The broke folk

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I have a total of 35 cents in my wallet. My gas tank is half empty and I've got bills to deal with at the end of the month.

That's not to say I have no money at all. I have some in the bank but I can't spend any of it or I will be even further in the red. I still owe my Dad some money for kicking some cash my way last month.

The good news is that next week I'll be getting a job for the first time since I quit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.354104-I-quit] my last job. 29 hours a week compared to 8? Slightly better than minimum wage? Thank you! Once I get set up at this hardware store I'll look for a job to do in the afternoon as well. Just before the University students came and took all the work from me too...

So, the point of the thread? Well, it is a bit of a follow up to that one I posted before. I guess what I'm trying to find out here is how other people deal with the feeling of being unable to have fun. I have good friends and they've been paying for movie tickets for me, helping me out with lunch, etc., but sometimes you just want to buy that game.

[HEADING=2]So:[/HEADING]

Do you consider yourself broke?

If so, what are you doing to get out of this situation?

In my case weeks of driving around distributing resumes has finally yielded some results. I have one, possibly two, more job interviews on the agenda in addition to having this hardware store job confirmed. I'm going to have to change my sleeping habits but you do what you have to.

Getting off your ass and handing out those resumes do yield results. You just have to stick with it.

[sub][sub]For those of you wondering, no. I cannot update the wall at the moment as I am on a public computer and not my netbook. I'll do that tonight though.[/sub][/sub]

 

[IndomitableSam]

I was broke until January, when I got my current job. Before that, I hadn't worked since the end of June. I quit the job in June because they wanted me to sign a contract cutting my salary down by over 1/3rd and the same with my hours - plus I would have worked the middle of the day so a second job would have been very difficult. Thankfully, Unemployment sided with me and I did get some money from them, but not until October. I made myself ill with stress, we sold a ton of things we wanted, some stuff we even needed, just to get by. I worked one day at a motel for mimum wage but was harassed by my male boss and it was so creepy that I never went back. It was later then raided for housing a drug ring.

I took up tutoring, but the only client I got was helping a woman with learning English, but most of the conversations came around to her praying for me all the time because I wasn't Christian, but I hung around to make $20 for 2 hours of being preached at.

We sold a third of our video games, including some really old ones for really cheap. We sold exercise equipment I used, dishes, clothes, furniture.

... I went to interview after interview, but retail jobs wouldn't hire me because they knew I would leave when I got better work, and I'm only a couple years out of school so inexperienced for my field. I applied for this job when I left my last one and didn't hear from them until October, when I went in for some testing. I never heard back from them and wrote it off. Late November, they called me for an interview, went, never heard from them. Mid December, they called me and told me I got the job, but didn't start until January, so Christmas was kinda hell.

But it's all worked out and I'm thankful every day that I had been smart enough to save money for emergencies - because I spent every cent of my savings over those 6 months just to sruvive. We ate a hell of a lot of pasta. Not even KD, just pasta with butter on it.

 

[StBishop]

Dude, you still go to the movies???

We either have very different priorities (likely) or you're in no way broke.

Last time I went to the movies it was for my brothers birthday over 9 months ago(because that's what he wanted to do) and I saved up for about 2 months before hand.

In answer to the questions.
Yeah, but my girlfriend isn't and she pays for pretty much everything.
Studying hard to become a doctor so that I can provide for her and our future family.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

SNIP

Stories like yours are why I never really complained. I was just getting to the point where I would start to need selling things to make the next monthy bills but this job will catch me up to a point where I can start repaying my debts to my family.

I hope things improve for you now. It sucks having to live off of pasta. I know I did that during my last months in University when I ran out of money.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Dude, you still go to the movies???

We either have very different priorities (likely) or you're in no way broke.

I am:

A) A film student so very into movies.

B) Near a city that offers movies for $2 on Tuesday.

C) Lucky enough to have friends who will carpool with me and pay for the refreshments.

It's one of the few things I get to go into the city with my friends with these days so I am not giving it up. I've raided my room for change a few times to go.

 

[StBishop]

Dude, you still go to the movies???

We either have very different priorities (likely) or you're in no way broke.

I am:

A) A film student so very into movies.

B) Near a city that offers movies for $2 on Tuesday.

C) Lucky enough to have friends who will carpool with me and pay for the refreshments.

It's one of the few things I get to go into the city with my friends with these days so I am not giving it up. I've raided my room for change a few times to go.

Makes sense.

Where I use to live (Brisbane) there's an IMAX who do $3.00 movies between 10am and 4pm for students on weekdays.
They probably charge more now.

I don't really value movies much (no offence) I prefer books, so I can't really fault you. When I first moved out of home I'd buy one paperback a week for 3 weeks then I'd have to spend that money on phone credit every 4th week.

I still buy books from time to time, I buy games too. But I don't watch movies much, nor do I buy music often. I just listen to music I've had since highschool or what my brother gives me or what I find for free on sound cloud.
Triple J often have free songs too. Recently got the Golden Era mix tape for free too that was good.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Stories like yours are why I never really complained. I was just getting to the point where I would start to need selling things to make the next monthy bills but this job will catch me up to a point where I can start repaying my debts to my family.

I hope things improve for you now. It sucks having to live off of pasta. I know I did that during my last months in University when I ran out of money.

I'm good now - the job I landed was a Government position so as long as I make it to July (my 6-month Probation), and I can stand the soul-sucking boredom, I'm pretty set. My plan has always been to move away when I'm more experienced, but now I may stay a bit longer as I'm safe in this position and can rebuild my savings/retirment fund.

Thanks for the best wishes.

 

[DoPo]

I'm not broke...yet, but I'm on a tight budget. Really tight. As in, the last time a friend of mine wanted to meet and drink some beer, I had to do a quick calculation about whether or not I could buy a beer or two and still have money for other things like food and rent. I had the money but he ended up paying for the beer himself.

I would look for a job, just next month as I do not have the time currently. And I hope I find one within a reasonable time...otherwise I would have to start selling kidneys to pay rent. And to top it off, they would most probably be my kidneys.

 

[Marter]

Yeah, I'm pretty broke right now. I have, like, $20 right now.

I have a job that starts in May, though, which will be good.

 

[IndomitableSam]

When i was looking for retail work as a back up, i'd always have 2 resumes: one for the jobs I wanted, and one for the jobs i needed. I always left my education at high school for the latter and I never had problems finding work.

I did too, but if I didn't put my Library work on my resume, I had a huge gap, so they always asked questions. I said I worked at libraries because I loved being up and moving and with people all day, but when you're 28 and competing with a college student for a part-time minimum wage job... they'll usually pick the college student as they know how long they'll stay around for and know they won't ask for respect and fair wages.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'm not technically broke at the moment, but I am running very low on cash. Until my job starts in a few weeks, I have to play it safe with cash.

 

[Esotera]

I'm pretty broke as I'm a student, but I'm about to go into one job for a year as part of my course, which pays quite well. I'm also very lucky as family could always bail me out if things got bad.

For entertainment when broke, I'd heavily recommend borrowing books off a friend (or getting some cheap ones that only cost about £3 on Amazon), or just browsing the internet. It's cheap and helps you learn new things.

 

[DugMachine]

In between jobs right now so money is pretty tight. Had to cut back slighty on my smoking cause cigarettes are fucking expensive and my WoW is on hold for awhile until I can afford the subscription again.

Been playing old video games I have gathering dust on my shelf for fun and it's pretty awesome experiencing them again.

 

[Phasmal]

Kind of broke. Spending all my money trying to get in the door of my and my boyfriends new flat. (Hopefully! It will be our first place, so... scary. Any advice would be lovely).
But we should be okay.

I'm still looking for work, too. Kind of hard when I don't really know the area (near where boyfriend works and flat).

 

[HardkorSB]

You had me until "My gas tank is half empty".
You're not broke, you probably never came close to being broke.
Want my advice? Sell the car, get a bike. No more car insurance, no more buying gas, no more "poverty".

I was broke once last year. I left my previous flat with unpaid bills (I still owe them about £600 but I was subletting a room so I never signed anything, luckily), no money and no job. I was even homeless for 1 day. When I was going to sleep on a street corner that night, I was trying to decide whether I should kill myself, mug someone or just give up and sit on the street all day with a plastic cup in my hand.
The next morning, my phone rang (good timing too because it was almost dead) and I got my current job that came with a free room as well. The job is shit but who was I to complain at that point?

sometimes you just want to buy that game.

When you're BROKE, you're more interested in that nice piece of ham you see through a window of a grocery store rather than a game.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I'm not exactly, but I am hemorrhaging money at all times. I still owe another 38k on student loans from my initial 90k, and in the 7k I paid on interest alone last year, I'm not eligible to write off any of it. I'm also about to write a check for over $20,000 for this year's taxes and got a $260 fine for not filing quarterly.

Once I pay off all my debt, I'll be happy, though. I'd have paid it off long ago if I still had my crappy Halliburton job, but I'd much rather be happy and poor than financially set and hating my life.

 

[Verzin]

I'm not exactly, but I am hemorrhaging money at all times.

Me too. Tuition is CRAZY MIND MINDBOGGLINGLY EXPENSIVE!!

 

[Chemical Alia]

I'm not exactly, but I am hemorrhaging money at all times.

Me too. Tuition is CRAZY MIND MINDBOGGLINGLY EXPENSIVE!!

Haha, yeah. It's all fun and games until you GRADUATE.