> In the case you mention, how much of that $1600 is spent of optional niceties and how much on actual necessities? I know of people (friends) who can take $100

> In the case you mention, how much of that $1600 is spent of optional niceties and how much on actual necessities? I know of people (friends) who can take $100 and buy 2 or 3 weeks of food for a family of 4. The person I'm talking about does that. I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise. She feeds her family as cheaply as possible, pays the rent and the bills and the gas, and still struggles to save enough to keep the kids in clothes and school supplies. If the car breaks down, or someone gets sick, it's a disaster. These are just numbers off the top of my head, but if you take home $1600/month and pay $800 in rent, $200 for gas and electric and water and a landline phone, $200 car payment, and $200 for gas to get to work, you aren't going to be saving much no matter how cheaply you eat. Budgeting is important, but it can't create money where there is none. > If the area you are in does not allow such planning, then it is time to move away to a better place. Do you know how much it costs to move? Even aside from the monetary cost of transporting your possessions, and the difficulty of finding anyone who will rent to someone with no savings and little income, a single parent working 40-60 hours a week doesn't have the time to travel to a new city and search for a home and a job there. The kind of jobs that poor people do don't advertise on LinkedIn or let you interview over the phone; you need to walk in and fill out paperwork. You said you've been poor, but I don't think you grasp just how poor many people are in America.