no other relatives..?? Like uncle/aunt that can help you your family finance now or introduce you to a place to work as part timer..
None. The one aunt we have is all alone with 5 kids and lives in a very, very small room Apartment, kitchen, livingroom,toilet. All of them sleep in 1 room. We occasionally send them some sweets if we can spare the 20€. If we didnt know german and stayed in poland we'd be living hell like they are. Poland is not a good place to live in.
Cuz they dropout kids and they need the 1 year working experience advantage over the other kids of same age with hs diploma but no work exp so they can at least get a decent job in future, and ppl r more willing to hire kids that work for free
This reminds me of way back when, when my mother took all of my meager college savings to pay for groceries. And then when they destroyed my savings from my grandpa by selling all the stocks at the worst possible time and getting only 1/5th of what it was worth a year before that, and also what it would've been a year after that. And then asking to borrow some of the 1/5th I had left, again for groceries. I didn't earn it myself, so there is really nothing I can say, but it still felt bad each time, because it mostly came from bad planning / poor decisions. Like my dad getting a new expensive tool for a new hobby, never using it, and then giving it away to someone for free instead of at least reselling it. Or one time my mother got a new job and blew her entire first paycheck on new furniture we didn't need, no one asked for, and didn't even fit in the rooms properly, and most of it was promptly resold at a way lower price or given away. And then the next month I keep hearing "Oh, stop being selfish, we need to save. Don't leave the lights on too long, don't take too long showers, we need to save." And back when I was a kid it was food: "Divide the food evenly, it doesn't matter if you're still hungry, don't be a pig, we need to save." and then going to the grocery store when the next paycheck comes and doing impulse shopping. Two weeks after that "So what if I bought too much at once and now everything is moldy. You'll eat it anyway, or you'll eat nothing. I can't go shopping again. We need to save." MFW I completely understand the characters in manga when they say that school lunch is their main meal of the day. Or "Help me so that I don't impulse shop. When we are at the store and you see me getting something we don't need, tell me to stop." *when we get to the store* Me: "We don't need that, put it back." "How dare you disrespect your mother! Ungrateful kid, this money came from your parent's hard work, don't you dare presume to tell me how to spend it!!!" and then everyone in the store is like "Yeah, you tell off that stupid privileged brat. Always respect your mother" and 11 year old me was just shamed and the food situation was the same as the previous month anyway. *deep breath* Aiya, a lot of bad memories came up. Well that's smart, although I'm sure the kids don't like it. It's good to prioritize food. Maybe put off getting internet for awhile and make do with books from a public library instead. It's a bit inconvenient to carry around but it's so so much cheaper. About not paying for the train ticket, it might not be the best way to save money. I don't know what it's like there, but here there is a large fine for being found riding without a ticket. The train ticket here is usually $8, but the fine is $250, so I think you should check how much the fine is over there before you decide if it is worth it. For food, if you get certain kinds they are worth more meals per $/€ spent. It's going to be different because we're in different countries, but anyway, I'll write a little, who knows if it'll be worthless or not though. Bread is not very filling and goes moldy quickly, so unless it's very cheap, it's not always the best. Rice is good, top-ramen/instant noodles are usually good but consuming it for too many meals can make you feel bad unless you put other ingredients in it, malt-o-meal/cream-o-wheat is good, has vitamins in it, and you can eat it every morning without getting sick of it (I've tried it, works). One box is not cheap, but the amount of breakfasts you get out of it is high. For around $5 you get 15 meals. 33 cents per meal. (well, you usually add butter and milk, so it's a bit more, but still very cheap) Getting fruits and vegetables is not as cheap. Cabbage is a wonderful amazing cost-effective miracle of a veggie. Get cabbage. Put it in soup. Use it together with the instant noodles. Learn what blanching is, it'll make it taste better than if you overboil the poor veggie. Zucchini + eggs is worth a full meal. Banana's are usually cheap and have lots of vitamins. Raisins can be mixed into malt-o-meal to get some fruit into your breakfasts. A spoon full of peanut butter is a great snack. If you have honey, mix a little peanut butter with a little honey and it becomes a great and sweet snack. If tofu is cheap there, you can eat plain smooth/silky tofu just by microwaving it and adding soy sauce. The soy sauce could be used for the rice too. If you are very hungry, eat tiny amounts of butter, salt or sugar. I used to do it sometimes, but didn't know why, I recently looked it up out of curiousity and I think I read somewhere that it's supposed to stave off hunger a bit. Can't say anything about meat because where in the world a person is at has a big effect on the price. Since you work at a supermarket, they might throw out food that doesn't look good enough to be sold, but is still good enough to be eaten. You can ask them to set some of it aside if they're just going to throw it away anyway. If you know a store that sells bread, they usually get rid of the old bread at the end of the day, you can ask the same thing there. It can be hard to ask, but just think of the fact that if you don't eat anything, your body starts literally eating itself (fat, muscles, etc) in order to keep you alive. If you don't eat enough to support all that exercise you're doing at that job, you're going to fall apart sooner or later, so if your situation is really that bad, just deal with the shame and ask. If they say no, it's too bad, but if they say yes, you just spared some of your muscles from being dissolved and eaten/cannibalized, so it's worth trying. Well anyway, I hope things improve for you dude.
Aah, the number of strings this touch is really... I made a post about this in 'parenting' forum post once, sadly many parents succumb to getting things done just with authority, overruling their own rules with their authority, and making new ones at the drop of the hat. We had a rule for the food, which was everyone gets an equal share. Now I can argue against this, I am the eldest, so the amount of food I needwill definetly be more than what are six years old would need. And later on, when one of my siblings is looking at plate, I am expected to share? Another thing I don't understand,mif you want to create a feeling of empathy and a bond of sharing, you should at first give food in excess to the party you expect to share, so he/she can comphortably do it. Well even the above is fine, but lets talk about that said equality. Often times, the said food is devoured by first come first served, just march to the kitchen and eat. And if you want to say anything, here is what is said 'They are children, smaller than you, you can't compete with them'. My mother does this a lot, frankly I have gotten too used to this. Yesterday she was saying 'At least unplug your charger when you are not charging, save'. And as I go to her room (in which she is not present), the tv is on and so is the air conditioner... For me, if there are rules, they must be followed by everyone inclusing the maker. Just saying 'Because I am your parent' doesn't qualify. If they want to stop you from eating sugar too much, they getter had not eaten any sugar in the last month.
Mom is bad with money, and when i try to help and prevent her from buying useless shit or overpriced food etc she shouts at me and threatens to kick me out so there is nothing i can do. Train fine is 60€ and ticket is 68€ per month, this month they only checked the tickets once and that one time i had a ticket, so its worth the risk. Also no public libraries in my area, got bookstores but you're not allowed to stay too long. And i need internet for all my school research, you cant expect me to find info on "a few hundred millions years ago all continents were united, what was the united continent called?" Or "what does a village need in order to become a city". I'm not finding that in a library, internet is a must. Sadly it'll get turned off soon due to all the debts but there's a cafe nearby that i can use, hope they dont kick me out if i just sit down use their wifi and dont buy anything.
No idea how to manage money? Yes. Ever been rich? No. Try to help mom manage the money? She goes ballistic and threatens to kick me out of the house.
Good idea. Tomatoes and green beans produce a lot very quickly. I heard some people regularly grow their own bean sprouts to eat, in jars or plastic bags since they don't need sun or dirt, just some moisture. I forgot to mention beans as a cheap source of meals in my other post. I don't know what kind are needed for bean sprouts, but if it is the same, then it'd be two birds with one stone. I also came across a 'survivalist guide' at the library one day and read it out of boredom. The guy listed potatoes as being very easy to grow in buckets. Never tried it though. Oh. I guess I said some unwanted things earlier. But if you aren't eating for days at a time, I still think that is plenty bad though... I still think it's worth it to ask for the stuff at the supermarket. Just be casual about it, like "Hey, if you're going to throw it away anyway, let me take it and save a few Euros, because why not?" or try going dramatic like "It looks like such a waste of food that my conscience is bothering me thinking of people starving to death in different parts of the world. Can I take some, just to relieve my conscience?" Well, it depends on their policy though, they could have rules against that. In that case, there are probably in-store sales that you can take advantage of (if your mom is willing to lend you some euros for the plan) before things are sold out since you're at the store so often. Well... I am sorry if I said too much. I've said it just in case it might help, but if it bothers you, I apologize. Yeah, my mother used to do that all the time. Thankfully this part was never a problem for me, because I only have one sibling 4 years younger than me, and I was always pretty small for my age as a kid (I assume this from pictures). By the time I was old enough to question the food division thing, I was already totally trained in it, so it never even occurred to me that I should get more than my brother, and I would often be the one carefully dividing/cutting any food so that he and I would get an equal amount. Except when the greed took over and I'd justify taking a little extra because I obtained or cooked or sometimes just because I divided the food, lol. .... also I read too many survivalist novels as a kid and I think I absorbed the concept of rationing a little too much. Aiya... that really sucks. I sympathize. Any chance you could say: "give me a little bit of money and I'll bring some groceries home from the place I work, that way you can relax at home instead of going to the store when we need [insert name of a food you often have to replace] ?" well, if she's anything like my mom was, the chance of that is very close to none.... My parents were never rich, but they not good at managing money. Well that sucks... A lot of libraries nowdays have internet (in the US at least) so it could've been a good solution, but if they are all far away, then it's no good. Your school doesn't have anything like a computer lab or even a computer you could use after school hours? But you said the amount of homework is large, so finishing it in one day wouldn't be feasible... Difficult... Sounds like a good idea? Or maybe your siblings' friend's place?
Hmm, I thought your grandfather was rich and your parents wasted his inheritance away. Since they were used to spending money by the bucketload, they couldn't adjust and that's why your family is in debt. Eh, when you're poor, the only way to manage your money is being thrifty. During my childhood, all of my clothes and toys were either hand-me-downs or bought from second hand stores.
I suggest you do this, Join rewards programs/survey programs, start managing your own money. It may be chump change but it will at least get you some sort of savings. Just make sure not to burn the money needlessly as tempting as it may be. Store your money in place like paypal which would be outside your mom's reach. She wouldn't even know about it.
Same I still get clothes from thrift stores sometimes. I don't go shopping much in the first place, though, and it's hard to trust some of the clothes there, so I tend to avoid it a bit... (I've come across too many suspicious-smelling and/or suspiciously-itchy old-lady shirts/jackets while playing in thrift stores as a kid to ever trust second hand clothing very much). Unfortunately, I don't get hand-me-downs anymore. I had two cousins who used to very generously pass me old clothes. One had the same shirt size as me, and one had the same pant size. Now one got breast implants so the shirts are too big, and the other became a mother and doesn't have extra money. My parents were very thrifty when they didn't have anything to spend, but tended to make silly decisions when they did have spending money, and never really saved. Though my dad recently started saving. It's only a small amount per month, but it's better than nothing.