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Being broke "war stories"

WalletSlammedShut

WalletSlammedShut

New member
A friend of mine at work we were joking about our younger days, being dead broke and some of the hell we went through, the dumb mistakes and lessons learned.

Do you have any funny or shocking stories about being broke?

One time I was so broke I couldn't afford to eat for almost two months. Every Saturday I would go out with my friends to a Mexican restaurant but not order any food. While they enjoyed their meals I ate as many of the free tortilla chips as I could. Other than that I only ate every other day. I went by the Chinese buffet for lunch because it was very cheap, ate until my belly was so full it ached, and I hate to admit it but I snuck extra food into my duffel bag whenever no one was looking. Stuff that was easy to carry out like wantons, chicken wings, teriyaki chicken on a stick or whatever other dry food I could put into the plastic bag stuffed into the side my duffel bag.

It was awful, I wasn't proud of it, but now I can look back and laugh at how desperate I was. I did manage a few meals now and then, but it was mainly boiled rich with beans and Ramon noodles.
 
I went door to door at my apartment complex asking to borrow a few dollars until I had enough cash to put enough gas in my gas tank to make it to work until my next paycheck. Only ate at work and nothing else those days since I ate free at work.
 
I had to go about 10 days without having any money to my name. I had to live on what I had which wasn't much. I had 1 roll of toilet paper and half a box of tissues for bathroom time and ate mostly canned and frozen veggies I had lying around with expired pasta. I didn't have a car at the time so I didn't have to worry about gas which was good but I did have a cat to feed and he was out of food by day 3. I ended up asking my mother's neighbor (she had 7 cats) if I could borrow some. She was happy to give me a small bag of dry and a few cans. That was on a Wednesday I think. By Friday, my mother told me to stop there after work. Her neighbor had gotten me an entire case of canned food with a whole bag of dry, well over what I needed. I was floored but there was a catch. I had to adopt a kitten from one of her female's who recently had a litter. I accepted. I actually named him Freebee too. lol
 
The worst thing I ever had happen to me was being in between housing. I was renting when the debt piled on and I got evicted as I was behind 3 months rent and just couldn't catch up. I had to move back in with my mother and step father. Being in my 20's, that was a real treat! I was miserable but it motivated me to pay off my debts, save, and eventually buy my own house.
 
I don't have anything too serious but for one month, I had no income. I was between jobs and I ended up having to bum food off people. My neighbor at the time was a very sweet older woman and she made me dinner 4 or 5 days a week while that was going on.
 
I have been broke as in penniless, and broke as in no cash flow. Early on in business we went through a rough patch and I had to go without paying myself for 3 months so I could make payroll and avoid laying anyone off.

When I was a younger man I had more than my share of tight times. I remember turning off the water heater to avoid paying for gas, not watching tv and avoiding turning on lights for almost a month so I could have enough money for food --- and it was mostly peanut butter or bologna sandwiches, rice, potatoes and beans, lots of beans! I was sharing the apartment with a friend at the time, and he left with only a week's notice and left my having to cover the entire rent myself. It was a major panic at the time and it took me about a month to find another person to share rent with and then months to recover from having all my money wiped out.
 
I've left my very first apartment after high school in a hurry because I was afraid they were going to evict me for missing paying rent. I had a friend come over after the rental office closed with his pickup truck and we moved out overnight. I couldn't even afford boxes, everything except my furniture was packed in garbage bags!
 
I once washed some of my older clothes in a bath tub with a little dish washing soap because I was broke and had the choice between buying enough food to last until the next pay check or buying not enough food and laundry soap. Thankfully those days are long gone.
 
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