what is the longest you've gone with no money?

or close (a handful of change so when you get your check you've got busfare to go cash it, for example).

and how often does this sort of situation come up in your life? why?

With absolutely zero money: probably not more than 2-3 days before I'd have to borrow a 20 to get by. BUT...

...Going 7-10 days on only $25 or something, THAT I have done a lot. Just stock up on beans and rice and a soup bone or whatever. Some yeast and flour, make breadsticks and tea.

The problem is train fare, of course. Or gas money.

Had pretty much 0 money from age 0 to 16.

I've always had an overdraft facility and/or a credit card, so never, really. I was unemployed for 18 months 2002-3 so I was completely broke then and living on the dole money (which I had to pay some rent out of cos housing benefit didn't cover all of it) but if something went wrong or I messed up budgeting I still had the overdraft to fall back on. I realise this makes me quite lucky.

xpost adult life obviously :)

i am king of this. i am broke the week before payday, each and every month. i don't fight it anymore; i quite enjoy it. it's a week of doing chores and reading and making music.

it's gas money and rent that kill me. i love my landlord, and i'm afeard of being late and disappointing her (she's 87), and i will forgo pretty much everything else in life to get her the check on time.

short answer: i've gone pretty consistently since the age of 18 w/ no money.

I had two summers like this, one before taking on a lousy service job, and one immediately after leaving it.
Having to sell shit in order to buy food isn't so bad, but the psychological part of 'being out of work' is awful.
I felt crazy about it. When I got a subsequent office job, and my co-workers were financially together, there was an intense period of resenting every expensive article of clothing / plate of sushi / cab ride they took.

Too long.

i'm about 10 days into a cashless stretch. not the longest in my life but. damn. eating potatoes isn't as bad as the boredom of not being able to go out and fuck around and buy a coke and a paper or whatever.

i sold a camera so i could go out on new year's eve. i had a couple hundred in my hand and looked at it and said, i should hold onto a bit of this. but i didn't.

payday tomorrow.

always

when i first moved to chicago and was getting by on temping there would be weeks where i'd have absolutely no money and would basically hope that a temp job would come up before the end of the month so i would be able to pay rent.

I guess I'm pretty lucky in that, while I went for years earning not a great deal of money, I pretty much never had 'no' money.

last month i ran out of money after less than a week. i'm pretty used to it happenign about a week before payday, but only a couple after? Another reason I hate sales - there's no way to tell what you will and won't be able to afford. Really I need to save up enough for a buffer, but it's easier said than done.

i went 12 days in early 2010 w/ my bank balance standing somewhere less than a dollar. i had school so i wasnt bored and i could ride my bike or walk everywhere i needed to go and i was living w/ someone so i wasnt terrified of starving but i was still eating only once a day and on the verge of panic.

I've never done this.

The closest I've come is a four week stretch from mid-December 1995 through mid-January 1996, when I was switching from a part-time job that paid $500 biweekly to a salaried position where my first paycheck wasn't until Jan 15. My rent at the time was $275 and I spent about $60 on a bus ticket to visit relatives over the holidays. IIRC the place where I was living had utilities included in the rent, otherwise I would have actually been screwed rather than just feeling like I was screwed.

Had pretty much 0 money from age 0 to 16.

^^ this otm

about to find out tbph :(

last time i really had that problem was when i made that post five months ago, i had absolutely no money to eat and i was forced to borrow potatoes and carrots from the baskets of vegetables my across-the-hall neighbors left in the space between our doors. the problem was that after a while i thought i had developed a talent for living on no money and went on that way for a few months. i'd get money but just go out and spend it, knowing i could live with no money for a long time.

i had previously built up a store of goodwill with friends and everyone liked going out with me because they knew i had everything covered and i apologized often for being a jakey cunt and i slept on a lot of floors and couches.

Once I went to a 2ndhand store and sold a shitty stone temple pilots cd and some TISM albums, for about $5, so I could then go and have one drink with my friends.

TISM?

Aus band, dont imagine anyone outside of Australia has ever heard of em.

This'll Introduce Some Money (to my wallet)

this is selling music

it actually stands for this is serious, mum.