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How poor are you? I saw this topic on another forum and wasn't sure what to think of it at first. The OP started out by saying that, hey, the economy sucks, gas prices are ridiculous, a lot of us are struggling. How about sharing a story about the times in your life when you've struggled? Laughter is the best medicine. On the other forum, everyone loved it. I thought it was worth a try here. It doesn't have to be about now. Just any time in your life when you've struggled. In my 20s, I lived in a house in Truckee, Calif., with three roommates and five dogs. We were all relatively broke, but I was the moocher of the house. I was always "borrowing" stuff out of the fridge and promising to pay them back later. I hit my begging worst one week when we had a 3-foot snowstorm and I was snowbound in the house alone for three days because all the roads were closed. And there was almost no food to be found. I starved for much of the first day, but on the second day I noticed an onion. Hmmm. Onion rings! Only I was a terrible cook. I ended up finding some flour to roll the onions in. I heated up some oil in a frying pan and gave it a whirl. They were horribly soggy and bland, but I ate the entire onion. It wasn't until a week later that I admitted it. A roommate who could cook was suddenly missing an onion she knew she had. I'll never live that one down. "You ate my onion?????" What can I say? I was hungry. And poor. And the onion was what I needed at the time. C'mon, YTers, fess up. __________________ |
HAHAHA.....I'm surprised with the onion breath you must've had, your room mates weren't aware of your thievery :p Gosh, I have tried to forget the bad parts about being young and so broke. But I do remember a time period of about a month when my sister and I ate instant rice and packaged gravy mix (we weren't cooks then either,LOL). It came time for us to move, we had very little in the kitchen......nothing was in the refrigerator |
Ive been so poor we rolled up the change for gas and grocery money. My Husband has a small business and we have definitely had lean times in the past |
I remember I thought I was frown and married at 14 got pregnant right away, moved to his home state of TX away from ALL my family and while we waited for his checks to start from his new job we were soooooooo broke, All I had to cook was noodles with tomatoes sauce w/black pepper and strawberry koolaid w/no sugar......YUCK! I told him he could stay or come, but I was going home and I did! Angie |
Never so poor I ate an onion...ate a lot of cheap 4 for $1 mac n cheese though. Course..you had to be able to afford milk and butter to make it correctly...sometimes WATER would have to do. Not quite as amusing as your story...but what I distinctly remember...I liked antiques...usually to buy a piece I'd have a yard sale and take my profits to the antique store. So one time dh and I are up in WV...go into an antique shop...and there is a huge oak armore (sp?) Price $1500.00 :eek: Oh man...did I covet that. At the time...my GROSS salary was around 300 bucks a week...no way in heck could I ever buy that thing. So the man owning the shop...says...you want it? You can take it now and send me payments. WHAT?!?!? Are you fricking kidding me? This guy didn't know us...good Lord...we were 22 year old kids (sorry 22 yr olds)...and we lived a good 5 hours from this place. Any way...we gave him all the cash in our pockets...put that thing in our truck and sent him 50 bucks a month...FOREVER it seemed like. Btw, even remember his name...Robert. :) |
When I was married to my first husband, we used to work in a restaurant, so we ate dinner there everynight (we both worked 7 days a week). We finally grew up got 9-5 jobs, and hubby started night school; money was so tight that one night we were down to a baked potato each...no toppings, not even butter! :eek: |
Well let's see I moved out 3 weeks after turning 18. First place I moved to was a friends trailer that let's just say wasn't in the best of shape but all I had to pay was the electric bill and what I could of the rent. I was only making like 200 a week if I was really lucky and going to high school.so let's just say 10 cent noodles became very familiar. Well got of school and moved out of the trailor and became a bit of a bum when it came to where I was sleeping. I worked full time but in Al you have to be 19 to sign a legal document plus I was about to ship to basic in less then 6 months. Well there was this pool hall I used to hang out at with my friends and one day the owner found out my living situation. So for awhile there I living in a storage room in the back on a couch. 3 had a fan and a DVD player I bought myself and ordered out a lot(no kitchen) but the place did have a shower. But you know I was having a lot of fun being able to take care of myself. Plus I could play pool for free all I wanted! Weird to think that was only 2 years ago! Lol now I have my babies and a hubby and am still working pay check to pay check but I can say one thing. I had a lot less bills then! |
Im always broke, day in and day out, but never been poor... but I didnt move out young or marry young or have children young, nothing like that. Thankful for that! The onion story is pretty darn funny though!! I hope times are better for you! :) :) |
Well, I guess my poorest days were back when I was a young married, with 3 young kids, trying to work, pay for their school needs, paying for daycare, and just all the normal bills and such that young families have to deal with. I surely remember a time or two (or three) having to borrow money from my mom just to get by. I always hated having to ask, but she always graciously helped in any way she could. Now I'm playing the reverse roll, I'm the mom that the kids come to when they need help. I am by no means rich ($monetarily$), but having learned from the best (my mom), I too graciously help however I can. |
When my first husband and I were newly married, he went back to college. He worked as a bar tender pretty much full time, and I had a full time job, but times were tough. He loved hunting, and one year, he got a dear that we eat for the entire winter. I made dear steak in every way possible. He was from a big family, and he also taught me to make SPAM casserole.:) |
When I was 24 I lost my mom to cancer. I worked as a finacial aid counselor and the money allowed me to live alone but definately paycheck to paycheck! I helped young people get money to further their education and finally I decided I would help myself! So at 28 I quit my job and lived with my sister for a year and was 'nanny" to her three small children. This allowed me to study and not have to work. I watched her kids after I got out of college and the kids got out of school. I had a previous degree so I only needed a few classes to get into nursing school but the waiting list was long. So at 29:eek:, when i was accepted to nurising school, I decided since the school was so far away I would just bite the bullet and MOVE IN THE DORM! Yep. I was known as the dorm MOM:eek: I listened to their party and sorority stories, I hemmed and ironed ball gowns:rolleyes: and even made cookies for them. By second semester I was their RA (which was great because this was a paying job). I sucked it up for 2 years to accomplish my dreams. The nurses had given us so much during my mom's 8 yr struggle with various forms of cancer that I knew I had to do what I needed to do to give back to society. So now I make a pretty decent living. And although there are many days I want to cry, overall... I love caring for others!!:D |
DH and I were so young and so broke. I could go to CLOVER (anyone remember that store?) and they would let me cash a personal check. I figured out that if I cashed the check on Wednesday after 3 it wouldn't clear my bank until Friday when DH got his paycheck deposited. We never, ever could get caught up because we were always behind. We had one credit card. I would make the minimum payment on the CC and then I could charge another $5 or $10. I'd charge cans of tuna fish and mac and cheese, stuff like that. It was horrible, so finally I had to hock my beloved guitar. I never did get my guitar back - but I did buy DH a brand new guitar last month for his birthday. |
My mother was a single mom for a long time when I was a child. I know that at one time, we must have been extremely broke because I remember living in an apartment with no phone service, and I remember her car broke down. I remember we walked to the grocery store to get food, and we lived on Kraft macaroni and cheese and those little individual frozen pizzas (hey, I loved it! :) ) The thing about it is, though...I never in my life felt poor. Looking back, I know we must have been, but I have never known hunger. At many times during my life, there have been things that I have wanted, that we could not afford. There have been times that I remember my step-father being out of work, and we even had to use food stamps at one time in my life when I was a kid, but somehow, we always had a roof over our heads and food to eat. When I look back on that and other times in my life, I never think of is as being poor. And while, now, we're not exactly rolling in money, we have a home, wonderful friends, relatively good health, and a loving family. And for those things, I feel very rich, indeed. |
post Misty...I could have wriiten the same post. I am 62, lived through all kinds of different levels of economics...I am sure many would pity me, but we all lived the same back then...one pair of shoes for Sunday and one pair for school...I can not remember going without anything we really needed, but what we wanted was saved for a special occasion like Christmas...I have so much stuff now it is embarassing and I have majorly decluttered and downsized my life lately... For some people a time comes in their life when they like to see just how little they can own and be happy....but if you have the money to buy what you want, doing without is different then not having the money and doing without...those two need to blend more in a persons life. |
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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! |
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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. :) |
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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) |
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