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Just to be clear, this is a story of a person who has been traumatised by a combination of the worse parts of US and Chinese poverty. It's not a nice story, at

Just to be clear, this is a story of a person who has been traumatised by a combination of the worse parts of US and Chinese poverty. It's not a nice story, at all... Also, the two websites she runs, as linked at the bottom of the page - one of them is a blog/content site about living frugally, one is about making money any way you can. They're part of the same problem that the article (probably inadvertently?) illustrates.

jlawson 7y ago
Is that really the worst part of US poverty? I didn't see anything about drug addiction, abuse, prostitution, or prison. Chinese poverty, I suspect, gets far worse than that. Just seems like straightforward frugality, and she probably did far better than her ancestors going back a thousand years (or ever). Chinese premodern poverty was always worse than European.
danielvinson 7y ago
Yes, this is being overlooked by most readers... this article is a woman plainly describing her mental illness.
- javagram 7y ago
  How is this mental illness? Unless she’s actually harming herself by living frugally and taking care of her parents I don’t see this as illness.
- StillBored 7y ago
  Hard to describe that as mental illness, I might go the other way and say people so consumed by their social status that they throw away their perfectly functional year old iphone/cloths/cars/etc to buy the latest version are suffering far more harmful mental illness. And that might just be the surface, people who throw their lives away going into massive debt to buy the largest house and nicest car they can afford are clearly harming themselves. Its an ugly cycle, people who check out of it are definitely not mentally ill IMHO. Average US consumerism is an addiction.
  - atomical 7y ago
    > My husband and I never really discussed the fact that I’d be supporting my parents. It was just a given > He doesn’t mind the way I want to live — he just goes along with it. > I once had a conversation with my husband about how if I died, he’d have to keep taking care of my parents. It’s a dark topic, I know, and he wasn’t thrilled about the idea. But he wouldn’t kick them out. > My dad is now retired, and when my mom retires she’ll move in with us too. The plan is to give them this house eventually, and get our own nearby. She says her parents aren't pleasant people. Imagine how her husband feels about dedicating all his future earnings towards their happiness. She thinks this is normal.
    - StillBored 7y ago
      Its getting a bit off topic, but in the US at least its still fairly common for children to take care of their parents in their last years. Particularly if ones parents aren't well off enough to afford some kind of senior living arrangement. Despite what you might think of medicare "Medicare doesn't cover custodial care, if it's the only care you need. Most nursing home care is Custodial care" https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/nursing-home-care https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/nursing-home-care Getting married basically means that if you haven't already discussed this there is a strong possibility that might end up living with your spouses parents during their last few years simply because its more convenient driving them to the doctor and generally taking care of them as they go downhill. About the only way you get out of this is if some other sibling is better off or has more free time, lives closer or any number of other situations.

jlawson 7y ago

Is that really the worst part of US poverty? I didn't see anything about drug addiction, abuse, prostitution, or prison. Chinese poverty, I suspect, gets far worse than that. Just seems like straightforward frugality, and she probably did far better than her ancestors going back a thousand years (or ever). Chinese premodern poverty was always worse than European.

danielvinson 7y ago

Yes, this is being overlooked by most readers... this article is a woman plainly describing her mental illness.

javagram 7y ago
How is this mental illness? Unless she’s actually harming herself by living frugally and taking care of her parents I don’t see this as illness.
StillBored 7y ago
Hard to describe that as mental illness, I might go the other way and say people so consumed by their social status that they throw away their perfectly functional year old iphone/cloths/cars/etc to buy the latest version are suffering far more harmful mental illness. And that might just be the surface, people who throw their lives away going into massive debt to buy the largest house and nicest car they can afford are clearly harming themselves. Its an ugly cycle, people who check out of it are definitely not mentally ill IMHO. Average US consumerism is an addiction.
- atomical 7y ago
  > My husband and I never really discussed the fact that I’d be supporting my parents. It was just a given > He doesn’t mind the way I want to live — he just goes along with it. > I once had a conversation with my husband about how if I died, he’d have to keep taking care of my parents. It’s a dark topic, I know, and he wasn’t thrilled about the idea. But he wouldn’t kick them out. > My dad is now retired, and when my mom retires she’ll move in with us too. The plan is to give them this house eventually, and get our own nearby. She says her parents aren't pleasant people. Imagine how her husband feels about dedicating all his future earnings towards their happiness. She thinks this is normal.
  - StillBored 7y ago
    Its getting a bit off topic, but in the US at least its still fairly common for children to take care of their parents in their last years. Particularly if ones parents aren't well off enough to afford some kind of senior living arrangement. Despite what you might think of medicare "Medicare doesn't cover custodial care, if it's the only care you need. Most nursing home care is Custodial care" https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/nursing-home-care https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/nursing-home-care Getting married basically means that if you haven't already discussed this there is a strong possibility that might end up living with your spouses parents during their last few years simply because its more convenient driving them to the doctor and generally taking care of them as they go downhill. About the only way you get out of this is if some other sibling is better off or has more free time, lives closer or any number of other situations.