re: College Poverty Stories

Went to school out of state, would always flip sacks of crawfish for spring parties

Microwave popcorn sustained me.

You could furnish your El Cid apartment for free if you cruised down Burbank at the end of the semester.

quote:

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Like shaving with soap instead of shaving cream

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Had to do this last week when I ran out of shaving cream.

I ran out of money for anything but gas and only had a back of frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts and 5lbs of sweet potatoes.
It lasted me 2.5 weeks until I got paid again.

The only credit card I had back then was a Texaco gas card, so I shopped at the Texaco convenience store.

Penaut butter and crackers for a solid 4 days until i got a paycheck, so good

This was back in the mid 90's, when people still wrote checks. Girlfriend, now wife, and I would each take an entrance side of the Walmart, go in and buy a pack of gum and they would let you write the check for $20 over to get cash back...then we'd swap sides and do it again with a different cashier. We'd leave with $80 and go deposit that in the bank to avoid overdraft fees. Sometimes had to do that every day for a week "floating" those checks until payday.

Also had the hacked H-card for DirecTV back before DirecTV cracked down on it. Got free everything for a couple years.

I never felt poor. I would eat cheaply and stuff. Ramen Noodles with a grilled cheese sandwich some nights, but never felt completely broke.

What was crazy was my ability to get absolutely hammered on $15. As an adult, that's like a drink and a half at most. I could somehow go out, pay a cover, stay out all night, and still have a dollar in my pocket in the morning. If there was a good drink deal, we knew where it was. Favorite was the daiquiri store was next to the print shop that printed the coupon books. There was a buy one get one free coupon on page 19. We'd walk in the print shop and pick up a copy of the coupon book (they always had them out), then go in the daiquiri shop and get half priced drinks.

Ate every other day for a semester (when I couldn’t find free food). Hit up the Catholic and Baptist student union during exams for free food. Snuck into the dining facility several times. Two hotdogs for a dollar at circle K was a staple.