Blueridge Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 ...eat liver loaf (and other cheap processed luncheon meat) sandwiches that I was forced to eat as a child... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 ...buy used underwear from Goodwill... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 ...sell my books to pay the electric bill... (thanks, 3 new posts for my total! :D) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I tried to see your pics but it said I couldn't view them :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 On the subject of cheap toilet paper, I did this once (when at the dollar store, needed toilet paper and I didn't want to have to make another stop). Anyway, though the toilet paper was very thin the cardboard roll in the middle was the strongest of any I've ever seen. What's up with that? Why would they put the money towards that? And as far as what I will never do, I don't know. I've learned not to say never, because I don't really know what life will throw at me. Woolybear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 "buy used underwear from Goodwill..." :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeatherLynn Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 wear used underwear, I would go commando first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Woolybear - it's not that it's so strong, it's that the paper is so cheap it reinforced it after years of sitting on the shelf :lol: I would not take a job that would lead myself, dh or my children to question my morality. I would also, probably, not sell the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 You guys are cracking me up. Honestly, as far as purchasing/not purchasing certain products, I've been poor enough that it honestly didn't matter. I've been happy to have TP from the dollar store, and a pound of pinto beans to eat. (and you'd be amazed at how far one can stretch one of those sausage/cheese gift boxes when you are exceedingly short on $$) The things I wouldn't do....anything immoral to make money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Stop rejoicing for what I have. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plucky Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 For me, my answer is:. . . buy cheap toilet paper. We tried that once--Charmin Basic. The kids complained. No more. We use Charmin Basic and are not poor, just frugal. No complaints. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 It's true. I'm also a dude. :D We didn't have indoor plumbing til I was 9. We almost always had tp, but very often Granny didn't have it in her outhouse. So I used catalogs. I am right there with you Pam. It sounds as if our upbringings were very similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 We use Charmin Basic and are not poor, just frugal. No complaints. :lol: Lol, I would've never put Charmin as cheap. I was thinking the sand paper they sell one roll at a time. The worst we've ever used was boating tp. Augh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Exchange nudity or sexual favors for money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommy2be Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I could never eat a pet! LOL! We joke that a pork tenderloin looks a lot like our ferret though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 i would refuse to stop homeschooling or eat my cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Eat one of my horses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOM24WONDERS Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Do anything immoral. Use cheap laundry detergent. Stop homeschooling. I grew up VERY frugally. I am, by nature, a frugal person. My kids, on occassion, eat hotdogs...they've even had hamburger helper (they secretly love it and beg me to make it all the time), they've even - GASP - had kool-aid AND white bread - together, in the same meal. I'm generally pretty health-conscious. We have a garden and we always have. 99% of our veggies come from there and are completely organic. My husband and son are avid hunters and fishermen, so a lot of our meat comes from those two sources. I guess I just don't get as uptight about food as some do (not that there is anything wrong with being uptight about food). :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginevra Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Bathe my own dog. That is a job I cannot abide, no matter what it costs to pay someone else to do it. The hair makes me want to barf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Sell my 1914 Steinway Model A studio grand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolash Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 use any mayonaise except Hellmans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMCassandra Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Save tin foil. Wash and reuse baggies. (I did this for several years, but NO MORE.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dobela Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Our income dropped by over 75% over the last few years and I learned to never say never. I have used cheap toilet paper and liked it ok enough. I have used store brands and decided I like them ok as well. I have used cheap diapers rather than Huggies. However, I have found that some things I really prefer and had to go back to (and was willing to make a sacrifice for LOL) - Dawn dish detergent, those tab dishwasher detergents, Silk soymilk, and Green Giant corn on the cob nibblers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeBookBread Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Give up my good, strong coffee in the morning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheilaZ Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Use my children in any way to make $. That's mine! I would do anything if needed to take care of my kids, even at my own humilitation. But they would never suffer for it and they would never be used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikeBookBread Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Save tin foil. Wash and reuse baggies. (I did this for several years, but NO MORE.) :lol: -- I just looked at a ziplock that I had washed to reuse for watermelon, thought about washing it again and tossed it. I'd have to have a forest of sticks sticking up all over my counter to dry them all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwalizer Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 sell my bikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralloyd Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Buy used underware and bras (yew!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesloonybin Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 When I was a teenager, we had food stamps. My dad would make me go to the store and push the cart and when we got to the counter, I had to pay. He would always tell the clerk that he was helping his "poor" daughter with her shopping. He would rather people think I was a single mother at 16, then admit he was the one getting food stamps for our family. I will never do that to my children. I will never sell my children. Other than that...I would do pretty much anything I had to do. But I have been poor and I have seen people so poor that made my "poor" look like living the high life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherclassicmom Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I would never do anything to bring harm to my children or myself. Everything else, would come as it may. I'm sitting here trying to come up with something I wouldn't want to do without, I guess nothing is safe, as I can't come up with a good reason to keep anything but my husband and children! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tallwoodsca Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Use any dish soap except Dawn. :iagree:I tried the cheap stuff and went back to Dawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 Well we did a self inflicted 12 month period of being poor when we decided to get out of debt at 29yo. We really pinched pennies, but only to the point of still being able to buy what we needed in a grocery store (no dumpsters/food banks/Gleaners etc). For example: I bought 8 grapes one time, just to have a little for a fruit salad, but none left over. At the end of the year then one thing that my dh insisted upon was that I never buy our kids cheap clothes again. He hates the feel of fuzz balls and any amount of acrylic in fabric! For me it was having good shampoo. Cheap shampoo makes my head itch and it doesn't work for my hair type so it wasn't really a cost savings vs. the ability for it to work. I can't fathom eating any kind of meat from a can other that tuna. So spam or canned ham......ewwwww. I guess if I was starving, but boy I would have to be really hungry! I also refuse to eat any organ meats, brains, hooves, feet, tongue etc. Again, I would have to be really, really desperate to cross that line. I really don't know if I could keep it down, I gag just thinking about it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I'm going to say the same as some of the others...NO cheap toilet paper. We call that stuff "John Wayne" toilet paper. You know, "it's rough, it's tough, & it don't take no cr&p off nobody." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Well, never say "never," right? But I would hope that I would never live in filth, no matter how poor I might be.... Now, if water becomes scarce, that might not be possible to avoid, but with water, there is hope of some semblance of cleanliness..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anotherclassicmom Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:That is funny! I have never heard that before. Thanks for the laugh! I'm going to say the same as some of the others...NO cheap toilet paper. We call that stuff "John Wayne" toilet paper. You know, "it's rough, it's tough, & it don't take no cr&p off nobody." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillieBoy Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 No matter how poor I got I will never forget the sights I have seen in war riddled, starving, and oppressed countries nor pass judgment on those who did whatever it took to keep their children and themselves alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crystal in VA Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Use any dish soap except Dawn. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiCO Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Use any dish soap except Dawn. I use watered down Dawn. Hmmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraceinMD Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 See, I had NO IDEA there was supposed to be medicinal value in it, at least in regards to PPD (anemia, I could grant you, or maybe immunologic boosting or something). I will assume it worked (re: PPD) in your case? (How bad would THAT be - for it NOT to have worked after you were able to chug it?!!) (Anyway, my silly comment was based on my education from long threads on the "old boards" about various things done to and with placentae. I don't recall that anyone ate it out of economic necessity, though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runninmommy Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 The only thing I can think of is.....eat another person. I know, gross, morbid, disgusting but it is all I could think of. If I was desperate, I would do a lot of things I would not normally do but cannibalism is not one of them. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Well I have been truly poor and I have dumpster dived and more than once did garbage day curb side shopping but drew the line at canned pet food and used under-ware. I left home when I was 17. Never did anything illegal or immoral to get make ends meet and got no help from my family. I have lived in slums and used mass transit because I had no other choice. I worked as a waitress and considered my self blessed that a meal before each shift was part of my pay. I never made more than $10,000. a year. The shift as a waitress was 11 am to 7 pm 6 days a week with no break. I have worked the night shift at a gas station and been robbed at gun point. Took college courses here and there when I could and always got a Pell Grant when I took a full load or some other sort of aid. I lived that way from 1977 to 1986. To be honest I have gotten a good laugh from this thread because of the naiveté of some of the responses. Hope that doesn't sound mean because it was not meant that way. Except that the gun pointed at me was a BF, the above, including the years, is freakishly like my life. I preferred being dishwasher, because I could EAT the untouched food that came back on the plates. I remember having three dollars to my name, and no health insurance for years and years and years. I had a whole heck of a lot of fun, however, and would do it again. I had a good laugh because the thread was funny. And no, you didn't sound mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 GraceinMD--I just have to tell ya...I read through this entire thread tonight for the first time and when I came to your post about "podlike in your pea-ness", I laughed out loud! I never, never, ever laugh out loud when reading, but boy oh boy, that was a doozy! I'm laughing just posting about it! I think I need to go back to 7th grade... Chelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunflowerlady Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Ok, now I feel bad-:confused: I already do or have done so many of these things you all said you would never do.:001_huh: Cheap TP-yep, that's all I buy. Dial Up - That's all I can get in my area.:glare: Spam- I have bought it many times. Usually just dd and dh eat it. It is too salty for me. I also buy hot dogs a lot. White bread- yep. The cheap stuff.:tongue_smilie: Cheap laundry detergent- all the time Almost all of my clothes and dd's clothes are from second hand places. We also buy store brand of most things. We are not brand loyal to anything I can think of. I can't even say what I would "never" do, except I would never harm my dh or dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 (edited) The only thing I can think of is.....eat another person. I know, gross, morbid, disgusting but it is all I could think of. If I was desperate, I would do a lot of things I would not normally do but cannibalism is not one of them. :lol: YK, I can't begin to imagine that kind of desperate poverty. I can't say what I might do for my kids and family. I think such a question can't begin to delve into great fears when faced with true destitution. So...how about an old movie trailer?? Soylent green is peeeoople! (Way worse than margarine). & Edited July 7, 2009 by LibraryLover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathy in MD Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Really? See, toilet paper is just such a non-issue for me. I guess having used crumpled pages of catalogs as a child makes ANY tp just a happy, happy experience. :D And I was just thinking that the old standby of the Sears and Roebuck catelog is no longer availble. :D....... Or would Lands End's catalog count? (pun was just a fortunate occurance) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatCyndiGirl Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 See, I had NO IDEA there was supposed to be medicinal value in it, at least in regards to PPD (anemia, I could grant you, or maybe immunologic boosting or something). I will assume it worked (re: PPD) in your case? (How bad would THAT be - for it NOT to have worked after you were able to chug it?!!) (Anyway, my silly comment was based on my education from long threads on the "old boards" about various things done to and with placentae. I don't recall that anyone ate it out of economic necessity, though.) Yes, it worked, but I think that it had less to do with what I consumed and more with the fact that this child was born in the backyard on the patio in water delivered by my husband ......in tranquility. It was such a HUGE difference from the hospital births I had had with the first two. (NOT knocking hospital births!! The home waterbirth was what I wanted and turned out perfectly.) What I wouldn't do: Give up Dawn dishwashing detergent, like others said. Give up henna. (It's so cheap, anyway.) Go back to generic Diet Dr. Pepper. ("Dr. Schnee is Not For Me!!" Say it with me now!) :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 I've been pretty poor for many years, although social security in Australia is pretty good, and was even better in my youth. You can live well enough if you are happy with little. I am glad I had that experience because it kind of diffuses the fear I see in many others of being poor. Its actually ok, down to a certain level anyway- I am not talking about starving poor, just having to buy in op shops and eat simply. In fact, the beauty in not having much money is that life is simpler because you have less options. The sun still shines, you still have fresh air to breathe. I used to go to the beach a lot. I have slept in the bush and on the beach and in a cave due to not having a home for a while. But I always ate ok. I was time rich and that seemed a good payoff to me. Its a joke between Dh and I that taught him to dumpster dive. He had been wealthy- millionaire- before he and I got together- and he had given it all up and didn't have anything. He still "thought" like a wealthy person though and was shocked that I would literally dive into dumpsters. But I completely corrupted him- he is a whizz at the 2nd hand market, loves op shops, and last Sunday we spent 3 hours driving around the suburbs that were having council pick up just to see if we coulld find something of value. We did. And he will dumpster dive now too. We live well not because we earn a lot, but because of our love of finding a good 2nd hand bargain. We are still time rich and that is of more value to us than many. The one thing I used to do when I was poor that I dont do any more, is pick flowers from other people's gardens. I only picked a few off bushes that had many- so they wouldn't be missed- and I only picked them off the branches that hung over the fence or sidewalk, but its just too close to stealing now for me to do it in front of my kids. Although I will still pick them on a vacant block or on the edge of the road, occasionally. What wouldn't I give up? I am not sure...internet access would be one of the last things to go, though :) But I could still live without it. (I am sure I could, really). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricia Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Send my kids to an orphanage:glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LUV2EDU Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 Eat: 1. Chitlins 2. Pig Feet 3. Pig Tongue 4. Hog Head Cheese 4. Monkey Brains Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbygirl Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 sell my guitars (hopefully I will never have to). :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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