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Brokest/richest you've been?

2

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69,588 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Sugar Free wrote: »
    Right now is by far my highest net worth. Next year after I buy a place I will be worth a large negative figure. So next year and for several years after it will technically be my poorest time.

    What place are you buying that will have a negative asset to debt value immediately?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    I was broker than a broke leg on hike across a train track with broken lights.

    I was richer than Dolly Parton and her lawyers put together!

    I was so broke what i had for dinner that day was sleep!

    I was so rich Kim K wanted a loan.

    I was so broke my landlady saw me break the world record for a mile.

    I was so rich I bought Cheryl Cole her career back.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    I know someone who when they were making mashed potato a glass fell just beside the pot and the vast majority of the glass ended up in potato.

    They were so poor they picked out what they could and ate it anyway.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    I was so poor there was one day when i couldn't wear Coco Chanel.

    I vowed never again.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I'm genuinely astounded at how mild some of the broke stories are. When I was doing my masters in college, I was living for a couple of months rent free in a mate's flat in Croydon, and there were some days I'd have to walk 3 hours from my campus in Kensington back to Croydon, because I'd spent my last 3 quid on the luxury of food. My folks weren't keen on my going straight into a post grád after college, and refused to pay a cent for it. I kind of admire that lack of preciousness, because I learned an awful lot in that year.

    I probably survived on maybe 500 pounds a month for all bills from occasional retail work and as many research studies as I could participate in. Taking part in a research study in college for 10 pounds might have meant the difference between eating proper food (pizza) or pasta and butter.

    I was filthy broke, and needless to say, the wealthiest I ever felt in my life was the following year when I was renting my own tiny flat in another city and able to afford things like meat and rent and public transport. Being poor is important. You never forget the value of a euro/ pound.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,881 ✭✭✭Peatys


    . Being poor is important. You never forget the value of a euro/ pound.

    Amen


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    I know someone so poor they only got one pair of underwear per year for most of their childhood. They had to wash them before they went to bed with ordinary soap and hope they would be dry by morning.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    Peatys wrote: »
    Amen
    Poverty is relative. He was rich to some.


  • Registered Users Posts: 120 ✭✭emmabo25


    The brokest I've ever been: 7 months pregnant on 2nd child, and husband's work hours were cut drastically. We had to ask the bank for a payment holiday on our mortgage for 6 months, as we could barely afford food.

    Richest: Inherited a house from FIL, and we were able to move in there, and sell our first house. Paid off our mortgage, bought a new car, and for the first time in our life had some money to live a little.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    emmabo25 wrote: »
    The brokest I've ever been: 7 months pregnant on 2nd child, and husband's work hours were cut drastically. We had to ask the bank for a payment holiday on our mortgage for 6 months, as we could barely afford food.

    Richest: Inherited a house from FIL, and we were able to move in there, and sell our first house. Paid off our mortgage, bought a new car, and for the first time in our life had some money to live a little.


    Oh what a lovely happy ending :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    Not being able to afford medical treatment i really needed when i was a child for months and being in pain.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,405 ✭✭✭Airyfairy12


    Brokest - In college during the recession and couldnt get a job, my only income was the student grant that had been cut so I was living on 300 a month - 200 went on rent. Hadnt bought clothes in 5 years, shoes were wrapped in tape to keep the souls from falling off, I was using cheap shampoo to wash my hair and as shower gel, couldnt afford food while living in a cheap, damp, rat invested house, found an old coat in it that belonged to the previous owner which I kept as I didnt have a coat of my own.

    Richest - When I got my first degree related job, I stocked up on shoes and good quality clothes and coats and jackets incase I ever end up in the previous situation again, I saved money in the credit union to fall back on which I will continue to do for the rest of my life. Treated myself to hair appointments, facials, expensive makeup and perfume, saved up for driving lessons, went on a mini holiday with friends.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,202 ✭✭✭✭ILoveYourVibes


    Brokest - In college during the recession and couldnt get a job, my only income was the student grant that had been cut so I was living on 300 a month - 200 went on rent. Hadnt bought clothes in 5 years, shoes were wrapped in tape to keep the souls from falling off, I was using cheap shampoo to wash my hair and as shower gel, couldnt afford food while living in a cheap, damp, rat invested house, found an old coat in it that belonged to the previous owner which I kept as I didnt have a coat of my own.

    Richest - When I got my first degree related job, I stocked up on shoes and good quality clothes and coats and jackets incase I ever end up in the previous situation again, I saved money in the credit union to fall back on which I will continue to do for the rest of my life. Treated myself to hair appointments, facials, expensive makeup and perfume, saved up for driving lessons, went on a mini holiday with friends.


    Another happy ending :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,609 ✭✭✭adam88


    In terms of net worth prob right now I’m the best I’ve ever been, house, new car, 4/5 foreign trips a year but by god my cash flow is absolutely shocking. On a good number but I’ve never been so stretched from pay cheque to pay cheque.

    In terms of being broke, I’ve never been so broke I had to weight up a choice between food or transport. I’ve always been a saver so if I was ever near making that situation I always had my savings to dig me out of trouble


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,526 ✭✭✭Sgt Hartman


    Poorest: Working in Portsmouth England, I was on emergency tax for 3 months during that period and I had used up my £400 overdraft. I had literally £1.50 in my pocket and no savings. I went to an off licence to get 1 can with the money. Luckily there was ale that was going out of date the next day that the guy behind the counter let me have for 20p a can.

    Richest: Probably right now with the amount of money in my mortgage saver account. In practice however it was probably when I was 21, working a technician job full time and living at home. Soooooo much disposable income back then.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 77 ✭✭Button_y


    Brokest - 2nd year of college at 18 when I realised that because I switched courses I wouldn't get a grant and my summer earnings wouldn't cover my rent or food. I had been supporting myself through college because parents couldn't afford to and beyond the few bits of food my mother sent with me on a Sunday night I wasn't going to be able to support myself.

    Richest feeling - Last year I bought an almost new car for myself using my savings as a loan to myself. Our mortgage is manageable and I can afford some of the niceties. I still feel guilty spending money, I need to remind myself every time I get into my car or treat myself that I work hard and have done so since I was 14 and I deserve it. I think I will always be mindful of spending no matter what. I am very aware that circumstances can change very quickly, employers will toss you aside, changes in health / circumstances could impact finances very quickly!

    Easy come, easy go. And for me it didn't come easy and I am more careful because of it. Maybe someday I'll book a first class flight to a five star resort without feeling guilty!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,021 ✭✭✭✭anewme


    Worst.... thank you to Sunday World Charity for letting our family have some sort of a Christmas..(no food or Santa) in the 80's... to being a working class person on the up up up...working hard and ending up with 270k equity buying a 450k home by myself. Tough times, never forgotten.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,235 ✭✭✭✭Cee-Jay-Cee


    Worked in Munich in 1989. Left a ****ty washing up job in a restaurant to take up employment in the BMW plant. I left with no notice and they told me i wouldn’t get my pay for 2 weeks. The restaurant job also came with accommodation so even though I had a good well paying job, I was broke after 3 days in the new job, had no place to stay so slept in the Haupbahnhoff (central train station) but didn’t eat for 3 days and was very weak and scared. I was also on my own and hadn’t even the money to ring my parents and try and get some money sent out. I went back to the restaurant and pleaded with the manager for some of the pay as I was owed as I was so hungry. He gave me around 500 marks which is about half what I was owed. I went straight to Burger King in the central train station (which was upstairs) and as I sat out on the balcony eating my Whopper and large fries I seen a charity soup kitchen down the side of the platform...100m from where I had been sleeping for the 3 or 4 previous night starving without even water to drink!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 381 ✭✭Santan


    Brokest, 6 months going to tesco living off my gfs 1 wage, pricing tesco bread against mr. Brennans and deciding we can't afford mr brennans, after I closed my business after 2 years in 2009. Once maybe twice a month splashing out on steak, felt so guilty for that.

    Not the brokest but was bad, got another business going after a few years and put all our money into it, and to my absolute shame, got conned out of almost 100k. To this day I can fully understand how he done it as we were best friends, but can't believe how stupid I was to somehow allow it happen over 4 years, but it did and after a while you learn to pick yourself back up.

    Richest, is right now like a lot of people, worked 15 to 18 hour days along with my wife to get us going again over the last 2 years and now in a position to buy a house with no mortgage, or at least very little, end result for me was a girl that put up with me through all that and is still with me, wow


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Worked in Munich in 1989. Left a ****ty washing up job in a restaurant to take up employment in the BMW plant. I left with no notice and they told me i wouldn’t get my pay for 2 weeks. The restaurant job also came with accommodation so even though I had a good well paying job, I was broke after 3 days in the new job, had no place to stay so slept in the Haupbahnhoff (central train station) but didn’t eat for 3 days and was very weak and scared. I was also on my own and hadn’t even the money to ring my parents and try and get some money sent out. I went back to the restaurant and pleaded with the manager for some of the pay as I was owed as I was so hungry. He gave me around 500 marks which is about half what I was owed. I went straight to Burger King in the central train station (which was upstairs) and as I sat out on the balcony eating my Whopper and large fries I seen a charity soup kitchen down the side of the platform...100m from where I had been sleeping for the 3 or 4 previous night starving without even water to drink!
    Now this is what "broke" means.

    Can't believe there were lads in this thread talking about their brokest moment going into a 200 euro overdraft. The above is in a completely different category to most middle class complaints.


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭mr_fegelien


    Too many happy endings here. Not that happy endings are bad but where are the posters who lost their job, went broke, lost their partner, became homeless and never recovered?

    There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.


  • Registered Users Posts: 44 eurozonelady


    Young and totally alone in a foreign country buying a pack of spaghetti, being forced to argue in a language I was just learning over a 3 cents plastic shopping bag that I couldn´t afford! I was down to my last 15€ ...maybe 2 weeks before pay-day and the b**** wouldn´t refund me.

    Randomly going on not so cheap last minute holidays, weekends away or international events without a second thought!

    And then I grew up!!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,984 ✭✭✭Stovepipe


    Brokest---bank ****ed up my wages and I had a fiver to get me from Friday to the following Wednesday. Apart from that, I had, literally, a few coins from down the back of the sofa and the meagre contents of the cupboard. I had a half full tank of fuel in my car, so I could at least get to work. The landlord agreed to wait another week for his rent. I had literally no-one that I could borrow from. I then had two strokes of luck; I was walking home and a Traveller woman ahead of me, with a big wedge of cash in her hand dropped a tenner. I had it scooped up and hidden away in a heart beat. The next day, I go to an ATM to see if my wages had come in (after repeated phone calls to the bank, who kept assuring me that they'd fix my problem) and there, to my sheer delight, is another tenner, probably accidentally left by a previous punter. I had 25 quid and felt like a king.
    Richest: the brief moment when the solicitor showed me my first mortgage cheque for around Eu 175k. "This is yours". Then he moves it to the other pile of paper and says, "now, it's not."


  • Posts: 17,378 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    For most broke, I've two. Once in university eating Weetabix for five days cause that's all he food I had so I bought milk. The other was being down to a few dollars before I got my first paycheck in a new country.
    The first one was broke as hell but the second felt more like I simply had no way of dealing with it if anything went wrong getting that first pay.

    Most cash on hand was a few years ago after working and saving extremely hard for a motorbike trip around South America that I ended up changing my mind about. I used that to comfortably take a year of work and finish a website.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭mr_fegelien


    Reading some stories here, you'd think some people were living in third world countries...


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,275 ✭✭✭fash


    Too many happy endings here. Not that happy endings are bad but where are the posters who lost their job, went broke, lost their partner, became homeless and never recovered?

    There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.
    They probably have to wait for the restaurants to open to get WiFi on their phones.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Too many happy endings here. Not that happy endings are bad but where are the posters who lost their job, went broke, lost their partner, became homeless and never recovered?

    There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.

    Perhaps they've more important things, like surviving, to do than post on Boards. Or, being 0.23% of the population, they are proportionally represented.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 753 ✭✭✭badboyblast


    khaldrogo wrote: »
    You write this like it's a common thing!!!!

    The child benefit my mother received for me and my siblings was spent on clothes and food for us not put away in an account. Basically your family didn't need the benefit at all. They should have given the money to charity imo.

    Its called savings and it is something everyone should teach their kids , good sound start in life


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,688 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    Brokest was probably after landing in Australia with $600 cash and a credit card both of which were stolen within 24 hours of arrival. Was staying in a hostel in Kings Cross, had my own room but stupidly went to use the shower down the hall without locking it and someone came in and nicked my wallet, still convinced to this day it was one of the staff. Had $3 in coins and a $50 Amex Travellers cheque which I cashed.

    Found another hostel and the next day pounded the streets looking for work and a paycheque quick smart. Got a job labouring on a building site and spent the week just eating the included breakfast in the hostel and packets of cheap biscuits in the evening. Five days later had $600 in my hand and got back on my feet. The replacement credit card got posted out a couple of weeks later but someone nicked it out of the post and spent over $1000 on it right before Christmas. Cue about 3 months of arguments with AIB as to who was to blame. I eventually won out but it was a war of attrition conducted through reverse charge calls from phone boxes back to Ireland. Either way having been robbed twice within two weeks of landing in Australia I was definitely thinking the locals were a bunch of convicts :D

    Richest is right now but the single biggest feeling of it was when I won €10,000 on a scratch card, theres a great joy in getting completely unexpected free money.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,881 ✭✭✭Peatys


    Muahahaha wrote: »
    I won €10,000 on a scratch card, theres a great joy in getting completely unexpected free money.

    So you are the one? Well done :D


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,049 ✭✭✭digzy


    khaldrogo wrote: »
    . They should have given the money to charity imo.

    Do a search on how much is paid to the CEOs of our most prominent ‘charities’

    I think you’d revisit your suggestion. I doubt those lads handed back their children allowance either.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,972 ✭✭✭✭Tell me how


    Now this is what "broke" means.

    Can't believe there were lads in this thread talking about their brokest moment going into a 200 euro overdraft. The above is in a completely different category to most middle class complaints.

    To be fair, people are saying what being broke was for them.

    That was the question in the OP, there was no caveat of 'you must have been this broke to post'.

    It does indicate just how well off we are as a society/nation. Even our homeless, for the most part, are in provided accommodation which is much better than what the majority of people in the world live in every day.

    (Some of the 10k homeless probably are on boards but don't disclose their circumstance, because, let's face it, who would want the torrent of abuse that would come their way from people saying we're a joke of a country for providing welfare payments and services to people)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,405 ✭✭✭Airyfairy12


    Stovepipe wrote: »
    Brokest---bank ****ed up my wages and I had a fiver to get me from Friday to the following Wednesday. Apart from that, I had, literally, a few coins from down the back of the sofa and the meagre contents of the cupboard. I had a half full tank of fuel in my car, so I could at least get to work. The landlord agreed to wait another week for his rent. I had literally no-one that I could borrow from. I then had two strokes of luck; I was walking home and a Traveller woman ahead of me, with a big wedge of cash in her hand dropped a tenner. I had it scooped up and hidden away in a heart beat. The next day, I go to an ATM to see if my wages had come in (after repeated phone calls to the bank, who kept assuring me that they'd fix my problem) and there, to my sheer delight, is another tenner, probably accidentally left by a previous punter. I had 25 quid and felt like a king.
    Richest: the brief moment when the solicitor showed me my first mortgage cheque for around Eu 175k. "This is yours". Then he moves it to the other pile of paper and says, "now, it's not."

    Jaysus
    Even at my brokest I never stole from anyone, if I saw someone drop money I picked it up, called after them and handed it back.
    You were only stuck for week was it necessary to sneakily rob money?


  • Posts: 21,679 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I have felt loaded with cash a few different times in my life. Distant memories now :p

    My first pay in my first proper job was very exciting for me. I remember going shopping and that feeling of being able to buy whatever I wanted without fear of leaving myself short. The money increased over time as well. So did my outgoings but I definitely felt 'rich'.

    These days things are rather different. The nature of my work today means that there can be a big difference from month to month so I have to be careful. I am very lucky though in that I have an inheritance down the line. So I don't need to worry about being homeless or paying a mortgage. That for me far far outweighs not having a big disposable income.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Now this is what "broke" means.

    Can't believe there were lads in this thread talking about their brokest moment going into a 200 euro overdraft. The above is in a completely different category to most middle class complaints.

    So what conditions are you putting on the 'richest' element of the question?


    OP asked a question and people answered. That somebody's poorest isn't poor enough for you is neither here nor there.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,008 ✭✭✭LimeFruitGum


    Luckily, I have never been stone broke. I get super nervous if my balance is below 10k, never mind 10 quid. I have always had savings, run a tight ship at home, and the odd splurge in Boots as about as mad it gets in terms of retail therapy. I would rather spend 1000 euro on travel or on my home, than on some stupid unwearable pair of Louboutins.
    Even when I was unemployed for a bit earlier this year, I could still just about manage with the dole, and I had the option of renting out a room if necessary. I still have most of my severance money, which I will probably move into my pension, or put some of it against my mortgage.
    My partner and I can always manage ok if one of us is unemployed, but we earn very good money when we are working. (The joys of contracting)

    I always knew I would have to earn my money. No inheritance for me, other than some sentimental items and maybe a small token sum of money. My parents are rural working class so they just don’t have that kind of money. After my degree, I was 100% on my own financially. No dig outs and I never asked them for money, no matter what. I always managed.
    I am starting a part time postgrad next month which I hope will lead to further lucrative opportunities. My current role is the highest salary I have had, and the benefits & work-life balance are excellent.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,636 ✭✭✭dotsman


    There's 10,000 homeless in this country, surprised not to see a few responding on boards.
    Just because they have been designated "homeless" doesn't mean they are anything close to broke. Most have a decent (welfare) income and free housing. Thus, are in a far better position than most of the poster's situations described here.

    A few of the homeless will be broke, a temporary situation where they are between sleeping in friend's and sleeping in hotels etc. But these people are only believed to be a small percentage of the 10,000.

    A small percentage of that number is also the traditional "homeless" who typically will have mental health, drink or drug problems and will always live on the streets - you're not likely to find them on boards.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,498 ✭✭✭BrokenArrows


    Brokest was when I was in Australia. 4 days left until my flight home to Ireland.
    Bank accounts empty, 6k in debt in Ireland. Australian account was even -100, credit card maxed out. $15 in my pocket and I needed $10 to get to the airport.
    I bought a bunch of the cheapest noodles I could find and snuck into a backpacker hostel every night and slept in the TV room.
    I was never so happy to eat airplane food in my life.

    Richest, probably now, but also technically probably the brokest because I have a mortgage.


  • Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    So what conditions are you putting on the 'richest' element of the question?


    OP asked a question and people answered. That somebody's poorest isn't poor enough for you is neither here nor there.
    I didn't say people aren't poor enough -- what kind of sociopath wants people to be poor? I just mentioned I was surprised. I also thought it would be obvious from my tone that I was saying we should be grateful for all that we have.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I didn't say people aren't poor enough -- what kind of sociopath wants people to be poor? I just mentioned I was surprised. I also thought it would be obvious from my tone that I was saying we should be grateful for all that we have.

    My apologies, if that is the case. It just didn't read that way.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭mr_fegelien


    I didn't say people aren't poor enough -- what kind of sociopath wants people to be poor? I just mentioned I was surprised. I also thought it would be obvious from my tone that I was saying we should be grateful for all that we have.

    I don't think being grateful really helps. If anything, some stories here made me wonder if this was even Ireland or a third world country. Perhaps many posters are older than me and they are talking about times in the 80s/90s.

    I wouldn't expect people eating only weetabix in a first world country for a month if they're not homeless and have a minimum wage job/enrolled in college. Some of my cousins in Tanzania eat better than that (but then again, they are rich)


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭mr_fegelien


    Brokest was when I was in Australia. 4 days left until my flight home to Ireland.
    Bank accounts empty, 6k in debt in Ireland. Australian account was even -100, credit card maxed out. $15 in my pocket and I needed $10 to get to the airport.
    I bought a bunch of the cheapest noodles I could find and snuck into a backpacker hostel every night and slept in the TV room.
    I was never so happy to eat airplane food in my life.

    Richest, probably now, but also technically probably the brokest because I have a mortgage.

    To be fair, airplane food isn't that ****ty depending on what airline it is.

    And has the debt affected your credit rating. I checked with the Irish Credit Bureau as I never paid back my overdrawn €200 from Bank of Ireland as a student and there's nothing on it


  • Posts: 24,714 [Deleted User]


    To be honest (thankfully) I’ve never been/felt poor or ever had to not eat or anything like that. Least money I would have had was in undergrad college but i was never stuck for money. Lived at home and worked summers and weekends but the money I earned was for running a car, nights out, lunch etc my parents covered all college expenses and helped out if needed with any expenses I had.

    Postgrand was decently paid so that covered almost everything and again parents were there as a fall back. Once I started working after that I’ve always been on decent money and saving every month. I’ll be building a house in the coming year or so which will probably depletes a lot of what I’ve saved etc but I won’t be broke either.

    I know I’ve been fairly lucky and I’m thankful for that.
    khaldrogo wrote: »
    You write this like it's a common thing!!!!

    The child benefit my mother received for me and my siblings was spent on clothes and food for us not put away in an account. Basically your family didn't need the benefit at all. They should have given the money to charity imo.

    Absolute and utter rubbish. Child benefit is not normally handed over to the child like that poster but many families save it for future expenses like college etc it’s called planning. It’s only 140 a month, much better to save it over many years if you can rather than spend it.
    jon1981 wrote: »
    I won't argue about how they used the money but the system is broken. Everyone is entitled to the allowance regardless of wealth. That's a problem.
    .

    Of course everyone should be entitled to it, the wealthiest are the people funding it and they damn well deserve to get their 140 a month back. The last people it should be cut from are those actually funding it, it’s an insane concept saying it should be means tested etc. it’s pretty much the only thing a proper on even very modest income actually gets from the gov and I can’t fathom why anyone would be against that.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 81,220 ✭✭✭✭biko


    I was homeless in London for a while, that wasn't fun at all.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,483 ✭✭✭mr_fegelien


    biko wrote: »
    I was homeless in London for a while, that wasn't fun at all.

    Could you give a back story? Is it true that shelters are often worse than the streets due to drugs, gangs, violence, theft?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,063 ✭✭✭wexandproud


    after first couple of years of marriage with 2 kids 11 months apart was on the bread line and only for parents helping out would not have got by , fell behind in mortgage which was easy with interest rates at 16 or 17%. kept my head down and mouth shut and worked every hour i could , sometimes 15/16 hour days . Got a fairly good promotion and worked less for better money . Payed parents back what i borrowed , caught up on repayments . It was a tough few years .
    not wealthy by now by any mean but ''snug ''. few pound put aside , own my own house and income exceeds spending most months by a nice little bit [self employed ] so i'm creeping ahead [touch wood ]


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 764 ✭✭✭hedzball


    Jaysus
    Even at my brokest I never stole from anyone, if I saw someone drop money I picked it up, called after them and handed it back.
    You were only stuck for week was it necessary to sneakily rob money?

    Being fair its probably the first and last time the traveller got robbed.



    'Hdz


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Poorest: now.
    Richest: now.


  • Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 52,203 Mod ✭✭✭✭Necro


    Brokest: On my knees in Australia after some overindulging on the way in Southeast Asia. Had 20AUD left to my name as I arrived at a roadhouse in NSW to make some money to actually keep on living.

    Richest: Over in Australia as well, actually. Fast forward 8 months and I was assistant manager of a motel in North Western Australia. Free accom, use of company car, earning very good money and nowhere to spend it. Work was an absolute bitch though. 12 hr days are not fun.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,971 ✭✭✭✭peekachoo


    I remember in college (finished 2 yrs now) many times having to ask my roommates for a loan of 50c for a loaf of bread or milk or something because I was skint, parents could never afford to pay for college, the grant covered the rent but I had to get a loan to go to college in the first place and I barely managed paying for it from my part time job I had at the time. Then to make it worse I had to do 6 months of unpaid placement while also working the part time, had to get a family member (not even direct, an uncle) to pay for my credit union loan for the 6 months and I lived off porridge and ramen noodles.

    2 yrs later I landed a dream postgrad job and I have almost 25000€ saved, debt free and can't believe my luck :)


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