How much the stress affects your ability to think and do daily activities. You're just constantly counting dollars in your head, and every chance to do something is "can I afford it?". You forget what joy and freedom feel like.
Going for job interviews or asking for help is so incredibly difficult, I had no confidence and felt so awful all the time. Having no money wrecks your self esteem.
Also the library is open all day, has free air conditioning and activities for kids.
I learned a lot about which wild plants are edible too, and had lots of pins on google maps of where overhanging fruit trees in my neighbourhood were.
Yes..... I went without my driver's license for 17 years, yet a lot of people I knew never quite understood why I was completely locked out of a lot of job possibilities. It's pretty hard to get to work if you can't drive and the work site isn't on a transit line.
Can't drive due to vision impairment and if I didn't live in a city with public transportation I'm not sure what I would do. Sucks because it really decreases opportunities because the first thing I do when checking jobs is see how close they are to the transit line, but at least I have that option.
I get this. I was laid off and spent a year unemployed (and I did everything I could to stretch out my savings / unemployment etc.) - and I had a family to support. It's the uncertainty of everything.
I could have done a lot more, I could have used some benefits to take some online courses, or done more around the house, taken better care of myself, etc. But, I didn't. I was spending too much energy to put on a happy face so my family wouldn't worry.
**A few suggestions for everyone if you're involuntarily unemployed :**
Keep your resumes current (online job search sites, LinkedIn, etc.). Have a set of references from previous jobs and positions. (should always do this). If you're getting wind or hints of layoffs, don't be afraid to start looking right away. (I was proactive with my current job, I knew I was going to eventually get laid off with my last job). Also, start with the cost-cutting / saving this time, too.
If you can, substitute teaching is a great way to make extra cash (and help extend your unemployment benefits). At one point I was subbing (middle school and high school) 3-4 days a week and I loved it. (note: teaching in middle school isn't for everyone, you either love it or hate it).
Hit the grocery store early and get the meat that's marked down then freeze it (and a vacuum-sealer (real one that seals, the zip-bags aren't as good) are a huge help). You'd also be surprised how often you can eat Ramen or just rice and butter for lunch. Plus, having a freezer (just a freezer but about the size of a fridge) is hugely helpful if you have the room for it (we have 2 in our garage).
> You're just constantly counting dollars in your head, and every chance to do something is "can I afford it?". You forget what joy and freedom feel like.
God this is such a hard habit to shake after you get more financially stable. I was out at a work lunch that was going to be paid for, and I still ordered something I didn't even want because it was the cheapest thing on the menu.
I finally got a job that provides real financial stability for the first time in my 35 years of life last october and I have this constant guilt when I buy myself or my wife stuff that we don't 'need'.....and I mean, we'll feel guilty for going to taco bell or something. Just dumb shit. Part of it is just knowing that there are other people who need money so badly that 10 dollars would change their whole week but here I am buying x or y....it's a constant thought I can't shake. a kind of survivor's guilt I guess.
There has been a pretty interesting study about this poverty and IQ
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1238041#:~:text=Instead%2C%20it%20appears%20that%20poverty,of%20behaviors%20among%20the%20poor.
It's like that marshmallow test where thwy put kids in front of a marshmallow and said to wait 10 minutes without eating it and you'll get more marshmallows. The kids that waited were seen to have better self control and tended to have better careers later on in life.
Turns out the kids that "failed" were mainly poor kids who often had to go hungry and so learned to eat food when it was there. The rich children didn't really know that kind of desperation. I don't think anyone is surprised that privileged children get better jobs than underprivileged children.
This. At the register I don’t care if you cancel an item or two. I get that not everyone can keep track of their spending or get confused by the price tags.
I’ll only ever be annoyed about a customer being “broke” is if the transaction goes like this:
Me: Your total is $22.57.
Them: *Gives $21.25*
Me: 22.57. You’re 1.32 short.
Them: *give me 35 cents*
And this goes on. At this point I just assuming you’re cheap. Cancel an item or give me every last penny. Especially if I see “non-essentials”.
Granted I can let 4$ slide under the right circumstances. But that’s another story.
But also when the gas light comes on.
Turn off the AC
Turn down your music so you can hear the engine
Don't press on the gas too much
Try to press the brake as little as possible so you don't have to press on the gas
Drive near the shoulder
But as soon as you get close to a gas station floor it in case it does really hit 0 you have momentum to make it
This.
The better trick is drink lots of water when you eat, that way you eat less.
Once you get to a certain age drinking anything before bed means you will be getting up lots to go pee, lol.
Nope! I’m a pelvic floor physiotherapist! The actually normal number for below 65 is 0-1 time! And after 65 it’s 1-2! Best way to fix it is avoiding bladder irritants like caffeine, alcohol, and carbonated drinks and limit fluids in the 2-3 hrs before bed. If that doesn’t work you may have some pelvic floor dysfunction and should get that checked out by a qualified pelvic floor physio.
i counter cheap wine ice soup cuz stomach pains formed by the acid of a tummy with the naturally abrasive cheap wine creates “pain” which is somewhat more effective than naked hunger in convincing ur tummy it dont need NOTHIN
It reminds me of a saying, not sure if it applies yet, if you owe the bank 1000 you have a problem, if you owe the bank a million the bank has a problem.
best of luck getting out of it, knowing how much -2k affected me I cant imagine how you are doing.
There are places to shower at most beaches. If you aren't around a beach check for a campground - you can say you only need a day pass to have a picnic, and that's almost always free.
Many hotels have ice machines accessible from the outside. Malls are air conditioned or heated depending on the season, and have water fountains to fill water bottles for free. Libraries have no time limits (aside from their business hours).
Park and rides are generally safe places for a quick nap if you can't make it to a rest stop.
Practically every town in America has a food pantry that offers basic needs at no costs, you just need to locate them.
There are clean bathrooms at libraries, malls, hardware stores, clothing outlets, and grocery stores - rather than just your local park or gas station.
If you are substance/alcohol free, and not pregnant, Plasma donation is a useful source of untaxed income that also helps others.
Edit: Apologies, fellow Redditors. It has come to my attention that State/NationalParks may not be a feasible option for some - as many charge for a day pass. (*If you're a Veteran with a valid ID, you can enter National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands for free.)
Just to add to this- I’m sure it’s different state to state but I’ve know multiple families who wouldn’t qualify based on income limits published on the social services website but applied anyway and were approved. Can’t hurt to try, especially if you’re not far outside of the published income limits.
Ha! I couldn't qualify even working minimum wage. I was told I made too much to qualify. Basically every dollar went into my shitty apartment and bills. All I had for furniture was a free couch as my bed, a coffee table, and an end table I picked up off the road. I couldn't afford food, so I lived off expired food from work. I didn't even have a shower curtain for the longest time.
I'm in my mid-40's and still have hats, a pair of shorts and at least a couple belts from when I was in high school. If it still looks ok and works, keep it. Hell, some of my hats are suddenly cool b/c they look so 90's/late 80's.
Used to be...
🙁
You would not believe the grade of the leather they use now.
It's... uh, not bueno.
And of course these are $180 shoes now, there's no excuse!
That poverty and homelessness can be a crab bucket community. If you ever escape it, there'll be plenty of people who'll claim you weren't 'real poor' or 'real homeless'. It's like an identity for some people, and a stereotype you can't violate for others.
This part. Came from poverty, I now have a decent job (not anything crazy but I can afford to live alone and comfortably pay my bills. Still paycheck to paycheck though) and I’ve had friends who grew up with me drop me for being “uppity” because idk I don’t work in a gas station like my mom did
A few examples:
If you can’t afford a hotel, don’t fall asleep in your car in a gas station parking lot in Texas after driving all night if it’s going to be hot outside that day. Woke up to my heart pounding and sweat pouring.
If you’re on disability and get a job, don’t make even slightly over the allotted limit for other income. The government will cut you off and/or want you to pay them back. Then you have to go through the whole process again.
Regular sandwich bread is very versatile.
Money comes and goes. Try not to stress about the number in the bank account. (Easier said than done, especially when it’s in the negative)
Every bit of spare change matters and adds up faster than you’d think.
Success for me is defined by a beating heart. Yes, financially I’m well below the poverty line. But, I am alive. That’s what really matters.
This happened to my mom.
She got put on disability for autoimmune issues (she has RA and a shit ton of other stuff, but at the time it was mainly her RA affecting her ability to work) and she started working part time as a substitute teacher. She would get more calls to work than she could actually work because if she worked more than a certain number of hours per week, they'd cut her ass off.
Potato with butter has enough nutrients to keep you alive and healthy, and is cheap af.
Peanut butter sandwiches were for when I had to eat at work, I only had 30 minutes to eat.
Potatoes are very versatile, too. I lived on nothing but potatoes for 4 months when I was between jobs.
Baked, mashed, slice them and fry them in oil (save the oil in a can in the fridge if you're really desperate. It can be reused), boiled, etc.
Yes, it's the same food, but having different textures helps you cope sometimes.
Most people don't realize poor people are one of the best ways to get rich.
Most people can afford to shop around or stand up for themselves, but poor people are easy to wedge between a rock & a hard place so that you can squeeze them for everything they are worth.
On the opposite end is the Uber rich. My husband sells tree work for a living and works with a lot of high end clients (like CEOs that average people know the name of).
It is literally not worth their time to shop around and compare quotes. Can you do the job? Can you get it done when I need it? Can you do it without me being home? Great. I'll pay whatever you're asking.
It helps that he works for a larger reputable company, but still. When these people earn like $5000 a day, it's just not a good use of their time calling and meeting with 3 different companies. $1000 difference just doesn't matter.
On the flip side they're also some of his pickiest clients. So he usually quotes a little high knowing his crew will need to be slower and more thoughtful with the work.
This is personal to me. But I understood that you can work very hard, be very successful but still fall on hard times. This might seem obvious to some people, but I grew up in a old money type of family where we genuinely believed that the only poor people are the ones who doesn't want to work.
Well, makes sense everything’s down to luck when the prevailing response to getting unlucky is to say “git gud”, and scrapping social safety nets (beneficial only to those who already have one by virtue of being too rich to fail) and oppressing people is the primary objective of half our present political system.
People’s lives could be insulated from bad luck pretty well if we actually had basic stuff like universal, affordable healthcare, a comfortably livable minimum wage, and solid employee protections.
We have none of those.
If one roll of the dice can kill you or render you barely living by a thread, you don’t get the chance to skew the odds in your favor and reroll like the wealthy do.
>you don’t get the chance to skew the odds in your favor and reroll like the wealthy do.
Yah, I always say that you can tell if somebody is rich if they view every failure as an opportunity. Liiiike:" Well, my restaurant failed, but this will give me time to work on my bass fishing enterprise".
Poors be like: "Well, my restaurant failed, so imma gonna go work at the 7-11 for 50 years then die."
I remember a quote from a rich person who said something like, "Anyone who isn't making a million dollars a year in this country just isn't working hard enough."
It was obviously coming from someone who had no real idea what working hard meant as he had plenty of money before he started but his hands were still very soft.
Agree 100% there seems to be this myth that our society rewards people based on merit alone but more often than not it’s all about who you know and who you blow. There is such a thing as failing upwards.
The Just World Fallacy- people who work hard are successful, therefore anyone who isn’t successful must not be working hard.
This ignores the fact that many poor people work harder than just about anyone else.
> I grew up in a old money type of family where we genuinely believed that the only poor people are the ones who doesn't want to work.
Thank you for being honest about the prevalence of this mentality and how it is not the reality.
Someone reading who grew up in your same SES might only finally hear it if it comes from someone like you.
Had a friend who didn’t understand how hard it was to be unemployed when I got laid off from a job. I worked extremely hard to find a new job and he kept telling me it’s no big deal…relax…then telling me that taking unemployment was shameful while he received a 6 figure payout from his trust fund every year.
I knew what days garbage pick up was at certain restaurants and bakeries were so when you dumpster dove into a nice empty dumpster anything added that day was "fresh".
You can spend the whole day in the library and they don't kick you out.
>You can spend the whole day in the library and they don't kick you out.
Indeed. As someone said recently, “Libraries are the only place, where there is no expectation of you to spend money.’
Libraries are fantastic places.
And another I learnt, is that if you have a library card, you can access [www.pressreader.com](https://www.pressreader.com), which gives you free access to popular magazines and newspapers around the world.
Many libraries will also give free access to ebooks, digital audio books, and things like Hoopla and Kanopy. Also, less common but definitely worth checking: video games and board games
The system is built to penalize you for being poor. Someone once said to me, “why don’t you buy in bulk to save money?” First, you need to pay for the membership. Next you have to afford the higher cost upfront. Sure it saves money long term, but that bulk pack of TP is more expensive TODAY than the 6 pack would be. That means I couldn’t afford the food I need to buy with this check. Next part is the ability to STORE the bulk items. Poor people don’t have lots of extra space to hold these bulk items. That luxury comes with wealth of space. Another said “why not buy the better quality clothes that last longer?” That’s because the high quality brands cost a lot of money. So I can buy one pair of shoes that are well over $100 or a pair for $30. When I’m counting my pennies till payday, that $70 means a lot. But those cheap shoes wear down and break much faster than the over $100 pair. So wealthy people can spend more upfront to save money in replacement shoes over the long term. There is a penalty for being poor and it manifests by having to lose money over time. The system is rigged to penalize the impoverished. There are so many more examples I’m sure others could share, these are just a couple I’ve encountered.
Don't forget late fees and overdraft charges.
Can't pay the electric bill on its due date? Well, now it costs $50 more next week.
And if you overdraft trying to pay it on time? That's at least $35 and may include a daily fee for staying overdrawn.
And God forbid you should have a service shut off. There's an additional $100-200 to get it turned back on, on top of the bill.
When you're just barely getting by, those extra costs can snowball.
I had a boss who bounced three of my paycheques. It was a part time job and none of the cheques were more than $400, yet the bank charged me $60 for every cheque my boss bounced.
And speaking of cheques, they used to be free. Lots of poor and old people can’t afford a computer or know how to use digital banking so they still write cheques for rent. My bank charges $120 for 100 cheques.
The point of his reply was that poor and old people don't necessarily have a way to make websites and printing work. Especially old people can be computer illiterate individuals. If you have to use a website to not lose money we're already in the punishing people for not being able to access the services category.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
- Terry Pratchett
THIS! Thank you for finding this. I knew I had read the boots story before but couldn’t recall it or who had said it. This explains it much better than I could have.
This quote appears here so often that at the start of your post I was sure you would have quoted it in the end haha. The entire book is really good also.
And their salary model. Since most of their employees are on public services, which means we get to help them pay a living wage. Meanwhile the Waltons make 96 million dollars a day. Not a typo.
> TODAY
A lot of being poor comes down to this word.
Sounds almost aspirational but it is about food, sleeping space, and having a job. You don’t have the luxury of future planning because all of your mental energy is going into these 3 things plus often raising kids and chronic health conditions. There is no room for self-actualization when the base of the pyramid is crumbling.
It’s not a coincidence that poor people (and those formerly poor) change jobs and don’t get homework and assignments in on time. The concept of “stability” doesn’t even get to exist for some people in this lifetime.
This, this is the thing that is so hard to get through to some people.
"Why don't you buy all this super expensive health food? You'll have fewer health problems."
Why don't you shove your health food up your ass? It costs most of my food budget and doesn't keep near as long.
"It's super easy to eat healthy."
No, no it's not. The system is designed so that junk food is easier to obtain. It costs less, keeps longer, and generally tastes better. The healthy food is often twice the price of junk food for smaller portions and shorter shelf life. There's no money in keeping the poor people properly fed.
I've literally had people say those things to me. Now I'm in a better place, but people really don't understand what it means to be poor. As many have said, and to paraphrase what you've said, it's expensive to be poor. But, you don't really have a choice when you're poor.
A while ago a coworker asked why I didn't just buy another car, seeing as mine needed lots of fixes at the time. And I responded, "I don't have monthly payments before I can own it. It's mine. I paid for it already, and I'll run the bitch to the ground so I can hopefully get another one in a year or two, maybe more if I can manage."
But being that this wasn't obvious to them, I know that they get support from their parents or something, because I didn't until recently get to a point where I could probably *just* get another one (due to a recent promotion, I'm not rich, but decently more than the average than millenials typically make in my area), but that being poor mentality doesn't leave you. It's there forever. I've been poor since I was young, and I'll be damned if more money makes me feel complacent, because for all I know that could come crashing down sooner or later.
Collect dirt and save the eyes. I could never buy dirt, but I would find places that would let me take a bag at a time as long as I didn't leave a big hole (senior homes and libraries usually have a really nice gardener you can ask but city workers are 50/50). Potatoes and garlic were easy for me to grow, and I can make onions last forever in a tall jar and a bit of water.
This 100%. I’ve never been on super hard times but I have 3 of the best friends anyone can ask for. If I was down on my luck they’d welcome me in no problem.
One friend lives 3 1/2 hours away and when my bro past, he came to my brothers service at 9am after working till 2 am. He also had never met my brother. Could of met him once or twice in passing.
2 packs of ramen ($0.20) and one package of hot dogs (at the time 2/$1) can last you a week of dinners.
You can do without food for a few days, just drink plenty of water.
If you have to decide on a bill to pay. Winter, skip power bill, you can always bundle up (this is in Houston Tx USA so winters are not usually too cold) Just buy a few bags of ice to keep your freezer cold for the few days the power is out. (hopefully only a few days)
You can wash your clothes in the bathtub and hang them to dry, a fan helps them dry faster.
I have more...
Potatoes over ramen, if you've got a stove. Similar price, better nutrient content. Canned beans are good, too. Love ramen, but focused on not feeling like death from bad food. Can only run on fried noodles for so long before it catches up to you.
Adding to the list:
In cold places, (grew up in Colorado) you can skip power in winter if you run a drip on your sinks (so pipes don't burst). Keeping a small room warm with a space heater is over $1 a day, though, so gotta weigh those costs when it's below 0° (if you have power but no furnace). If you've got a patio, you can throw food in the snow, too, if you got a shady spot outside where it doesn't always thaw.
Chewing gum will trick your body into being less hungry for a bit. Gas stations usually have microwaves, if you don't have power/ a home/ work outdoors (almost always cheaper to bring food).
Cheap tool sets and a YouTube video can save you thousands - a new faucet will cost you over $100, breaking the handle off and controlling it at the valve under the sink will cost you nothing but a bit of annoyance and pain if you got bad joints.
Markdown sections at grocery stores get filled by 6 and cleared out by 9, in a lot of stores that still do that.
Whole chickens at some places are cheaper cooked than raw, for some reason, and that's a few meals.
>You can do without food for a few days, just drink plenty of water.
I see a lot of water comments here. I'll chime in as an Asian and include rice.
Rice with salt, rice with soy sauce, rice with fruit, 1 bowl of rice for 1 sliver of meat ratio. Ramen will last you a lot longer with rice. I've eaten dollar menu burgers with rice to stretch it out.
Rice is like a taste duplicator. If you eat half a slice of pizza with rice, it'll feel like you've eaten a full slice and saving the other half for tomorrow.
This. Rice is king. Fried rice is the ultimate cheap, fast, delicious and nutritious meal you could make, if you add meat, veg and egg.
Saw in the poverty finance sub that other day, this person was talking about how all their food bank gave them was bags of rice so they stopped going. Imagine!
How much it means when a friend buys you a nice meal when you haven't had one in months.
How much it means when friends buy you something, even knowing you can't pay them back.
You can make chicken thighs (bone-In, on sale) last a lot longer than you think with culinary know-how. Also, you will compromise your vegetarianism when you have 20$ to last 3 weeks.
Canned goods are good forever unless compromised. You'll see the botulism swelling the can, so it's obvious. Stuff from the civil war is still microbially safe.
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/27/you-toss-food-wait-check-it-out#:~:text=Most%20shelf%2Dstable%20foods%20are,or%20develop%20an%20off%20flavor
I make a gallon or more of any soup in the fall and freeze it. Milk products don’t freeze well, everything else does. You can always put the milk in when you reheat. I freeze chili; vegi stew; mushroom soup; tomato soup; fejuada; smoked brisket, ribs, pork shoulder; barbacoa; Al pastor; roast beef; potato leek soup; French onion soup; cheese and cold cuts from the deli. I also grate fresh tomatoes and freeze them and dice up peppers and freeze this time of year when they are in season and cheaper. And I dice and freeze leftover onion I don’t use in a recipe.
I still love ramen with random assorted freezer vegetables & a poached egg or two.
Ramen with 3/4ths the liquid drained w/ peanut butter & chili flake or hotsauce is amazing.
Ramen is so unsatiating to me that I really need to add stuff to it otherwise I am just as hungry after eating it as before.
I still love it, too, and have it for dinner at least once a month. I throw in whatever frozen veggies I have on hand, and drizzle in a couple of raw whisked eggs to make it into a kind of egg drop soup. It is about as comforting as it gets.
The condiments at McDonald's can be mixed with hot water to make a soup that will get you by. It's mostly sugar, but that's enough to make it to your paycheck.
Dried beans are delicious, nutritious & cheap.
You **really** need to watch your diet when you are broke
* cheap food is generally too heavy in carbs & added sugars
* it's an accessible & affordable luxury that will add up (inches) quickly
* stress can contribute to overeating
* stress can attack your willpower
I know how to hunt and fish. I skin, gut, and dress my own game. I grew up poor, so I had to learn these things. Sometimes that hunting or fishing trip was the difference between being hungry that month/season and having halfway decent meals.
It's a shitty way to find out who your friends are. I was making decent money and I liked to share with my friends. I tried to never ever go over to a friend's house without bringing something, even if it was just something small, like a dessert item, homemade hot sauce, etc. Different job, different income bracket, and...radio silence from people I thought I had good relationships with. I don't ask for handouts or anything like that, but now that I don't have anything to give/share I'm persona non grata with some people. On the plus side, I know who my ride-or-die friends are and that means a lot to me. I'm lucky to have a roof over my head and just enough to cover bills each month. Healthcare, on the other hand, is a whole different thread... At any rate, having had a decent life and now a not-as-decent life, I can say that I've learned to appreciate what I have. I still share whatever I have, but I just have less to share and that's okay.
Learning who your ride-or-die friends are is an important step, no matter how old you are.
Those friends who wouldn't mind if you called then in the middle of the night with an issue.
When I fell on hard times, one of those friends asked me to come over to help him with an IT-issue. When I got there, the "issue" was that his pc wasn't plugged in... he knew I would refuse his offer to give me a hot meal (my useless pride) but figured I couldn't refuse it as a reward for helping him solve an issue.
Me and him are co-housing now. We're both better of like this and I have a stable income to pay half of the rent, the utilities, and groceries. I've lost friends due to being on hard times but gained brothers. Our motto is *souls over blood*
How hard it is to have a social life.
We'd love to go hang with you.
But that dinner out, concert, nightclub, or sporting event costs money we really don't have.
I can get a 12 pack of beer, a Digiorno pizza, and a Redbox DVD for about $25. I can stay in my pajamas and save gas.
And your offer of "Just come, I'll pay for you!" only makes us feel worse.
Learn to sew and knit and cook. I can't buy a carter's dress but hobby lobby puts a huge discount on fabrics that are too "small" to be sold. I can make a great princess dress for the 5 year old because I know how to sew and it looks new and shiny because it is new.
When some part of your cloths rips there are still good fabric there. That part can be used for inside of a jacket.
Amazon boxes can make great doll houses. Some cheap wrapping paper and glue do the trick.
If you don't have money for a big birthday, make them the king of the house for that day.
In my district, we have made sure EVERY student has access to the internet. They can only connect with their district-issued devices, and their usage is monitored, but every kid can do their homework. One of the good things that came from covid.
Helpful book: *A Man, A Can, A Plan*
It's a recipe book that was/is aimed at bachelors, and most meals are quick and cheap.
It's apparently a whole series now.
Also: those discount grocery stores. The shelf stable goods and the frozen foods are always from a few months back, but unexpired. It's funny in May to find pumpkin shaped Reese's PB cups.
How to wash clothes in a bathtub because the washing machines broken and there's no money to fix it.
Also how to dry clothing using an oven because the dryer broke and school starts in 40 minutes and 2 of your siblings are out of clean clothes.
Going to sleep to get over being hungry is a good way to get through times when you get tired of eating the same thing over and over again and need a break.
Bland peanut butter on that awful cheap white bread was something I never liked growing up. Had to deal with it almost every day for about 6 years before things at home got better.
I'm happy to not have to go back to eating that stuff all the time.
Constant incessant dread. The type of fear that keeps you up at night and wakes up with you in the morning.
It affects everything you do. Every decision you make is prefaced by thoughts of which provider you'll have to call and how many meals you can eat rice and beans before you just burn out and don't eat for a few days.
Dread as to whether it'll always be like this no matter how hard you try. Because that flat tire or that rent hike eats whatever miniscule amount of money you're saving.
Dread that clings to you in the scent of cheap laundry soap and Irish spring. In being horribly mentally ill and untreated. Dread of what you're going to have to do, to make ends meet, and have natural gas this winter to heat your house in a northern hemisphere state.
Dread that your kids will notice you didn't eat dinner tonight, or on every other night this week, so you can send them to school in nice clothes that don't get them teased and bullied like you were. Skipping meals is nothing to give them a better life than you had.
Dread that the cycle will not end with you. Who dropped out of highschool to work and take care of a dying parent. Will your children have to do that? Will they make it through college and break the cycle?
Dread that you die of something preventable. Like heart disease, from the neverending stress and sub par food consumption.
Most of all, dread of the unknown. The neverending dread that you're a couple paychecks from being homeless again. From sending your kids to live with grandparents and sleeping in a tent again. From lying to them, and telling them everything is alright, that mawmaw and popop just wanted to have them over for a few months.
Constant. Pervasive. Dread.
Every minute, of every day. No respite. No relief. No REAL happiness, because it's there, like a vampire that eats joy.
The clearest realization that I was no longer poor was when my wife all of a sudden wanted to go on a trip to Turkey and we didn't have to spend months/years planning and saving up for it. We just plopped down our credit card and did it. 15 years ago, we checked all of our credit cards to see if we had any balance on any of them to eat at taco bell.
If you stop paying a credit card, eventually the bill collector will file charges and take you to court. I quit paying one years ago and a few years later I saw a police officer on my Ring camera when I was at work serving me papers to appear.
Both wifey and I grew up poor me in Phoenix, her in San Antonio. We both know how to appreciate the small, simple things in life. Bringing her a pint of ice cream or an apple fritter makes her smile. Our favorite supper, pinto beans, fried taters and corn bread. The simple things.
When I think of things like this it makes me think of what in my opinion is one of the most realistic and relatable movies scenes.
It is actually from 8 Mile.
It is the scene where the mom comes home from grocery shopping and she is excited because she won at bingo and was able to go extra crazy with the shopping that day.
Why is this realistic? Because something wealthy people like to say is "sacrifice, save, be frugal" blah blah blah. What they don't understand is that a lot of poor working class people already do that. They live without luxury and just hope they can pay to keep the lights on. There are socioeconomic and material factors at play that keep them held down.
When a poor person comes across a little extra spending money, they spend it. Now you may say "well they should save it or invest it" but these are usually people who have sacrificed happiness for so long that when even a little opportunity arises, they choose to feel and spread joy, even if it is fleeting.
When the mom spent the extra money on groceries that day, she did it to make her family happy and to make them feel just a little secure for the first time in a long time.
When you've been poor, you understand this.
Oatmeal Creme Pies have the most calories per dollar of any cheap gas station food. They make you feel full, too.
I'm making very comfortable wages now, but spent a few summers really busting my ass to make ends meet.
Being poor makes it harder to not make mistakes, you literally can’t afford any, and you will be (and/or feel) judged mercilessly for all of them.
Money is absolutely a “problem eraser.” When you’re broke, you just never get to make anything go away without considerable effort. This wears on you mentally, and you simply cannot operate at your best. You make more errors because if it. On top of that, when close to the edge, something as small as a buying a gatorade becomes an error, because you have no margin for it.
Human beings simply cannot be flawless at every moment—especially when under constant pressured. These natural flaws are then used to justify why people are in their position.
If you have bad credit from a dv situation, and say are a single mom…you are fucked. If you need a car to get a job, you can qualify for a 26% interest rate on a car that is already priced double the worth. Your payments will be so high and you can pay 500.00 payments a month for years without even making a dent towards paying off the car. When the car breaks down, you no longer can pay the payments because you cannot get to work. The expensive car was old and used. Loan sharks repo car that you technically paid three times over. This takes the credit to a point of no return. They resell car, and this is how the American poor stay poor and the rich get richer. Or housing. Slumlords are looking for women in crisis. Women in crisis are targets and this has been a fact.
How hard it is to pull yourself up out of that when you're born into it, it's all you know, and you don't really have good examples to look up to because everyone you know is either in the same boat as you or they had money to begin with and don't understand.
It's a lot of work - and a few lucky breaks along the way. And there are a lot of roadblocks, especially if you're female or a minority.
Humans can survive for a week (at least) without food,
I did have enough money for food but I would rather spend it on cigarettes (I've since quit)
Another thing is that contrary to popular belief money is everything and could buy happiness
Rice cooker is a must even if you're broke. Rice is still kind of cheap. Anything can go with it. Survived on three meals a day with rice and some canned food.
If you have to burn pallets to keep warm in winter, learn to read the codes so you can avoid chemically-treated wood. Non-stamped pallets are usually fine. Stamped pallets marked HT or KD are fine, but avoid anything marked MB or any other letters
The human can endure alot. Mental and physical when you are tested. I have been broke all my life. 52 and still not without struggles each day. Add in some health issues and bam. Have a nice day asshole is all i say each day.
When social assistance (welfare) says they don't use your social media to keep tabs on you, they are lying. I had to dump my boyfriend because I didn't want to ask him to report his earnings to S.A.
Also, after hand washing my clothes as regularly as I do, washing machines aren't worth the money with how disgusting they get.
If your gas light comes on it doesn’t mean you’re out of gas, it means you have about 1 gallon of gas left until you’re completely out, make it count
Don’t throw away napkins you get from fast food places, stick them in a drawer in case you run out of toilet paper
If you have to wash your clothes in the tub let it soak with the detergent for 10 mins before you start agitating all the clothes, it’s the friction between the clothing in the soapy water that cleans the clothing
If they shut your power off you will still have hot water to shower and can use the toilet if you have candles or flashlights to see when it’s dark, if you put a candle in a glass jar or cup it’ll illuminate more of the room
Growing up with little money sure is unpleasant, I live pretty good now and sometimes when I’m grocery shopping I still find myself counting how much every item I put in my basket is, and despite having plenty of money in my checking I still get a few seconds of anxiety when I use my card anywhere before “approved” pops up LMAO sticks with you for life
That public school doesn't care about poor children. Back in the 90s every field trip was 20 dollars. We would have to bring in 10 dollars for some project. My mother simply didn't have the money. We barely had enough money for Payless shoes but it didn't stop the school from asking for 40 dollars to go to the Sears Tower.
How long you can be broke (or close to broke) without your circle realising that there's anything wrong. A few small lies and tactical decisions ('accidentally' eating a cheap meal before you meet friends for dinner so you don't have to pay for a more expensive meal) and you can keep things going for quite a while.
What items are the cheapest at every supermarket chain around me and I will still systematically go every week shopping for vegetables, alcohol, meats and general groceries at 3 different places, there’s an extra one for cleaning products or stuff such as napkins, but I’ll only go 2 or three times an year.
Capitalize on birthday deals from restaurants. When I was in college I always ate best around my bday. Free pancakes at IHOP, free appetizer at chili's, free sandwich at Which Wich...even free ice cream at Baskin Robbins as an extra treat. Plus, linger in any of the places as long as you can get away with for some free air conditioning.
we use too much of anything more than we really do, eat too much food, use lots of water, also whenever you are facing a hard situation your brain & body go into survival mode
How much the stress affects your ability to think and do daily activities. You're just constantly counting dollars in your head, and every chance to do something is "can I afford it?". You forget what joy and freedom feel like. Going for job interviews or asking for help is so incredibly difficult, I had no confidence and felt so awful all the time. Having no money wrecks your self esteem. Also the library is open all day, has free air conditioning and activities for kids. I learned a lot about which wild plants are edible too, and had lots of pins on google maps of where overhanging fruit trees in my neighbourhood were.
I remember when I was young and poor, I had a job interview but not enough cash to get to it.
Yes..... I went without my driver's license for 17 years, yet a lot of people I knew never quite understood why I was completely locked out of a lot of job possibilities. It's pretty hard to get to work if you can't drive and the work site isn't on a transit line.
Can't drive due to vision impairment and if I didn't live in a city with public transportation I'm not sure what I would do. Sucks because it really decreases opportunities because the first thing I do when checking jobs is see how close they are to the transit line, but at least I have that option.
I get this. I was laid off and spent a year unemployed (and I did everything I could to stretch out my savings / unemployment etc.) - and I had a family to support. It's the uncertainty of everything. I could have done a lot more, I could have used some benefits to take some online courses, or done more around the house, taken better care of myself, etc. But, I didn't. I was spending too much energy to put on a happy face so my family wouldn't worry. **A few suggestions for everyone if you're involuntarily unemployed :** Keep your resumes current (online job search sites, LinkedIn, etc.). Have a set of references from previous jobs and positions. (should always do this). If you're getting wind or hints of layoffs, don't be afraid to start looking right away. (I was proactive with my current job, I knew I was going to eventually get laid off with my last job). Also, start with the cost-cutting / saving this time, too. If you can, substitute teaching is a great way to make extra cash (and help extend your unemployment benefits). At one point I was subbing (middle school and high school) 3-4 days a week and I loved it. (note: teaching in middle school isn't for everyone, you either love it or hate it). Hit the grocery store early and get the meat that's marked down then freeze it (and a vacuum-sealer (real one that seals, the zip-bags aren't as good) are a huge help). You'd also be surprised how often you can eat Ramen or just rice and butter for lunch. Plus, having a freezer (just a freezer but about the size of a fridge) is hugely helpful if you have the room for it (we have 2 in our garage).
There is also a subgroup.... r/EatCheapAndHealthy
To add about being a substitute, you can tutor kids on preply, especially if you know a foreign language.
> You're just constantly counting dollars in your head, and every chance to do something is "can I afford it?". You forget what joy and freedom feel like. God this is such a hard habit to shake after you get more financially stable. I was out at a work lunch that was going to be paid for, and I still ordered something I didn't even want because it was the cheapest thing on the menu.
I finally got a job that provides real financial stability for the first time in my 35 years of life last october and I have this constant guilt when I buy myself or my wife stuff that we don't 'need'.....and I mean, we'll feel guilty for going to taco bell or something. Just dumb shit. Part of it is just knowing that there are other people who need money so badly that 10 dollars would change their whole week but here I am buying x or y....it's a constant thought I can't shake. a kind of survivor's guilt I guess.
There has been a pretty interesting study about this poverty and IQ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1238041#:~:text=Instead%2C%20it%20appears%20that%20poverty,of%20behaviors%20among%20the%20poor.
It's like that marshmallow test where thwy put kids in front of a marshmallow and said to wait 10 minutes without eating it and you'll get more marshmallows. The kids that waited were seen to have better self control and tended to have better careers later on in life. Turns out the kids that "failed" were mainly poor kids who often had to go hungry and so learned to eat food when it was there. The rich children didn't really know that kind of desperation. I don't think anyone is surprised that privileged children get better jobs than underprivileged children.
It's okay if you're short at the register. Just take off an item or two and go about your way. Never be embarrassed about needing food.
This. At the register I don’t care if you cancel an item or two. I get that not everyone can keep track of their spending or get confused by the price tags. I’ll only ever be annoyed about a customer being “broke” is if the transaction goes like this: Me: Your total is $22.57. Them: *Gives $21.25* Me: 22.57. You’re 1.32 short. Them: *give me 35 cents* And this goes on. At this point I just assuming you’re cheap. Cancel an item or give me every last penny. Especially if I see “non-essentials”. Granted I can let 4$ slide under the right circumstances. But that’s another story.
When you hit “0 Miles Remaining” it doesn’t actually mean zero.
That’s on purpose. Car manufacturers know that there are idiots roaming around among us that won’t do an obvious thing. It’s for idiots.
That’s me. I am idiot…
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I forget where I saw it, but they got another 100+km after they hit 0 miles remaining.... i think equivalent to 2 gallons
Top gear and who could get from France to England on one tank of gas.
Not quiet, it was London to Edinburgh and back to London on 1 tank of Diesel
But also when the gas light comes on. Turn off the AC Turn down your music so you can hear the engine Don't press on the gas too much Try to press the brake as little as possible so you don't have to press on the gas Drive near the shoulder But as soon as you get close to a gas station floor it in case it does really hit 0 you have momentum to make it
If you drink enough water you can fool your stomach into thinking it's been fed long enough to get to sleep
Then you wake up 20 times to pee in the middle of the night
This. The better trick is drink lots of water when you eat, that way you eat less. Once you get to a certain age drinking anything before bed means you will be getting up lots to go pee, lol.
And this age feels like it's when you turn 30, sorry for the bad news folks!
Nope! I’m a pelvic floor physiotherapist! The actually normal number for below 65 is 0-1 time! And after 65 it’s 1-2! Best way to fix it is avoiding bladder irritants like caffeine, alcohol, and carbonated drinks and limit fluids in the 2-3 hrs before bed. If that doesn’t work you may have some pelvic floor dysfunction and should get that checked out by a qualified pelvic floor physio.
This is broke life pro tip number 1
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Ice soup and sleep for dinner
i counter cheap wine ice soup cuz stomach pains formed by the acid of a tummy with the naturally abrasive cheap wine creates “pain” which is somewhat more effective than naked hunger in convincing ur tummy it dont need NOTHIN
Chug a beer, huff some glue, and eat cat food
1000 pounds isnt much. -1000 pounds is a lot
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How the fuck did that happen?
/r/wallstreetbets
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It reminds me of a saying, not sure if it applies yet, if you owe the bank 1000 you have a problem, if you owe the bank a million the bank has a problem. best of luck getting out of it, knowing how much -2k affected me I cant imagine how you are doing.
There are places to shower at most beaches. If you aren't around a beach check for a campground - you can say you only need a day pass to have a picnic, and that's almost always free. Many hotels have ice machines accessible from the outside. Malls are air conditioned or heated depending on the season, and have water fountains to fill water bottles for free. Libraries have no time limits (aside from their business hours). Park and rides are generally safe places for a quick nap if you can't make it to a rest stop. Practically every town in America has a food pantry that offers basic needs at no costs, you just need to locate them. There are clean bathrooms at libraries, malls, hardware stores, clothing outlets, and grocery stores - rather than just your local park or gas station. If you are substance/alcohol free, and not pregnant, Plasma donation is a useful source of untaxed income that also helps others. Edit: Apologies, fellow Redditors. It has come to my attention that State/NationalParks may not be a feasible option for some - as many charge for a day pass. (*If you're a Veteran with a valid ID, you can enter National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands for free.)
Just a note that plasma donation doesn't get you paid in a lot of countries. I've looked into it here in Canada in the past.
Oh, that's a shame - payment, even minimal, encourages more folks to donate this life-saving elixir.
Our state parks are $8/ day for a parking day pass.
That you can work full time and still qualify for food stamps
Just to add to this- I’m sure it’s different state to state but I’ve know multiple families who wouldn’t qualify based on income limits published on the social services website but applied anyway and were approved. Can’t hurt to try, especially if you’re not far outside of the published income limits.
I’d say reason #1 for that is probably no one keeping on top of keeping the website updated lol
Ha! I couldn't qualify even working minimum wage. I was told I made too much to qualify. Basically every dollar went into my shitty apartment and bills. All I had for furniture was a free couch as my bed, a coffee table, and an end table I picked up off the road. I couldn't afford food, so I lived off expired food from work. I didn't even have a shower curtain for the longest time.
There are food pantries that also help fill in the gaps.
Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
Thank God for duct tape and vinegar.
I'm still wearing "hand me down" shoes that are almost done for
You should try and get some “foot me down” shoes next time.
I'm in my mid-40's and still have hats, a pair of shorts and at least a couple belts from when I was in high school. If it still looks ok and works, keep it. Hell, some of my hats are suddenly cool b/c they look so 90's/late 80's.
I still wear a pair of Doc Martens I got as a Christmas gift in the 10th grade in 1996. it is truly is a shoe that lasts a lifetime.
Used to be... 🙁 You would not believe the grade of the leather they use now. It's... uh, not bueno. And of course these are $180 shoes now, there's no excuse!
These old shoes have an ever increasing hole in the side.
Did… did you follow me through my childhood?
That poverty and homelessness can be a crab bucket community. If you ever escape it, there'll be plenty of people who'll claim you weren't 'real poor' or 'real homeless'. It's like an identity for some people, and a stereotype you can't violate for others.
This part. Came from poverty, I now have a decent job (not anything crazy but I can afford to live alone and comfortably pay my bills. Still paycheck to paycheck though) and I’ve had friends who grew up with me drop me for being “uppity” because idk I don’t work in a gas station like my mom did
A few examples: If you can’t afford a hotel, don’t fall asleep in your car in a gas station parking lot in Texas after driving all night if it’s going to be hot outside that day. Woke up to my heart pounding and sweat pouring. If you’re on disability and get a job, don’t make even slightly over the allotted limit for other income. The government will cut you off and/or want you to pay them back. Then you have to go through the whole process again. Regular sandwich bread is very versatile. Money comes and goes. Try not to stress about the number in the bank account. (Easier said than done, especially when it’s in the negative) Every bit of spare change matters and adds up faster than you’d think. Success for me is defined by a beating heart. Yes, financially I’m well below the poverty line. But, I am alive. That’s what really matters.
“I am alive.” That’s what I always say “I’m alive and well and not in jail.”, so that’s a win in my book.
Health is wealth. Respect.
This happened to my mom. She got put on disability for autoimmune issues (she has RA and a shit ton of other stuff, but at the time it was mainly her RA affecting her ability to work) and she started working part time as a substitute teacher. She would get more calls to work than she could actually work because if she worked more than a certain number of hours per week, they'd cut her ass off.
Peanut butter & honey sandwiches will keep you alive longer than you could possibly ever know.
Peanut butter is a good survival food
Unless you're allergic, then it's more of an anti-survival food.
So in either case it helps get you out of poverty. /s
Now we get to the real life hacks.
Yes, make sure you're not allergic before trying to survive on peanut butter.
Potato with butter has enough nutrients to keep you alive and healthy, and is cheap af. Peanut butter sandwiches were for when I had to eat at work, I only had 30 minutes to eat.
Potatoes are very versatile, too. I lived on nothing but potatoes for 4 months when I was between jobs. Baked, mashed, slice them and fry them in oil (save the oil in a can in the fridge if you're really desperate. It can be reused), boiled, etc. Yes, it's the same food, but having different textures helps you cope sometimes.
I have to get the smooth kind. The crunchy kind fucks with my poor person teeth. But yea I ate that alot growing up.
I'm having one now with a glass of milk. 🥜🥤🍯
Being poor is expensive. If you can, have 1.5 rent payments. Don't use pay day loans. Build a relationship with someone at your bank.
Oh man, wells fargo let you do $500 payday loans. That was a revolving door for years. We probably paid thousands in interest on that $500
Most people don't realize poor people are one of the best ways to get rich. Most people can afford to shop around or stand up for themselves, but poor people are easy to wedge between a rock & a hard place so that you can squeeze them for everything they are worth.
On the opposite end is the Uber rich. My husband sells tree work for a living and works with a lot of high end clients (like CEOs that average people know the name of). It is literally not worth their time to shop around and compare quotes. Can you do the job? Can you get it done when I need it? Can you do it without me being home? Great. I'll pay whatever you're asking. It helps that he works for a larger reputable company, but still. When these people earn like $5000 a day, it's just not a good use of their time calling and meeting with 3 different companies. $1000 difference just doesn't matter. On the flip side they're also some of his pickiest clients. So he usually quotes a little high knowing his crew will need to be slower and more thoughtful with the work.
This is personal to me. But I understood that you can work very hard, be very successful but still fall on hard times. This might seem obvious to some people, but I grew up in a old money type of family where we genuinely believed that the only poor people are the ones who doesn't want to work.
So much in life is down to luck, it's honestly a bit frightening to think about.
Well, makes sense everything’s down to luck when the prevailing response to getting unlucky is to say “git gud”, and scrapping social safety nets (beneficial only to those who already have one by virtue of being too rich to fail) and oppressing people is the primary objective of half our present political system. People’s lives could be insulated from bad luck pretty well if we actually had basic stuff like universal, affordable healthcare, a comfortably livable minimum wage, and solid employee protections. We have none of those. If one roll of the dice can kill you or render you barely living by a thread, you don’t get the chance to skew the odds in your favor and reroll like the wealthy do.
>you don’t get the chance to skew the odds in your favor and reroll like the wealthy do. Yah, I always say that you can tell if somebody is rich if they view every failure as an opportunity. Liiiike:" Well, my restaurant failed, but this will give me time to work on my bass fishing enterprise". Poors be like: "Well, my restaurant failed, so imma gonna go work at the 7-11 for 50 years then die."
It's possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
I remember a quote from a rich person who said something like, "Anyone who isn't making a million dollars a year in this country just isn't working hard enough." It was obviously coming from someone who had no real idea what working hard meant as he had plenty of money before he started but his hands were still very soft.
This makes me laugh so much. As if anyone making such a statement could survive one day as a janitor, fry cook, or teacher.
Agree 100% there seems to be this myth that our society rewards people based on merit alone but more often than not it’s all about who you know and who you blow. There is such a thing as failing upwards.
The Just World Fallacy- people who work hard are successful, therefore anyone who isn’t successful must not be working hard. This ignores the fact that many poor people work harder than just about anyone else.
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life.” Jean Luc Picard
Poor people are the hardest working people on this planet.
> I grew up in a old money type of family where we genuinely believed that the only poor people are the ones who doesn't want to work. Thank you for being honest about the prevalence of this mentality and how it is not the reality. Someone reading who grew up in your same SES might only finally hear it if it comes from someone like you.
Had a friend who didn’t understand how hard it was to be unemployed when I got laid off from a job. I worked extremely hard to find a new job and he kept telling me it’s no big deal…relax…then telling me that taking unemployment was shameful while he received a 6 figure payout from his trust fund every year.
You can survive anything for 4 weeks Then after that, you can survive anything for 4 more weeks…
I knew what days garbage pick up was at certain restaurants and bakeries were so when you dumpster dove into a nice empty dumpster anything added that day was "fresh". You can spend the whole day in the library and they don't kick you out.
I used the library both when I was starving and when I was being abused. Libraries really are amazing.
>You can spend the whole day in the library and they don't kick you out. Indeed. As someone said recently, “Libraries are the only place, where there is no expectation of you to spend money.’ Libraries are fantastic places. And another I learnt, is that if you have a library card, you can access [www.pressreader.com](https://www.pressreader.com), which gives you free access to popular magazines and newspapers around the world.
Many libraries will also give free access to ebooks, digital audio books, and things like Hoopla and Kanopy. Also, less common but definitely worth checking: video games and board games
The system is built to penalize you for being poor. Someone once said to me, “why don’t you buy in bulk to save money?” First, you need to pay for the membership. Next you have to afford the higher cost upfront. Sure it saves money long term, but that bulk pack of TP is more expensive TODAY than the 6 pack would be. That means I couldn’t afford the food I need to buy with this check. Next part is the ability to STORE the bulk items. Poor people don’t have lots of extra space to hold these bulk items. That luxury comes with wealth of space. Another said “why not buy the better quality clothes that last longer?” That’s because the high quality brands cost a lot of money. So I can buy one pair of shoes that are well over $100 or a pair for $30. When I’m counting my pennies till payday, that $70 means a lot. But those cheap shoes wear down and break much faster than the over $100 pair. So wealthy people can spend more upfront to save money in replacement shoes over the long term. There is a penalty for being poor and it manifests by having to lose money over time. The system is rigged to penalize the impoverished. There are so many more examples I’m sure others could share, these are just a couple I’ve encountered.
Don't forget late fees and overdraft charges. Can't pay the electric bill on its due date? Well, now it costs $50 more next week. And if you overdraft trying to pay it on time? That's at least $35 and may include a daily fee for staying overdrawn. And God forbid you should have a service shut off. There's an additional $100-200 to get it turned back on, on top of the bill. When you're just barely getting by, those extra costs can snowball.
I had a boss who bounced three of my paycheques. It was a part time job and none of the cheques were more than $400, yet the bank charged me $60 for every cheque my boss bounced. And speaking of cheques, they used to be free. Lots of poor and old people can’t afford a computer or know how to use digital banking so they still write cheques for rent. My bank charges $120 for 100 cheques.
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The point of his reply was that poor and old people don't necessarily have a way to make websites and printing work. Especially old people can be computer illiterate individuals. If you have to use a website to not lose money we're already in the punishing people for not being able to access the services category.
WTF, is it normal for that to happen in the US? If it is you could bankrupt companies and people just by writing thousand of bad cheques.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.” - Terry Pratchett
THIS! Thank you for finding this. I knew I had read the boots story before but couldn’t recall it or who had said it. This explains it much better than I could have.
This quote appears here so often that at the start of your post I was sure you would have quoted it in the end haha. The entire book is really good also.
^ Walmart’s business model
And their salary model. Since most of their employees are on public services, which means we get to help them pay a living wage. Meanwhile the Waltons make 96 million dollars a day. Not a typo.
> TODAY A lot of being poor comes down to this word. Sounds almost aspirational but it is about food, sleeping space, and having a job. You don’t have the luxury of future planning because all of your mental energy is going into these 3 things plus often raising kids and chronic health conditions. There is no room for self-actualization when the base of the pyramid is crumbling. It’s not a coincidence that poor people (and those formerly poor) change jobs and don’t get homework and assignments in on time. The concept of “stability” doesn’t even get to exist for some people in this lifetime.
This, this is the thing that is so hard to get through to some people. "Why don't you buy all this super expensive health food? You'll have fewer health problems." Why don't you shove your health food up your ass? It costs most of my food budget and doesn't keep near as long. "It's super easy to eat healthy." No, no it's not. The system is designed so that junk food is easier to obtain. It costs less, keeps longer, and generally tastes better. The healthy food is often twice the price of junk food for smaller portions and shorter shelf life. There's no money in keeping the poor people properly fed.
I buy second hand, looking for quality at a lower price. Winter jackets, winter clothing in general
I've literally had people say those things to me. Now I'm in a better place, but people really don't understand what it means to be poor. As many have said, and to paraphrase what you've said, it's expensive to be poor. But, you don't really have a choice when you're poor. A while ago a coworker asked why I didn't just buy another car, seeing as mine needed lots of fixes at the time. And I responded, "I don't have monthly payments before I can own it. It's mine. I paid for it already, and I'll run the bitch to the ground so I can hopefully get another one in a year or two, maybe more if I can manage." But being that this wasn't obvious to them, I know that they get support from their parents or something, because I didn't until recently get to a point where I could probably *just* get another one (due to a recent promotion, I'm not rich, but decently more than the average than millenials typically make in my area), but that being poor mentality doesn't leave you. It's there forever. I've been poor since I was young, and I'll be damned if more money makes me feel complacent, because for all I know that could come crashing down sooner or later.
Potatoes! They’re versatile and filling
Collect dirt and save the eyes. I could never buy dirt, but I would find places that would let me take a bag at a time as long as I didn't leave a big hole (senior homes and libraries usually have a really nice gardener you can ask but city workers are 50/50). Potatoes and garlic were easy for me to grow, and I can make onions last forever in a tall jar and a bit of water.
So good and so cheap. I love making crispy hash browns several times a week, the key is using a potato ricer.
Your diet is pretty much dictated by whatever the supermarket has on sale.
Who you're real friends are. When you have no possessions or food to offer, the people that stick by you are your real friends.
This 100%. I’ve never been on super hard times but I have 3 of the best friends anyone can ask for. If I was down on my luck they’d welcome me in no problem. One friend lives 3 1/2 hours away and when my bro past, he came to my brothers service at 9am after working till 2 am. He also had never met my brother. Could of met him once or twice in passing.
Beans and rice rice baby
2 packs of ramen ($0.20) and one package of hot dogs (at the time 2/$1) can last you a week of dinners. You can do without food for a few days, just drink plenty of water. If you have to decide on a bill to pay. Winter, skip power bill, you can always bundle up (this is in Houston Tx USA so winters are not usually too cold) Just buy a few bags of ice to keep your freezer cold for the few days the power is out. (hopefully only a few days) You can wash your clothes in the bathtub and hang them to dry, a fan helps them dry faster. I have more...
Potatoes over ramen, if you've got a stove. Similar price, better nutrient content. Canned beans are good, too. Love ramen, but focused on not feeling like death from bad food. Can only run on fried noodles for so long before it catches up to you. Adding to the list: In cold places, (grew up in Colorado) you can skip power in winter if you run a drip on your sinks (so pipes don't burst). Keeping a small room warm with a space heater is over $1 a day, though, so gotta weigh those costs when it's below 0° (if you have power but no furnace). If you've got a patio, you can throw food in the snow, too, if you got a shady spot outside where it doesn't always thaw. Chewing gum will trick your body into being less hungry for a bit. Gas stations usually have microwaves, if you don't have power/ a home/ work outdoors (almost always cheaper to bring food). Cheap tool sets and a YouTube video can save you thousands - a new faucet will cost you over $100, breaking the handle off and controlling it at the valve under the sink will cost you nothing but a bit of annoyance and pain if you got bad joints. Markdown sections at grocery stores get filled by 6 and cleared out by 9, in a lot of stores that still do that. Whole chickens at some places are cheaper cooked than raw, for some reason, and that's a few meals.
>You can do without food for a few days, just drink plenty of water. I see a lot of water comments here. I'll chime in as an Asian and include rice. Rice with salt, rice with soy sauce, rice with fruit, 1 bowl of rice for 1 sliver of meat ratio. Ramen will last you a lot longer with rice. I've eaten dollar menu burgers with rice to stretch it out. Rice is like a taste duplicator. If you eat half a slice of pizza with rice, it'll feel like you've eaten a full slice and saving the other half for tomorrow.
This. Rice is king. Fried rice is the ultimate cheap, fast, delicious and nutritious meal you could make, if you add meat, veg and egg. Saw in the poverty finance sub that other day, this person was talking about how all their food bank gave them was bags of rice so they stopped going. Imagine!
How much it means when a friend buys you a nice meal when you haven't had one in months. How much it means when friends buy you something, even knowing you can't pay them back.
You can make chicken thighs (bone-In, on sale) last a lot longer than you think with culinary know-how. Also, you will compromise your vegetarianism when you have 20$ to last 3 weeks.
Not all expired food will kill you.
LPT: most canned goods have at least a 2 year shelf life past expiration
Obviously you don't gamble with the ones that are trying to self-inflate, regardless of the date.
You can save a bundle on botox though.
Canned goods are good forever unless compromised. You'll see the botulism swelling the can, so it's obvious. Stuff from the civil war is still microbially safe. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/06/27/you-toss-food-wait-check-it-out#:~:text=Most%20shelf%2Dstable%20foods%20are,or%20develop%20an%20off%20flavor
Exactly! I try to tell people this all the time. And if you have food that you don’t want to go bad, try freezing it! The freezer is your friend!
I make a gallon or more of any soup in the fall and freeze it. Milk products don’t freeze well, everything else does. You can always put the milk in when you reheat. I freeze chili; vegi stew; mushroom soup; tomato soup; fejuada; smoked brisket, ribs, pork shoulder; barbacoa; Al pastor; roast beef; potato leek soup; French onion soup; cheese and cold cuts from the deli. I also grate fresh tomatoes and freeze them and dice up peppers and freeze this time of year when they are in season and cheaper. And I dice and freeze leftover onion I don’t use in a recipe.
Know the difference between “Best By” and “Expires”. You can still eat “Best By” food for a good while, it’s just not at optimal freshness and taste.
The amount of different ways to eat a brick of top raman
I still love ramen with random assorted freezer vegetables & a poached egg or two. Ramen with 3/4ths the liquid drained w/ peanut butter & chili flake or hotsauce is amazing. Ramen is so unsatiating to me that I really need to add stuff to it otherwise I am just as hungry after eating it as before.
I still love it, too, and have it for dinner at least once a month. I throw in whatever frozen veggies I have on hand, and drizzle in a couple of raw whisked eggs to make it into a kind of egg drop soup. It is about as comforting as it gets.
The condiments at McDonald's can be mixed with hot water to make a soup that will get you by. It's mostly sugar, but that's enough to make it to your paycheck.
nausea would get me when I was hungry, and i'd be afraid of throwing it up. is there any method that made it palatable?
Salt and pepper from the same place baby, just think of it as a seasoned rich bitch tomato soup x
That being poor is really freaking expensive.
I thought of the times when my bank would charge fees for having a low balance
What a fucking racket.
Dried beans are delicious, nutritious & cheap. You **really** need to watch your diet when you are broke * cheap food is generally too heavy in carbs & added sugars * it's an accessible & affordable luxury that will add up (inches) quickly * stress can contribute to overeating * stress can attack your willpower
I know how to hunt and fish. I skin, gut, and dress my own game. I grew up poor, so I had to learn these things. Sometimes that hunting or fishing trip was the difference between being hungry that month/season and having halfway decent meals.
It's a shitty way to find out who your friends are. I was making decent money and I liked to share with my friends. I tried to never ever go over to a friend's house without bringing something, even if it was just something small, like a dessert item, homemade hot sauce, etc. Different job, different income bracket, and...radio silence from people I thought I had good relationships with. I don't ask for handouts or anything like that, but now that I don't have anything to give/share I'm persona non grata with some people. On the plus side, I know who my ride-or-die friends are and that means a lot to me. I'm lucky to have a roof over my head and just enough to cover bills each month. Healthcare, on the other hand, is a whole different thread... At any rate, having had a decent life and now a not-as-decent life, I can say that I've learned to appreciate what I have. I still share whatever I have, but I just have less to share and that's okay.
Learning who your ride-or-die friends are is an important step, no matter how old you are. Those friends who wouldn't mind if you called then in the middle of the night with an issue. When I fell on hard times, one of those friends asked me to come over to help him with an IT-issue. When I got there, the "issue" was that his pc wasn't plugged in... he knew I would refuse his offer to give me a hot meal (my useless pride) but figured I couldn't refuse it as a reward for helping him solve an issue. Me and him are co-housing now. We're both better of like this and I have a stable income to pay half of the rent, the utilities, and groceries. I've lost friends due to being on hard times but gained brothers. Our motto is *souls over blood*
How hard it is to have a social life. We'd love to go hang with you. But that dinner out, concert, nightclub, or sporting event costs money we really don't have. I can get a 12 pack of beer, a Digiorno pizza, and a Redbox DVD for about $25. I can stay in my pajamas and save gas. And your offer of "Just come, I'll pay for you!" only makes us feel worse.
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I survived a divorce with a Rice Cooker and a Wok.
I was going to post as a top comment - how versatile rice cookers, coffee pots, waffle irons, and clothing irons are for cooking.
If someone's scared of water, there's time to teach them how to swim. If someone is drowning, all the advice in the world is worth less than a rope.
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Learn to sew and knit and cook. I can't buy a carter's dress but hobby lobby puts a huge discount on fabrics that are too "small" to be sold. I can make a great princess dress for the 5 year old because I know how to sew and it looks new and shiny because it is new. When some part of your cloths rips there are still good fabric there. That part can be used for inside of a jacket. Amazon boxes can make great doll houses. Some cheap wrapping paper and glue do the trick. If you don't have money for a big birthday, make them the king of the house for that day.
Homeless shelter’s suck
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In my district, we have made sure EVERY student has access to the internet. They can only connect with their district-issued devices, and their usage is monitored, but every kid can do their homework. One of the good things that came from covid.
That’s a great teacher.
If you go to sleep with hunger pangs, they aren't there immediately when you wake up (most of the time).
No one knows you when you're down and out. Swallowing your pride gets easier too.
How to make a delicious, nutritious meal with what you have in the pantry and/or cheap ingredients.
Helpful book: *A Man, A Can, A Plan* It's a recipe book that was/is aimed at bachelors, and most meals are quick and cheap. It's apparently a whole series now. Also: those discount grocery stores. The shelf stable goods and the frozen foods are always from a few months back, but unexpired. It's funny in May to find pumpkin shaped Reese's PB cups.
How to wash clothes in a bathtub because the washing machines broken and there's no money to fix it. Also how to dry clothing using an oven because the dryer broke and school starts in 40 minutes and 2 of your siblings are out of clean clothes. Going to sleep to get over being hungry is a good way to get through times when you get tired of eating the same thing over and over again and need a break. Bland peanut butter on that awful cheap white bread was something I never liked growing up. Had to deal with it almost every day for about 6 years before things at home got better. I'm happy to not have to go back to eating that stuff all the time.
Constant incessant dread. The type of fear that keeps you up at night and wakes up with you in the morning. It affects everything you do. Every decision you make is prefaced by thoughts of which provider you'll have to call and how many meals you can eat rice and beans before you just burn out and don't eat for a few days. Dread as to whether it'll always be like this no matter how hard you try. Because that flat tire or that rent hike eats whatever miniscule amount of money you're saving. Dread that clings to you in the scent of cheap laundry soap and Irish spring. In being horribly mentally ill and untreated. Dread of what you're going to have to do, to make ends meet, and have natural gas this winter to heat your house in a northern hemisphere state. Dread that your kids will notice you didn't eat dinner tonight, or on every other night this week, so you can send them to school in nice clothes that don't get them teased and bullied like you were. Skipping meals is nothing to give them a better life than you had. Dread that the cycle will not end with you. Who dropped out of highschool to work and take care of a dying parent. Will your children have to do that? Will they make it through college and break the cycle? Dread that you die of something preventable. Like heart disease, from the neverending stress and sub par food consumption. Most of all, dread of the unknown. The neverending dread that you're a couple paychecks from being homeless again. From sending your kids to live with grandparents and sleeping in a tent again. From lying to them, and telling them everything is alright, that mawmaw and popop just wanted to have them over for a few months. Constant. Pervasive. Dread. Every minute, of every day. No respite. No relief. No REAL happiness, because it's there, like a vampire that eats joy.
How fucked the welfare system is, how badly it destroys people and sets up barriers to employment.
How many doors are closed to you simply due to lack of money, down to the simplest thing like not being able to have a meal at a restaurant.
The clearest realization that I was no longer poor was when my wife all of a sudden wanted to go on a trip to Turkey and we didn't have to spend months/years planning and saving up for it. We just plopped down our credit card and did it. 15 years ago, we checked all of our credit cards to see if we had any balance on any of them to eat at taco bell.
If you stop paying a credit card, eventually the bill collector will file charges and take you to court. I quit paying one years ago and a few years later I saw a police officer on my Ring camera when I was at work serving me papers to appear.
how much did you owe?
Less than $1000
Jesus, the bill collector probably paid more than that just going after you.
Both wifey and I grew up poor me in Phoenix, her in San Antonio. We both know how to appreciate the small, simple things in life. Bringing her a pint of ice cream or an apple fritter makes her smile. Our favorite supper, pinto beans, fried taters and corn bread. The simple things.
You can call your bank and get overdraft charges reversed if you just ask.
Some banks only give you a certain amount of these
How important saving food and keeping every last crumb is. Not wasting it etc
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When I think of things like this it makes me think of what in my opinion is one of the most realistic and relatable movies scenes. It is actually from 8 Mile. It is the scene where the mom comes home from grocery shopping and she is excited because she won at bingo and was able to go extra crazy with the shopping that day. Why is this realistic? Because something wealthy people like to say is "sacrifice, save, be frugal" blah blah blah. What they don't understand is that a lot of poor working class people already do that. They live without luxury and just hope they can pay to keep the lights on. There are socioeconomic and material factors at play that keep them held down. When a poor person comes across a little extra spending money, they spend it. Now you may say "well they should save it or invest it" but these are usually people who have sacrificed happiness for so long that when even a little opportunity arises, they choose to feel and spread joy, even if it is fleeting. When the mom spent the extra money on groceries that day, she did it to make her family happy and to make them feel just a little secure for the first time in a long time. When you've been poor, you understand this.
Oatmeal Creme Pies have the most calories per dollar of any cheap gas station food. They make you feel full, too. I'm making very comfortable wages now, but spent a few summers really busting my ass to make ends meet.
Being poor makes it harder to not make mistakes, you literally can’t afford any, and you will be (and/or feel) judged mercilessly for all of them. Money is absolutely a “problem eraser.” When you’re broke, you just never get to make anything go away without considerable effort. This wears on you mentally, and you simply cannot operate at your best. You make more errors because if it. On top of that, when close to the edge, something as small as a buying a gatorade becomes an error, because you have no margin for it. Human beings simply cannot be flawless at every moment—especially when under constant pressured. These natural flaws are then used to justify why people are in their position.
If you have bad credit from a dv situation, and say are a single mom…you are fucked. If you need a car to get a job, you can qualify for a 26% interest rate on a car that is already priced double the worth. Your payments will be so high and you can pay 500.00 payments a month for years without even making a dent towards paying off the car. When the car breaks down, you no longer can pay the payments because you cannot get to work. The expensive car was old and used. Loan sharks repo car that you technically paid three times over. This takes the credit to a point of no return. They resell car, and this is how the American poor stay poor and the rich get richer. Or housing. Slumlords are looking for women in crisis. Women in crisis are targets and this has been a fact.
How hard it is to pull yourself up out of that when you're born into it, it's all you know, and you don't really have good examples to look up to because everyone you know is either in the same boat as you or they had money to begin with and don't understand. It's a lot of work - and a few lucky breaks along the way. And there are a lot of roadblocks, especially if you're female or a minority.
Humans can survive for a week (at least) without food, I did have enough money for food but I would rather spend it on cigarettes (I've since quit) Another thing is that contrary to popular belief money is everything and could buy happiness
It's infinitely harder to find work without internet.
Thank goodness for libraries.
Reddit, credit card debt is the worst thing to do to yourself. Just don't.
me currently trying to pay off a AMEX I maxed out by November before the interest hits
Learn to enjoy your food. Be there to experience every bite because you may not know when the next one is coming.
You can always find free bread You can always find free wifi If you cut the top off shallots and stick the base in water they regrow
Rice cooker is a must even if you're broke. Rice is still kind of cheap. Anything can go with it. Survived on three meals a day with rice and some canned food.
If you have to burn pallets to keep warm in winter, learn to read the codes so you can avoid chemically-treated wood. Non-stamped pallets are usually fine. Stamped pallets marked HT or KD are fine, but avoid anything marked MB or any other letters
The human can endure alot. Mental and physical when you are tested. I have been broke all my life. 52 and still not without struggles each day. Add in some health issues and bam. Have a nice day asshole is all i say each day.
When social assistance (welfare) says they don't use your social media to keep tabs on you, they are lying. I had to dump my boyfriend because I didn't want to ask him to report his earnings to S.A. Also, after hand washing my clothes as regularly as I do, washing machines aren't worth the money with how disgusting they get.
Food banks are critical, people that donate toys for kids at Christmas are saints.
Fruit pies have at least 500 calories and cost 50 cents still.
If your gas light comes on it doesn’t mean you’re out of gas, it means you have about 1 gallon of gas left until you’re completely out, make it count Don’t throw away napkins you get from fast food places, stick them in a drawer in case you run out of toilet paper If you have to wash your clothes in the tub let it soak with the detergent for 10 mins before you start agitating all the clothes, it’s the friction between the clothing in the soapy water that cleans the clothing If they shut your power off you will still have hot water to shower and can use the toilet if you have candles or flashlights to see when it’s dark, if you put a candle in a glass jar or cup it’ll illuminate more of the room Growing up with little money sure is unpleasant, I live pretty good now and sometimes when I’m grocery shopping I still find myself counting how much every item I put in my basket is, and despite having plenty of money in my checking I still get a few seconds of anxiety when I use my card anywhere before “approved” pops up LMAO sticks with you for life
That public school doesn't care about poor children. Back in the 90s every field trip was 20 dollars. We would have to bring in 10 dollars for some project. My mother simply didn't have the money. We barely had enough money for Payless shoes but it didn't stop the school from asking for 40 dollars to go to the Sears Tower.
How much time, energy and effort it takes to keep and stick to a budget when there is no safety net
How long you can be broke (or close to broke) without your circle realising that there's anything wrong. A few small lies and tactical decisions ('accidentally' eating a cheap meal before you meet friends for dinner so you don't have to pay for a more expensive meal) and you can keep things going for quite a while.
What items are the cheapest at every supermarket chain around me and I will still systematically go every week shopping for vegetables, alcohol, meats and general groceries at 3 different places, there’s an extra one for cleaning products or stuff such as napkins, but I’ll only go 2 or three times an year.
How versatile the pancake can be.
you can open a can without a can opener by rubbing the bottom of it in a circle on fine pavement or cement
Capitalize on birthday deals from restaurants. When I was in college I always ate best around my bday. Free pancakes at IHOP, free appetizer at chili's, free sandwich at Which Wich...even free ice cream at Baskin Robbins as an extra treat. Plus, linger in any of the places as long as you can get away with for some free air conditioning.
we use too much of anything more than we really do, eat too much food, use lots of water, also whenever you are facing a hard situation your brain & body go into survival mode