How to Scrape By On Nothing

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Some tips on how to get by without means.
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dirtyjoe69
dirtyjoe69
971 Followers

Before I became employed in the career I am in now there were many days of heartache and sweat. Always wondering where the next meal was coming from, always stressing over what bills to pay and how to give each just enough that hydro, gas, water or cable wouldn't be disconnected. Sometimes I was successful in keeping all utilities on the go and other times I just couldn't make it.

I remember doing my taxes in 1997 and my net income was a measly 8,700 something dollars. Now to some they might say, "Hell I can make it on 8 grand a year!" but let me tell you this pay had to cover two kids, my wife and myself. We had a mortgage that took up almost all of the 8 grand a year itself. Let me tell you there were many nights when I went to bed with an empty stomach just so my kids could eat a decent meal.

There were other times I had to suck in my pride and venture down to the local food bank just to be sure there was enough food to keep them filled. Pasta, potatoes, and peanut butter became my main staples. Not that I am complaining though because now we are doing ok and I believe we appreciate the things we have more than people who haven't had to struggle as much as us.

During this time it was heartbreaking when my kids wanted to go to a show with their friends and we just didn't have the money to offer them this treat. Every once in awhile we would splurge and rent a movie for them though. I honestly think our lack of funds gave us more quality family time.

During this period though I learned a lot of ways to scrape by and if any of you are struggling out there maybe they can help.

I have already mentioned a few like not eating but you can only keep that up for so long.

When you live way under the poverty level you can't be too choosey on your diet so cheap foods high in carbs worked for us. You can make a whole meal out of potatoes with the right spices. Pasta is by far the best and cheapest way to keep your belly full. I nice dish to have is a plate of pasta with a nice cheap salad dressing poured over the noodles (although spaghetti sauce isn't that expensive if you don't mind no name brands), and the nice thing about spaghetti is if you make a huge pot you can get almost three days worth of meals. If you have never eaten left over spaghetti fried you are missing out. It is still a favorite of mine.

Peanut butter is good for protein if you are not allergic too it. Even the cheapest brand is a little pricey but if you spread it thin it can last awhile.

And don't forget people even in major chain grocery stores pricing is just subjective. You can barter with managers in almost any store to get prices lowered. Grab a dinted can or a crushed box and make them an offer. Better sold then thrown out.

Lastly I will talk about the dreaded bills. We all hate them just like we hate taxes but they are a necessary evil. But there are ways around having to pay your bills or at least get deadlines extended. One of the most creative ways I found was learned on a fluke. In a rush to get the bills out I wrote the checks and by mistake I put the cable check in the phone envelope and the check for the phone bill in the cable envelope. When the checks weren't cashed I was a little confused but sure enough I received a call saying that I had made the mistake from each of the utilities. This gave me an extension of more than two weeks. It soon became an "accident" on a regular basis. Since most of these companies have so many people that do the bill collections I never had anyone inquire why it kept happening.

Another way to scrape is to get just basic everything. Cut the long distance on your phone and put a block on collect calls coming in. If you absolutely need television get the most basic package you can get. You might not have the entertainment of the movie networks but at least you have some entertainment. At night be sure to put more covers on your bed and turn your furnace to the bear minimum. When taking a shower go in with your wife and take one together (have sex before you go in though because if you haven't you might find yourself using up even more hot water than usual).

Anyway there are just some ways to scrape by when you don't have the cash in hand required to make it in this world. I hope I helped some of you out!

dirtyjoe69
dirtyjoe69
971 Followers
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AnonymousAnonymousalmost 10 years ago
Truth

Very brave to put this out, I have been there also and you do appreciate more when your on the other side. Everything in story is helpful advice I'm sure the food pantries are even more crowded than when I had to go. To help feed my family I needed to go to several. I eat much better now but those times taught me "that I eat much better" funny how quick a person can get spoiled. I was once again humbled by reading your story.

Thank you

AnonymousAnonymousover 16 years ago
Cheaper

It needs more tips, but I've been living on about $2,000 a year and that's with paying taxes and vet bills for my animals. The best thing you can do, is grow your own food. Seeds are cheap and take time to grow, but once they do, you'll actually have to GIVE some away! I preserve what I grow though and use it throughout the winter and then next growing season, it's right back to normal. You can also look for meat that's about to expire at the grocery store, like by 1-2 days and ask for a reduction...I've even been given it for free! As everyone knows, meat doesn't expire on it's expiration date suddenly so go home and freeze it, it'll last for about six months or more, depending on the meat. Best times to shop are right after Christmas and other major holidays, that is, if you're worried about next year and buy your stuff from last when it was 75-90% off. Another thing is, if you live in the country like I do, you can dream up things to make life easier. I've made a washing machine out of 55 gallon drums and even a water collection system...my own guns (although, it's very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing)...and have had a garden for nearly 8 years. I've shopped in Goodwill and charity stores...even though, all the good stuff from Goodwill is taken before it even gets out to the shelves, but every once in a while...you find something nice. I don't drive a whole lot and that cuts a lot out because of gas...thank you very much George Bush. And I have a homesteading exemption on my taxes, which was free to apply for so long as you do it at the tax office.

AnonymousAnonymousabout 17 years ago
I take your point...

... but with all due respect to asiaprof in India, I think we are talking about two different situations. You outline the difficulties and aspirations and attempted solutions of people who are, as it were, born into a kind of inherent poverty, whereas my remarks were about those who have set their course on some kind of middle class passage through life, and suddenly find themselves thrown off it. The latter have a sort of commitment to middle class values [mortgage, overdrafts, hire purchase, &c.] and have to find a way of at least keeping up the minimum levels to fulfill this commitment. Talk of who lives on less than a dollar a day is important and salutary, and a great tragedy for which I suppose we all bear some responsibility, but it doesn't really impact upon the problems of a middle class citizen thrown unexpectedly into unemployment. A dollar in Wales would not buy even a one-way bus ticket to the nearest supermarket, and as to a bicycle, costing around $250 dollars in the UK, it would carry you to the shops, but then even without your load of shopping, you would be unable to ride it up the last few miles from the valley road up to your hill village. OK, you can buy a second-hand bike, and certainly you can find used clothing in Salvation Army or Oxfam shops, but this doesn't really help much when funds are so limited that you can't keep up the support of your family which you started in the light of a supposedly rosy future - or, as in my case, obligatory maintenance after divorce. Keith aka dudyard

asiaprofasiaprofover 17 years ago
It all depends on where you stand...

Most people in the third world would give anything to lead the lifestyle you mention.

The equivalent here would be:

- Eat in a free kitchen set up by religious outfits

- Buy second-hand clothes in a flea mrket

- Use public transport, or even walk/use a bicycle

- Live in a low-quality rented house in a distant location

- Put the kids into a free public school or pull them out totally and send them to work

- Avoid utility bills by paying a bribe to the suppliers

- Use public pay phones, and get incoming messages pased on by your neighbours

- Tap into the extended family network for charity, loans, or staying with them.

Just to give you an idea of where we stand - the average expenditure of an Indian human is a dollar per day, while that of a Swiss cow is two dollars per day,

AnonymousAnonymousover 17 years ago
Wouldn't it be great if...

...if we all pooled our own experiences here, and maybe persuaded someone to make them into a pamphlet. This was such a good idea for a 'How to...' contribution, that I would have given it top score just for that reason.

When I lost my job in London, thanks to Thatcher's inhumane economic policies, I was almost 50 years old, with 10 years left of my mortgage. Of course, every expenditure had to shrink. I calculated that if I sold my London flat and repaid the outstanding debt, there would be just enough money left to be able to buy a small cottage in a mountain village in Wales [then the cheapest part of the UK, but also one of the most beautiful] without having to borrow anything, and to get a second-hand car - an essential in that area. I sold my piano and other 'unnecessary' furniture, and hired the smallest van possible to take the rest, stuffing quite a lot of overflow into my newly-acquired car.

I had a small handout from the National Insurance scheme - about £14 a week called Unemployment Benefit. If I worked any odd days, benefit was stopped for those days, but of course I'd earn much more for a day's work so it was worth doing. I am a highly qualified and widely experienced teacher, but I could not get a permanent job in that part of the UK because it was necessary to be able to speak Welsh if you wanted to work full-time in the universities or secondary schools there. I did, however, get odd days of teaching when a teacher was sick, or odd weeks if a teacher was on a course, even three and a half months on one occasion when a secondary school teacher's husband was suddenly transferred from the nearby RAF station to somewhere in Scotland, and the school had to go through the whole bureaucratic process oif advertising the post nationally.

I used to make 3-day casserole stews, using a variety of the cheapest cuts of meat - pork spareribs or forehock, neck of lamb, bits of chicken, and so on. Once a week I would luxuriate in a cauliflower cheese or spaghetti cheese, topping the finished product with a sea of tomato ketchup - a tasty source of plentiful vitamins. I bought fresh vegetables, using the outer leaves [and the bones from the casseroles, and anything edible and organic] to keep a stockpot going. The only thing I bought in cans were red kidney beans, which I substituted for meat when I was about to make a chilli con carne and discovered just in time that my guest was a vegetarian. It worked well, and became a part of my cullinary repertoire. If I had a guest I would open a bottle of wine and cook something different, like a leg of lamb or a trout if I managed to catch one. Often these 'specials' would necessitate a phone call to my mother to get advice on cooking and accompaniments! I ate crusty, fresh, village-baked wholemeal bread, which - believe it or not - was cheaper than that cotton wool stuff they sold wrapped and sliced in the supermarkets of the nearest town. I had margarine instead of butter - it was not only cheaper but lower in cholesterol content, though not nearly as tasty. I did not miss biscuits or cake, and had given up sugar years previously.

A small contribution, with only a bit of advice, but I hope it helps. I have given details of my own experience, but the principles embodied in the above may be summarised thus:

Lesson 1 - Choose somewhere cheaper to live - preferably where you can speak the language, or where they don't mind dealing in yours! Calculate; decide what you need to pay and what [and how] you can give up, especially long-term outgoings such as a mortgage.

Lesson 2 - Take whatever you are entitled to in terms of handouts. Thatcher called you a scrounger for doing this, but it is quite fair, since you have paid into the scheme all the time you have been working.

Lesson 3 - Get whatever part-time work you can while still combing the advertisements for a proper job in your own field of expertise.

Lesson 4 - Work out a diet which is sufficiently nutritious and interesting at the same time, but economical. You may need to seek advice on this. If you have a mother like mine was, you start with an advantage! This lesson, incidentally, applies in general principle to other things than food. Never buy rubbish which you will have to replace next month. Pay a bit extra for something which will last a year.

Lesson 5 - Count your blessings. My time of unemployment was long and difficult, but in retrospect I think it was one of the richest and most productive periods of my life. Apart from all the new lessons [above], I learned to live with myself on my own resources, both material and spiritual, and even to like and respect myself. And it was spent in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

I realize it is more difficult when you have a wife and kids, but I wish every one of the human race the best of luck in overcoming this dreadful situation of poverty when surrounded by other people's affluence. I eventually got a job in Egypt, which kept me going until I was able to retire to Brazil - where my meagre British pension has a much higher purchasing power than in the UK.

Keith [aka/dudyard]

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