Dirt poor?
 

OK, I quit reading that other thread about 3 pages in, but it got me to thinking.....have you ever been dirt poor?

We we're semi-poor when I was growing up, went on food stamps awhile, didn't have much in the way of luxuries...I used to get my ass spanked big time If I so much as looked at the thermostat.

But, we always had a roof over our head, never went hungry (anyone remember those HUGE shredded wheat things? Way different than frosted minis).

Anyways, about 15 years ago I was making minimum ($2.85 I think), living on my own in my own apartment. No health insurance, no car, no savings...got paid weekly, had about $5 to spare every week. No shit, after the bills were paid I had $5 fucking dollars).

I stocked my fridge with Bread, Bologna, Mustard, Onions, Popcorn, and Kool-Aid. I made every imaginable sandwich out of ALL of the above, got very creative with toasting and what not.

But looking back, it sucked, but it wasn't all bad, I got paid every week so looked forward to what I could spend those extra dollars on, I actually won the very first Wisconsin lottery ever (not the big prize, was about $600, that's another story), and dug out from there.

To this day I LOVE MILK, I like sandwiches, but popcorn still makes me gag. Way too many nights hungry and no butter (we had salt). So that's not really dirt poor, but some of you must have been worse off?

2 adults & 2 kids in a free standing 1 car garage, with an outhouse and a pitcher pump for cold water.
But the Shredded Wheat had 2 Straight Arrow cards between the layers.

My meal plan ran out near the end of senior year, and I lived off of IBC Cream Soda and Pop-Tarts for a while.

But my parents were putting me through a very expensive school, so I don't think that counts.

I've been in a fairly similar position to blue58 when I first moved out. For me it was hummous and crackers, god I ate one shitload of hommous.

my ex-husband was in the navy. the day after we got married, he left for a 2 month cruise and he left me with $5, no job, no friends, no car. i had just moved to virginia. the guy at the convenience store gave me free cigarettes. i had to eat ramen noodles every single day, and dried beans. i had to walk up the highway to the different restaurants to apply for jobs, and i didn't have a phone, so i had to walk back in a few days to check on my applications.
about 1 1/2 - 2 years ago, my ex-boyfriend had moved out when we broke up, and i had to pay for the apartment all by myself, plus the car payment, insurance, credit card bills, etc. i was $500 short every month. one month, i had a yardsale and sold my drum set, a tv and my bike to pay the rent. the next month, the guy i was dating gave me $500 for my birhday (rent money!), i also maxxed out my credit cards, using them for daily necessities like food, gas in the car, cigarettes, etc. when i wanted to go out to a bar with my friend, i would bring little nips in my pocketbook and just order soda at the bar. then i would go into the bathroom to make my drink.
i was so poor that i agreed to marry an illegal brazilian for $5,000.
he moved in and lived here for two months. his 1/2 rent helped so much, but we didn't get married because of immigration issues..i met arsen while i was living with that brazilian guy. now arsen finally has a paying job and my finances aren't necessarily bright, but i have enough to pay the bills and buy food, and it feels good!

hot_pastrami, can I borrow your 10 ft pole so i can NOT touch that with it?

as detailed in the TOUR thread, I have been poor, but it was self inflicted, and it also coincided with one of the happiest times in my life. the more i make, the more stress i have over money. i'm sure it's not always true, but in my exp, less = more

I ran out of money while touring Europe. I was no Richie Rich back home, either.

So I slept on the pavement outside Gar du Nor in Paris. Fuck it was cold at night and I had no blanket or anything. Old, drunk, homeless men smelling like stale urine use to try to go through my pockets at night and I'd have to beat them off. During the day, I'd hang out in the park - I had enough money for two cans of sardines per day and one franc for the pay toilet where I could clean up and not reek. I didn't have a can opener so I had to pry open the sardines on something. Fortunately, I already had my return plane ticket or else I suppose I'd still be there.

I had sent a buddy a letter of when I was arriving at Hartsfield and thank God he was there to pick me up - all I had left in my pocket was one Gilder (a Dutch quarter pretty much).

He took me by McDonalds and bought me a six pack - what a Samaritin! I slept for a week (after taking a looooooooooong shower).

Dirt Poor?
 

Growing up in the early '60's I never knew how poor we really were. My Mom tells the stories about how she used to cut a can of Campbell's soup with 3 cans of water just to make it feed the 3 kids and my Dad and her. We would take Sandwich Speard, (actually it's just tarter sauce) sandwiches in our brown bag lunches to school with buttered crackers for dessert. Mom would search the couch cushions for enough loose change to buy us a popcicle from the ice cream man so we wouldn't have to watch the other neighborhood kids eat theirs. She would split the one popcicle in two so we could both have a half. Dad was a school teacher by day and always worked a part time job at night just to make ends meet so we only saw him on weekends.
Aside from all that, Mom and Dad raised 4 healthy, somewhat well adjusted kids and we were never the wiser as to how poor those times really were. We may not have had a lot of money but there was always plenty of love to go around. Nowdays people think they're poor when they have trouble paying their cable bill. Go figure!

You know I'm almost certainly going to regret this, but how you doing lately Stacey?

Re: Dirt poor?
 

Yah. Now. Got any spare cash bud?

Sorry man...but I'm slipping towards the poor end again myself. You'll see me on the news tho before I live off popcorn again.

404, good story...sounds like you had a wonderful Mom. I like the spread the soup thing, but buttered crackers for desert nailed it...we had those too. ;-) Anybody ever have "gravy bread" for the main course? I remember laying in the living room eating that, watching the Wizard of Oz. Good times.

Dangit, this is bringing back some old memories. I almost forgot the best, my Dad used to make poor man's soup constantly. And I shit you not, here are the ingredients:

Water
Potatoes
Onions

And you would spoon in a tablespoon of butter in your bowl, and here's the fucked up part....poor in about another tablespoon of white vinegar.

I have no idea who dreamed this shit up, but WE LOVED IT!

My Dad passed along time ago so I never got a chance to ask him, but I made poor mans soup for us one day and it wasn't half bad, considering it cost about 13 cents to feed a family.

You obviously need to learn to prioritize.

Quzah.