3 ms·

Oh fuck this shit, I was poor and I saved by buying rice in bulk and toilet paper in bulk, and everything as cheap as possible. Seriously, you have to be reall

by fleitz 11y ago

Oh fuck this shit, I was poor and I saved by buying rice in bulk and toilet paper in bulk, and everything as cheap as possible. Seriously, you have to be really fucked up to not be able to put away $25 for rice. If you're poor and not taking advantage of every savings you can I really don't know how one expects to become not poor. If you're so poor as to not be able to afford a large pack of toilet paper, sacrifice one of your dish rags, I assure you they can be washed for long enough for you to save the extra cash to afford a large pack of toilet paper. Want to know what my 'rich' neighbors who have a BMW in their drive way do on weekends? Collect cans from their neighbors trash. I can only assume at one point that they were exceedingly poor. Also, almost everyone I know who was/is poor also smokes. Poor people are mostly poor because they make really bad financial decisions, yes its fucking hard and it seriously takes its toll on you but eventually you get so tired of it you stop making the decisions that keep you poor. I have never eaten so well, or been so healthy as when I was poor. I walked everywhere, never ate out, spent time with friends, meat was like dessert, and you'd buy the cheapest cuts and marinate and cook them until they were delicious and dropping off the bone. The only thing I really had a problem with was saving $200 for a decent pair of shoes that would last. Instead I just bought cheap shoes from the thrift store, the nice thing about being poor is you generally don't have anything else to do, so you check veevies every other day. Again if I wanted to solve this problem I know full well I could have stopped smoking and in two months I'd have cash for shoes.

anexprogrammer 11y ago
Wow. Not everything is clear black and white you know. Your single experience does not cover everyone else's. Let's ignore any depression or anything else stemming from long term poverty that makes things worse, or at least less clear cut. > they make really bad financial decisions A lot of the time they KNOW they are making poor financial decisions. Imagine there is barely enough money coming in each month, the kids need to eat, the cooker just broke, the mortgage/rent is due, and you don't have money to solve all of those. So, make a sensible financial decision please, one that is not going to worsen your lot. A second hand cooker is only £50 Sorry kids, no more hot food? Just instant noodles for all for a week, so we can buy the old cooker? Sometimes the choice is between a poor decision, a bad decision and a really stupid one. The thing about poverty, especially long term poverty, is it completely takes away your ability to survive an emergency. That could be as simple as an appliance or transport failure. It's the crisis that generally fucks people up. The first three months, whilst the budgets remain credible and intact, is something any fool can cope with. Most parents I've known would put themselves into penury and risk malnutrition to keep half decent food in their kids' bellies daily. Oftentimes knowing full well, and with due consideration, that they are making their future a little (perhaps a lot) harder. And just in case you are thinking, but why have kids if so poor? Maybe there was a good job when the kids arrived. Before the recession, accident, or before dad died or whatever. Yeah, it's easy man.
PhasmaFelis 11y ago
> If you're so poor as to not be able to afford a large pack of toilet paper, sacrifice one of your dish rags If you assume that the really poor own a dish rag, let alone multiple spares, you may not understand the kind of poverty we're talking about here.

by fleitz 11y ago

anexprogrammer 11y ago

Wow. Not everything is clear black and white you know. Your single experience does not cover everyone else's. Let's ignore any depression or anything else stemming from long term poverty that makes things worse, or at least less clear cut. > they make really bad financial decisions A lot of the time they KNOW they are making poor financial decisions. Imagine there is barely enough money coming in each month, the kids need to eat, the cooker just broke, the mortgage/rent is due, and you don't have money to solve all of those. So, make a sensible financial decision please, one that is not going to worsen your lot. A second hand cooker is only £50 Sorry kids, no more hot food? Just instant noodles for all for a week, so we can buy the old cooker? Sometimes the choice is between a poor decision, a bad decision and a really stupid one. The thing about poverty, especially long term poverty, is it completely takes away your ability to survive an emergency. That could be as simple as an appliance or transport failure. It's the crisis that generally fucks people up. The first three months, whilst the budgets remain credible and intact, is something any fool can cope with. Most parents I've known would put themselves into penury and risk malnutrition to keep half decent food in their kids' bellies daily. Oftentimes knowing full well, and with due consideration, that they are making their future a little (perhaps a lot) harder. And just in case you are thinking, but why have kids if so poor? Maybe there was a good job when the kids arrived. Before the recession, accident, or before dad died or whatever. Yeah, it's easy man.

PhasmaFelis 11y ago

> If you're so poor as to not be able to afford a large pack of toilet paper, sacrifice one of your dish rags If you assume that the really poor own a dish rag, let alone multiple spares, you may not understand the kind of poverty we're talking about here.