So, I thought this image was a fairly good example of how most of us look in the last few days before payday (especially if you are paid monthly) and the first few days after the pay has come through.

I think we have all been in the tins of beans for dinner situation, or the alternatives being canned soup and grilled cheese on toast. Yes, I was there when I first moved to Sydney and was madly trying to save to get enough for a new computer and a better place to live for myself. You can put up with a certain amount of tinned soup before you get so sick of it that you can’t face it anymore. 😉

Don’t forget your diet does impact your mental health, so living on crap food won’t do your mind any favours. Short term, sure, you can live on sausage mince and vegetables, but after a few nights, you will be wanting something different. My ex-wife and I at one point made litres of ham soup from leftover christmas ham, we ended up having it at least one night a week every week for six months. I can’t eat ham soup anymore, it’s to the point where I would rather just be hungry than eat it!

If you have any tips on super cheap meals in the lead up to payday, do share them! I am sure we could all do with a few cheap options for those days we need to scrimp and save until we have a payment come in.