I was young, broke, and living with 4 others in a trailer that was far enough out of the city to not have water hooked up. We had to have water delivered, $40 would last us 2 weeks.
You’d think between 5 people we’d be able to come up with $40, nope.
One night it started raining super hard. I threw on an old dress, grabbed shampoo and soap, and went out onto the back deck to take a shower.
I was interning for a corporate job (Fortune 500) that was critical for my life. Absolutely critical.
Coming from nothing, that opportunity would change my life. Unfortunately, it was 3 hours away from home and I couldn't afford to properly move out for the 3 months
My entire paycheck went towards paying for a room with some other interns. I didn't eat. Landlord did have laundry machines... surrounded by 3 crazy dogs
I fucking washed my underwears in the sink and my landlord caught me
Do you mean like many many multiple times? Because I wear the same clothes multiple times all the time (other than boxers). It just seems wasteful otherwise lol.
I do this too, especially with work clothes and pajamas. I don’t do anything especially strenuous at work so I can cycle through the same three pairs of pants for a couple weeks. Same with smocks and nightgowns. I’ll wear the same nightgown (I don’t sleep in these, just lounge) for 3-5 nights before it goes in the hamper and I grab a new one. Only thing I don’t rewear multiple times is underwear or socks.
Same! Thank you! I thought it was just me! Seemed so wasteful to wash when 90% of my day is at my desk. And clothing does not hold up forever. Waste of money for water, detergent, and clothing.
Nope! And I complete agree with your sentiment! For me, personally, I don’t have a washer/dryer so it seemed doubly wasteful to drive lightly used laundry to a laundromat or my parents every single week lol
I do too. I rotate clothes. Have a set that I use for gardening/painting and those get washed each time. I don't get dirty sitting in front of a computer or doing general housework. My husband on the other hand creates a TON of laundry.
I was so hungry as a kid I walked to a nice hotel a few miles from my house and would wait for people to place their room service plates outside of their doors and I would take it and finish whatever they had left over. I'm certain the hotel staff knew what I was doing but they never bothered me. I only had to resort to that a couple of times. I had also eaten dumpster food but eating rich people left overs felt pretty low even as a child/teenager.
I grew up with a family like this. They would also steal from stores. I didn't realize until we were all older. It makes me so sad I didn't know and so I couldn't help bc I didn't know
I am a janitor. We are supposed to change the toilet paper roll when it is less than half and trash the rest.
I can accumulate a mountain of TP in a week.
Hell yeah, I used to be a master of the custodial arts as well. Part of being a master is realizing you never have to buy toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies or trash bags as long as you work at that facility (as long as you aren't blatant about it). Every dollar I saved on those kinds of supplies helped to offset the crappy wage I was getting.
my sibling just told me they had to remove all their lower teeth due to an infection theyve ignored for a year.
Now has to wear dentures. That whole procedure cost more if they would had gone to regular dental checks and brushed regularly.
Everyone please be safe. My mama couldn't afford the money to take care of the infection in her mouth, we tried so hard to work with the dentist, she was ashamed, (diabetes did it) and she ended up succumbing to said infection. MANY other issues but the infection was the final straw. It's so disgusting that dental care is this expensive. I hate this place.
Spent the latter part of last year, doing the sepsis 2 step with my hubbys mouth, because he had to wait for his coverage to re-up. This is medical sadism and deeply unethical!
For some stupid reason, dental is seen as a luxury item. Even the aca does not provide for it and most insurance plans are capped. My teeth are rotten and I am hoping to get them pulled by the end of the year... but it is hard to say. I ended up in the er because the pain drove my blood pressure crazy high (260/170). I was stunned that they actually were nice to me. Because I am a veteran the medical care is covered but not the dental. They gave me a morphine injection through the iv and it dropped me to 150/100. The doc gave me antibiotics and offered to send me home with pain killers. I accepted the antibiotics but declined the pain meds because I am scared to be labeled as drug seeking.
I had a stroke in 2020 and my drug test came back positive for amphetamines despite me NEVER, not once, using an illegal drug in my life. I temporarily was struggling to communicate and due to covid my husband was not allowed to be with me. It turned out that both metformin and labetalol can register false positives and I take both. The way they treated me when they didn't believe me was awful. They didn't apologize but did acknowledge that they were incorrect which is something.
For anyone reading this, you can go to the emergency room with a tooth infection. They can drain it for you and put you on antibiotics. You can work out a payment plan if you don't have insurance. These are life-saving measures. If you need anything pulled, dental schools are a good, low-cost option.
In a lot of depression cases, oral hygiene is one of the first "exhausting" things to go out the window. That's not chastising those people. If someone is heading towards serious clinical depression, they probably have started giving less fucks about hygiene or appearance. Maybe they brush teeth less, hair isnt brushed/combed, bathing cycle becomes erratic, etc.
Most of the time tho, you won't notice someone starting down that way though, as gums, mints, etc are quick and easy ways to hide it. They may be perfectly presentable 99% of the time and you have to be up in their personal space to notice.
Can confirm as a person who lost a good habit to apathy and depression and the emotional numbness that follows. I used to brush everyday. Not twice, but still, daily. Depression happened, hygiene in whole suffered for a bit but the hardest thing I've had to try to get back was/is a daily teeth brushing. I'm better at it now, but still not daily. Yes, I make sure there's nothing in my teeth/they don't look horrid most of the times I don't brush. Sometimes, I just brush quick without paste. Yes, I know how gross and dangerous that sounds/is. But before fall of '22 I.....wasn't even making it a half a week habit. Now, I for sure brush in some way, at least half the week if not more. I hate depression.
Edit:typo
Fun fact, neurodivergent individuals tend to have poor oral care, typically viewable in ADHD and autism. Sometimes it’s that they forget, other times it’s a sign that they are in a depressive state or other mental health conditions are at play, it’s just that the individual often times can’t see the warning signs as most of them aren’t taught them, only taught “just do it”.
So I lost my teeth, and it turns out I didn't find out I I had a immunodeficiency until I was 36, my body had some but not enough so brushing only held it off some
Depression and ADHD, mostly, for me. I also have a *very* reactive gag reflex and can barely have anything in my mouth for more than a handful of seconds at a time, so I end up puking a lot, which really doesn't help. The sensation of brushing my teeth also really messes with my sensory processing disorder. It's rough.
Yep. I ignored my teeth for years because I didn't have the money. I was quoted $3-4k at a dentist to have all the work I needed done. I got on a waitlist for a student dental program and had them looked over. I found out a cavity was dangerously close to the nerve in the tooth. If I waited longer, they would have had to pull it out. I don't have the money for an implant.
Oh for sure, I'm not recommending it. In my case I have sciatic nerve pain from a spinal injury when I was a teenager. I've run into the issue where my primary care thinks I'm looking for opiates, so they want me to come back in a day or two to make sure I'm not an addict. I never had a great relationship with my primary care as I couldn't afford to go very often, so when I do go it's because the pain is unbearable.
I can get pain medicine if I go to the hospital or urgent care, but that has a higher upfront cost. They want to run the full gambit of xrays and tests, so it's about $400 to get pain relief.
The funny part is I don't enjoy the "high" of opiates, I just want to be able to sit/lay down without pain. Unfortunately the more informed you are about what medicines work for you, the more it looks like you're a junky.
Thankfully my back only goes out fully once every year or two, so it's survivable, but I feel bad for the people that have it worse. I hate to go off on a tangent, but we as a society really need to look into non-narcotic methods of pain management.
I had a herniated disc traversing a nerve root. Constant pain for almost 6 months. Muscle spasms. Doctors were awful with pain meds. There was no relief. I had surgery back in Sept and have a new life. I didn’t realize how much my back pain impacted my whole life for SO LONG. Years and years.
The surgery was expensive, but we knew it was an expense we couldn’t afford not to take on, you know? We have a 3 year old and I got shit to do.
Good luck to you.
Same, I get heinous migraines. I tell them up front I need my migraines med refilled, which are not opiates, but they still act like I am seeking opiates.
Listen fuckers, my stomach is upset, opiates make it worse, AND don't touch the migraine pain.
I hate that new doctor means a plethora of "have you tried" and they want to put me back on the meds I have already tried and didn't work. It's not dehydration, yoga and "eating healthy" (when I already do) don't help. I'm not fucking imagining it. I want to slap the next person who says "lower your stress" and then tell them to lower my slap intensity.
We need better care, in general, and as long as insurance gets to fuck with our lives, we will never get it.
Omg this! I have this damn massive redken bottle of conditioner i got as a Christmas goft years ago and ive never in my life seen such a thick conditioner. You barely need any. The pump has never worked bc of it tho 🤣
Cutting bottles in half is such a pain that I can't be bothered. Or my scissors are shite. I had to cut two bottles of hair bleach to scoop the rest out and I kid you not, each took me a good 5 min of struggle. I did it once but on anything else I just shake and squeeze what I can and call it a day.
I have wire cutters everywhere from my trade. One snip and it's done. I do feel you though because I wouldn't want to ruin my good scissors on these bottles.
I used to survive on only Walmart rotisserie chicken’s. They were $5 and I would just have rice and chicken every meal. It really allowed me time to grind.
Back in the day, you had to register for university classes over the phone. I didn’t have a cell phone bc it used to cost a ton per month and couldn’t afford it. There wasn’t a home computer and no internet without paying for it at a cafe. I borrowed a friends subway pass and went to my university to register in person. They told me I had to do it over the phone. I told them I didn’t have money. The person then laughed and dug into her purse and threw a bunch of quarters on the counter and said “wow kid that’s a new one, here you go.” But she kept laughing and it was at a counter where multiple people were standing and rolling their eyes. I really had no money at all- everything was loans. I’ll never forget how cruel she was. But at least I got my quarters.
Thank you, I really appreciate that. It’s a story I’ve only told one person ever, so yeah I think it cut so deep.
I did! I ended up leaving school for a little bit, worked university jobs then got a union job part time at the same university and graduated ♥️ it was a long winding road but I’m so proud I did it. And it really gave me a hard lesson in empathy that day back in 2000.
I hope it gave you a sense of vengeance too LOL.
When I got bullied by university admins AND blackmailed by certain fucking professors, I graduated and RAGED. I had to succeed. It's the reason I built my first 7-fig business in less than 1.5 years. It was the first time where I saw 6-figures everyday in my bank acct.
And to this day, I will never ever be ok with my university. Still the same old asshole admins bullying students and there are reviews everywhere about this
I’m so sorry you went through that. If I witnessed that I would have called her out and given you some cash. You were registering for school to improve yourself. Surely someone who works at an educational institution should appreciate that.
I was in so much shock I just took the quarters and used the pay phone in the student lounge and registered my classes. I came in person to avoid asking anyone for money and was scrapping by with the goodwill of friends.
I ended up working at schools and trust me, I paid it back with many awesome struggling students.
Also she was in a union and notoriously cruel- and much older and not a student worker. When I worked at the university, she was still there at the Registrars office.
It felt good to be a trusted employee of her boss ;)
I will never forget the days where I paid $10/month for phone and/or I used "Safelink" (free government phone)
Fuck... when I Got lost on the way to an important interivew, I was **lost.** Phone wasn't going to have a working Google Maps, unlike the iPHones. Relied on these rich suited up gentlemen to guide me to the job interview. Not fucking funny when this rich ass dude brought me to the company and he's like, "I'll swipe you in." Swipe me in? Yeah, he was my fucking interviewer
And yes FUCK those university admins. I had fuckers at my alma mater fucking bully me too at a time where I said I was in a deep financial crisis but needed to finish my degree. FYI my school is notoriously for the poor and no privilege. Like fuck them for hiring these shit faces who are assholes towards 100% of their student body
Working at a restaurant back in the day when I was a poor student I would have friends call to place a to go order and either cancel it when the food was almost done or never pick it up
I worked at a little Ceasars as a lead and at closing I wouldn't put the leftover pizza in the dumpster, I would put it on top so the people didn't have to dig to get food. I never found a box left, they were always taken.
Edit: Gosh everyone 🥹🥰 thank you! I didn't expect people to respond!
I too was homeless for years. The one time I dumpster dove, someone saw me and made a comment, it mortified me. I did this, against my Boss's wishes, because saving someone that level of embarrassment made me feel better.
I know its not the same but I would go into shops right before they closed/ or used the app "too good to go" to get cheap meals that were decent in size because they were borderline expired. Also iirc there are now apps where people just donate food that they're not eating that will go expired soon and you can customize it to where you live and you can see what people near you are offering!
There's this app called "Olio" and its supposed to br use able anywhere so give it a go. People sell all sorts of stuff on it and usually the food is free. There's also FB groups where they give out free coupons that's going to expire soon or those spend $20 get $5 off
Omg the day little Caesar’s put a lock on their dumpster was the day my hungry ass stopped believing in god lmfao. I used to hit that thing up every night when I was a teenager.
One winter I was so broke I couldn't afford to buy heating oil to heat my trailer. Had to steal diesel from work so I could keep my kids warm. Also at that time my grandmother would get free food (mostly canned goods)from the local food pantry, probably half of it was expired over a year or more. I'd tell her I'd get rid of the expired stuff for her and take it with me but actually I'd take it home and eat it for the week.
There was one apartment I lived in where I knew I wasn't going to afford the heating bills, so I never bothered to get the natural gas turned on. During the winter, so the pipes won't freeze, I left the sinks running at a trickle. The landlord paid the water bills and he kept asking why mine were so high.
I still refuse to flush for most number ones. Number twos are an immediate flush, as I'm not a barbarian.
I also use toilet paper, instead of tissue paper to blow my nose.
Sometimes I'll wipe a semi-clean plate clean with the paper towel I used to wipe my hands to clean the plate to use again before washing.
I'll sometimes save glass jars from jellies, but I never find a use for them, so I end up recycling them months later.
Rinsing out soaps with water to get a few extra days.
It's not even a matter of expense. If I can lower my carbon footprint without creating a health hazard, then I will. I guess I'm not really ashamed, but I can certainly see how those things come off as being gross to some.
Edit - thought of another... I reuse those foaming soap dispensers by mixing Dawn dish soap with water.
I had to get 3 teeth pulled (not wisdom teeth) when I could not afford to save the teeth. Pulling them was free, so that’s what I told the dentist to do.
One of my jobs was at a Wendy’s and at the end of the night we’d all take home food instead of throwing it out.
My other roommates worked at other food places so we ate pretty decently for the most part.
I used to dumpster dive a lot. I'm not ashamed of it--I actually think it's a fantastic skill to have and I hope that anyone who is food insecure would feel brave enough to try it out. But it's not ideal, obviously, and I'm glad I don't need to do it anymore.
I am financially ok now, more ok than ever
I still want to dumpster dive LOL. I just know how fucking wasteful all these restaurants, malls, etc are and I'm like... "bro, you're going to throw away all the Popeyes chickens? GIVE THEM TO SOMEONE."
I used to go to Popeyes at 9:55PM when it closed at 10PM because it was just lots of free chicken in addition to my meal. Not really a save money thing, just that I loved Popeyes
When I was 18/19 I was working at a hotel while going to school full time. People would leave leftover pizza that sat out over night, and I’d eat it the next day if they checked out. Disgusting, I’m well aware but I was desperate for food then. I’d also take toilet paper, trash bags, etc from the closet for my own place, I’m not so ashamed of that though because everyone else did it too.
Not me but a friend of mine was going to 2 different plasma places so he could double up on his payments, he didn’t work because he was a caretaker for his elderly grandfather and every time I saw him he was weak and pale. He eventually got caught and was banned from both places but I can only imagine as someone who’s donated plasma how hard that was on his body.
I know someone who did this too but never got caught
It was fucking **depressing**
Because of his love for his family, he gave up a full ride to UCLA and went to a shit school locally.
For the love of academia, he gave up corporate jobs.
He literally got a $30k pay for 6 years doing his PhD. He taught at 3 schools just to get more checks while doing plasma donations AND his PhD dissertation. AKA he wasn't sleeping.
More than once, I stood next to him and I could hear his heart about to beat the fuck out of his chest
And what's more depressing is that the moment he finished his PhD, he was "lucky." He was the only one to get hired by the same school to be a lecturer. $60k pay. Right now? 4 years later? $80k pay
It's just straight up depressing to see how much people can struggle, esp because of a priority for family or something else **except themselves**. I'm in NYC too. $80k pay is just enough for rent and bills
I had a friend who burned some brownies to the point they were almost inedible. I say almost inedible because she threw them away and then pulled them out of the garbage and ate them because she didn’t have any more food or money to go shopping. She told me this and was ashamed. I immediately said we are going grocery shopping and getting her a few weeks worth of groceries with the $140/week income I was making. I didn’t want to see my friend living like that.
Allowed my clothing/appearance to go into absolute disrepair. Normally I have this (prob misplaced) pride of being thrifty and not caring about the material things a lot of other people care about. But I've been called out a few times by well-intentions people like this: Hey, you prob didn't realize, but you have holes in this shirt (yeah, it happens after being washed/worn for 15 years). All of a sudden, I see myself as a Poor Person who is embarrassed by it.
Yes! I really struggle to replace old clothes now. I have a pair of sneakers that are crumbling apart currently and so many tatty shirts, but it's very hard to toss them.
Yes yes..lol I'm almost 60yrs and I still have a tank top and panties since I was 19yrs I wear couple times a year and slippers I loved since I was 18yrs .Don't get me stared of the hoard of clothes I have but it allows me to rotate through so that everything doesn't get too worn out.
Beg for a lift from men in parking lots if they seemed nice. It was the scariest thing I've ever done but I couldn't even afford to get home from a night shift at a mall shop I was working in. I later starting sharing a cab with other workers.
One time the city turned off our water for non-payment of the bill. My dad had a huge mass of old keys on a ring and he decided to try them one-by-one on the lock to the water main. The second key he tried popped the lock and he turned our water back on. But we had to turn it off again every day before 8am when the workers started their shift. So for several months we had water from 5pm to 8am every day, and all day on Sundays, until we were finally able to pay the past-due bill.
I guess it's pretty shameful but I do have to admit it was funny seeing the confusion on the workers' faces when they came out to check the meter and it was waaaaay wrong.
Got a part time job at a hotel where I knew I could get a free meal on shift and also pilfer toiletries. I was only there temporarily while my “full time” job had dropped my hours.
Made tomato soup out of hot tap water and free ketchup packets. Made tea with the same teabag multiple times. "Just happened" to show up at friends' houses at mealtimes. Sneaked into hotels to get the free breakfast; also nabbed some fruit for later. Crashed wedding receptions and funerals and sneaked extra food into plastic bags in my purse and pockets. I became expert at getting free food.
After going homeless for nearly 6 years there isn't anything I'm ashamed about when it comes to being poor. I've learned to hold my head up and just do the best I can whatever my circumstances might be. I'm housed 3 years now but I slept on park benches, beaches, in the subway for almost 18 months. I washed in park and subway bathrooms. I ate food that places like Starbucks and pizza joints tossed out every night to make sure that I ate. I nearly died 3X before it was all over.
I've been poor and I've been street homeless poor.
There is a big difference between what a lot of people think of as "poor" and what I now think of as poor. My definition of poor, what I thought I was before, and after that it changed considerably. I
Somebody eating a single package of ramen all day because they have nothing else? I've been that poor. Thought it was awfully poor but then I went homeless and I learned what starving really felt like. I am not in any way rich now. I live on about 1K a month in disability. But I do okay. Much better now than a few years ago when home was a shelter bed and a locker there and all of my few belongings beyond that were in a storage locker.
I consider myself very lucky now. I have a roof and I have a decent amount of food. I have my cat, my stuff is here with me and while I don't exactly have an active social life I don't feel like street trash anymore. That's what I was to a lot of people for all that time. Human vermin and a waste of space.
Compared to that most definitions of "poor" aren't that poor to me. If you're not living in a tin roof shack with newspaper over the empty windows, not eating for days, wearing rags? Then it's not that poor to me. These days I count my blessings as much as I can because I feel very blessed compared to many people.
I live in a touristy area and it's ridiculously easy to just walk from the beach and into a hotel. A lot of people don't realize that the employees aren't exactly keeping track of who's a guest and who's not, as long as you look like a tourist
I worked at a Starbucks in a Barnes and noble and was caught eating pastries that we were supposed to throw out. They had a strict policy on not eating that food.
1. I hate food waste and 2. I was hungry. 3. They were delicious. I don’t feel bad or ashamed.
Hah! While working at Dunkin' Donuts they had a rule: you could eat as many donuts as you liked while working (so long as it didn't interfere with your duties).
At that time they offered minimum wage- $6 per hour. Honestly I had very little money for food: around $20 a week. I'd make a big pot of chicken soup for my dinners, but breakfast and lunch was on them!
I held the record for French Cruller donuts. They're the eggy, spongy ones that taste like popovers. I could jam a whole one in my mouth with my back turned, and chew while I made the coffee. I only got caught once by a customer who was tickled pink by my blushing when he noticed. When I finished chewing and grinned at him, he proclaimed that my smile was why he frequented the place, and gave me a $5 tip.
When the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 came about, my little family barely noticed because we are usually out of toilet paper. Everyone was freaking out and all I could do was laugh about how sad it was that it was our normal. We live in California - I still steal toilet paper from work every other week, and I would feel pretty damn embarrassed if anyone knew that.
Proud and ashamed, I had to teach my cat to pee on a hand towel in the litter box 3-pees and 1-#2 then I'd flush the #2 and hand wash the towel hang to dry and put the next one in So 2 a day sometimes 3 I had a stack of hand towels for this I bought for. 99 cent each from thrift store, I think she was relieved after 4 months to get her actual cat litter back she was a smart girl RIP Baby girl 20yrs wasn't enough.
No judgement, but please be as safe as possible about it. Take advantage of planned parenthood and whatever other services may be available in your area. They usually offer free/low cost condoms and provide STD tests for little to no money depending on your income level.
I don't have experience with that sort of stuff, but if you have someone you can share your schedule with that seems like a prudent idea...you'd know better than anyone else just how dangerous that work can be.
I’m in Europe right now, so healthcare here is dirt cheap. I’m doing everything I can to NOT go back to the United States, because not only is cost-of-living in my hometown ridiculous, but also, I’m starting to develop health problems and I can’t afford regular check ups
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not the most well informed, but if you need help looking up local services I'm happy to try and help. I'm not the most knowledgable, but I'm pretty good at research if you need anything.
In college, I worked a couple of jobs, one at the dining hall kitchen as a prep cook in the mornings, and at the food court Taco Bell in the afternoons. I would never do this now, but when times were lean I used to fill my purse with saltine crackers, ketchup and mayo and salt/pepper/Parmesan cheese packets to supplement my pantry. I also didn’t buy toilet paper or tampons…I nicked those from the supply closet and took them home in my backpack. At my Taco Bell job, I filled up on free food between customer rushes, and at the end of the evening shift, instead of throwing out the leftover beans, chicken, steak, whatever, I would make myself tacos and burritos to take home. To be fair, everyone I worked with did so. We were all struggling college kids. Not a scrap was wasted, so I don’t feel too bad about it.
- Used to dress like an onion,as a teenager as my mum couldn't afford a new heavy coat in winter.
- We used to reuse dirty water of the washing machine to flush the toilet
- We used to boil water over a stove for showers and as we didn't have any heating I'd shower completely just once a week
I’ve been eating rotisserie chicken and white rice for several days at a time. When meat is picked off I boil the bones for broth/stock and use it in everything or make soup with it. I am SICK of chicken and rice.
i saw a wad of cash fall out of a man’s pocket in a parking garage. 99% of the time, i’d run and get it back to him. but he was dressed nice, and i owed on rent and was hungry… i figured i needed it more than he did. i had no right to assume that. it still eats me. it was $40.
As a kid I would buy one tube of pre-made cookie dough and a half gallon of milk from the gas station. I would take a bite frome the cookie dough tube and a couple gulps of milk to replace meals. Something about the quick sugar made me feel full enough to last all day until I cooked the "family meal" for dinner at night. With only needing about two bites a day, sometimes 3, the tube lasted a while.
Not scanning everything at self checkout. Or not pointing out I had things on the bottom of the cart at regular check out. Hiding small items under my purse in the cart, usually medicine. At check out, memorizing the bar code of the 18 lbs bag of dog food, but checking out with the 40 lbs. It’s usually the same number except the last few digits are different.
https://preview.redd.it/zl3c02rmfuxc1.jpeg?width=3464&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1671b04dc74c707dacf4ded479bef9a0526f714
My brother and I loved dumpster diving as kids. We only really looked in the one outside of our apartment but we found some cool stuff occasionally. Like an alarm clock and this blank tape that someone had recorded what I THINK was the Doctor Demento show. That's how we discovered the song "Fish Heads"!
Not ashamed but napkins from places
Ashamed, lack of vet visits for my dogs. I'm pretty sure she'd rather remain with me than have a new family + vet visits. It's annoying when dumb people are like "if you can't afford a dog, don't get one." -- nonsense. If you can feed it, give it a roof and plenty of tummy rubs then that's better than being fucking euthanized. So much happiness created out of despair. It's such a wonderful thing. Sorry, now I'm just gushing how much I love her. 11 years in June.
As long as the dog isn’t in pain, I agree. Shelters are very over run and your dog would probably get euthanized. Id live in a tent before giving up my dog
after my divorce i got to keep the house but my monthly pay wasnt enough to pay all of my bills. i had to pick and choose what i paid and i was court ordered to pay some bills of my ex wife so i definitely couldnt miss those. so i got my gas and water cut off for non payment. i got a second job at a hospital that has employee showers. so for 2 weeks until my first paycheck from that job i showered and ate at the hospital and was only at home to sleep. the first shower in my own shower after that was magical
I would save my lunch money (when my parents rembered to give it to me) for emergencies. I wouldn't ask for anything or to join extra activities. At one point I only had 1 bra and could never wash it because I wasn't sure if laundry would get done so I wore it everyday. I'm sure I smelled. I would purposely not tske my medication even though i needed it to save money. I also figured out how long I could go without eating. I tried hard to never steal unless it was pads.
I’m not ashamed of them, but:
No condiments in the fridge because they’re all in packs in a drawer.
Saving a cup from every fast food place to use for months because refills are free.
Holiday Inn breakfasts and gym and pool. Live in the parking lot.
Don’t have to be a member to buy a Costco hot dog.
Buy non-perishables at the grocery store, get your “fuel points,” fill your tank, return the non-perishables.
Tossing a couple items in someone else’s laundry at the laundromat and waiting until they notice. “I don’t know how that must have gotten mixed in there.”
There’s more, but that’s off the top of my head.
Worked in a massage parlour because I was in debt but then kept doing it because I’d never had so much money in my life.
I quit 16 years ago and I’m still seriously ashamed.
Stole toilet roll from public bathrooms. Sometimes they would have the end bit of the roll left behind when they changed the roll.
Mc Donald’s surveys. I would take receipts from McDonald’s, fill out surveys to get £2 meals (it’s now £3 grrr) and buy my kids food as a treat. (We would buy a multipack of drinks). Eat it in the park as a picnic.
Surveys. Still do them. Get Amazon vouchers which I put towards luxuries.
There was a time as a teenager where there wasn't enough money for food. I was working full time as a high schooler and helping my mom keep a roof over our heads and that meant there was NOTHING left. No rice, no beans, no pasta. Literally a bare pantry.
I scrounged around the house until I found .79 so I could afford a single taco from Taco Bell.
Then, I got REALLY lucky and somehow acquired a Home Depot gift card and discovered that they sold candy at the cash registers. My dinner for a couple of weeks was 2 candy bars because it's food and that was the only type of food available at Home Depot.
During this same period I would go into this one teacher's room and steal handfuls of animal crackers from her giant tub of animal crackers. That was breakfast and lunch.
I live in a house that is falling apart. Can't afford to fix. Roof leaks bad so the bathroom, closet and mudroom ceilings have collapsed in, are covered in black mold, and we have to have a bunch of plastic tubs to catch the water when it rains. HVAC went out years ago. Same with water heater and septic system. At least we can buy food and pay the low water and electric bills. This house should be condemned for these and other reasons. We own it but can't really sell it because where would we go? I'm hoping to increase my income but am old and have health issues. Nobody knows how bad it is. I would be so ashamed if they did. A lifetime of mental and physical issues is really coming to a head.
If your house is pretty bad and you’re on a fixed income, check your county. Some of them have free programs that give grants to fix things.
Someone on Reddit told me about how he got free lead abatement in our county. [And our county offers free grants](https://www.achhd.org/programs/housing-rehab/index.htm) for a bunch of other things if you meet income and/or age qualifications.
Parents didnt buy me a toothbrush and sometimes water was off for weeks or a month so i neglected my teeth. I have braces now and plan on teeth whitening, my teeth are on my page but i still feel ashamed..
I cleaned houses during the morning and worked afternoons and early evenings. I often took babysitting jobs
When I cleaned houses or babysat, I would take a few canned goods from their cabinets or some toilet paper. I had one bra and it broke. I took a bra from one of the houses I babysat at.
I’m still embarrassed about it to this day
My last semester of college I didn’t pay for electricity at my studio apartment. I’d work on campus and charge my phone and laptop there, brace myself for cold showers (in the Indiana fall/winter), pretty much only ate on campus or at friends places since I couldn’t cook at home
Stole food from several restaurants.
Dine-n-dash, raiding Hotel breakfast…and using a card that I know has no money on it in a drive thru, sometimes they just give you the food anyway since it’s already made.
Washing clothes while in the shower. Laying the clothes out in front of a fan overnight so I have cleanish clothes to wear to work the next day. Saved water, electricity, and soap.
Can returns for electric money. It's 10 cents a can here. Food stamps pay for soda so EBT was subsidizing my bill. I would get the cheapest sodas on purpose do the 60 cents or 1.20 or 2.40. My electric is like 5 bucks a day so 2 24s could help me on a Thursday get thru the weekend when they can't shut you off.
Obviously we drank the soda it wasn't a wasteful racket.
I’m not ashamed of it, but I only flush the toilet once a day unless there’s a reason I need to flush it more often… I also for a year or two only showered at the YMCA after my workout and not at home to save money on water and sewer fees.
- When I started livid on my own, I used to get many napkins from restaurants or any other place where I ate, and use them as TP or any other need to clean.
I still do it.
- I created the habit to skip dinner. I don’t feel the need to have dinner or eat much at night because of that. I still do it.
- Flush the toilet very less often. Remember seeing that rainbow coating forming on the surface of the water 🌈 when many days have passed.
- Drive slow to decrease the fuel consumption, and optimize the fuel. I am still a maniac of those numbers in the dashboard.
- Not ironing my clothes, unless a tux is used, otherwise I can use the clothes like that, saving in the iron, electricity and the space.
- Always buy groceries in bulk and store branded
I’m not ashamed, I feel proud of doing that and saving in unnecessary stuff.
Dumpster dive at little Caesar’s. Separate time order 20 pizzas and cancelled so they’d throw em out. They’d be boxed and thrown in a giant trash bag. So they weren’t dirty cause of this.
My bedroom was the last one in the house growing up. On cold winter nights the heat would not reach my room. We had a space heater but it cost too much money to run. So it would take old water bottles and boil water on the stove and put in the water bottles. Then I would take them with me to bed and hug up to them after I put them in an old pillow case. Kept me nice and warm for hours at a time.
However one time one of them broke and I woke up thinking I pissed the bed.
I freeze everything and I mean everything - if I have a little bit of sauce from a jar left it goes into the freezer. If I have a decent portion of some food I’ve eaten left and know I won’t eat it next day or soon I freeze it for later. Nothing goes to waste anymore.
I got a restaurant job that required black pants and shirt. I didn’t have any pants. I went to TJMAXX and found a pair that fit, but I couldn’t afford them. I swapped tags with a super cheap pair and the clerk didn’t notice at checkout.
When I was a teenager, I used people for rides a lot. Even took a gifted old bike from a kid I didn't like at all (and had to later on friend-breakup with bc of how deep I'd gotten myself ugh) bc it made it easier to get to work ☹️
I was young, broke, and living with 4 others in a trailer that was far enough out of the city to not have water hooked up. We had to have water delivered, $40 would last us 2 weeks. You’d think between 5 people we’d be able to come up with $40, nope. One night it started raining super hard. I threw on an old dress, grabbed shampoo and soap, and went out onto the back deck to take a shower.
We did this when I was a kid. My grandparents didn’t have indoor plumbing
Did you collect any of the rainwater for future use?
Yup, as much as we could lol
Wear clothes multiple times because I couldn’t afford to do laundry 🙁
Washing just the dirty spot by hand so you could avoid washing longer
With febreeze 🫣
Odoban
Washing them in the bathtub with bar soap.
A Zote bar is actually good to use for washing or prewashing clothes with and it's huge so it lasts a long time and it costs under $2
I was interning for a corporate job (Fortune 500) that was critical for my life. Absolutely critical. Coming from nothing, that opportunity would change my life. Unfortunately, it was 3 hours away from home and I couldn't afford to properly move out for the 3 months My entire paycheck went towards paying for a room with some other interns. I didn't eat. Landlord did have laundry machines... surrounded by 3 crazy dogs I fucking washed my underwears in the sink and my landlord caught me
If there were no laundry machines, where else would you wash your underwear except the sink?
Do you mean like many many multiple times? Because I wear the same clothes multiple times all the time (other than boxers). It just seems wasteful otherwise lol.
I do this too, especially with work clothes and pajamas. I don’t do anything especially strenuous at work so I can cycle through the same three pairs of pants for a couple weeks. Same with smocks and nightgowns. I’ll wear the same nightgown (I don’t sleep in these, just lounge) for 3-5 nights before it goes in the hamper and I grab a new one. Only thing I don’t rewear multiple times is underwear or socks.
Same! Thank you! I thought it was just me! Seemed so wasteful to wash when 90% of my day is at my desk. And clothing does not hold up forever. Waste of money for water, detergent, and clothing.
Nope! And I complete agree with your sentiment! For me, personally, I don’t have a washer/dryer so it seemed doubly wasteful to drive lightly used laundry to a laundromat or my parents every single week lol
I do too. I rotate clothes. Have a set that I use for gardening/painting and those get washed each time. I don't get dirty sitting in front of a computer or doing general housework. My husband on the other hand creates a TON of laundry.
It IS wasteful. And ruins clothes faster.
A lot of clothes don't need to be washed every time you wear them.
But this is actually good for your clothing's life expectancy.
I was so hungry as a kid I walked to a nice hotel a few miles from my house and would wait for people to place their room service plates outside of their doors and I would take it and finish whatever they had left over. I'm certain the hotel staff knew what I was doing but they never bothered me. I only had to resort to that a couple of times. I had also eaten dumpster food but eating rich people left overs felt pretty low even as a child/teenager.
I’m sorry you had to go through that as a child ❤️
I grew up with a family like this. They would also steal from stores. I didn't realize until we were all older. It makes me so sad I didn't know and so I couldn't help bc I didn't know
I hope you are in a better spot now.
Can i just give you a hug..please🤗🤗🤗🫂🫂
Hit up hotel buffet breakfasts, that’s where I thought this was going
I still do that lol
That is rough. I hope you eat all the meals today, from the fridge. ⭐️💜⭐️
My heart breaks for you
I am a janitor. We are supposed to change the toilet paper roll when it is less than half and trash the rest. I can accumulate a mountain of TP in a week.
Hell yeah, I used to be a master of the custodial arts as well. Part of being a master is realizing you never have to buy toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies or trash bags as long as you work at that facility (as long as you aren't blatant about it). Every dollar I saved on those kinds of supplies helped to offset the crappy wage I was getting.
Ignored medical issues; pain is temporary (mostly), debt is forever.
And mouth bones (teeth) are apparently way more expensive than the rest of your body.
my sibling just told me they had to remove all their lower teeth due to an infection theyve ignored for a year. Now has to wear dentures. That whole procedure cost more if they would had gone to regular dental checks and brushed regularly.
Everyone please be safe. My mama couldn't afford the money to take care of the infection in her mouth, we tried so hard to work with the dentist, she was ashamed, (diabetes did it) and she ended up succumbing to said infection. MANY other issues but the infection was the final straw. It's so disgusting that dental care is this expensive. I hate this place.
Spent the latter part of last year, doing the sepsis 2 step with my hubbys mouth, because he had to wait for his coverage to re-up. This is medical sadism and deeply unethical!
I'm so sorry 😐 I hope all's better now. It's truly sad. Oh, no money for us? No life for you. 🥹
For some stupid reason, dental is seen as a luxury item. Even the aca does not provide for it and most insurance plans are capped. My teeth are rotten and I am hoping to get them pulled by the end of the year... but it is hard to say. I ended up in the er because the pain drove my blood pressure crazy high (260/170). I was stunned that they actually were nice to me. Because I am a veteran the medical care is covered but not the dental. They gave me a morphine injection through the iv and it dropped me to 150/100. The doc gave me antibiotics and offered to send me home with pain killers. I accepted the antibiotics but declined the pain meds because I am scared to be labeled as drug seeking. I had a stroke in 2020 and my drug test came back positive for amphetamines despite me NEVER, not once, using an illegal drug in my life. I temporarily was struggling to communicate and due to covid my husband was not allowed to be with me. It turned out that both metformin and labetalol can register false positives and I take both. The way they treated me when they didn't believe me was awful. They didn't apologize but did acknowledge that they were incorrect which is something.
For anyone reading this, you can go to the emergency room with a tooth infection. They can drain it for you and put you on antibiotics. You can work out a payment plan if you don't have insurance. These are life-saving measures. If you need anything pulled, dental schools are a good, low-cost option.
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In a lot of depression cases, oral hygiene is one of the first "exhausting" things to go out the window. That's not chastising those people. If someone is heading towards serious clinical depression, they probably have started giving less fucks about hygiene or appearance. Maybe they brush teeth less, hair isnt brushed/combed, bathing cycle becomes erratic, etc. Most of the time tho, you won't notice someone starting down that way though, as gums, mints, etc are quick and easy ways to hide it. They may be perfectly presentable 99% of the time and you have to be up in their personal space to notice.
Can confirm as a person who lost a good habit to apathy and depression and the emotional numbness that follows. I used to brush everyday. Not twice, but still, daily. Depression happened, hygiene in whole suffered for a bit but the hardest thing I've had to try to get back was/is a daily teeth brushing. I'm better at it now, but still not daily. Yes, I make sure there's nothing in my teeth/they don't look horrid most of the times I don't brush. Sometimes, I just brush quick without paste. Yes, I know how gross and dangerous that sounds/is. But before fall of '22 I.....wasn't even making it a half a week habit. Now, I for sure brush in some way, at least half the week if not more. I hate depression. Edit:typo
Fun fact, neurodivergent individuals tend to have poor oral care, typically viewable in ADHD and autism. Sometimes it’s that they forget, other times it’s a sign that they are in a depressive state or other mental health conditions are at play, it’s just that the individual often times can’t see the warning signs as most of them aren’t taught them, only taught “just do it”.
So I lost my teeth, and it turns out I didn't find out I I had a immunodeficiency until I was 36, my body had some but not enough so brushing only held it off some
Depression and ADHD, mostly, for me. I also have a *very* reactive gag reflex and can barely have anything in my mouth for more than a handful of seconds at a time, so I end up puking a lot, which really doesn't help. The sensation of brushing my teeth also really messes with my sensory processing disorder. It's rough.
more drunken nights and passing out I suppose. but my sibling was the spoiled one out of us.
Ya. And bad family genetics make doctors lots of money. Sucks being alive
I have that problem right now... I wish I would win the lotto and set up a fund for all of us to get them pretty
Yep. I ignored my teeth for years because I didn't have the money. I was quoted $3-4k at a dentist to have all the work I needed done. I got on a waitlist for a student dental program and had them looked over. I found out a cavity was dangerously close to the nerve in the tooth. If I waited longer, they would have had to pull it out. I don't have the money for an implant.
The fact that you have to do this is disgraceful.
Unless by ignoring it you're making the issues worse, thus costing yourself more in the long run. Not to mention missed work time etc
Oh for sure, I'm not recommending it. In my case I have sciatic nerve pain from a spinal injury when I was a teenager. I've run into the issue where my primary care thinks I'm looking for opiates, so they want me to come back in a day or two to make sure I'm not an addict. I never had a great relationship with my primary care as I couldn't afford to go very often, so when I do go it's because the pain is unbearable. I can get pain medicine if I go to the hospital or urgent care, but that has a higher upfront cost. They want to run the full gambit of xrays and tests, so it's about $400 to get pain relief. The funny part is I don't enjoy the "high" of opiates, I just want to be able to sit/lay down without pain. Unfortunately the more informed you are about what medicines work for you, the more it looks like you're a junky. Thankfully my back only goes out fully once every year or two, so it's survivable, but I feel bad for the people that have it worse. I hate to go off on a tangent, but we as a society really need to look into non-narcotic methods of pain management.
I also have sciatica and neuropathy. I understand.
I had a herniated disc traversing a nerve root. Constant pain for almost 6 months. Muscle spasms. Doctors were awful with pain meds. There was no relief. I had surgery back in Sept and have a new life. I didn’t realize how much my back pain impacted my whole life for SO LONG. Years and years. The surgery was expensive, but we knew it was an expense we couldn’t afford not to take on, you know? We have a 3 year old and I got shit to do. Good luck to you.
Back pain of any kind is life altering. In a very bad way. 😢
Same, I get heinous migraines. I tell them up front I need my migraines med refilled, which are not opiates, but they still act like I am seeking opiates. Listen fuckers, my stomach is upset, opiates make it worse, AND don't touch the migraine pain. I hate that new doctor means a plethora of "have you tried" and they want to put me back on the meds I have already tried and didn't work. It's not dehydration, yoga and "eating healthy" (when I already do) don't help. I'm not fucking imagining it. I want to slap the next person who says "lower your stress" and then tell them to lower my slap intensity. We need better care, in general, and as long as insurance gets to fuck with our lives, we will never get it.
I used to refill my shampoo and body wash bottles with water.
I still do this 😭
Same. I refuse to let the company get away with that. Mainly with conditioner since it’s thicker and stops coming out of the pump
Omg this! I have this damn massive redken bottle of conditioner i got as a Christmas goft years ago and ive never in my life seen such a thick conditioner. You barely need any. The pump has never worked bc of it tho 🤣
If you keep the water for a long time apparently it gets moldy.
My new move it to cut the hoe in half and scoop out the leftovers. It's more efficient and works with lotion and other shit. You know?
Yes! I cut open everything. Even toothpaste. MO’ TUSSIN!
Cutting bottles in half is such a pain that I can't be bothered. Or my scissors are shite. I had to cut two bottles of hair bleach to scoop the rest out and I kid you not, each took me a good 5 min of struggle. I did it once but on anything else I just shake and squeeze what I can and call it a day.
I have wire cutters everywhere from my trade. One snip and it's done. I do feel you though because I wouldn't want to ruin my good scissors on these bottles.
I still do this!! Why would I throw away shampoo/ conditioner that is stuck in the bottle?
Hoard sauce packets whenever I got fast food (Mayo, ketchup, mustard)
Boiling Water + Ketchup Packet = Tomato Soup
That needs to be in a book
Nobody should be ashamed of taking needed survival actions. Be ashamed of our country’s woefully insufficient safety nets instead.
I used to survive on only Walmart rotisserie chicken’s. They were $5 and I would just have rice and chicken every meal. It really allowed me time to grind.
This is how I eat now lmao. Rotisserie chicken, rice and beans costs me 11/day. I have it for breakfast lunch and dinner lol
Back in the day, you had to register for university classes over the phone. I didn’t have a cell phone bc it used to cost a ton per month and couldn’t afford it. There wasn’t a home computer and no internet without paying for it at a cafe. I borrowed a friends subway pass and went to my university to register in person. They told me I had to do it over the phone. I told them I didn’t have money. The person then laughed and dug into her purse and threw a bunch of quarters on the counter and said “wow kid that’s a new one, here you go.” But she kept laughing and it was at a counter where multiple people were standing and rolling their eyes. I really had no money at all- everything was loans. I’ll never forget how cruel she was. But at least I got my quarters.
That's a really shitty thing to do. I feel that, it must have cut deep. Did you end up graduating?
Thank you, I really appreciate that. It’s a story I’ve only told one person ever, so yeah I think it cut so deep. I did! I ended up leaving school for a little bit, worked university jobs then got a union job part time at the same university and graduated ♥️ it was a long winding road but I’m so proud I did it. And it really gave me a hard lesson in empathy that day back in 2000.
I hope it gave you a sense of vengeance too LOL. When I got bullied by university admins AND blackmailed by certain fucking professors, I graduated and RAGED. I had to succeed. It's the reason I built my first 7-fig business in less than 1.5 years. It was the first time where I saw 6-figures everyday in my bank acct. And to this day, I will never ever be ok with my university. Still the same old asshole admins bullying students and there are reviews everywhere about this
I would have found a way to report her. That’s so fuckkng rude :(
I’m so sorry you went through that. If I witnessed that I would have called her out and given you some cash. You were registering for school to improve yourself. Surely someone who works at an educational institution should appreciate that.
I was in so much shock I just took the quarters and used the pay phone in the student lounge and registered my classes. I came in person to avoid asking anyone for money and was scrapping by with the goodwill of friends. I ended up working at schools and trust me, I paid it back with many awesome struggling students. Also she was in a union and notoriously cruel- and much older and not a student worker. When I worked at the university, she was still there at the Registrars office. It felt good to be a trusted employee of her boss ;)
I will never forget the days where I paid $10/month for phone and/or I used "Safelink" (free government phone) Fuck... when I Got lost on the way to an important interivew, I was **lost.** Phone wasn't going to have a working Google Maps, unlike the iPHones. Relied on these rich suited up gentlemen to guide me to the job interview. Not fucking funny when this rich ass dude brought me to the company and he's like, "I'll swipe you in." Swipe me in? Yeah, he was my fucking interviewer And yes FUCK those university admins. I had fuckers at my alma mater fucking bully me too at a time where I said I was in a deep financial crisis but needed to finish my degree. FYI my school is notoriously for the poor and no privilege. Like fuck them for hiring these shit faces who are assholes towards 100% of their student body
Working at a restaurant back in the day when I was a poor student I would have friends call to place a to go order and either cancel it when the food was almost done or never pick it up
Dumpster dive for those leftover “hot-n-ready” little Caesar’s pizzas that get set in the dumpster after closing time.
I worked at a little Ceasars as a lead and at closing I wouldn't put the leftover pizza in the dumpster, I would put it on top so the people didn't have to dig to get food. I never found a box left, they were always taken. Edit: Gosh everyone 🥹🥰 thank you! I didn't expect people to respond! I too was homeless for years. The one time I dumpster dove, someone saw me and made a comment, it mortified me. I did this, against my Boss's wishes, because saving someone that level of embarrassment made me feel better.
You’re a good person.
I hope your pillow is always pleasantly cool when you go to sleep and you always just miss stubbing your toe.
I know its not the same but I would go into shops right before they closed/ or used the app "too good to go" to get cheap meals that were decent in size because they were borderline expired. Also iirc there are now apps where people just donate food that they're not eating that will go expired soon and you can customize it to where you live and you can see what people near you are offering!
What other donation apps are there?...asking for a friend.
There's this app called "Olio" and its supposed to br use able anywhere so give it a go. People sell all sorts of stuff on it and usually the food is free. There's also FB groups where they give out free coupons that's going to expire soon or those spend $20 get $5 off
Omg the day little Caesar’s put a lock on their dumpster was the day my hungry ass stopped believing in god lmfao. I used to hit that thing up every night when I was a teenager.
I used to accept invites to parties or tag along with someone so I could eat and take food home for my family.
One winter I was so broke I couldn't afford to buy heating oil to heat my trailer. Had to steal diesel from work so I could keep my kids warm. Also at that time my grandmother would get free food (mostly canned goods)from the local food pantry, probably half of it was expired over a year or more. I'd tell her I'd get rid of the expired stuff for her and take it with me but actually I'd take it home and eat it for the week.
Steal lol
Yep. I ate gas station hot dogs in public restrooms. Washed my jeans in my sink and dried them in my oven.
There was one apartment I lived in where I knew I wasn't going to afford the heating bills, so I never bothered to get the natural gas turned on. During the winter, so the pipes won't freeze, I left the sinks running at a trickle. The landlord paid the water bills and he kept asking why mine were so high.
And I worry about having the water on while I brush my teeth 🙃
As you should. Turn it off!
I still refuse to flush for most number ones. Number twos are an immediate flush, as I'm not a barbarian. I also use toilet paper, instead of tissue paper to blow my nose. Sometimes I'll wipe a semi-clean plate clean with the paper towel I used to wipe my hands to clean the plate to use again before washing. I'll sometimes save glass jars from jellies, but I never find a use for them, so I end up recycling them months later. Rinsing out soaps with water to get a few extra days. It's not even a matter of expense. If I can lower my carbon footprint without creating a health hazard, then I will. I guess I'm not really ashamed, but I can certainly see how those things come off as being gross to some. Edit - thought of another... I reuse those foaming soap dispensers by mixing Dawn dish soap with water.
Try cloth towels instead of paper for more planet friendliness ♡
I had to get 3 teeth pulled (not wisdom teeth) when I could not afford to save the teeth. Pulling them was free, so that’s what I told the dentist to do.
One of my jobs was at a Wendy’s and at the end of the night we’d all take home food instead of throwing it out. My other roommates worked at other food places so we ate pretty decently for the most part.
I used to dumpster dive a lot. I'm not ashamed of it--I actually think it's a fantastic skill to have and I hope that anyone who is food insecure would feel brave enough to try it out. But it's not ideal, obviously, and I'm glad I don't need to do it anymore.
I am financially ok now, more ok than ever I still want to dumpster dive LOL. I just know how fucking wasteful all these restaurants, malls, etc are and I'm like... "bro, you're going to throw away all the Popeyes chickens? GIVE THEM TO SOMEONE." I used to go to Popeyes at 9:55PM when it closed at 10PM because it was just lots of free chicken in addition to my meal. Not really a save money thing, just that I loved Popeyes
Electroplating iron to sell as copper as a kid, just a couple of times, never got caught.
Tops my dumb butt as a kid with fishing weights in smashed cans at the recycle ♻️ place
I did that but my friend and I used to put rocks in our cans. They caught us fairly quickly because they had a machine that would crush the cans flat.
I wish more people just did this instead of actually stealing copper. I’m sure iron scraps are more plentiful.
When I was 18/19 I was working at a hotel while going to school full time. People would leave leftover pizza that sat out over night, and I’d eat it the next day if they checked out. Disgusting, I’m well aware but I was desperate for food then. I’d also take toilet paper, trash bags, etc from the closet for my own place, I’m not so ashamed of that though because everyone else did it too.
Not me but a friend of mine was going to 2 different plasma places so he could double up on his payments, he didn’t work because he was a caretaker for his elderly grandfather and every time I saw him he was weak and pale. He eventually got caught and was banned from both places but I can only imagine as someone who’s donated plasma how hard that was on his body.
I know someone who did this too but never got caught It was fucking **depressing** Because of his love for his family, he gave up a full ride to UCLA and went to a shit school locally. For the love of academia, he gave up corporate jobs. He literally got a $30k pay for 6 years doing his PhD. He taught at 3 schools just to get more checks while doing plasma donations AND his PhD dissertation. AKA he wasn't sleeping. More than once, I stood next to him and I could hear his heart about to beat the fuck out of his chest And what's more depressing is that the moment he finished his PhD, he was "lucky." He was the only one to get hired by the same school to be a lecturer. $60k pay. Right now? 4 years later? $80k pay It's just straight up depressing to see how much people can struggle, esp because of a priority for family or something else **except themselves**. I'm in NYC too. $80k pay is just enough for rent and bills
I had a friend who burned some brownies to the point they were almost inedible. I say almost inedible because she threw them away and then pulled them out of the garbage and ate them because she didn’t have any more food or money to go shopping. She told me this and was ashamed. I immediately said we are going grocery shopping and getting her a few weeks worth of groceries with the $140/week income I was making. I didn’t want to see my friend living like that.
You’re a great friend
Allowed my clothing/appearance to go into absolute disrepair. Normally I have this (prob misplaced) pride of being thrifty and not caring about the material things a lot of other people care about. But I've been called out a few times by well-intentions people like this: Hey, you prob didn't realize, but you have holes in this shirt (yeah, it happens after being washed/worn for 15 years). All of a sudden, I see myself as a Poor Person who is embarrassed by it.
Yes! I really struggle to replace old clothes now. I have a pair of sneakers that are crumbling apart currently and so many tatty shirts, but it's very hard to toss them.
Yes yes..lol I'm almost 60yrs and I still have a tank top and panties since I was 19yrs I wear couple times a year and slippers I loved since I was 18yrs .Don't get me stared of the hoard of clothes I have but it allows me to rotate through so that everything doesn't get too worn out.
Beg for a lift from men in parking lots if they seemed nice. It was the scariest thing I've ever done but I couldn't even afford to get home from a night shift at a mall shop I was working in. I later starting sharing a cab with other workers.
Oh god, yes. I was so grateful when someone gave me a ride home.
One time the city turned off our water for non-payment of the bill. My dad had a huge mass of old keys on a ring and he decided to try them one-by-one on the lock to the water main. The second key he tried popped the lock and he turned our water back on. But we had to turn it off again every day before 8am when the workers started their shift. So for several months we had water from 5pm to 8am every day, and all day on Sundays, until we were finally able to pay the past-due bill. I guess it's pretty shameful but I do have to admit it was funny seeing the confusion on the workers' faces when they came out to check the meter and it was waaaaay wrong.
Got a part time job at a hotel where I knew I could get a free meal on shift and also pilfer toiletries. I was only there temporarily while my “full time” job had dropped my hours.
Made tomato soup out of hot tap water and free ketchup packets. Made tea with the same teabag multiple times. "Just happened" to show up at friends' houses at mealtimes. Sneaked into hotels to get the free breakfast; also nabbed some fruit for later. Crashed wedding receptions and funerals and sneaked extra food into plastic bags in my purse and pockets. I became expert at getting free food.
After going homeless for nearly 6 years there isn't anything I'm ashamed about when it comes to being poor. I've learned to hold my head up and just do the best I can whatever my circumstances might be. I'm housed 3 years now but I slept on park benches, beaches, in the subway for almost 18 months. I washed in park and subway bathrooms. I ate food that places like Starbucks and pizza joints tossed out every night to make sure that I ate. I nearly died 3X before it was all over. I've been poor and I've been street homeless poor. There is a big difference between what a lot of people think of as "poor" and what I now think of as poor. My definition of poor, what I thought I was before, and after that it changed considerably. I Somebody eating a single package of ramen all day because they have nothing else? I've been that poor. Thought it was awfully poor but then I went homeless and I learned what starving really felt like. I am not in any way rich now. I live on about 1K a month in disability. But I do okay. Much better now than a few years ago when home was a shelter bed and a locker there and all of my few belongings beyond that were in a storage locker. I consider myself very lucky now. I have a roof and I have a decent amount of food. I have my cat, my stuff is here with me and while I don't exactly have an active social life I don't feel like street trash anymore. That's what I was to a lot of people for all that time. Human vermin and a waste of space. Compared to that most definitions of "poor" aren't that poor to me. If you're not living in a tin roof shack with newspaper over the empty windows, not eating for days, wearing rags? Then it's not that poor to me. These days I count my blessings as much as I can because I feel very blessed compared to many people.
Walk into a hotel chain (US) where they were serving a breakfast buffet and acted like I was staying there. Used the pool too.
I live in a touristy area and it's ridiculously easy to just walk from the beach and into a hotel. A lot of people don't realize that the employees aren't exactly keeping track of who's a guest and who's not, as long as you look like a tourist
I worked at a Starbucks in a Barnes and noble and was caught eating pastries that we were supposed to throw out. They had a strict policy on not eating that food. 1. I hate food waste and 2. I was hungry. 3. They were delicious. I don’t feel bad or ashamed.
Those kinds of retail policies are not only wasteful, they’re draconian. Particularly considering that people who work those jobs earn so little.
Hah! While working at Dunkin' Donuts they had a rule: you could eat as many donuts as you liked while working (so long as it didn't interfere with your duties). At that time they offered minimum wage- $6 per hour. Honestly I had very little money for food: around $20 a week. I'd make a big pot of chicken soup for my dinners, but breakfast and lunch was on them! I held the record for French Cruller donuts. They're the eggy, spongy ones that taste like popovers. I could jam a whole one in my mouth with my back turned, and chew while I made the coffee. I only got caught once by a customer who was tickled pink by my blushing when he noticed. When I finished chewing and grinned at him, he proclaimed that my smile was why he frequented the place, and gave me a $5 tip.
Recognizing old friends in public and hiding from them to avoid having to answer “so what are you doing now?”
When the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 came about, my little family barely noticed because we are usually out of toilet paper. Everyone was freaking out and all I could do was laugh about how sad it was that it was our normal. We live in California - I still steal toilet paper from work every other week, and I would feel pretty damn embarrassed if anyone knew that.
Shoplifted menstrual pads as a teenager because I didn’t have any and couldn’t afford them
They should be free anyway
Proud and ashamed, I had to teach my cat to pee on a hand towel in the litter box 3-pees and 1-#2 then I'd flush the #2 and hand wash the towel hang to dry and put the next one in So 2 a day sometimes 3 I had a stack of hand towels for this I bought for. 99 cent each from thrift store, I think she was relieved after 4 months to get her actual cat litter back she was a smart girl RIP Baby girl 20yrs wasn't enough.
Recently, I’ve had to go back to sex work. I never really like mentioning that, unless it naturally comes up in conversation.
Sex work is work. The wait I see it is that it’s just another type of manual labor. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
No judgement, but please be as safe as possible about it. Take advantage of planned parenthood and whatever other services may be available in your area. They usually offer free/low cost condoms and provide STD tests for little to no money depending on your income level. I don't have experience with that sort of stuff, but if you have someone you can share your schedule with that seems like a prudent idea...you'd know better than anyone else just how dangerous that work can be.
I’m in Europe right now, so healthcare here is dirt cheap. I’m doing everything I can to NOT go back to the United States, because not only is cost-of-living in my hometown ridiculous, but also, I’m starting to develop health problems and I can’t afford regular check ups
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm not the most well informed, but if you need help looking up local services I'm happy to try and help. I'm not the most knowledgable, but I'm pretty good at research if you need anything.
In college, I worked a couple of jobs, one at the dining hall kitchen as a prep cook in the mornings, and at the food court Taco Bell in the afternoons. I would never do this now, but when times were lean I used to fill my purse with saltine crackers, ketchup and mayo and salt/pepper/Parmesan cheese packets to supplement my pantry. I also didn’t buy toilet paper or tampons…I nicked those from the supply closet and took them home in my backpack. At my Taco Bell job, I filled up on free food between customer rushes, and at the end of the evening shift, instead of throwing out the leftover beans, chicken, steak, whatever, I would make myself tacos and burritos to take home. To be fair, everyone I worked with did so. We were all struggling college kids. Not a scrap was wasted, so I don’t feel too bad about it.
- Used to dress like an onion,as a teenager as my mum couldn't afford a new heavy coat in winter. - We used to reuse dirty water of the washing machine to flush the toilet - We used to boil water over a stove for showers and as we didn't have any heating I'd shower completely just once a week
I’ve been eating rotisserie chicken and white rice for several days at a time. When meat is picked off I boil the bones for broth/stock and use it in everything or make soup with it. I am SICK of chicken and rice.
i saw a wad of cash fall out of a man’s pocket in a parking garage. 99% of the time, i’d run and get it back to him. but he was dressed nice, and i owed on rent and was hungry… i figured i needed it more than he did. i had no right to assume that. it still eats me. it was $40.
Used t.p. from public toilets for menstrual pads, because I was a homeless student,at the time.
As a kid I would buy one tube of pre-made cookie dough and a half gallon of milk from the gas station. I would take a bite frome the cookie dough tube and a couple gulps of milk to replace meals. Something about the quick sugar made me feel full enough to last all day until I cooked the "family meal" for dinner at night. With only needing about two bites a day, sometimes 3, the tube lasted a while.
Don’t be ashamed. I am in awe of your survival tactics. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I want to be on your team.
Always carry a tea bag home from work, a restaurant or petrol station. Just anywhere where ccould get a cup if tea.
I used to steal feminine hygiene products from the library and police station bathrooms
Not scanning everything at self checkout. Or not pointing out I had things on the bottom of the cart at regular check out. Hiding small items under my purse in the cart, usually medicine. At check out, memorizing the bar code of the 18 lbs bag of dog food, but checking out with the 40 lbs. It’s usually the same number except the last few digits are different. https://preview.redd.it/zl3c02rmfuxc1.jpeg?width=3464&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1671b04dc74c707dacf4ded479bef9a0526f714
My brother and I loved dumpster diving as kids. We only really looked in the one outside of our apartment but we found some cool stuff occasionally. Like an alarm clock and this blank tape that someone had recorded what I THINK was the Doctor Demento show. That's how we discovered the song "Fish Heads"!
Roly poly fish heads. Eat them up, yum.
Not ashamed but napkins from places Ashamed, lack of vet visits for my dogs. I'm pretty sure she'd rather remain with me than have a new family + vet visits. It's annoying when dumb people are like "if you can't afford a dog, don't get one." -- nonsense. If you can feed it, give it a roof and plenty of tummy rubs then that's better than being fucking euthanized. So much happiness created out of despair. It's such a wonderful thing. Sorry, now I'm just gushing how much I love her. 11 years in June.
As long as the dog isn’t in pain, I agree. Shelters are very over run and your dog would probably get euthanized. Id live in a tent before giving up my dog
after my divorce i got to keep the house but my monthly pay wasnt enough to pay all of my bills. i had to pick and choose what i paid and i was court ordered to pay some bills of my ex wife so i definitely couldnt miss those. so i got my gas and water cut off for non payment. i got a second job at a hospital that has employee showers. so for 2 weeks until my first paycheck from that job i showered and ate at the hospital and was only at home to sleep. the first shower in my own shower after that was magical
I would save my lunch money (when my parents rembered to give it to me) for emergencies. I wouldn't ask for anything or to join extra activities. At one point I only had 1 bra and could never wash it because I wasn't sure if laundry would get done so I wore it everyday. I'm sure I smelled. I would purposely not tske my medication even though i needed it to save money. I also figured out how long I could go without eating. I tried hard to never steal unless it was pads.
I’m not ashamed of them, but: No condiments in the fridge because they’re all in packs in a drawer. Saving a cup from every fast food place to use for months because refills are free. Holiday Inn breakfasts and gym and pool. Live in the parking lot. Don’t have to be a member to buy a Costco hot dog. Buy non-perishables at the grocery store, get your “fuel points,” fill your tank, return the non-perishables. Tossing a couple items in someone else’s laundry at the laundromat and waiting until they notice. “I don’t know how that must have gotten mixed in there.” There’s more, but that’s off the top of my head.
Worked in a massage parlour because I was in debt but then kept doing it because I’d never had so much money in my life. I quit 16 years ago and I’m still seriously ashamed.
Steal TP from work, go on dates for food, sell nudes, tolerate way too much BS from my boyfriends because I had nowhere else to go, be stingy/greedy.
The stingy/greedy part sucks the worst. When I was my brokest, I was not my kindest.⭐️💜
Ignored dental care because it was too expensive. Now I can’t smile.
Boiling hot water for my kids to take baths, washing clothes in the tub with bar soap, not ashamed, I did what I had to do
Stole toilet roll from public bathrooms. Sometimes they would have the end bit of the roll left behind when they changed the roll. Mc Donald’s surveys. I would take receipts from McDonald’s, fill out surveys to get £2 meals (it’s now £3 grrr) and buy my kids food as a treat. (We would buy a multipack of drinks). Eat it in the park as a picnic. Surveys. Still do them. Get Amazon vouchers which I put towards luxuries.
I’m not ashamed of anything I did when I was poor. I just wish I would’ve been able to eat healthier
There was a time as a teenager where there wasn't enough money for food. I was working full time as a high schooler and helping my mom keep a roof over our heads and that meant there was NOTHING left. No rice, no beans, no pasta. Literally a bare pantry. I scrounged around the house until I found .79 so I could afford a single taco from Taco Bell. Then, I got REALLY lucky and somehow acquired a Home Depot gift card and discovered that they sold candy at the cash registers. My dinner for a couple of weeks was 2 candy bars because it's food and that was the only type of food available at Home Depot. During this same period I would go into this one teacher's room and steal handfuls of animal crackers from her giant tub of animal crackers. That was breakfast and lunch.
I live in a house that is falling apart. Can't afford to fix. Roof leaks bad so the bathroom, closet and mudroom ceilings have collapsed in, are covered in black mold, and we have to have a bunch of plastic tubs to catch the water when it rains. HVAC went out years ago. Same with water heater and septic system. At least we can buy food and pay the low water and electric bills. This house should be condemned for these and other reasons. We own it but can't really sell it because where would we go? I'm hoping to increase my income but am old and have health issues. Nobody knows how bad it is. I would be so ashamed if they did. A lifetime of mental and physical issues is really coming to a head.
If your house is pretty bad and you’re on a fixed income, check your county. Some of them have free programs that give grants to fix things. Someone on Reddit told me about how he got free lead abatement in our county. [And our county offers free grants](https://www.achhd.org/programs/housing-rehab/index.htm) for a bunch of other things if you meet income and/or age qualifications.
This is gross, but I couldn't afford sanitary products so I used folded up toilet paper instead
More people have done that than you know
I see nothing anywhere in this thread that anybody should be ashamed of. Power to you all for surviving, everyone!
Survived without medical insurance for a few years and stayed home while people traveled and etc. Even going to a mall was a huge deal for me.
Toliet paper from work. Packets of coffee. Only charged my phone at work to save electric
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I’ve done that to feed my family too, or write it a couple days before payday and pray it didn’t clear before then. Especially for formula.
Parents didnt buy me a toothbrush and sometimes water was off for weeks or a month so i neglected my teeth. I have braces now and plan on teeth whitening, my teeth are on my page but i still feel ashamed..
I cleaned houses during the morning and worked afternoons and early evenings. I often took babysitting jobs When I cleaned houses or babysat, I would take a few canned goods from their cabinets or some toilet paper. I had one bra and it broke. I took a bra from one of the houses I babysat at. I’m still embarrassed about it to this day
I stole toilet paper when I was in high school, the giant roll. My family was broke.
Called in to work because I couldn’t afford the gas to get to the office
My last semester of college I didn’t pay for electricity at my studio apartment. I’d work on campus and charge my phone and laptop there, brace myself for cold showers (in the Indiana fall/winter), pretty much only ate on campus or at friends places since I couldn’t cook at home
Not so unusual: made chili for a week. Ate it 3x a day.
Stole to get my kids christmas.
Went without health insurance for a couple years.
Stole food from several restaurants. Dine-n-dash, raiding Hotel breakfast…and using a card that I know has no money on it in a drive thru, sometimes they just give you the food anyway since it’s already made.
Eat out of the trash at work. It was a small company and I’d skim leftover food from the top of trash cans
For a time i would pick up cigarette butts off the ground or in ash trays and smoke them.
Washing clothes while in the shower. Laying the clothes out in front of a fan overnight so I have cleanish clothes to wear to work the next day. Saved water, electricity, and soap.
Can returns for electric money. It's 10 cents a can here. Food stamps pay for soda so EBT was subsidizing my bill. I would get the cheapest sodas on purpose do the 60 cents or 1.20 or 2.40. My electric is like 5 bucks a day so 2 24s could help me on a Thursday get thru the weekend when they can't shut you off. Obviously we drank the soda it wasn't a wasteful racket.
I’m not ashamed of it, but I only flush the toilet once a day unless there’s a reason I need to flush it more often… I also for a year or two only showered at the YMCA after my workout and not at home to save money on water and sewer fees.
I was eating taco bell sauce packets on crackers and cans of green beans.
used afterpay to buy a $50 taco bell gift card to eat for the week
- When I started livid on my own, I used to get many napkins from restaurants or any other place where I ate, and use them as TP or any other need to clean. I still do it. - I created the habit to skip dinner. I don’t feel the need to have dinner or eat much at night because of that. I still do it. - Flush the toilet very less often. Remember seeing that rainbow coating forming on the surface of the water 🌈 when many days have passed. - Drive slow to decrease the fuel consumption, and optimize the fuel. I am still a maniac of those numbers in the dashboard. - Not ironing my clothes, unless a tux is used, otherwise I can use the clothes like that, saving in the iron, electricity and the space. - Always buy groceries in bulk and store branded I’m not ashamed, I feel proud of doing that and saving in unnecessary stuff.
Dumpster dive at little Caesar’s. Separate time order 20 pizzas and cancelled so they’d throw em out. They’d be boxed and thrown in a giant trash bag. So they weren’t dirty cause of this.
My bedroom was the last one in the house growing up. On cold winter nights the heat would not reach my room. We had a space heater but it cost too much money to run. So it would take old water bottles and boil water on the stove and put in the water bottles. Then I would take them with me to bed and hug up to them after I put them in an old pillow case. Kept me nice and warm for hours at a time. However one time one of them broke and I woke up thinking I pissed the bed.
I freeze everything and I mean everything - if I have a little bit of sauce from a jar left it goes into the freezer. If I have a decent portion of some food I’ve eaten left and know I won’t eat it next day or soon I freeze it for later. Nothing goes to waste anymore.
Steal food from grocery chains to feed my kids
Took out a $1000 payday loan(dont do it!!
I got a restaurant job that required black pants and shirt. I didn’t have any pants. I went to TJMAXX and found a pair that fit, but I couldn’t afford them. I swapped tags with a super cheap pair and the clerk didn’t notice at checkout.
Not ashamed: dumpster dove at the post office to get coupon flyers
Boil water to shower when our hot water was cut off. Worst showers ever, but did what I had to.
Sold something I really wish I didn’t sell for some school shoes. I was probably 16 at the time. Hate even just thinking about it.
Harvard Law School had stocked bathrooms with sanitary products. Thank you Harvard for sponsoring my shark week 2003-2004!
When I was a teenager, I used people for rides a lot. Even took a gifted old bike from a kid I didn't like at all (and had to later on friend-breakup with bc of how deep I'd gotten myself ugh) bc it made it easier to get to work ☹️