It will seem wild to you, but try not to put alcohol and cigarettes in the priority spending, but the same food and other household supplies. I understand that this idea is very exotic for you, but it works. is verified.
** by
But not always :(
The situation is a single mother, two children born in peacetime, now schoolchildren of undergraduate classes (they can not earn money yet). Payment delays are multi-month. My mother doesn’t drink, does not smoke and lives for her children.
But at the same time it was all - and collecting bottles to buy three packs of the cheapest cupcake in bags. and walking to save on the trip for food, and a lot of fun.
It did not last for years, of course, but there was such a period in life.
I don’t throw you proudly in the nose with my hungry fainting of that time. It’s not always linear in life, that’s what I mean. Let’s be less categorical to other people’s fragile thoughts on the internet :)