During the summer I would sit in the park and take leftovers out of the garbage can.
Donated? That doesn’t sound very lucrative.
Was your friend paid for the bone marrow donation, and if so, was it for research?
I’ve never had to resort to desperate measures, but my sister did when she got herself in trouble with her credit cards and our parents refused (wisely) to bail her out. She did a 1-month vitamin deficiency study for which she would be paid $500 if she finished - and she did, although it was tough. They provided all the food, which was devoid of biotin, the vitamin they were studying, and she also had to take supplements to further deplete her body of biotin. She had regular blood draws and had to spend a weekend in the hospital, at the study’s expense, for further evaluation. She was told that the last week would be tough, and it was; she was lethargic and had some GI issues.
Afterwards, she was allowed to eat whatever she wanted, and was given megadoses of biotin to replace her body stores.
I’ve also had friends who sold plasma or other blood fractions, participated in psychology studies, etc. for a little extra cash.
A couple of friends and I would dumpster dive the pizza places after closing, most would just bag the pizza and toss it, some were jerks and ruined it on purpose beforehand (dumping old soda or other garbage on it). Some weeks it was all we ate.
I’d be screwed now, I’m not agile enough to climb into and back out of a dumpster.
I once killed a man in Reno to take his groupons.
In addition to selling plasma when younger, I sold my hair to a wig shop.
I gathered cigarette butts from ashtrays and rerolled them into new cigarettes. not so bad I guess, but I didn’t feel good doing it and it made me realize how addicted I was to tobacco.
A couple of other ways I got by…
I worked at the campus pub at my university and would smuggle in empty 2-litre bottles in my school bag so I could refill them with orange juice and coke from our fountains.
The cafeteria in the residences had a huge board to store students' photo meal-plan passes, I'd go by and just look for someone who looked like me.
My regular pub used to let me barter down my bar tab with cleaning products, office supplies, etc.. that I could get from work.
At my lowest…
One night, it was really cold, I’d missed the last bus, I had no money and no way to get home from work, I hailed a cab that I knew I could not pay.
I had it all planned out. I made him take me to a bank machine that I knew had 2 opposite entrances and I would to bolt out the back as soon as he wasn’t looking.
To my surprise the ATM spit out $20, apparently, there had been a bank error in my favor and I was refunded $50!
I know it seems like it, but they weren’t really being jerks. There are actually significant liability issues associated with people eating restaurant leavings.
I remember on one of the Behind the Music episodes, someone from the 80s LA glam metal scene (possibly Nikki Syxx) said (paraphrasing) “we only had enough money for cheap food or cheap beer. If you bought food, you’d just be full. If you bought beer, you’d be full and buzzed.”
When I was in college and broke, I realized that campus recruiting events would often have pizza to entice a student to hear the speal about why they should intern with whatever megacorp it was. Since it wasn’t like they checked id at the door, I went to every one of these I could. If they bothered asking everyone’s major, I would “be thinking about switching to” whatever major they were looking for. I think I went two weeks without paying for a meal my sophomore year. The best was when a big company wouldn’t advertise well, assuming their name was enough to get people to show, and they’d over order pizza and send us all with a free box to get rid of it.
That was also the year I never once turned on my AC or heat, and didn’t even bother getting a phone/tv/internet line in the apartment. Barely made rent as it was. Lucky for me next year I got a roommate and a raise and could afford to live like a normal broke college student instead of an actually broke college student.
I still would buy a case of beer for the change when my underage acquaintances wanted to get drunk. They were going to get it anyway, they didn’t mind paying an extra couple bucks to get it fast, I thought it was a dumb law, and I needed the money.
Also, my entire set of glassware and the desk I used for a couple of years came from dumpster diving. People would think I was a lush for drinking out of only wine glasses but it was either that or the nalgene that I had from high school.
Sorry, I default to saying “donate” for anything involving voluntarily giving up body parts/fluids/etc that help other people (directly or through studies). He did sell his marrow for reasearch - I think it was in the realm of a thousand dollars per visit. He did it twice within a year and the doctors said he was about at the limit for how much he could give up.
Nalgene?
Nalgenes are extremely durable water bottles popular among the camping and backpacking crowd. I had a couple left over from my time in Boy Scouts.
I traveled around a couple years and made Adirondack chairs for expense money. Easy to make with just a few basic hand tools. I made so many that I could make one back then in about 2 hours. Built them right in the customer’s back yards. Easy money and it meant a night in a motel 6 instead of sleeping in my car.
Made some money on handyman jobs. But I preferred quick and short jobs so I could move on. I wanted to see as much of this country as I could.
sample plans. It’s very easy, after you’ve built a couple.
http://chairplandiy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/free-adirondack-chair-plans-templates-1.jpg
That’s funny, I sold my watch to buy a comb.
Ah, thanks.
My medical insurance lapsed due to a clerical error when I got married so the new carrier didn’t have to cover my epilepsy medication for the first year. It was about $1200 a month so I was only taking half or 3/4 the prescribed amount to avoid buying more. Not a recommended course.
When I was in the Peace Corps my monthly stipend of $75 would often run out a week or so early…
I had plenty of local friends and a time or two, I would just “happen” to drop by for a visit around suppertime and of course was invited in to eat. I never over used that option because “rich” Americans aren’t supposed to be hungry. After the first of the month, I would go back to my friends houses with some extra food that I bought at the market.
My real survival strategy was to buy a few tins of incredibly inexpensive sardines and the local version of the Ritz cracker. I’d survive on that for a few days at a time.
Contrary to previous posts, I still eat the occasional canned sardine. If fact, my wife just bought a six pack of tins from Costco last week.
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When and where did you serve?
When I was 18, I “ran away” to NYC, arriving there broke and homeless. This was back when the Automats were open, and I’d go to one and get a cup of hot water, and make “tomato soup” by mixing in a packet or two of ketchup. Meanwhile, I’d watch the customers, waiting for someone to leave without finishing his food. Then I’d sit in his spot and finish what he left. Once, a woman slipped me a dollar on her way out.
Some other homeless people showed me where to get free not-so-fresh fruits and vegetables.
At night I slept on park benches or in train stations, until the cops cleared out all of us vagrants.
I finally got a job, and one of my coworkers lent me $20 till payday. With that, I could stay at the Y.