Being 'skint'

I wouldn't call car/mot/tax/insurance 'savings' - yes, you really are skint!

Me.
Income - ~£1500
Outgoings - ~£600 (£400 rent, £200 bills)

The rest goes on food, clothes, random items, holidays and a bit into savings. (though I also put into a pension out my wage)

Literally all my friends earn more than me but most say they are skint. I dont really call £800/month+ disposable income skint!

Maybe a big factor comes down to money management. I have 4 or 5 bank accounts and move it around constantly, one of my housemates earns double what I do but by the end of the month has nothing almost all the time
 
Cant believe people are arguing the meaning of skint and making wills cos a guy wont go to the pub for a "beer and a burger" :P.
 
People tend to cut their cloth according to their means. My wages have nearly trebled since I started working for my current employer 7 years ago, but I still need to be a bit careful towards pay day. However 7 years ago I didn't have a baby, big mortgage and a wife that has given up work.
 
It's entirely situational.

If I'm saving up for a long holiday, it doesn't matter how much I earn, because more money for the holiday would make it better. So, if someone asked me to go out somewhere when I was trying to save up everything I could, I might say I don't have the money, even though there could be thousands in a bank account. That would be because I don't have the money to go out.

It is not fair to decide whether someone has extra money or not, because you are not deciding their priorities.
 
yhack said:
It's entirely situational.

If I'm saving up for a long holiday, it doesn't matter how much I earn, because more money for the holiday would make it better. So, if someone asked me to go out somewhere when I was trying to save up everything I could, I might say I don't have the money, even though there could be thousands in a bank account. That would be because I don't have the money to go out.

It is not fair to decide whether someone has extra money or not, because you are not deciding their priorities.
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So why not say "I am saving for a holiday" instead of "I am skint" :confused:
 
Guest2 said:
So why not say "I am saving for a holiday" instead of "I am skint" :confused:
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Because then you get guilt tripped by people who think they have more say over what you do with your own money than you do?

Seem to be a lot of people in this thread who think they have the right to tell their "friends" what to do with their money...
 
Brutal biff said:
All depends on the relationship some couples rarely get much alone time due to kids, work, or anything else that may take up a lot of the time I know my lady would kill me if I went work all week then spent a night on the lash and suffering the rest of the weekend suffering a hangover
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Absolutely, everyone has their own thing to do and I also hate losing my weekend sleeping/feeling sorry for myself.

You should be able to make a couple of hours every fortnight/month to go for food/drinks/events. IMO that is not an unreasonable amount of time to commit to a friendship.
If people cannot budget for a couple of pints and 2 hours to watch the football once a month...its just madness IMO
 
PMKeates said:
I would argue people who are talking about having hundreds or thousands of pounds available that they just "don't want to spend" probably have little clue about what being genuinely 'skint' is like.
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I would argue they don't have hundreds of thousands of pounds available.
 
Guest2 said:
I wouldn't call car/mot/tax/insurance 'savings' - yes, you really are skint!

Me.
Income - ~£1500
Outgoings - ~£600 (£400 rent, £200 bills)

The rest goes on food, clothes, random items, holidays and a bit into savings. (though I also put into a pension out my wage)

Literally all my friends earn more than me but most say they are skint. I dont really call £800/month+ disposable income skint!

Maybe a big factor comes down to money management. I have 4 or 5 bank accounts and move it around constantly, one of my housemates earns double what I do but by the end of the month has nothing almost all the time
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Firstly, you've failed by giving details of your rough income. You'll instantly alienate yourself from those who earn same/lower, or those who do not have as much disposable income as yourself.

I could be deemed as having around £800 disposable income per month (depending on how much overtime I do), but that actually goes to paying off student debts, which will take years to fully accomplish.
 
Depends how often you want to do it. Every once in a while is fine but if you were doing it several times a week I'd probably call it frugal. Why spend £10 on a meal when you can cook it yourself for ~£2? That's 5 home cooked meals.

This is why I don't understand people who go to starbucks etc: you can pretty much buy a whole jar for that! :D

(it's the bane of my life :p)
 
Spook187 said:
Maybe for some, really though a lot of my mates don't know the meaning of being skint, it's a word overused and it annoys me when they really don't have a clue what's it is really like being totally broke, skint is like when you have people calling you on the phone, knocking at the door, sending letters out demanding payment, that is being skint :(
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It cracks me up when some people say they're in poverty. Due to saying they can't afford the latest smart phone this part of the year or form of electronic device. Or can't go on their regular 2 - 4 holidays throughout the year.
 
A while back I had a mate who was a "poor student" (his words) when the rest of us in the group had jobs. For literally years he was always skint and so every weekend we would buy him a couple of drinks because he always said he was too skint to pay for a round. When I get a job I'll buy you all these beers back he would regularly promise. Strangely when he did get a job he was still always skint. He did start to actually pay for his own drinks, but that was about it. He also got quite cocky in telling everyone else to get the beers in and claiming that he had always paid his way. It was around then that everyone finally got fed up with him and we saw him no more!
 
RedvGreen said:
I could be deemed as having around £800 disposable income per month (depending on how much overtime I do), but that actually goes to paying off student debts, which will take years to fully accomplish.
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I said this a few pages back, I could use all my disposable income to pay off my student loan but I would do nothing for 2 years. Instead I choose to go on friends weddings, stag do's and family holidays (so far at a cost of 5k this year)
 
MarkeR said:
Looking at my statement, nearly £200 on starbucks coffee, mental.
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I looked at my statements too. I have been spending £150 on average per month just on starbucks/costa. I had no idea I was spending so much..I haven't had coffee for 3 weeks now! I'm going to use that money to fund a PS4 once I have enough saved.
 
Whilst I think they are over stressing things saying skint I doubt they are tight as the more you earn you (tend) to spend more to live.

I earn quite a bit but have a mortgage, car to pay off, 2 children to support and we are saving for an extension. So money certainly is tight and I pick and choose my nights out carefully as I don't have a load of expendable income despite being paid well.

I'm not tight I just prioritise other things and when I do go out I have a blinking good time as opposed to (what I see) as wasting hundred(s) of quid a week peeing it up a wall.
 
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^ this was the whole point of my thread. I understand people have commitments but a meal out can only cost £5. Or I would rather them say I am saving for wedding, house etc than, saying i'm skint (then saving £1000 a month)

One of my friends who said he is skint is getting married, I would think at a cost of ~10k - on his stag do and wedding combined I will be spending ~£900 Maybe i'll just say i'm skint for his wedding seems as he hasnt seen anyone for over 6 months due to being 'skint' - maybe he would take effort to save £5-£10 and take time to see friends if he thought no-one would come to his wedding apart from family
 
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