Posted October 11, 2010 (edited) So my student loan still hasn't come through and I'm down to my last £10... I really need a hair cut, I really need food and toilet roll, but I can't even afford that right now. Probably as low as I've been (aside from at school, but then parents were there to supply food). All good prep for once I graduate with an english degree and can't get a job I guess. What's the poorest you've ever been? Top tips for living for however long on a crisp £10 note? Edited October 11, 2010 by dan-likes-trees Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 Cheap noodles from Tesco. Scaffing any money you find on the floor, all those coppers can add up to lots of 8p noodles! Steal loo roll from public toilets... Or just use public toilets? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 (edited) Yeah university toilets have loo rolls for that very reason. You don't think you pay £3,000 for education do you? I'm in-a-way poor at the moment. As in I have money in the bank but it has to last me 12 months so I can't really go around spending it. My friend's dad runs a market in London and seems to like me so I may pop there one day in the guise of buying but hoping I get freebies. Oh and if you're desperate for a cut hairdressing training courses usually offer free cuts to help them gain experience...if you're brave. Edited October 11, 2010 by Ashley Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 I would often find money in vending machines heh. It's just change, but the change can add up after a while. =P But yeah, just try to find the cheapest food possible I guess. And when your loan does come, you will know to be a bit more careful with money hopefully. =P Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 I was minus £1,800 in my overdraft once. It took me ages to get out of it and get into the plus. I was poor for a long time. Luckily there was no charge only interest. Natwest shouldn't have given me such a large overdraft limit really :p Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 ok so I've basically lived off £7.69 (due to having paid for christmas canada flights out of this months pay packet) for the last two and half weeks (spent my last 49p the other day on a bottle of own brand asda coke that was my last treat for getting through it lol!) and finally get paid on friday! So I feel for you. My cupboard is full of 10p ASDA noodles. I spent £2 on them alone.... I'd sacrifice the headcut (I did god my hair is massive), go to supermarkets late at night when they do the last round of discounting and you can pick up stuff for dirt cheap (sandwich fillers usually £1 odd 20p bought 3 have lasted me ages, keep them in the fridge they will be fine) cheap loaves of bed keep them frozen defrost as and when you need them. also frozen stuff is the way forward, bag of frozen mince 78p similar sized fresh potion at least 3 x that price. Frozen chicken breasts work out way cheaper...frozen fish dirt cheap, so many options. Invest in some herbs, tinned veg (sweetcorn the like) they will go far... oh and how skint am I? Maxed out £2000 overdraft and a credit card with £2500 on it....out together a plan to along with my regular credit card payments save £200 a month and thats all going towards wiping out debt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 If you're desperate for food, there's always wildlife. That's how we used to live. Don't follow the Tesco ideals and believe that we only have to eat what we get in shops...go out and be free. Get some rabbit! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 Top tips for living for however long on a crisp £10 note? Sell your spunk. Sell your body. Sell some internal organs. Buy 10 lottery scratchcards and hope for a miracle. Mug someone. Kidnap someone. Or - get a job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 Not really good advice for the short-term, but get a part-time job. I get a decent amount of money per week which, in combination with my student loan (I get the bare minimum), means I'm reasonably well-off most of the time! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 Not really good advice for the short-term, but get a part-time job. I get a decent amount of money per week which, in combination with my student loan (I get the bare minimum), means I'm reasonably well-off most of the time! part time is better than nothing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 I was living on £20 for a fortnight many, many times. But if it's just your loan in late, I'd recommend talking to your bank about it. Take with you proof of address, ID, proof of being a student (can get something printed from your uni finance office) and ask for an emergency overdraft. IIRC (my housemate had to get one once) they can be interest free for student for a fixed period of time, i.e. if you say you're expecting your loan in a month then they'll charge you interest after a month. Effectively it'd be as if your loan was in! Otherwise; learn. To. Cook. I could survive on £20 a fortnight (including fags and booze!) because all I had to do was spend £5 on 1kg of mince and I'd be set for food for 6 meals (skip breakfast) and a fiver for 'emergencies' (usually a night out with some sympathetic friends). This was because I'd slowly invested in tins of tomatoes, herbs, spices, etc. Build up a larder and when you're poor you're alright for food. AND FUCK THE HAIRCUT YOU SILLY MAN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 Get a friend to cut your hair. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 Get a friend to cut your hair. Might be a bad idea... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 I was living on £20 for a fortnight many, many times. But if it's just your loan in late, I'd recommend talking to your bank about it. Take with you proof of address, ID, proof of being a student (can get something printed from your uni finance office) and ask for an emergency overdraft. IIRC (my housemate had to get one once) they can be interest free for student for a fixed period of time, i.e. if you say you're expecting your loan in a month then they'll charge you interest after a month. Effectively it'd be as if your loan was in! Otherwise; learn. To. Cook. I could survive on £20 a fortnight (including fags and booze!) because all I had to do was spend £5 on 1kg of mince and I'd be set for food for 6 meals (skip breakfast) and a fiver for 'emergencies' (usually a night out with some sympathetic friends). This was because I'd slowly invested in tins of tomatoes, herbs, spices, etc. Build up a larder and when you're poor you're alright for food. AND FUCK THE HAIRCUT YOU SILLY MAN Quality advice... I think at the end of the day we all know how to budget (stop buying expensive crap you don't need, maybe?) but the question is.... do you want to? Probably not. My mum makes us an awesome recipe. Mince, onion, tinned tomatoes, chopped and fried up together, boil a big pan of pasta (which can be bought in bulk uber cheap) bung it all together with a bit of herbs n spices. Makes a monster pot which keeps for a couple of days. (but you probs want to freeze if you are on your ownsome - it does us as a family of 4, about 3 days.) She said we used to live on it in the days when our family wasn't very well off. Soup is a good one for a mix and match of different veggies, whatever needs to be used. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 If you bought some cheap pasta, and some jars of sauce, and then some cheap meat (like others have mentioned) you could have spaghetti bolognese for a whole week or something. Cheap and it would keep you going forever. Learning how to properly cook will save you a fortune. At uni, I squandered so much in the first few years because I couldn't cook for shit. Now, I buy a few ingredients/bits and bobs and can make a few things out of that. There was one point where I had 15 quid to last me a week until I got paid, so I bought myself some bread and tins of beans...thats all I had for a week. I weighed 9 and a half stone at the time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2010 I was living on £20 for a fortnight many, many times. But if it's just your loan in late, I'd recommend talking to your bank about it. Take with you proof of address, ID, proof of being a student (can get something printed from your uni finance office) and ask for an emergency overdraft. IIRC (my housemate had to get one once) they can be interest free for student for a fixed period of time, i.e. if you say you're expecting your loan in a month then they'll charge you interest after a month. Effectively it'd be as if your loan was in! Otherwise; learn. To. Cook. I could survive on £20 a fortnight (including fags and booze!) because all I had to do was spend £5 on 1kg of mince and I'd be set for food for 6 meals (skip breakfast) and a fiver for 'emergencies' (usually a night out with some sympathetic friends). This was because I'd slowly invested in tins of tomatoes, herbs, spices, etc. Build up a larder and when you're poor you're alright for food. AND FUCK THE HAIRCUT YOU SILLY MAN Yeah, all true.. I could get a nationwide overdraft but I'd rather not if I can avoid it, it's nice it not being there so there's no temptation to go into it. As you say I probably can last for a while on the 20 so I'm trying to do that if i can. Also gives a great excuse for when I can't be bothered to go out and such. And yeah also true. Chicken seems to upsettingly expensive though, even sains basics... Get a friend to cut your hair. I was thinking this. Someone is my house vaguely knows how and all. But I've had enough bad experiences with proper paid hairdressers to let anyone take the risk... my 15 yr old bowl cut still haunts me... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 12, 2010 Someone once pointed out to me that turkey, when not christmas, is quite cheap. Look for turkey mince and see if you agree. Consider your shopping options. Netto, Lidl and Aldi are not shit in the slightest -- the only thing I'd say is that once their food is past the Best Before... they're not lying. Frozen meat is a lot cheaper, although more time-consuming. Frozen mince is probably at leat 30-50% cheaper. An emergency overdraft can be rescinded! Once the date has passed, and once you've paid it off, you no longer have it. Perfect for dilemmas such as that you're experiencing. An odd quirk I noticed in supermarkets last year; beef mince meatballs in sainsbury's were cheaper than the equivalently weighted mince. I'd take advantage and buy a pack and break it down and convert it into normal mince. The beef content was precisely the same, though you may want to check that. Supermarkets become playgrounds when you're poor. You go there and look at the percentage of meat in each pack of sausages, check the small-printed "price per 100g" to really see which pack of ham is worth it... I can say with all honesty that the most I learned while at uni was how to eat and get drunk on a budget. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 12, 2010 5kg of rice costs less than £3 and that would be enough to keep you full for a week.:p milk is currently £2 for 2 x 2 litres, which is 25p a pint.. 20+ slices of bread costs 47p, so living off £10 for one week seems perfectly possible if you have a few jars of jam and marmite hanging around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 12, 2010 5kg of rice costs less than £3 and that would be enough to keep you full for a week.:p milk is currently £2 for 2 x 2 litres, which is 25p a pint.. 20+ slices of bread costs 47p, so living off £10 for one week seems perfectly possible if you have a few jars of jam and marmite hanging around. Marmite is rank, though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 12, 2010 Marmite is rank, though. Ok, vegemite it is then. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 12, 2010 Do not be afraid to hunt around for basics, I go very very often to several different places in one day for my food shop, tescos for all my basics, sometimes netto if I'm not using my credit card as they don't accept them - annoying, then I hit castle market which has dirt cheap meat for like a quid or too and will last ages. Freeze food, if you make large quantities of it then freeze it all and only defrost when you want to eat it. Buy basics, even drinks, fizzy pop doesn't last as long, orange juice/blackcurrant lasts far far long and can be bought for so much less. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 12, 2010 I'm not yet poor...and I'm fairly lucky in that I currently don't receive student finance, instead getting money from family (not unlimited - in fact I find myself not buying things more than my friends, because it's a set amount a month). I know that if I was so poor I couldn't afford food, I'd get money from my family. And I'm not proud, so realistically I'd just ask. I'm fairly sensible though, and I think it may have been mentioned, but bargain of the week for me would be 2 x 2 pints of Milk for £2. Triple Two. Actually too good a bargain. I nearly died. That was Sainsbury's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2010 I'm fairly sensible though, and I think it may have been mentioned, but bargain of the week for me would be 2 x 2 pints of Milk for £2. Triple Two. Actually too good a bargain. I nearly died. That was Sainsbury's. 2 pints? Surely you mean 2 litres? Otherwise you've been ripped off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2010 I meant two litres, yeah. I think. I dunno. The bottle are huge. Like a stretched normal size one. No wait, it said "4" something. It's basically double-sized. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2010 I meant two litres, yeah. I think. I dunno. The bottle are huge. Like a stretched normal size one. No wait, it said "4" something. It's basically double-sized. I think you mean 4 pints. Which is a normal sized one. Unless you normally get 2 pint ones. In which case you're wierd. Here is a 4 pint milk bottle for clarification. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
