4 ms·

I grew up on welfare, in a single parent home. Parent chainsmoked 2 packs a day, which barely left enough money for decent food let alone toilet paper. And yet,

I grew up on welfare, in a single parent home. Parent chainsmoked 2 packs a day, which barely left enough money for decent food let alone toilet paper. And yet, somehow, we stocked up on toilet paper when it was on sale.

lotharbot 11y ago
I have three people I point to for how different the experience can be. One friend was living on disability (about $570/month) and food stamps (about $140/month), in a group home. His one "luxury" was he'd buy GI-Joe figurines every month, for about $20. At one point he asked me to take him to the store because he wasn't going to be able to walk the 10+ blocks that day. As he was shopping, I realized he had something like 30 pounds of meat in his cart and almost nothing else. I told him to put half of it back and add a bag of potatoes, and that whenever he wanted to cook meat, cook half as much as he normally would and replace the rest with potatoes. It was life-changing for him -- he was able to eat every day, and had enough money left over to start buying things like toilet paper in bulk. I've since lost track of him, and I'm sure he's still poor, but he's a more secure grade of poor than he had been. Another friend was a divorced mom, recently remarried to a disabled man. She's unable to handle a full-time job, but works a few days a week as a substitute teacher. Between disability, child support, and work she makes maybe $1500 a month. She's always bought in bulk, usually splitting orders with her parents and siblings who live in the same complex. The only real escape from poverty she has is to recover from psychological trauma to the point that she can work full time. Third is a young couple, both just turned 20, and their son is 3 years old. He's had adequate work for a while, but hides financial information from her, they both have expensive phones they use for things my old prepaid Moto X can do for a lot lower price, and they both have a tendency to eat fast food even though he works at a grocery store that has a good selection and good prices. The two things that have kept them from disaster for the past year: I let them live in my basement for a token amount of rent that I stopped collecting after a few months, and his grandparents have helped them pay off a couple of surprise expenses. She recently found work, and with two incomes they're able to afford their own place fairly comfortably, but for a while there it looked like they were going to get into a bad cycle like the one detailed in the article.

lotharbot 11y ago

I have three people I point to for how different the experience can be. One friend was living on disability (about $570/month) and food stamps (about $140/month), in a group home. His one "luxury" was he'd buy GI-Joe figurines every month, for about $20. At one point he asked me to take him to the store because he wasn't going to be able to walk the 10+ blocks that day. As he was shopping, I realized he had something like 30 pounds of meat in his cart and almost nothing else. I told him to put half of it back and add a bag of potatoes, and that whenever he wanted to cook meat, cook half as much as he normally would and replace the rest with potatoes. It was life-changing for him -- he was able to eat every day, and had enough money left over to start buying things like toilet paper in bulk. I've since lost track of him, and I'm sure he's still poor, but he's a more secure grade of poor than he had been. Another friend was a divorced mom, recently remarried to a disabled man. She's unable to handle a full-time job, but works a few days a week as a substitute teacher. Between disability, child support, and work she makes maybe $1500 a month. She's always bought in bulk, usually splitting orders with her parents and siblings who live in the same complex. The only real escape from poverty she has is to recover from psychological trauma to the point that she can work full time. Third is a young couple, both just turned 20, and their son is 3 years old. He's had adequate work for a while, but hides financial information from her, they both have expensive phones they use for things my old prepaid Moto X can do for a lot lower price, and they both have a tendency to eat fast food even though he works at a grocery store that has a good selection and good prices. The two things that have kept them from disaster for the past year: I let them live in my basement for a token amount of rent that I stopped collecting after a few months, and his grandparents have helped them pay off a couple of surprise expenses. She recently found work, and with two incomes they're able to afford their own place fairly comfortably, but for a while there it looked like they were going to get into a bad cycle like the one detailed in the article.