One time I had so little money

that even though I was working at a pretty good job full time that I couldn't afford some prescription medications.

I look back on those days and see how much my life has changed. Little by little we put money aside, invested wisely, paid off the mortgage and life is very different now.

From those of you who feel that you have had some success, can you think back and finish that line...

One time I had so little money.....

then tell us how far you have come, and maybe how. I think this would be interesting.

One time I (we) had so little money I wondered if we'd ever get ahead and save and pay-off our mortgage. Well, with smart money management along with a frugal and simple lifestyle we've slowly been able to stow away, pay off, and establish a financial comfort level I sleep well at night over.

Even so, I have many a story I could share (some resent) where I'd raid the pantry and cupboards for as many things I could find in order to put together a few more meals in order to tide us over until payday, because we had been clothes-lined with an unexpected financial hit. Not fun. But somehow you survive and within a few short months you slowly get back on your feet again and by the same time the following year you think back on all and say, "we're no worse for the wear".

Great thread Kally!

One time we had so little money we thought living in a converted furnished garage with a mud pit for a driveway was a totally wonderful way to live. Boyfriend joked that we got married to save money on car insurance (we were 19 and 20 at the time). Now retired and enjoying it.

The garage was owned by the most wonderful landlords who were more like parents now that I look back. Their tenants took care of them and always found them the next set of tenants.

One time, when I was just out of college and got my first teaching job, I had so little money (despite being out of debt and having a fulltime job) that I got my "new" clothes for work by hauling them out of a dumpster after someone else had thrown them away. I also lost twenty pounds because I couldn't afford enough food to eat!

Fifteen years later, I found myself divorced and broke, and had so little money that I used to get my main meal of the day at midnight, when a casino would offer a midnight special of steak, eggs and hashbrowns for 99 cents! The rest of the day was supplemented with ramen noodles and oatmeal. The carbs and the fat made me GAIN twenty pounds! :( I sure wish I knew then what I know now, having read this forum for a few years, and am now debt-free except for the house! I would have been able to eat in a much healthier way for just as little money, more or less.

One time... I was at university and by the time, I paid my tuition, room etc,. I had enough money left over for a bowl of oatmeal in the morning and one hotdog at night. My parents had no money so they were never told how bad things really were. I was losing so much weight that I was called in by the supervisor of my program and had to confess my circumstances. She found me a large closet in a fancy students residence with full meals that just happened to be the same expense as my revenue and I lived in luxury that semester. I was never that hungry again.

Later, we had two children, a mortgage and both kids needed shoes as did I. Of course, the kids got the shoes and eventually so did I. Never that short of money again.

We are both retired and very comfortable financially now.

Funny but I never regretted either of the situations that I experienced as I knew that I could cope and life was on my side.

Neat thread!

For some reason, it takes a post a long while to register and then it suddenly gives a message that I must wait for 30 seconds between posts and then makes a duplicate post.

Something very odd about this!

I don't like to think about this. I had some pretty lean times. I had so little money that...

...One time my daughter's lunch money check bounced
...I had to put back a couple of things on the supermarket line because I didn't have the money (and it was like a $15 bill)
...We regularly would scour the house for change for milk or other staples
...I told my son he couldn't go on a field trip because we couldn't afford it
...We had to turn around at the Lincoln Tunnel because we could only pay the 4.00 toll in pennies and they wouldn't take pennies
...I once went to KMart to buy my two boys tube socks, and while we were standing in line, each boy was holding a 6-pack in his arms exclaiming, "Mom, thank you SO MUCH for buying us these SOCKS! I was really pretty embarrassed, but had to smile at their gratitude.
...I had to figure out how to do my son's birthday on $11.

There are a lot more, but I'll stop now. That's the kind of life addiction gives you, BTW.

In any case my DH once said, when we were discussing how we never locked our front door, "Why should we lock our door? If a robber came in he'd probably feel sorry for us and leave us a buck."

Right now I have so little money that I'm having to wash my clothes in the bathroom sink because I don't have the money to go to the laundromat and even if I did, my car is broke down. I thought for sure next month I'd be able to get my head above the water...seems like it's always something.

People often don't believe me but in the 70's with a full time job with the state, after all the bills were paid I feasted on tea and toast. And they wonder why I am frugal now, habit I guess.

My most broke time was as a college student on a work study program, and I ran out of money between paychecks--there was some white rice that was left in the kitchen cabinets of the rental apt. -- who knows how old it was and it was infested with some kind of small insects which I picked out as well as I could and boiled up the rice--and ate it. Figured the boiling would sanitize the germs and it was, after all, protein.