The Poverty Thread

Pighead

Pighead was in the bookies yesterday and this old man with a smelly beard and stinky trousers started doing a jig of joy as trap 5 beat trap 4 in a nailbiting finish at Crayford.

Anyway he says to me, "its my lucky day son, got a loan of a fiver this morning for a bit of food but didn't eat and instead I put it on that dog. Now I've got 20 euro. I'm rich! I said to him, "Thats great, now fcuk off you putrid skanky tramp" I left the bookies thinking "Jesus Christ, imagine being that broke" Then I remembered my student days and realised that there was no need to imagine!

There was a month when I spent all my grant in 3 days and had to survive for the best part of a month scabbing off people for food. Spent almost all of that month in my bed reading yesterdays newspapers which I'd salvaged form next doors bin. Used to sneak into the kitchen at midnight and rob my flatmates bread and Penguin Bars.

Anyway Pigheads sure everybodys been a bit broke at some stage of their lives(Except Posh Lady Pythia, obviously), so whats the brokest you've ever been.

Last year in college I had to survive on about a tenner a week for the best part of that year. Was fun.

why is **** one of your tags ...

Faith

I lived on £10 for over a week last April because of a fúck up at the bank. I barely left my flat! Thankfully, I'd already stockpiled pasta and tea bags, so I didn't go hungry.

connundrum

When I was 20/21 I was broke a$$! I remember scabbing left over chinese from house mates, turning the couch upside down in search of bus fare and I remember finding a £10 notes in an old pair of jeans.. then making the journey into central bank and waiting for ages just to change it into € - that €12.70 did me for 8 days or something.

I was literally considering declaring bankruptcy due to crippling loan repayments.. bankrupt at the age of 21!!

I must apologise to all the people who turned around for 2 seconds in a pub, only to find their pint missing - my thirst was quenched though, so thats a bonus

panda100

Pighead wrote:

Penguin Bars.

.

Ive been living on these and baked beans for the last week...still in college.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Survived on college on pretty much nothing, ended up having to move home. Which didnt turn out as bad as i imagined!

Boston

connundrum wrote:

I must apologise to all the people who turned around for 2 seconds in a pub, only to find their pint missing - my thirst was quenched though, so thats a bonus

feicing hell mate, thats not on.

Pighead

Faith wrote:

I lived on £10 for over a week last April because of a fúck up at the bank. I barely left my flat! Thankfully, I'd already stockpiled pasta and tea bags, so I didn't go hungry.

Yeah Pastas the poor mans friend alright. As is porridge, made with water of course, milk was far too expensive.

Thank fcuk Pighead didn't smoke. Must be ****ty to be down to your last fiver and have to decide whether to buy fags or food. Although I suppose you could chew the tobacco if you wanted to kill two birds with one fiver.

Pighead

LiouVille wrote:

feicing hell mate, thats not on.

Pipe down Rich Boy. You don't know what its like. Pigheads sure connundrum isn't proud of his actions but it was a matter of life or death*

*death in this case meaning getting drunk.

Mrs_Doyle

I never remember feeling 'scarily' broke, but that's probably because, no matter how little money I had, I lived at home and knew I would have a roof over my head and food in my stomach.

I can remember about 5 years ago, I was sacked from my job, about 3 weeks before Christmas.

Anyhow, I had shag all money, and could only buy my family little token gifts, like PJ's and Toiletries, etc.
I didn't have a BF at the time, and my best friend kinda filled that roll in my life.
I felt so bad about not being able to buy her something really nice.
So with my last €10 I went to the off licence and bought a six pack of Smirnoff ice.
I carefully removed each bottle from the little holder thingy, so as not to rip the card board, and I individually wrapped each bottle and once wrapped, I stuck a bow on top and carefully put them back into the holder.

It took me ages to do, and when I gave it to her, she was actually emotional.

Ha! Ha! She had a tear in her eye, over a 6 pack of Smirnoff ice!

Oh those were the days, now we spend big money on perfumes and the likes, but it just isn't the same.

Nothing says I love you like a specially gift wrapped 6 pack!:p

Demetrius

Faith wrote:

I lived on £10 for over a week last April because of a fúck up at the bank. I barely left my flat! Thankfully, I'd already stockpiled pasta and tea bags, so I didn't go hungry.

Exact same story here about three weeks ago. Was down to living on small change I had stored on the window sill (amounting to about 3.50) plus 1.59 in the bank.

I had never been so poor.

I think the only reason I survived on so little a week is that every monday I would go out and buy the bare minimum to cook a risotto that would serve 4 people. I'd eat a certain amount of it a day to last me a week. It was delicious on the Monday, but by the Friday it was slightly nasty.

I became a vegetarian that year just because it was so much cheaper.

These things pretty much saved my life too.

Rabies

I worked most weekends so always had a few £/€ to spare on top of the money my parents gave me.
If I ever was running short on cash I would go and ask my parents for some extra.

connundrum

Deleted User wrote:

These things pretty much saved my life too.

lol, I really can't stand the smell of those things now!

I got by on a strict diet of these and this. Sometimes I would splash out and go nuts on this.

Oh and I remember dodging every possible ticket inspector on the dublin-galway train for about 2 years in order to make the ticket last longer. I'd say I spent more time in that train's toilets than I did in lectures!

Donegal Lass

at college, (after spending the grant in about a week-why do we always do that??) me and my mates walked a mile and a half to the nightclub because we didnt have the money for a taxi!! This was in the middle of december, f****n freezing, without any coats because we didnt have the money to pay the 50p fee for the cloakroom! We spent the night getting hammered on the unsuspecting public by robbing drinks that they had just bought and left down! I feel so ashamed but it was probably one of the best nights i can remember!!:D

oh and i remember saving up all the change (2ps and 1ps included) for my train home only to realise when i arrived at the train station i had forgotten it and was 3quid short of the fare! I had to ask this girl in front of me in the queue for the extra!! the lovely girl felt sorry for me and gave it to me, i was never so mortified!!
I legged it and saw a girl from my class standing on the platform so went over and started chatting to her, telling of my embarrassing story, when the girl i had asked the money off came strolling up beside us! turns out they were friends! i made my excuses and left quick-smart with a very red face!!

connundrum

connundrum wrote:

lol, I really can't stand the smell of those things now!

I got by on a strict diet of these and this. Sometimes I would splash out and go nuts on this.

Oh and I remember dodging every possible ticket inspector on the dublin-galway train for about 2 years in order to make the ticket last longer. I'd say I spent more time in that train's toilets than I did in lectures!

They might smell nasty but damn they were good when you hadn't eaten in days!

Lately I've been survivng on this and this. Not broke or anything. Just too lazy to cook.

Agamemnon

Pighead wrote:

Thank fcuk Pighead didn't smoke. Must be ****ty to be down to your last fiver and have to decide whether to buy fags or food. Although I suppose you could chew the tobacco if you wanted to kill two birds with one fiver.

Fags take priority, every time. Although in my student days, I was so broke at times I even ran out of smokes. One day when I had nothing, I found a broken fag that was soaked with beer in an ashtray. I dried it out in the microwave, sellotaped it together and smoked it. Nicest smoke I ever had, even though it cut the throat out of me.

Another time, I had tobacco but couldn't even afford papers. I used the really thin pages from a copy of the Bible instead. Sadly, Jesus did not appear to me after a few smokes.

godtabh

Was doing the j1 a couple of years ago.

We all had jobs lined up so for the first week we went made before we started.

Money ran out very fast only to find out that we were gona get paid every 2 weeks after working a back "week" so that meant 4 weeks with no pay!

The first weeks were ok. We were staying at a hostel that had chicken and beer nights ($5 for all you can eat and drink they stopped doing that after we left!).

The second week we couldnt afford to do this.

The 3rd week we booked one bed in the hostel and sneaked people in. Got rumbeled on night but got away with it. Had to get dry bagels for breakfast lunch and dinner. 6 bagels for a dollar! Havent eaten one since!

The 4th week we sneaked into a hostel down the road and robbed all the food from the kitchen.


Got paid at the end of this week. Had enough money to rent a place. Sneaked into the hostel down the road and robbed all the pots and pans and bed sheets ect cause we couldnt afford to kit out the new place!

Binomate

kearnsr wrote:

Was doing the j1 a couple of years ago.

We all had jobs lined up so for the first week we went made before we started.

Money ran out very fast only to find out that we were gona get paid every 2 weeks after working a back "week" so that meant 4 weeks with no pay!

The first weeks were ok. We were staying at a hostel that had chicken and beer nights ($5 for all you can eat and drink they stopped doing that after we left!).

The second week we couldnt afford to do this.

The 3rd week we booked one bed in the hostel and sneaked people in. Got rumbeled on night but got away with it. Had to get dry bagels for breakfast lunch and dinner. 6 bagels for a dollar! Havent eaten one since!

The 4th week we sneaked into a hostel down the road and robbed all the food from the kitchen.


Got paid at the end of this week. Had enough money to rent a place. Sneaked into the hostel down the road and robbed all the pots and pans and bed sheets ect cause we couldnt afford to kit out the new place!

I like.

Tobias Greeshman

Pighead wrote:

Pipe down Rich Boy. You don't know what its like. Pigheads sure connundrum isn't proud of his actions but it was a matter of life or death*

*death in this case meaning getting drunk.

Too right, many a student is guilty of robbing drinks on a night out, including myself. The £10 to last a week, scrapping for a bus fare, living as cheap as possible. Most students have been there, whether they like to admit it or not.

<puts on old mans voice>Students these days I tell ye, they have it too easy:rolleyes:

county

Donegal Lass wrote:

at college, (after spending the grant in about a week-why do we always do that??) me and my mates walked a mile and a half to the nightclub because we didnt have the money for a taxi!! This was in the middle of december, f****n freezing, without any coats because we didnt have the money to pay the 50p fee for the cloakroom! We spent the night getting hammered on the unsuspecting public by robbing drinks that they had just bought and left down! I feel so ashamed but it was probably one of the best nights i can remember!!:D

you disgust me:rolleyes:


back in my student days i remember my mates and i were so skint we would go to the bank and withdraw coppers.


county:i would like to make a withdrawal.
teller:for how much?
county:whats in the account?
teller:£1.08.
county:i`ll take the lot.

Tar.Aldarion

I ate beans for a month, that was pretty much it. Oh college, destroyer of money.

Pighead

agamemnon wrote:

Fags take priority, every time. Although in my student days, I was so broke at times I even ran out of smokes. One day when I had nothing, I found a broken fag that was soaked with beer in an ashtray. I dried it out in the microwave, sellotaped it together and smoked it. Nicest smoke I ever had, even though it cut the throat out of me.

Another time, I had tobacco but couldn't even afford papers. I used the really thin pages from a copy of the Bible instead. Sadly, Jesus did not appear to me after a few smokes.

Holy Smoke Batman/agamemnon. Thats hardcore poverty there I tells ya. A bottom of the barrell tale there alright. Nothing else to say really, the only point of this reply was to get the Holy Smoke gag in before anybody else.

Mrs_Doyle

Donegal Lass wrote:

We spent the night getting hammered on the unsuspecting public by robbing drinks that they had just bought and left down! I feel so ashamed but it was probably one of the best nights i can remember!!:D

When I was 17 I used to go into town with £15, £5 of which was for my taxi home.
We used to go the Back Gate because it was the only place that would let us in. (we all looked really young and didn't have any decent fake ID's)
my remaining £10 would last all night long, becasue we would pint watch - we would sit in a little section which had a counter behind it, people would generally place there order at the bar, and if it was a big order they would take 3 or 4 drinks of their order, place them on the counter, then turn around to pick up their remaining drinks.
By the time they turned around at least 2 of the drinks that they had placed on the counter would have vanished, and we would have moved to the other side of the counter, so it looked as if we had just walked from the bar ourselves.

EDIT - TO ATTACH PICTURE!

http://file023.bebo.com/4/large/2006/11/02/12/18289833a2435001508b411964863l.jpg

petes

All this pint robbing shenanigans. Madness. I would go out when I was a student a get absolutely rat arsed before hitting the nightclub by drinking a nagan of something or another. Would only have enough left to have a couple of drinks inside.

Mossy Monk

when i went hungry i went to sleep

godtabh

Binomate wrote:

I like.

The chicken and beer night was class.

The americans hadnt seen any one drink that much in their lives before. They just gazed on in amazment as the 3 of us downed plastic cup after plastic cub as we played switch or snap (only games we knew) cause we couldnt afford to play pool!

monkeyfudge

When I was a student I used to play it smart in order to get drunk. I used to always order port as it's a perishable once they open the bottle so they always gave you a double measure. It worked out cheap and at 19% it did the job nicely. For food I'd rip open a packet of mustard and suck on it as I sipped my port.

I remember being pretty broke when I started my fist job as well as I had to work a back month.

Dan133269

I honestly have no sympathy for students in that situation, I'm a student living away from home and I never have a lot of money, if I'm broke I don't go out it's as simple as that. How is it even possible to spend grant money within a week?
If any of ye know Arsenal1986 on here he's a college buddy of mine and I'd reckon he'd give anyone a run for their money in the pint stealing business, I suppose you could call him a professional

Pighead

monkeyfudge wrote:

I remember being pretty broke when I started my fist job as well as I had to work a back month.

I see you had to resort to working down the park as well(We called it wrist job, but I hear ya buddy).

Man I hated that job. Pighead always found the politicians to be the worst. Demanding fcukers.

monkeyfudge

bah... that's what I get for trying to post while teaching a class at the same time. But my students are really coming along with their fisting.

The Sweeper

Being a student at DCU. I had literally no money for a week, so I remember walking from the city centre out to the university campus every day, for five days, and then walking back in the evening. Every single day I scanned that pavement for change. People would ask me had I lost something because I was studying the ground so hard. I think the busfare back to Dublin from DCU was 80p. In five days of pavement mooching I couldn't raise more than 45p.

I'm trying to go back to student-style life a bit at the moment in terms of spending less money. I can't believe I used to be able to make £40 last through food and drink three times a day for five days.

seamus

With the exception of about 6 months before my leaving, I've worked pretty much solidly since I was 16, and during college I was pulling in around €200 a week. So I've gotten pretty damn good at making my money last. Don't think I've ever been *completely* broke, though I can remember a couple of times withdrawing my last tenner to buy more beer (which wouldn't matter because I'd be paid again in a day or two). That said, my measly rent was paid for me, I rarely drank during college hours (unless there was something on), and was cooked dinner by my girlfriend's Mum at least five nights a week.

Pighead

And the heroin was way cheaper back then as well Seamus wasn't it?

Pighead remembers spending his last 3 pound to buy a chick a drink in the Warwick Hotel in Galway.

I said to myself "Fcuk it Pighead, you'll have no money left, but if you buy her a drink its 90% guaranteed she'll take you back to her deluxe apartment and the two of you can make sweet sweet love until payday arrives" Turns out I was wrong, bitch took the drink, thanked me with a sassy smile and walked off into the dry ice to find another sucker.

Making sweet love to a beautiful girl in a beautiful apartment turned into knocking one off in my dank dirty bedroom.

fish-head

Pint robbing is best at Debseses I find.. Me and my friend found so many pints we started to conduct physics experiments with them (i.e. slam them on the table and laugh like hyenas as the drink flew out like magic). I don't think I've ever been completely broke. Lucky me I guess.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Pighead

The Scientist wrote:

6 dutchies + free club pass + somebody else's drink = successfull night.


T.Sc.

Not quite buddy, you've got your maths wrong there, perhaps you forgot to carry the 1.

6 dutchies + free club pass + somebody else's drink = Moderate Night.
6 dutchies + free club pass + somebody else's drink + drunken tart + free bag of chips from Lennox's = succesful night

jester77

Would also be the college days as well.

Last year in college in Limerick, went out on a Thurs night and got drunk on my last £5 (those were the days)
Wander into college on the Friday to find out that I have an interview for a job that afternoon in Shannon but don't have any money left and everyone had fecked off for the day. Head down to the student bank and ask for a £5 loan to cover a bus trip to the interview... b***tards refused me. Had to ring my dad who had to leave work in the middle of the day to tranfer £5 for me. Sound man transferred £10 so had an additional bonus night out. Didn't even get the job

Pighead

There was this phase in Galway when the nightclubs would stop at midnight for half an hour and Chicken Curry would be served to everybody. It was designed to stop the kids getting drunk I think.

Anyway one of the lads in Pigheads class used to get free passes for Icon/Cuba (whatever the fcuk its called now) and turn up especially at 12 every night to get his Chicken Curry. He'd often take peoples leftovers home in doggy bags. The cnut used to constantly stink of the stuff.

Never got hungry though.

Tazz T

I went to work in Denmark picking strawberries one summer. We got paid by the weight we picked. We started at 6am but the local villagers would get up at 4am and pick them all, so we never earned any money. it was in the middle of nowhere and in the end, we resorted to digging up unripe spuds out of fields to eat. Lasted all of three weeks before spending time skint in Germany, Holland and London too.

padi89

Pighead wrote:

There was this phase in Galway when the nightclubs would stop at midnight for half an hour and Chicken Curry would be served to everybody. It was designed to stop the kids getting drunk I think.

Fvckin hell i had forgotten all about that.......strange time! The feckin lights would come on too.They used to serve Chilli in one of the other clubs, smart move,you'd be dyin of the thirst afterwards.

Ruu_Old

I had to live on the students specialty dinner/tea aka Pot Noodle for a week when I lived in London before my first paycheck came in.:)

petes

Tazz T wrote:

I went to work in Denmark picking strawberries one summer. We got paid by the weight we picked. We started at 6am but the local villagers would get up at 4am and pick them all, so we never earned any money. it was in the middle of nowhere and in the end, we resorted to digging up unripe spuds out of fields to eat. Lasted all of three weeks before spending time skint in Germany, Holland and London too.

Should have got up at 3am then.

Pighead

padi89 wrote:

Fvckin hell i had forgotten all about that.......strange time! The feckin lights would come on too

Yeah thats right, the ugly chicks hated it when the lights came on.

"Nooooooooooo", they cried, as the fella they'd been snogging in the dark corner for the past 20 mins suddenly snapped out of his drunken haze, realised he was slobbering all over an Ugg and quickly made his excuses

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

godtabh

Was just alking to a friend about this.

He was telling me that he was planning to spend the summer in Canada.

Got there and had a few quid to live off before he got the job.

2 weeks later all his money was spent (he had about €5k) and no job. His last bit of money was spent changing his flights. But the gob****e never asked when they were (he just asked for the next available one home) was 10days away.

He spent 10 days stelling carrots and rice from china town, eggs from the local market and the odd packet of noddels.

He lost a stone

connundrum

padi89 wrote:

Fvckin hell i had forgotten all about that.......strange time! The feckin lights would come on too.They used to serve Chilli in one of the other clubs, smart move,you'd be dyin of the thirst afterwards.

It was a requirement for the old niteclub licences, only changed back in 1998/1999 direction

I thought it was great, in the Harriers in Tullamore they'd give out plates of stew. One night we even got sausage rolls :eek: Ya can be sure that I shoved a sausage roll into every available pocket.. thereby eliminating the need for the 3am trip to Abrakebabra

Good times Good times!

petes

I've never heard of this food being given out. Did it happen everywhere?

Thrill

I went through a scarey spell a couple of years ago. I remember i was
down to my last 15 million euro and was gettin kinda worried.
But thankfully oil went through the roof again so things are back to normal.
No more of that humiliating buisness class for me. Private jet's are the
only way to travel.

connundrum

petes wrote:

I've never heard of this food being given out. Did it happen everywhere?

The Intoxicating Liquor Bill, 2000 changed that law...

Section 5 is an important one for night club and disco operators. It changes the law as it applies to special exemptions. These are granted by the District Court and permit the sale of intoxicating liquor on special occasions in licensed premises after normal closing time. The section abolishes the need to provide a meal as a condition of an exemption in the case of a special occasion, which is a dance held in a ballroom licensed under the Public Dance Halls Act, 1935, as well as the requirement that a premises be a hotel or restaurant.

Thrill

petes wrote:

I've never heard of this food being given out. Did it happen everywhere?

I dont ever remember getting one down here (cork) stingy b******ds.:mad: