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There is no way rare situations like that really add up to that much savings. Especially since imported products are absurdly cheap now. There are plenty of che

There is no way rare situations like that really add up to that much savings. Especially since imported products are absurdly cheap now. There are plenty of cheap goods that are roughly the same value as their much more expensive counterparts. For every think like workboots or tools, there are things like clothing or kitchgoods were quality doesn't save you money. A bigger issue is just poor longterm thinking. Poor people will buy a six pack of toilet paper for 3 bucks instead of buying 24 for 9. Sometimes it's not even lack of longterm, thinking, they may need that extra six bucks or they'd miss another payment and incur 15 dollar late fees. And of course impulse control. We all know people who live paycheck to paycheck, but if they got some extra money they'd spend it on absurd shit. Not even stuff like booze, but like schlocky walmart stuff. I don't blame them, you can't really save your way out of poverty anyway. Might as well YOLO it.

steveklabnik 11y ago
> There is no way rare situations like that really add up to that much savings. It's not rare situations: it's everything. Also, take this particular cost and multiply it by the number of kids. This is just one particular example. Others have mentioned related situations like emergencies, which can have even higher dollar amounts. > A bigger issue is just poor longterm thinking. Stuff like this only works if you have the space to store it. My family did, luckily, but before we moved out of the small apartments we started with, we didn't really have the room.
- rhino369 11y ago
  But it's not everything. Goods are a pretty small part of a typical budget (rent, healthcare, food, and transport) are almost all of most low income budgets. And most goods aren't like quality workboots. You can a steak knife at walmart for nearly free. Or you buy some expensive one. Sure the later is better, but you'll never have to replace the walmart one. It's not going to break. You can go buy clothing at goodwill. It's not going to last appreciably longer than new clothes bought at H&M.
  - steveklabnik 11y ago
    I don't think that it maps nearly as cleanly as you'd think. For example, my family didn't have rent: we had a farm. Well, it wasn't until after my childhood that we paid the land off, so we had rent in that sense, but not as it relates to the actual housing, which was a single-wide trailer. Couldn't afford a double-wide. The roof of the trailer starts leaking? Same deal, trailers are not exactly known for being quality housing. Water pump breaks? Need a new one, or you don't have running water. Healthcare? One of my medications as a child went from prescription to OTC, and we could no longer afford it, so I couldn't get it anymore. Wasn't life-threatening or anything, but shit happens. Food? Bad food is cheaper than good food, there's a reason Whole Foods is nicknamed Whole Paycheck. Living in a rural area made it easier on us personally, but for a family living in a city, it'd work that way. Transport? You can't afford a good car, so it breaks down more often, exact same as the boots. And so on, and so on...
    - rhino369 11y ago
      You are no longer arguing that being poor is more expensive, but rather that living is expensive and the poor can't afford it. I certainly agree.
      - steveklabnik 11y ago
        I am not, but I doubt we'll come to an agreement, so let's stop here. :) The semantics aren't really that important, frankly.
    - uremog 11y ago
      Just to add, really poor people can't afford to shop for sales. Right now, I have all kinds of stuff that will never go bad and I can use eventually, that I bought on sale (paper goods, soap, etc), sitting in my basement. And I haven't bought rice not-on-sale in forever, because I can afford to find a sale and buy a bunch at once.

steveklabnik 11y ago

> There is no way rare situations like that really add up to that much savings. It's not rare situations: it's everything. Also, take this particular cost and multiply it by the number of kids. This is just one particular example. Others have mentioned related situations like emergencies, which can have even higher dollar amounts. > A bigger issue is just poor longterm thinking. Stuff like this only works if you have the space to store it. My family did, luckily, but before we moved out of the small apartments we started with, we didn't really have the room.

rhino369 11y ago
But it's not everything. Goods are a pretty small part of a typical budget (rent, healthcare, food, and transport) are almost all of most low income budgets. And most goods aren't like quality workboots. You can a steak knife at walmart for nearly free. Or you buy some expensive one. Sure the later is better, but you'll never have to replace the walmart one. It's not going to break. You can go buy clothing at goodwill. It's not going to last appreciably longer than new clothes bought at H&M.
- steveklabnik 11y ago
  I don't think that it maps nearly as cleanly as you'd think. For example, my family didn't have rent: we had a farm. Well, it wasn't until after my childhood that we paid the land off, so we had rent in that sense, but not as it relates to the actual housing, which was a single-wide trailer. Couldn't afford a double-wide. The roof of the trailer starts leaking? Same deal, trailers are not exactly known for being quality housing. Water pump breaks? Need a new one, or you don't have running water. Healthcare? One of my medications as a child went from prescription to OTC, and we could no longer afford it, so I couldn't get it anymore. Wasn't life-threatening or anything, but shit happens. Food? Bad food is cheaper than good food, there's a reason Whole Foods is nicknamed Whole Paycheck. Living in a rural area made it easier on us personally, but for a family living in a city, it'd work that way. Transport? You can't afford a good car, so it breaks down more often, exact same as the boots. And so on, and so on...
  - rhino369 11y ago
    You are no longer arguing that being poor is more expensive, but rather that living is expensive and the poor can't afford it. I certainly agree.
    - steveklabnik 11y ago
      I am not, but I doubt we'll come to an agreement, so let's stop here. :) The semantics aren't really that important, frankly.
  - uremog 11y ago
    Just to add, really poor people can't afford to shop for sales. Right now, I have all kinds of stuff that will never go bad and I can use eventually, that I bought on sale (paper goods, soap, etc), sitting in my basement. And I haven't bought rice not-on-sale in forever, because I can afford to find a sale and buy a bunch at once.