Oh my gosh, this thread is so funny! And touching:).
When I was in nursing school, I worked full time as a nurse's aide at the hospital where I was training. I only made something like $1.92 an hour, so most of my money went to my rent (I lived alone) and utilities. Not much money for anything "fancy" and I basically survived on the custards and jellos in the fridge at work. I was good friends with one of the ER docs and his girlfriend and I had saved up enough money to buy some REAL food and had invited them over to dinner. We were going to have beef stroganoff (I'd been cooking it all day long) over egg noodles (of which I had one package). They were at the house and we had cocktails (probably some wine that they'd brought), and then I went into the kitchen to finish up dinner; I needed to drain the noodles, but didn't own a collander, so I decided I'd just use the pan lid to drain them...well.......somehow the lid slipped and all the noodles fell into the sink's drain:eek:....and that's all I HAD for us to eat, LOL.I was HORRIFIED and didn't know what to do! I hate to admit it, but I reached down and got them out and rinsed them really good, and served them anyway:embarasse.

I did tell them about a year later when I knew there would be no long-incubation illness they might have gotten. They thought it was hilarious. I'm still mortified:p. And now, there isn't a kitchen appliance/gadget that I don't have, LOL.

This thread brings back waayyy too many memories to put here.....

One of the "fond" memories I have growing up is when we lived in a rental house that was heated with fuel oil....that darn thing would always pick the best time to run empty...in the middle of the night.......there would be five of us kids huddled under one blanket with the hair dryer running and passing around the heating pad......Sure makes one appreciate the warm bed I have now ;)

When I was little it was just me and my mom. I remember not having much. I slept on the floor in a sleeping bag and my mother ate pankcakes because it's pretty much all we could afford and when she could buy other stuff she fed it to me. To this day I hate pancakes.

These are great.

This is a great thread, Mike.

There have been so many of these times in my life ... I hope that I have seen the last of them.:) Here is one that might give others some encouragement that it really can all work out.

I had two years of college left when we bought This D*mn House. (We had to sell the family "homestead" which was paid for. It was in a rapidly deteriorating neighborhood and while it was a nice house, and worth more than many others there, if we didn't get out soon, it would be worth nothing.) We had to take on a house payment. Gulp!

Things were good -- for a year. Then my mom lost her job. She had a hard time trying to find a new one. (Reaganomics.) It looked like I was going to have to drop out of school and work full time. (I was already working multiple jobs, but to pay for school and help out a little at home.)

I guess it was good that I knew about penny-pinching. It came in handy then! At one point, I had to take EVERY cent we had to the power company. They would not work with me on the bill. The phone company did. Even the bank did, adding a few house payments to the end of our mortgage so we wouldn't be in arrears. I took on more hours at my jobs, and stayed in school. We spent as little as possible on groceries. We went nowhere. Did nothing ... for months. I admit, I really was ready to walk away from everything. Quit.

The same week that my mom would have gotten some unemployment, she got a job. (Murphy's Law at its finest.) Fast forward to 2008 ...

There have been a few speedbumps between then and now. Bad financial choices. Serious health issues. And I had a sh*t job for 12 years after college but got a great job almost 8 years ago. Mom and I were just talking about it the other night. I'm proud to say I have almost doubled my income during that time. And just a few weeks ago, I ...

sent in the last payment on the house! We own it. (Well, along with Uncle Sam. You have to still pay taxes.:D) The house we almost didn't have.

Sorry this is so long ... Hope it's encouraging to someone!

Hahahaha! Now that I laughed, I think that was so sweet and touching that you invited them over to share your real food dinner.

I really consider myself lucky. I think the worst time was when I bought my first house...it was about 85 years old...for $9,000! It didn't have any kitchen OR heat. But I still loved it so much. I remember I kissed the wall when I first moved in. :rolleyes: I couldn't get a fridge or stove for about 6 weeks and I had to spend the whole first winter without any heat! But, I have been blessed since then in many ways.

great thread mike

I was a single mom, had worked for the provincial government.. good job for three and a half years.. married a couple years..but I was prego and the x had talked me into quitting my job..:eek: stupid on my part.. then I had my daughter and he took one look at her and said I have a date, find your own way home..:eek: well I did not have 45 cents for a can of baby milk..went to moms for awhile.. then moved on...I ended up going to school, and had to put my daughter in day care.. I was stubborn and went to the children's aid.. told them I wanted to go to school and could not afford a sitter.. so they I actually got to take my daughter to them every day for free day care.. I bought a 259.00 moped.. and she stood on the little running board and held on the the handle bars.. and off we went to day care, then to school, and back again.. the owner of the grocery store took over from his parents so knew me since I was 8 years old.. I would write him a cheque for food, and when I got paid for going to school I would let him cash my cheque and pay him .. had it not been for him I am not sure what I would have done..
I was at that time too stubborn to ask my mother a retired school teacher for any food what so ever..her doors were always unlocked. but I would not go and take anything..
I would never take back those 8 years on my own.. I grew up independent.. and did it on my own..It gave me strength, courage and confidence to move forward. By the time I married my hubby 29 years ago.. I had a good federal government job, a great apartment, a car and a good life.. I knew I was not getting married to have a provider.. I never forget those days..they made me who I am today..
If I had lots of money, I would love to surprise people with gifts.. I am by no means poor.. but I mean like finding some one that was like I was then and really make their life different. who knows it could happen to me one day..
anne

Alright Mike, you got me thinking about soooo many stories, unfortunately some I won't post about :rolleyes:.....

I remember my dad putting up a Christmas tree and he couldn't afford a tree stand... wait a minute.....he couldn't afford a tree either so he went into a woods and cut down a tree..... and then he nailed two pieces of wood together into a "+" shape and nailed it to the bottom of the tree....when he stood the tree up he drove what appeared to be spikes from the top right through the carpet and into the floor :eek:....the tree tipped over so he put a hook into the ceiling and tied a string from the hook to the top of the tree to anchor it ...by the time Christmas was over that tree was soooo dry static electricity would have created an indoor inferno......and that my dears was a Christmas to remember......

We truly are the sum of all of our life experiences. So, let me pose a question.

Without the experiences many have described, or that many have thought about based on this thread but chose not to post, do you think that you would be the person you are today? Do you think you would be as appreciative of your life as it is now?

I fear that I would not be. So, I think those rough times were worth the price.

I am by no means rich, except in that I have family and friends that I wouldn't trade for anything. :)

Ha ha. I remember Christmases like that!

Good stories, everybody. My onion story really doesn't show the depths of my poorness. Here's one more:

When I moved to Alaska in 1985, three of us and my dog drove up together in a VW van towing my Ford Fiesta. I arrived with $50 to my name.

Two of us lived in the van for four months. We parked it all over town, and moved it when somebody rousted us. At one time, the van broke down so I towed it around town with my Fiesta.

Although I had a bachelor's degree and five years of experience in journalism, I was turned down by the newspaper. I made ends meet by getting a job at a fish cannery, working what they call the "slime line" cleaning fish. When you're broke, you become creative. We showered at another college and used their free typewriters to send out resumes. I was even swimming in their pool several days a week.

The real jobs came all at once. I was hired as a part-time teacher at the very college whose parking lot I was living in. The newspaper also called and offered me a job in the sports department.

It wasn't for a few more weeks that I got an apartment, and those weeks were awkward. A co-worker at the newspaper used to drop me off at the college after work. I'd told him I was living in the dorms when I was actually living in the lot. And just before classes started at the college, I was kicked out of the lot by a campus security guard. (You should seen the look on the security guard's face :eek: a couple weeks later when he realized the new teacher was the same guy he had just kicked out of the parking lot.)

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That experience definitely made me stronger. Ozzie's Person is right in her post above. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Since my husband and I are young (21 and 23) we hit our lowest when we first moved in together. This was 3 years ago. I was in my last month of high school and we felt it was right for us to move in together, I practically lived with him anyways and we were getting married that August. We found the tiniest apartment for $300 a month. We were so glad that it was affordable, yet clean! Boy was it tiny! You walked in to the kitchen and the living room was basically the same room. Our bedroom was off the living room and the bathroom was off the bedroom. It was about 400 sq ft! My husband worked in the campus mailroom and made $800 a month so it didn't give room for good food or extra's. We ate on hot pizza sandwiches. $50 fed us for two weeks. We would drive to the mall and sit on the bench and drink a Coke, because that was a special treat for us to have a name brand drink. I never once remember either one of us complaining. Hubby would cuddle me at night and say, "If we lived on love we would be millionaires" so I think that always kept us going. :D

I am the oldest of 5 kids, whose parents divorced in the early 1970's when I was in Jr. High. My mom was a stay-at-home mom and dad didn't pay child support or any medical bills for years!!!! We very quickly became destitute and received welfare, food stamps and medicaid. Mom also worked 3 part-time jobs to cover the house payment/utilities along with the welfare money. Foodstamps only covered basic necessities. We ate lots of cheap hamburger mixed with soy made into every conceivable concoction. Milk was always powdered. The only treat mom could buy was a no brand, 3 lb bag of vanilla/chocolate sandich cookies that tasted like wax!!!

Since I was the oldest and babysitting, my .50/hour had to go toward whatever I needed. Clothes were all hand-me-downs. We received free lunch at school till my senior year. As soon as I was old enough I had a job working as many hours as I could get. There were no extras and getting my letter sweater and varsity jacket for Christmas was such a thrill (and I think paid for by my grandparents)!!

Even though I knew we didn't have much, I never felt poor - just lots of love. I value every lesson it taught me. We were recipients of Goodfellows for many Christmases, so I've always donated to them and help pack up the goods every year.

I love the stories.

I tell this one to my children all the time. I grew up in a military family with 2 sister. We did not have a lot of money. My mom was very good at budgeting every penny. I can remember asking my mom when I was about 5 or 6 if I could have a candy bar. She looked at me and said; "NO! we can not afford it." I was so shocked...the candy bar was only 25 cents!

Oh man I have so many....My first husband had 4 bucks in tips for the night and we had to eat and also feed the pup we had and get gas to get him to work the next day....got one pkg of hamburger and we had a little and gave the pup the rest...

When I was pregnant and unable to work..my daughter and I would have bisquits and strawberry jam.....for dinner.....(always right before payday)