3 ms·

Indeed, this is an aspect of poverty often overlooked: when you have no money, everything is so much harder and more expensive. You can't just hop in the car a

by Dove 16y ago

Indeed, this is an aspect of poverty often overlooked: when you have no money, everything is so much harder and more expensive. You can't just hop in the car and go downtown for the cost of a little gas; you have to do something like dig up bus fare and wait at a stop for two hours. Tossing a load in the washer instead of hauling it to the laundromat, dishwasher meaning a device rather than a person, buying and storing in bulk because you have an extra freezer. When you're poor, time and money saving devices like these sure would be nice. And then there's the neglect of routine car and house maintainence that becomes acute and expensive, doctor's bills when you couldn't even afford insurance, late fees for missed payments, credit cards that hike the rate on you when you become a "risk". Seems only the rich could ever afford to be poor. I don't know much about life on the cheap in the UK (which, from your references to nappies and TV licenses, I gather is where you're from). It sounds to me like you know what you're doing. Over here (in the US), if someone complained they didn't have enough money to eat healthy, I'd be awfully concerned. Unless you have an exotic notion of 'healthy' that involves concepts like organic food and complex carbohydrates, it really is pretty cheap to eat healthy. If you're so poor that you're giving up things like spaghetti, potatoes, rice, beans, carrots, cheese, and milk for ramen, and you've been doing it so long that it's impacting your energy and lifestyle, you're in a really bad way. Over here I'd encourage you to apply for EBT and look at local food banks. No shame in it. Helping people avoid that kind of poverty trap is what those programs are there for. There definitely is a level of poverty where the money saved starts to be destructive, and it sounds like you're in it. Sorry to hear that. Sorry to hear you're committed to a mortgate in the midst of that; that makes it hard to downsize, match your income, and take some of the pressure off. Mortgages and creative lifestyles can be a bad mix. I hope you get the cash flow going the right direction sometime soon.

megablast 16y ago
I am sorry, I don't agree with this at all. I have never had a car, I have never had a problem with laundromats, and I have never bought bulk amounts of food to store in a freezer. For almost a year, I didn't even have a fridge. These are not the reasons that people are poor, and they did not keep me poor. These DO NOT make it harder or more expensive to live. Most people I know do the washing once a week, whether they have a laundry or not. I can not conceive of a way in which washing ever day can make your life better or richer. Catching the bus actually makes things cheaper for you, no need for parking, insurance, gas, cars, etc... And bulk buying meat is not going to save you that much. There are a lot better things you can do for your diet that will save you money, and improve your health.
- nradov 16y ago
  And did you do all with a couple of small children?
- Retric 16y ago
  You seem to live cheaply so your best option is to probably find a higher paying job (or create one). Much of this advice if for people you make a lot but don't spend it well. Anyway, buying a large freezer can quickly pay for it's self if you have extra floor space. They are extremely energy efficient and can make it cost effective to travel to bulk stores like Costco occasionally and save significant amounts of money and time. Also you can store more than just meat in there, bread and other dry goods last far longer in a freezer.
- william-newman 16y ago
  When I was in high school, I travelled by city bus while holding two different ultra-low-end programming jobs. I think you are underrepresenting the advantages of having a car. If I expected to be earning and living on less than perhaps $12 an hour for an extended period of time, I would probably choose to go without a car, likely by moving someplace like Dallas TX (where I live now, and where the local wages vs. cost of living seem reasonably favorable) and renting an apartment very close to a bus line on a major suburban business artery. Judging from my high school experience, from many observations of foreigners living off their science grad school stipends, and from everything I've noticed in my years in Dallas, that'd work reasonably well. But doing without a car would constrain my life in important ways (including job options, education options, and general time efficiency) and I'd be very motivated to find economical ways to reduce the problem, e.g. sharing a car, or getting (and probably learning to maintain) an economical motorcycle.
- pbhjpbhj 16y ago
  >Catching the bus actually makes things cheaper for you, no need for parking, insurance, gas, cars, etc... Where do you live? Here the standard bus fare is £1.3 per journey. Travel to work alone would set us back at least 900 per year (I think more); though you can get about 1 journey in 30 free if you buy a season ticket (cashflow - argh!). Then there's weekly shopping trips - it's actually 2 journeys to our nearest supermarket as the bus routes aren't good, makes it cheaper to order delivery. I've walked carrying backpacks and baby before but it's a very big hill on the way back. We have to run a large car for work; wholesale stockists, deliveries, trips to venues all with equipment and materials. Given this basic cost is already in place then there is no way that we can make using the bus cheaper than the marginal cost of an additional car journey. Same goes for trains. Internal flights with budget airlines can be cheaper than driving. Even without having to run a car already it's quite a close call wrt buses - we had no car for a year, then got a scooter for a year (cheaper than buses and more versatile), then a van, now we have a family ... After our last car died and before we got a loan (family, yay!) through for the next car we took a trip out for a special meal by bus. It would have been 2 journeys ( it was 1.20 then, 6*1.20 = 7.20) but we walked the 30mins into town with our 4yo; journey time 2 hours to our nearest Frankie & Benny's. Of course I had to carry the lad most of the way home afterwards. Buses often annoy me as they whizz past me almost empty on my walk home (which follows the bus route) taunting me to spend the value of tomorrow's lunch.

by Dove 16y ago

megablast 16y ago

I am sorry, I don't agree with this at all. I have never had a car, I have never had a problem with laundromats, and I have never bought bulk amounts of food to store in a freezer. For almost a year, I didn't even have a fridge. These are not the reasons that people are poor, and they did not keep me poor. These DO NOT make it harder or more expensive to live. Most people I know do the washing once a week, whether they have a laundry or not. I can not conceive of a way in which washing ever day can make your life better or richer. Catching the bus actually makes things cheaper for you, no need for parking, insurance, gas, cars, etc... And bulk buying meat is not going to save you that much. There are a lot better things you can do for your diet that will save you money, and improve your health.

nradov 16y ago
And did you do all with a couple of small children?
Retric 16y ago
You seem to live cheaply so your best option is to probably find a higher paying job (or create one). Much of this advice if for people you make a lot but don't spend it well. Anyway, buying a large freezer can quickly pay for it's self if you have extra floor space. They are extremely energy efficient and can make it cost effective to travel to bulk stores like Costco occasionally and save significant amounts of money and time. Also you can store more than just meat in there, bread and other dry goods last far longer in a freezer.
william-newman 16y ago
When I was in high school, I travelled by city bus while holding two different ultra-low-end programming jobs. I think you are underrepresenting the advantages of having a car. If I expected to be earning and living on less than perhaps $12 an hour for an extended period of time, I would probably choose to go without a car, likely by moving someplace like Dallas TX (where I live now, and where the local wages vs. cost of living seem reasonably favorable) and renting an apartment very close to a bus line on a major suburban business artery. Judging from my high school experience, from many observations of foreigners living off their science grad school stipends, and from everything I've noticed in my years in Dallas, that'd work reasonably well. But doing without a car would constrain my life in important ways (including job options, education options, and general time efficiency) and I'd be very motivated to find economical ways to reduce the problem, e.g. sharing a car, or getting (and probably learning to maintain) an economical motorcycle.
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
>Catching the bus actually makes things cheaper for you, no need for parking, insurance, gas, cars, etc... Where do you live? Here the standard bus fare is £1.3 per journey. Travel to work alone would set us back at least 900 per year (I think more); though you can get about 1 journey in 30 free if you buy a season ticket (cashflow - argh!). Then there's weekly shopping trips - it's actually 2 journeys to our nearest supermarket as the bus routes aren't good, makes it cheaper to order delivery. I've walked carrying backpacks and baby before but it's a very big hill on the way back. We have to run a large car for work; wholesale stockists, deliveries, trips to venues all with equipment and materials. Given this basic cost is already in place then there is no way that we can make using the bus cheaper than the marginal cost of an additional car journey. Same goes for trains. Internal flights with budget airlines can be cheaper than driving. Even without having to run a car already it's quite a close call wrt buses - we had no car for a year, then got a scooter for a year (cheaper than buses and more versatile), then a van, now we have a family ... After our last car died and before we got a loan (family, yay!) through for the next car we took a trip out for a special meal by bus. It would have been 2 journeys ( it was 1.20 then, 6*1.20 = 7.20) but we walked the 30mins into town with our 4yo; journey time 2 hours to our nearest Frankie & Benny's. Of course I had to carry the lad most of the way home afterwards. Buses often annoy me as they whizz past me almost empty on my walk home (which follows the bus route) taunting me to spend the value of tomorrow's lunch.