Those last few days before payday can be fairly bleak. Making a fiver last a full week certainly isn’t each but it can be done. We know, because we’ve been there! The struggle is real.

Here are a few things you’ve definitely tried when you’re living off your last few coppers…

1. Chancing your arm on the bus
€2.65 for bus fare? Ain’t nobody got time for that. A handful of change and a smile will do the job nicely, as long as the bus driver isn’t in a foul mood. As for the Luas, you might be checking over your shoulder for inspectors for the entire journey, but hopefully good karma from all the other times you DID pay (promise) will see you through this time.

2. Heading home for free food
Obviously this is only an option if you can score a free lift or don’t live too far away. If you do manage to make it home though, you’ll eat like a king. Come at me delicious mammy dinners!

3. Going to aaaall the work events for free snacks
Whether it’s bog standard triangular sambos or swanky canapés, if you can be guaranteed something to eat, you’ll be there. Bonus points if there’s free wine!

4. Saying a silent prayer every time you use the ATM
You’ve hunted down the only cash machine for miles that hands out €10 notes – now to find out if you even have that much in your account. There’s nothing like the sweet relief when you hear that noise, the one that means cash is coming your way.

5. Giving everyone DIY gifts for their birthday
Of course this would be the month that six different pals have their birthdays. An unframed photo of the two of you together? It’ll have to do. Who needs fancy gifts and dinners out, anyway?

6. Forgoing fake tan and baring your pasty arms
When the choice comes down to Sally Hansen or food, sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and work the eerily pale look. Or, y’know, go with out breakfast, lunch and dinner. Priorities, priorities.

7. Creating bizarre food combinations from your kitchen cupboard
Mmmm, cous cous and baked beans. Delish. It’s amazing how many different meals you can actually make from a solitary bag of brown rice, as long as you are willing to forgo taste and flavour…

8. Repeatedly checking your bank balance the night before payday
Usually you don’t get paid until the morning but maybe there’s been some weird glitch? If your bank balance could replenish itself before Dominos stop doing deliveries for the night, that would just be A1.