I’ve Been Poor But I’ve Never Been Dirt Poor
I shop for markdowns and “cheapie chuckouts”
I’ve been poor but I’ve always had enough money to keep a roof over my head. I rarely buy anything at full price. I won’t say never because occasionally I have to pay full price for something and I hate it.
Then
The art of being a canny shopper began when I was sharing a flat with three other girls who were also university students. We each put in $6 a week for food and $6 a week for rent. I was usually nominated to do the weekly shop with $24! We never starved. But we never put on weight from eating empty calories either.
When I’ve had part time work, I’ve paid my rent then gone to buy food at the Harvest Food Bank. Fresh fruit and veggies were free, and meats and canned goods were a fraction of supermarket prices. It helped stretch my shopping dollar further. These food banks are usually run by church groups or charities.
But the habit of buying markdowns, and “cheapie chuckouts” has stuck with me. Before Sunday trading was introduced in Queensland, I’d head to the supermarket late in the day to get cheap fresh food that wouldn’t keep until Monday — meat, chicken, bread, donuts, veggies and sometimes fruit. We had a few teenage mouths to feed as well as a few under 10 so our grocery bill…
