The 35 Most Surprising “Broke” Habits People Swear By—You Won’t Believe Number 17!
Ever found yourself so broke that you start eyeing free bagels at a mobile synagogue in Manhattan or scouring couch cushions for bus fare pennies? Yeah, been there — that desperate place where creativity meets sheer desperation. It’s wild how stress unlocks a kind of resourcefulness that borders on the absurd, turning “just scraping by” into an art form. One curious soul asked the internet about the “brokest” things people have done when funds ran dry, and boy, did the stories pour in — from winning big on a $10 scratch ticket to hustling multiple debit cards for ramen noodles. We also reached out to Nick Loper of SideHustleNation.com to dig deeper into steering clear of those all-too-familiar broke moments. Ready for a rollercoaster of heartwarming, hilarious, and downright shameful tales that prove when the wallet’s empty, the imagination’s just getting started? Dive in and discover what being truly broke looks like — spoiler alert: it’s not always pretty, but it’s always real. LEARN MORE
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and being broke fit’s into that category pretty easily. Stress does have a magical way of making us very, very creative, or at least breaking down our inhibitions to such a degree that we do things we otherwise would never have done.
One netizen wanted to know what was the “brokest” thing people did when they were low on funds and the internet responded with all sorts of comical and sad tales. We got in touch with Nick Loper from SideHustleNation.com to learn more about money management and how to perhaps avoid being that broke in the future.
More info: SideHustleNation
In the early 2000s the garment district in Manhattan had “Mitzvah Tanks”. It was basically a mobile synagogue for the devout to come handle religious observation during the work day with a rabbi.
Turns out they had bagels in there. I was just starting out my career (I was 21 or so) and money was tight. I would go in 3x a week and get bagels. If no one was looking I would stuff an extra into my suit pocket. I don’t at all look Jewish and almost no one from my part of the world is Jewish. The rabbi approached me after a month and I told him “I saw free food in a house of God and just figured since I am not a bad guy, God wouldn’t be too mad”. Rabbi laughed and said something like “from now on say hello. You don’t have to act like a thief trying not to get caught.”
In a few months when money was less tight I would stop by at lunch and chat with the Rabbi. It was a simpler time.
Brokest and stupidest thing I did. I bought scratch tickets in hopes to win money to buy Christmas presents when I was 18. I didn’t want anyone to think I had money problems at the time so I spent $10 on a scratcher and won $500. I don’t know how but it was enough for car insurance and presents.
Bought a case of ramen noodles at the self checkout at Walmart with 4 different different debit cards that each had less than a dollar on them. You can make partial payments at Walmart self checkout and nobody has to know how broke you are. Me and my 3 kids ate for the next 2 days.
I was subletting a place and needed bus fare to get to work that day, so I searched every couch cushion and coat pocket in the hopes that I could find enough to get there. I ended up finding a ton of pennies, so I paid the bus fare in pennies. I was 30 cents short but the bus driver just gave me a transfer and waved me in.
The first customer of the day tipped me like $5 on their coffee and I’ve never been so happy in my life.
I had $10 for food for 2 weeks so I got things to make a large pot of veggie soup (lentils, broth, canned veggies) and a large tub of plain outmeal and ate vegan (not on purpose) for three weeks till it was gone.
I’ve been told that rich people call this a “cleanse” diet now.
When I was a single mom struggling, i had to ‘make arrangements with the landlord’ 3 months rent paid in 3 mins. Still ashamed to this day. But my son needed a roof over his head.
Picked up dropped coins from the floor of a laundromat when I was a kid, to buy a pot pie for my mother. She made me eat it because she was a saint.
In my brokest days, I worked with animals. I was perpetually hungry because my parents were also struggling financially and helped me as much as they could, but I still couldn’t afford much. I remember once a guy came in to my company to promote dog shampoo that he said didn’t taste bad to the dogs, and he put a little dab on his finger and ate it to show us.
I was so hungry that I went to the grooming room and tried it thinking it could satiate my hunger for a little bit. It was disgusting, and it did not make me any less hungry.
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