We were so poor…

[Esceptico]

Recognising that this thread could degenerate quickly into a four Yorkshire men sketch…have you experienced times of real (relative) poverty and done what now seems unusual things because of lack of money?

One that strikes me is that when I was a teenager I used to play a bit of golf but didn’t have any money to buy proper equipment (or rather what money I had seemed to go on fags, cider and Space Invaders!) Although our local counsel courses and the 9 hole course at the proper golf course (that allowed non members to play) didn’t really enforce dress and equipment codes it was still a bit embarrassing having to carry around the few clubs I possessed without a bag. So I made a golf bag out of the trouser leg of a pair of jeans I was going to throw away. In retrospect I’m not sure if what was more or less embarrassing than having no bag!!

My wife likes to remind me of the time when we first got together. We moved to the city where I had a place (as a mature student) at the university, although we arrived 9 months before the course started. Until we had found employment and somewhere to live we were put up by the DSS at a local hotel, which included breakfast. I used to get her to save some toast from breakfast in paper napkins so that we wouldn’t have to buy any lunch! Fortunately that only lasted a couple of weeks as we both found jobs and rented a room in a shared house. Looking back we were very happy even though by our current standards we were living on the poverty line.

[Einion Yrth]

It's remarkable just how long you can survive on lentils and rice, with a few spices when funds allow.

Not a period I wish to repeat, the farts were earth-shaking.

[Esceptico]

Einion Yrth said:

It's remarkable just how long you can survive on lentils and rice, with a few spices when funds allow.

Not a period I wish to repeat, the farts were earth-shaking.

My wife makes great Indian food but I always look forward to her lentils (heavily spiced with fried garlic and chillies). As you’ve pointed out, eating it every day would be a strain on the rest of the family!

[Dodsy]

Up until quite recently lived for a few years on value baked beans and rice supplemented by vitamin tablets. Divorce can be quite costly .

[bigandclever]

I’ll say it, knowing I’m baring my backside to the baying PH wolves, but fk ME BACKWARDS .. not being able to buy a golf bag because your cash was going on smoking, drinking and arcade games isn’t being in poverty, relative or otherwise.

[Esceptico]

bigandclever said:

I’ll say it, knowing I’m baring my backside to the baying PH wolves, but fk ME BACKWARDS .. not being able to buy a golf bag because your cash was going on smoking, drinking and arcade games isn’t being in poverty, relative or otherwise.

You are joking I hope. My sole source of income was two paper rounds and the odd bit of birthday/Christmas money. So I was maybe spending £5 a week on cigarettes, alcohol and arcade games.

[sociopath]

Walking 4 miles to work because you couldn't afford the bus fare.

That's being skint, not having a bag for your golf clubs isn't

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

sociopath said:

Walking 4 miles to work because you couldn't afford the bus fare.

That's being skint, not having a bag for your golf clubs isn't

But he'd had to fashion the bag out of the leg of last season's armani jeans!

[Super Sonic]

bigandclever said:

I’ll say it, knowing I’m baring my backside to the baying PH wolves, but fk ME BACKWARDS .. not being able to buy a golf bag because your cash was going on smoking, drinking and arcade games isn’t being in poverty, relative or otherwise.

' Nicer Problems to Have'

[Esceptico]

sociopath said:

Walking 4 miles to work because you couldn't afford the bus fare.

That's being skint, not having a bag for your golf clubs isn't

Needless to say, I didn’t have any money for bus fares either so had to cycle the 3 miles to school every day (well - cycled to friends house and left bike there as it would have been nicked or vandalised at school).

[deckster]

sociopath said:

Walking 4 miles to work because you couldn't afford the bus fare.

That's being skint, not having a bag for your golf clubs isn't

Nailed it. Very first sentence.

Esceptico said:

Recognising that this thread could degenerate quickly into a four Yorkshire men sketch

[Super Sonic]

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey said:

But he'd had to fashion the bag out of the leg of last season's armani jeans!

'Hopping to work then'
I used to walk a couple of miles to work cos it was 'Only a couple of miles'
At Christmas they would give us all a frozen turkey (and a bottle of whiskey if you were 18). It snowed. I didn't have a bag and it was 18lb! I had to carry it in my Bear hands! I got halfway and thought flip this and buried the turkey in a snowdrift. When I got home I got my parents to drive me back up the road to get it.

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

Super Sonic said:

'Hopping to work then'
I used to walk a couple of miles to work cos it was 'Only a couple of miles'
At Christmas they would give us all a frozen turkey (and a bottle of whiskey if you were 18). It snowed. I didn't have a bag and it was 18lb! I had to carry it in my Bear hands! I got halfway and thought flip this and buried the turkey in a snowdrift. When I got home I got my parents to drive me back up the road to get it.

That's genius - like a human sized Christmas squirrel.

[Leicester Loyal]

Scottish bloke who used to work at my place said he used to sleep under some old carpet up in Aberdeen (I think that's where he was from) when he was a kid. He was a proper bloke, everyone loved him.

[bigandclever]

Esceptico said:

bigandclever said:

I’ll say it, knowing I’m baring my backside to the baying PH wolves, but fk ME BACKWARDS .. not being able to buy a golf bag because your cash was going on smoking, drinking and arcade games isn’t being in poverty, relative or otherwise.

You are joking I hope. My sole source of income was two paper rounds and the odd bit of birthday/Christmas money. So I was maybe spending £5 a week on cigarettes, alcohol and arcade games.

How did you pay for the roof over your head, your food, your bills? There’s no answer you can give that says ‘I know about poverty’, by the way. Don’t cheapen (ha!) it.

[hyphen]

Dodsy said:

Up until quite recently lived for a few years on value baked beans and rice supplemented by vitamin tablets. Divorce can be quite costly .

Did you prioritise the cars listed in your garage, over food?

[Phil Dicky]

hyphen said:

Dodsy said:

Up until quite recently lived for a few years on value baked beans and rice supplemented by vitamin tablets. Divorce can be quite costly .

Did you prioritise the cars listed in your garage, over food?

He may not have updated his garage, his divorce could have taken priority ?

[Hoofy]

Well, we had to use public transport everywhere and shopped at jumble sales.

[Esceptico]

bigandclever said:

How did you pay for the roof over your head, your food, your bills? There’s no answer you can give that says ‘I know about poverty’, by the way. Don’t cheapen (ha!) it.

I started this thread in the Lounge with the vain hope that people might not take it seriously and would come up with anecdotes about how they made do - perhaps with some enterprising solutions - in times when they didn’t have much money. As feared it has already descended into four Yorkshire men one up man ship and general nastiness.

[marky911]

Super Sonic said:

I had to carry it in my Bear hands!

Thank god you had bear hands and not hamster hands, otherwise it would have been even more difficult.

Fair play for stashing it though.