How poor/broke did you ever get?

[Casawi]

I was having a conversation with a friend then my roommate tonight about when I was in college and how broke I really was, and they seemed to think it was really harsh .... when I really thought it could of been worst if it wasn't for some luck; and someone else is having it worst probably.
How do you recall you broke as f*ck time ? please share I am interested.

I will type up my stories later(its late).

 

[Jeff7]

Right now. 1 year left of college, got thousands in loans, and my bank account is lower than it's ever been. Granted, I do have some extra money invested elsewhere to fall back on, but once I delve into that, that's about it, I'll be out of reserves. I miss the good life, back when I made $18K a year at Walmart. It's a really lousy amount of money, but it was income. My income since I started college has been a net negative. This had damn well better be worth it.

 

[Casawi]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Right now. 1 year left of college, got thousands in loans, and my bank account is lower than it's ever been. Granted, I do have some extra money invested elsewhere to fall back on, but once I delve into that, that's about it, I'll be out of reserves. I miss the good life, back when I made $18K a year at Walmart. It's a really lousy amount of money, but it was income. My income since I started college has been a net negative. This had damn well better be worth it.

Thats sounds like a situation where an average would be really. Student loans are the best investment an 18 year old can do.... unless exceptional.

 

[Jeff7]

Thanks to my grants, I'm in debt a lot less than some others. My sister graduated from Boston University, and I remember that her loans were just insane, probably at least twice mine, maybe even thrice. I've never liked being in debt at all, so being a few thousand dollars in debt was a new experience.

 

[senseamp]

Living in my grandparents' garage. I guess I was underage, so that doesn't count as me personally being broke. Still it kinda sucked, but on the upside, being from a poor family helped me get a lot of financial aid cash, so I came out less broke than many better off kids who had to take on more loans to pay for college.

 

[Canai]

Right after high school, I was staying at various friend's houses or sleeping in the back of my station wagon. I went between working for my dad and partying it up here. There were times I would have literally no money. I would search my car for any change I could find, and then put all of it into gas.

Crazy times. Bad, but I learned quite a bit.

 

[apac]

My first summer out of college. Didn't have a paying job for about half of the summer. Borrowed money from my parents for rent, but was on my own for food. Ate lots of ramen and taco bell. During 3 months I bounced 2 checks by less than $3, which resulted in $60 in fees each time. Lowest point was having to tell my roommates I couldn't go to a movie cause it was either that or eating.

Could have been worse, but it was enough to teach the value of living within your means.

 

[ballmode]

Back in 2004/2005 I was living in an Apartment for college. I made 200-250 a month working at the tech support place on campus.

Split that into two checks, 100-125 every two weeks.

45 for cell + 40-50 in gas a month the rest was food money or entertainment, sucked.

I stole alot of stuff to make money... but it was stuff people didn't realize it had value. Yes, I know its wrong, but better than doing/dealing drugs

 

[Slew Foot]

During med school once I was driving home(San Francisco to Orange County), I stopped off at the ATM to pull out $40, and realized I had 5.67 left in my account.

 

[nageov3t]

not that broke.

I always had more money than my friends during college, because I temped in NYC during summer/winter breaks and put all the money into savings while they went back to their home towns in the sticks and worked slightly above minimum wage jobs.

I guess second semester sophomore year was the worst, because I didn't work that winter break... I guess I was just in a funk / paralyzing depression. I basically spent the entire month and a half sleeping 12-15 hours/day and emerging only at night after my parents went to bed to eat, play everquest, shower, and go back to bed. when I came back to school, I barely had enough to cover my books (in fact, I didn't even buy books for 2 of my classes. I got by on a mix of checking the novels out of the library and borrowing friends' books when necessary). I ended up solving my financial crisis by embezzling budget money from a school club that I was treasurer of (not a huge amount or anything, but enough to live on for a semester, and I did eventually slip it back to the club in question).

but since entering the work force and working "real" jobs full-time, I've never had less than 7K in the bank.

 

[jagec]

It depends. 1-3rd grade was probably the POOREST that I have ever been (like, my whole family, obviously not myself), but it didn't affect me much because we lived in the middle of nowhere.

About 4 years ago when I was renting an apartment with friends and had no job was probably the poorest that I've ever been when it counted. I was selling plasma to buy Ramen at that point.

 

[BoomerD]

I was so broke once, I couldn't pay attention...

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: savoyboy
I'm so broke. I had dog food for dinner.

Dog food costs a crapload of money compared to cheapo Ramen, frozen peas, and other college standbys.

No wonder you're broke.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: savoyboy
I'm so broke. I had dog food for dinner.

Dog food costs a crapload of money compared to cheapo Ramen, frozen peas, and other college standbys.

No wonder you're broke.

rice + soy sauce.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: Casawi
How poor/broke did you ever get?

Not too bad.
I've always had a toilet.

 

[TheNewbie]

Originally posted by: savoyboy
I'm so broke. I had dog food for dinner.

stfu and go flip me a burger!

 

[akshatp]

Damn.. I feel lucky compared to some of your stories... Ive never been broke! Although now that I am married, I sense that day is coming soon LOL

 

[DrVos]

The brokest I've ever been was my senior year of college about two years ago. I was working two part-time jobs but had trouble making ends meet. I tried to buy probably $5 worth of food at a convenience store with my ATM card but was denied because of insufficient funds. Alot of it was because of poor financial planning on my part. I had just gotten married and we bought a house we really couldn't afford using an ARM. When our rate reset, our mortgage more than doubled and continued to go up every month. Though we were able to keep up with the payments, our bank accounts got wiped out every month with less and less to spare.

Fortunately, I was hired right out of college, and my wife and I now have good jobs that pay well. We refinanced into a 30year fixed mortgage as soon as we were able to. While we are a long ways from living in luxury, we don't have to worry about making ends meet anymore. We took a calculated, if not foolhardy, risk when we banked our home on the chance that I would find a good job right out of college and I get get a queasy feeling whenever I think of how close to the edge we got.

 

[TwiceOver]

Can't really think of a time where I was "Broke". I have debt, lots of it in fact, but it's manageable.

 

[DangerAardvark]

I once got so poor I had to take the Jag to Yoga class. I was all like OMG, I hope my BFF Jill doesn't see me.

 

[jjones]

I lived in a van down by the river.

 

[Deeko]

There's $1.50 in my checking account and I have $68k in student loans.

That said, I'm not really that broke.

 

[Linflas]

Broke enough to use a dollar coupon for a Roy Rogers burger and make a "meal" out of it from the Fixin's Bar stuff.

 

[paulxcook]

My checking account once dipped down to less than $50. I hate getting paid once a month.

 

[Fritzo]

College 1992. I had $8000 in credit card debt from school, I had to work 40 hrs/week to pay them off, and in turn I couldn't devote myself school- so I nearly flunked out.

That was the worst year of my life. My girlfriend left me because I couldn't spend time with her, I had no money, I sold my '78 Les Paul Custom for a lousy $550 (the guitar market was in the toilet), my band broke up, my Volkwagon Beetle cracked in half from rust (I'm not kidding), and I was facing moving back in with my "I told you so" parents.

Things picked up considerably from then, and I can honestly say 16 years later I'm at my peak right now If I could only get my guitar back though...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

When I was in the Navy going to school in Great Lakes, IL, my credit card company lost the $100 payment I made that was going to be my food money for the next 2 weeks. I was going to a "C" school, so I couldn't just eat at the galley. I used the $3 or so that I had to buy 2 loaves of bread, and I ate bread and water for 11 days. On the 11th day, it came up in conversation somehow, and I bitched about having to eat bread and water for 11 days, and someone asked if I was serious. I told them the story, and they let me borrow some money til payday. I ate good on payday though...

Another time, while in the Navy, I lived in a closet. More of a pantry really, as it was by the kitchen. I got tired of living on the ship where I had no place that was mine, so I lived in someone's closet for about 4 months. It wasn't that bad actually. It had a phone line going directly to it, so I could get online with my laptop, and there was almost enough room for me to lay down all the way.