5 ms·

It’s really not. Even in a low cost of living area, $1.2K is about one month of basic living expenses.

by jointpdf 7y ago

beamatronic 7y ago
...which is a huge windfall. Has anyone on here ever actually been poor before? Genuinely curious.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  I grew up in a poor family. Not poor enough that we ever went hungry, but that was partly because of the generosity of friends/family who would sometimes buy us groceries. Us kids certainly never got new clothes (there was a steady stream of hand-me-downs from the older kids and other families we knew). Being self-employed, my dad's income was irregular and often came in $5000 chunks. You might call that a windfall, but my parents were disciplined enough with their money that it automatically went into a savings account for the next mortgage payments, or to pay off credit card debt[1]. We weren't suddenly going out to eat when a cheque came in (in fact, when I was 10 or so, I remember helping my mom enter receipts into her big accounting book, and the total restaurant expenses for the entire year was something like $30). I don't think we were ever officially under the poverty line, but with a family of 11 in a high cost of living area, the money had to go a lot farther than normal. [1]: Unfortunately, they weren't disciplined enough to build up and maintain an emergency fund to carry them through rough times, so they relied on a low-interest credit card for essentials way too often.
rwmj 7y ago
You're thinking about this wrong: consider it terms of how much floating cash you have available. If you are paid $2000/mo but pay out $1800/mo in living expenses (rent, bills and food), then you have $200/mo to spend on fun. Then you receive a check for $1200, that's 6 months of fun in one go. If you are paid weekly, the amount of cash you have in your pocket might only be $50, and then only on a Friday night, so $1200 looks like an extraordinary windfall.
jointpdf 7y ago
Re: rwmj I used to do taxes for extremely poor (<$10K yearly income) people in Michigan as a volunteer thing. For most of them, I could get the ~$3.5-5K earned income tax credit. A huge windfall? No, these people need that money for basic expenses like feeding their kids. I can guarantee you these same folks—and the millions that suddenly lost their jobs—are not looking at a $1200 check and thinking, “sweet, 6 months of weed money!”. But yeah, I’m “thinking about it wrong”.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

It’s really not. Even in a low cost of living area, $1.2K is about one month of basic living expenses.

beamatronic 7y ago

...which is a huge windfall. Has anyone on here ever actually been poor before? Genuinely curious.

frosted-flakes 7y ago
I grew up in a poor family. Not poor enough that we ever went hungry, but that was partly because of the generosity of friends/family who would sometimes buy us groceries. Us kids certainly never got new clothes (there was a steady stream of hand-me-downs from the older kids and other families we knew). Being self-employed, my dad's income was irregular and often came in $5000 chunks. You might call that a windfall, but my parents were disciplined enough with their money that it automatically went into a savings account for the next mortgage payments, or to pay off credit card debt[1]. We weren't suddenly going out to eat when a cheque came in (in fact, when I was 10 or so, I remember helping my mom enter receipts into her big accounting book, and the total restaurant expenses for the entire year was something like $30). I don't think we were ever officially under the poverty line, but with a family of 11 in a high cost of living area, the money had to go a lot farther than normal. [1]: Unfortunately, they weren't disciplined enough to build up and maintain an emergency fund to carry them through rough times, so they relied on a low-interest credit card for essentials way too often.

rwmj 7y ago

You're thinking about this wrong: consider it terms of how much floating cash you have available. If you are paid $2000/mo but pay out $1800/mo in living expenses (rent, bills and food), then you have $200/mo to spend on fun. Then you receive a check for $1200, that's 6 months of fun in one go. If you are paid weekly, the amount of cash you have in your pocket might only be $50, and then only on a Friday night, so $1200 looks like an extraordinary windfall.

jointpdf 7y ago

Re: rwmj I used to do taxes for extremely poor (<$10K yearly income) people in Michigan as a volunteer thing. For most of them, I could get the ~$3.5-5K earned income tax credit. A huge windfall? No, these people need that money for basic expenses like feeding their kids. I can guarantee you these same folks—and the millions that suddenly lost their jobs—are not looking at a $1200 check and thinking, “sweet, 6 months of weed money!”. But yeah, I’m “thinking about it wrong”.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]