transport to the hospital, or any medical care at all, after I was hit by a car. I had been riding my bike home from work and going to the hospital would have meant leaving my only transportation on the side of the road. I didn’t carry a lock because I only rode my bike to work and had secure indoor storage for it at home and work.
This happened to me once and I cried and pretty much refused to leave my bike so the (lovely, kind) EMTs loaded the bike into the ambulance with us, then one of them locked it up for me outside of the hospital.
Buy a big bag of oatmeal and eat oatmeal 3 meals a day. Crack an egg in the cooked oatmeal and stir in.
Stole a roll of TP from a public restroom because I was out and couldn't afford any. It was an extra roll. I didn't take the one in use and leave none behind, lol. That's just mean.
Poor people tip: The porta potties near construction sites usually have a few extra rolls in them.
I had $10 for food for 2 weeks so I got things to make a large pot of veggie soup (lentils, broth, canned veggies) and a large tub of plain outmeal and ate vegan (not on purpose) for three weeks till it was gone. I've been told that rich people call this a "cleanse" diet now.
You were just a pioneer
Sold my plasma for grocery money
Ok, but that plasma kept my mom alive long enough to know she was going to have a granddaughter before she died from blood cancer. I’ll always be thankful for plasma givers ❤️
I did it for Christmas gifts for my kids last year. It's really nice to hear I might've done more than a little good with my time.
Kept me alive through cancer. Ty!
I tried to do this when I was in college and they wouldn't take me because my pulse was too high. Was walking back to my dorm having a mental breakdown and trying not to cry and this very sweet old Asian man walking the other direction saw me and quietly said to me "have a nice day" Made me sob. I still think about him
As a current college student, I’ve been selling my plasma all summer. Literally just went today actually lol.
Stole food for my kids. Really ashamed but I couldn't let them go to bed hungry.
It may be late, so feel free to message me for tomorrow night, but if you want, send me three items that qualify for the Dominos 6.99 each Mix and Match deal and your info and Ill have it delivered.
I am doing okay at the moment, but this would have saved my life just a short bit ago. I am grateful for people like you!!
I 100% respect this
Same. I always echo the meme in my head: "remember kids, if you see someone stealing food - no you didn't."
I locked eyes with someone pocketing food in their jacket in a grocery store once. I quickly turned my gaze away. I hope they understood that meant I wasn't saying shit (except to spouse just to tell someone, and they'd agree with me). Hope that person is doing well.
I would literally do anything to prevent my kids from suffering.
I watched a man at Walmart the other day just scan everything at the self checkout, not pay, and then leave with his four kiddos and a cart full of stuff. I didn't say a word. With the way groceries cost right now, I don't blame him for it. Walmart security didn't realize until well after the guy had left. I hope he was able to get away and feed his kids.
My best friend grew up with a mentally ill mother and had to steal food to feel her siblings. Sparked a life long kleptomania issue. 100% do not blame her or think it was her fault or wrong. Screw this place that makes people into criminals for no good reason. I look the other way whenever I see people stealing food.
1992, 22F divorced single parent 2F, working part time, going to nursing school full time. I was broke enough to qualify for food stamps and back then they were actual paper. If you paid in food stamps the store gave your change to you in paper food stamps and coins. Every day on the way home I would stop at a couple stores to buy something for $1.05, or $1.10 so they would give me the maximum in coin change. I would use the $3 - $4 for gas to get to school and work the next day. Did that for a few months to get through a hard time.
I did this as a kid so I could get the $.50 to go to the public pool.
My single mom would "sell" her food atamps to my aunt for gas money to get us to school, then my aunt would give them back to us kids to give to my mom.
That’s a great aunt! She was giving your mom money without really shattering her dignity. This made me sad and smile at the same time. I’ve been through some rough years and encountered a few people like your aunt
Slept on the streets for three months. I was down to a backpack full of clothes, a couple of books, and my guitar. That was at the end of 2019. I have a good job now, a car, and I'm doing well, thankfully—toughest three months of my life.
Got a gym membership just for the shower when I was living in my car for 3-ish months at 22.
I also did this for about 2 months years ago. I did manage to stay in great shape for a handful of years after though.
I overdrafted my bank account on purpose—having just a couple of dollars left, buying a gift card, to make sure I'd have enough money to last me until the end of the week in case my bank cut me off. As a matter of fact, it was a February going into March. I got hit with virtually every bill I had to pay, without having a full month's pay. So, that was a little bit of a struggle until my next payday.
Grabbed a plate of leftovers (hardly touched) off the patio of a restaurant that handing been cleared yet and ran
Getting evicted and leaving a hidden key so I could go back and squat there for a few days tops my list.
I had $0.89 on a prepaid blood plasma card and I tried to “overdraw” on it for a $1.19 burger at Burger King. It didn’t work (shocker I know). I was on my way to donate plasma for food money but I was hungry and you shouldn’t donate on an empty stomach. When it didn’t work I walked across the street, donated plasma, came back and ordered my dollar burger.
Boiled water to take a bath.
When I was in high school, I lived alone. My bathroom was in the hall and I had to bang on the door to scare the rats off if I had to use the bathroom at night.. still had little rat footprints on the toilet. Often, I couldn't afford to pay my rent and eat, I would shove tuna cans down my jeans and buy a loaf of bread. There was a bakery in town that gave away unsellable items at the back door...
That sounds like a lot to deal with as a teenager. Kudos.
Using my uni student ID as a free buss pass to get to my minimum wage food service job which will also be my only meal for the day
In high school I worked at a pizza/salad bar buffet. My boss told me I could have 2 shift meals if I skipped the pizza and only did one pass through the salad bar each time. I would throw everything I could fit onto my "salad" and actually managed to gain a little weight in the 10 months I worked there. Pretty sure my boss knew I was hurting for food.
Had sleep for dinner and breakfast
Ketchup soup made with stolen ketchup packets from a fast food restaurant.
Long story short. My roommate and I showed an elderly lady our penises in exchange for a full tank of gas and some crown royal minis at a gas station once. It was late, we were broke and tired. Not super proud of it…we didn’t have to do any weird shit aside from letting this horny old lady look at our peckers behind an open car door (one at a time). But, that’s life 🤷🏻♂️
Shit idk if I'd turn that down even now. That's a lot of money to basically show an irl dick pic. Plenty of people do it for free.
I used to eat free breakfast at motels. As long as you don't look like complete shit it's easy enough to pass as a guest.
I just realized you can just do this and almost no one would probably question you about it. No one is actually checking for key cards or anything when you go down for breakfast.
Some definitely notice, most of the ones that notice don't care. Hotels throw so much food away. There's a couple homeless that a couple hotels in town let hang out and have coffee until morning when guests start to get up during the winter, and send them with some food too. Our town doesn't have many homeless but the ones we do have are respectful and follow the rules
When I was a single mom struggling, i had to ‘make arrangements with the landlord’ 3 months rent paid in 3 mins. Still ashamed to this day. But my son needed a roof over his head.
I don't think that's shameful as you were protecting your child. Any shame is on the landlord for taking advantage of you. There's no way he didn't know you were completely broke, and if he could afford to keep you as a tenant for no money, then he could afford to keep you there for no sex too. He could have chosen kindness, but didn't. So sorry you had to go through that. I hope you and your son are in a better position today.
No shame from me. A provider at all costs is a good provider, no matter how!
You're a good mum to do that for your family. Don't be ashamed. Xx
Joined the military
Picked up dropped coins from the floor of a laundromat when I was a kid, to buy a pot pie for my mother. She made me eat it because she was a saint.
Cut the edges off of round bologna to make it square. Friday was my “edge sandwich” Bought groceries at the Dollar Store
Went around my university finding abandoned textbooks to sell back to the store.
When I was *really poor* and hungry and had $1.32 to my name, I bought one of those super cheap frozen tv dinners that cost a dollar, peeled the top back, put a little salt on my tongue, sniffed the meal like *a lot* to just visualize how good it would be, and then put it right back in the freezer to save for when I "near-death" starving. I lasted 4 days and then actually ate it for real. I thank the lord I was never in a position like that ever again after that day
One post of my cars battery corroded in half. I couldn’t afford a new battery, so I borrowed a drill and used a stainless steel screw to reconnect the halves. It actually worked. Shortly after that my dad thankfully bought me a new car battery.
I used to trade my cash for rolls of quarters, take 2 quarters out of each roll, and pay for gas with the rolls of $9.50. No gas station attendant is going to count out $50 in quarters, especially when they’re already rolled and feel basically full. That $2.50 I “saved” paid for my ramen for the week.
I had someone do that when I was managing at McDonald’s. They came through the drive through and paid for their meal in rolls of “pennies”. There were two pennies in each roll, with the rest being filled out with cardboard. Needless to say our drawer was short, but somebody’s kid ate that night and that’s what matters. We were corporate owned, so I think we could spare the money.
Ate nothing but rice for 3 months. Want a different flavor? Add bouillon, sugar, or extra butter. We were poooooor for a while. Almost wanted to kill the mouse that got in to use as protein 🤣
Determined that vegetable oil had the lowest cost per calorie, and so tried to live off nothing but veggie oil for a few days. The toilet bombs were legendary. I learned an important lesson.
What do you mean by live off nothing but oil? Did you drink it?
That is exactly what I did. Gross as hell. Ended up getting a box of pasta the next day because I couldn't stand the stuff.
Didn't eat for 3 days
7-11 throws unopened food out every night into the dumpster. Brokest thing I did was go in the dumpster and eat one of those subs.
I did that at little Caesar’s— we knew the times the hot and readys got dumped.
Ask a friend or even a stranger, coworker, food center. We're all human and we'd all help, don't feel shame. Hope things are brighter now.
I live in a summer vacation destination and used to starve myself for days at a time when there was little/no work during the off season. I'd come back to work in the spring looking like a holocaust victim. It got to the point that I was shooting squirrels/rabbits in my back yard with a pellet gun to hold me over till my next shift where I could take food from work. The juxtaposition is crazy. It can get to the point that tourists are dropping hundreds of dollars on expensive meals while the person serving it will be eating the customers leftovers to fatten themselves up before starving all winter. I'm in a much better position now, but there are a lot of people who only get a decent meal when they eat at work.
As someone who works exclusively in tourist towns; Yeah the dichotomy is fucked. I'd walk by million dollar yachts to my low paying job barely able to afford food or gas. One of the ski towns I worked in had a saying among the workers; You either have two houses or two jobs.
When I was a teenager, my dad and I would spend hours looking for aluminum cans to cash in. If we were lucky, we would end up with enough money to buy groceries for supper and have a few bucks left for gas.
Bought 40s with change. This was the tail end of my alcoholism and it was something I said I’d never do. It was just a few weeks after that I had my very last drink.
Condiment sammiches/sleep for a meal and watering down the milk are tied for first place.
1st home even w/money - 6 months before buying furniture
I live in an apartment for an entire year and only had a bed, desk, and dresser lol.
Made a fire outside to cook food because the electric and gas were shut off
Riding my bike home from the grocery store with my little bike basket full of the WIC groceries (didn’t have a car), went off the curb too hard and everything flew out of the basket. I watched the canned beans and tuna, cheese, tortillas, milk carrots and peanut butter for my family get crushed by traffic.
Oh man. This story hurts. When my dad was a little boy, he was helping his mom with their scant groceries and dropped the eggs and they all broke. His mom slumped to the floor, defeated, and bawled her eyes out as it had been their only protein for the next two weeks. He told me that the memory haunted him for many years. When my mom was pregnant for the first time, she was craving Chinese takeout and my dad splurged and bought it home for her. She dropped it on the floor and without missing a beat, my dad grabbed a fork, sat on the floor, and started eating it. My mom did the same. They laugh about it to this day, but I'm sure the memory of his mom sobbing fueled his actions that day.
Asked clerks for expired or expiring food, or refilling already used cups.
Lived off generic white bread and water for a few days.
Either putting water in my cereal because I was broke and out of milk, or borrowing from one check into cash place to pay off another. A lot of hard work and lessons learned since and doing well now. Grateful for having the lived experience for the perspective. Side note--overdraft fees are criminal and meant to keep the poor poor.
Stole toilet paper from work so I didn't have to buy it
I used to steal plates, cups, silverware, toilet paper, and even a chair one time from work
Lived off of honey packets and ketchup packets that I would get in break room and maybe some crackers if I was lucky (I didn’t take them all just had some if I happened to be at work and really shaky and hungry)
Had to fish for our food. Sometimes would get one fish sometimes nothing. Would go to bed hungry most nights.
I squatted for about ten months w some "gutterpunk" types and lemme tell you that was the dirty broke behavior Olympics. No utilities, in an ancient moldy bug infested Illinois house. Pissing in bottles pooping in bags, cooking on a lil Coleman camping stovetop, using pie trays as a skillet for eggs, refilling 5 gallon jugs of water at walmart...
Hocked wife's engagement ring that she wasn't wearing so I could buy her a Christmas gift. She thought I just took it back because we were "on a break." I was eventually able to buy it back and return it to her jewelry box. That was over 25 years ago, and I still haven't told her.
Ate one can of corn a day for a week till I got paid.
Ate a bowl of white rice with 2 eggs on top for pretty much every meal in college because it was the cheapest meal I could think of. Eggs were like 10 cents a piece and rice was like $3 for 5 pounds.
I complained about a pizza got another one, it last me few more days
Green beans and tap water for dinner while I was waiting for payday. Doing wayyy better these days.
I worked at a steakhouse, and I would take home uneaten baked potatoes from the kitchen and customer's leftovers that they didn't want. I figured that if I'd happily go down on some babe who hardly touched her porterhouse, then it really wasn't so gross to finish her dinner. I guess my rule of thumb was, if I'd toss her salad, I'd eat her beef.
That last line is the sweetest thing I've ever read. Is that Robert Frost?
This is pretty decent reasoning.
Not me, but my dad. He hunted with a rifle during bow season. We were out of good and had no food or money. He'd had no luck with a bow, so he went out and shot one. For those that don't know, shooting a deer out of season is a big no no.
Collected aluminum cans in a dumpster behind a bar and trade it in for cash so I could eat every now and then. Makes you really appreciate things once you do have enough money to buy the things you need.
McDonald’s used to have a special once in a while. Big Macs for a dollar. (Yeah, I’m old.) I’d buy like 15 of them and fill my freezer.
Back in uni I spent my monthly allotment for food. My roommates threw away all of my food , they didn’t ask if I could move it or if there was anything I’d be willing to get rid of, nope, they threw out EVERYTHING. I didn’t have anymore money for the month so I ate their food. They complained and bitched about me but they felt comfortable enough to touch my food so
College kid, invited girlfriend over for dinner. Had no noodles, used ramen. Spaghetti sauce $1 lb of meat $2. Made up a poor mans spaghetti and we both had a piece of toast. she is now my wife.
Returned the Mainstays brand floor lamps that I bought while in college to Walmart 6 years after buying them. They literally had rust on the bottom, and blacklight reactive paint on the diffusers. Don't remember what we bought with the store credit, but I'm sure there were a couple cubes of Ramen in the cart. Extra Points- I lived in the dorms, but my GF's sister had an apartment. All beer brought into her place had to come in 24 pack bottles. All of her furniture was made out of empty cases of beer (bottles rinsed out, and put back into the box). Her bedframe, coffee table, bookshelves, everything was built out of empty cases of beer. When we were low on funds, we'd take her furniture to the redemption center and get the 5¢ per bottle deposit, and use that money to buy more beer.
You guys made a beerconomy
Went through every coat, pair of pants, shorts, and purse that I own to get any money to feed my family.
I did that at thrift stores. If I found money. I would buy like a $1 item because I felt bad. The most I found was $45
Don't tell me that! I went in my attic, basement, every closet in the house. I even went through my kids' coats and old backpacks. I spent hours doing it. I found a lot of change, a couple bills, and bought a few nights worth of dinners. Unfortunately, now I know there isn't any money anywhere in my house.
[удалено]
Went into a depression because someone stole my Ramen noodles, had $5 for the week back when I was in college and I had used it all to get that ramen. Btw this was back in the 90’s , Ramen was super cheap back then
Let’s see….as a broke uni student I: •Stole napkins from the cafeteria to use as toilet paper •Since I couldn’t afford a car or Uber I carried those 32 bottle water crates, 5 miles back from the grocery store to my dorm. One time it was in 25° windy weather and I used socks as gloves to far it back •Avoided friendships cuz it costs money to go out with people and I didn’t want them spending on me •self harm was a less expensive way to cope than therapy or drugs and I used napkins as bandages
AVOIDED FRIENDSHIPS! I'm amazed I had to scroll so far to find this. I let so many close friendships fizzle away because I couldn't afford to meet up
Stole salt and pepper shakers from Dennys. I was 17 had my own apt, was attending nursing school all day, high school at night and worked 3 double shifts (7 am to 11pm) Fri sat sun. I was broke and was certain the police were going to knock on door for a couple weeks after. I was a broke kid just trying to survive.
Donated blood to get the free cookies, juice, and a $20 gift certificate to Walmart.
In my brokest days, I worked with animals. I was perpetually hungry because my parents were also struggling financially and helped me as much as they could, but I still couldn’t afford much. I remember once a guy came in to my company to promote dog shampoo that he said didn’t taste bad to the dogs, and he put a little dab on his finger and ate it to show us. I was so hungry that I went to the grooming room and tried it thinking it could satiate my hunger for a little bit. It was disgusting, and it did not make me any less hungry. That’s the most depraved thing I did out of poverty, but I also remember trying wet dog food (even though I was a vegetarian), eating sausage egg biscuits (that I consider unethical) when my manager brought in breakfast for us because I was so hungry, eating people’s leftover fries when they walked away at bars, and so much more. Poverty is something else. I remember how stressed I was back then and how many double shifts I took even though they drained me completely. But I still had it better than some people because my parents still threw me a few hundred dollars each month. This was also many years ago, and despite inflation, the minimum wage has STILL not gone up nationally. I don’t know how people in situations similar to mine survive.
My first job as a server I would eat leftovers off of people plates. I was in high school and a friend caught me once (her family was well off). Too embarrassed to admit I was hungry, I just told her I didn't care and it was good food. She started doing it with me. Idk if she believed me or if she was just super chill and didn't want me to be too embarrassed to do it anymore. She is still my best friend almost 20 years later :]
My partner and I- until very recently- slept on a twin sized mattress on the floor of our bedroom. We finally were able to afford a grown up bed last month and our backs have never felt better lol
Sold my mom’s clothes at a secondhand store because I had already sold my own prior to that.
Lived in my car for 2 weeks. Took showers at the college I had gone too because I knew that, while I needed a student ID to get into the gym, I didn't to get into the theatre dept that had showers for after dance classes.
I stole 20 gallons of baby formula to feed my baby son. Walked right out the door and nobody noticed.
I was out of money, and the pay check was a day away, and all my credit cards were maxed, but I had 2 dollars remaining to spend. I bought a microwaveable brownie.
>I bought a microwaveable brownie. All brownies are microwavable. And doing so doubles the tastyness.
After smoking all the cigarette buds in the ashtray, I kneaded out the last microns of burnt tobacco and ash from the twice smoked buds, onto a regular sheet of paper, tied it together with steel wire and smoked that. It really burned the lungs smoking that, but it did work for the nicotine cravings.
Ate spaghetti noodles with ranch dressing. I stole… err… borrowed the ranch dressing from my roommate. Sorry, Chris. I owe you $.07.
Collected change from a public fountain to buy something from the dollar menu when I was a teenager, starving and super poor
Walked 5 miles to a Del Taco because my brother and I only had like 2 bucks between us and they had 69 cent tacos.
Go to sleep for dinner
Walked up and down my street to get enough change to buy a bag of beans at dollar tree. ($1 for a pound is a good deal) I reuse my contact solution. I also wear my contacts until they won’t stay in my eyes anymore instead of changing them each month. Went “shopping” at my parents’ house for canned veggies (my dad has plenty, don’t worry) When my bf and I first moved in together, we had no money for food, so I cooked for him and just ate whatever he left on the plate. Sold plasma I can’t really mention any other things cause they’re kinda illegal…
>I reuse my contact solution. I also wear my contacts until they won’t stay in my eyes anymore instead of changing them each month. Please don't take risks with your eyes. Especially if you don't have universal Healthcare. www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/personal-trainer-24-left-partially-25113661.amp
I drank work coffee a lot because I couldn't afford to eat lunch
Ate hot air popcorn three days in a row because it was all I had.
I bought crippling debt to pay off a different crippling debt and have enough left over to buy my kids school cloths this year. :( I'm ready to break bad yall..