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I don't understand #15: "The couple and their three children are living in a budget motel while they save enough money for deposit on a new rental home, but are

I don't understand #15: "The couple and their three children are living in a budget motel while they save enough money for deposit on a new rental home, but are finding it difficult as they pay nearly $1200 a month for the motel room." $1200 a month is a budget hotel? That'd almost buy you a one-way plane ticket PLUS a month of rent in a decent apartment in small-town Iowa. (Where I live, there's "now hiring" signs all around town, too. Sure, most are not high-paying jobs, but they'd make enough to pay rent and eat.) Sometimes I think a number of these hardship stories I see in the media are more a case of people not wanting to let go of their city or their old lives and so making it worse on themselves. I suppose that's natural to some extent, but wouldn't it be better to help these people understand their new reality and how they could address it than to indulge their feelings of entitlement to their old standard of living?

menloparkbum 18y ago
$1200 a month is a budget hotel? Yes. That works out to $40 per night. Even in small towns hotels generally cost more than that. That'd almost buy you a one-way plane ticket PLUS a month of rent $1200 would not cover a one-way plane ticket from Sac to Iowa for a woman and three children. Moving a family is hard even when you have the finances. When the family is broke it is next to impossible.
- BigZaphod 18y ago
  Well there's cheaper ways to go than by plane. (I admit I also forgot it was a larger family when I was writing that part, so yeah $1200 wouldn't cover that all at once.. at least not by air.) The point is, they are in a bad spot. They need to fix it. This might involve selling everything they own, using the house down payment they've been saving up, and riding a greyhound bus to somewhere cheaper. Of course it's hard. Life is hard. I guess my point is, just because it sucks and it's hard doesn't mean they deserve to get a free pass from the truth of their situation.
blhack 18y ago
Where are you at in IA? /iowan that fled to phoenix and now regrets it..

menloparkbum 18y ago

$1200 a month is a budget hotel? Yes. That works out to $40 per night. Even in small towns hotels generally cost more than that. That'd almost buy you a one-way plane ticket PLUS a month of rent $1200 would not cover a one-way plane ticket from Sac to Iowa for a woman and three children. Moving a family is hard even when you have the finances. When the family is broke it is next to impossible.

BigZaphod 18y ago
Well there's cheaper ways to go than by plane. (I admit I also forgot it was a larger family when I was writing that part, so yeah $1200 wouldn't cover that all at once.. at least not by air.) The point is, they are in a bad spot. They need to fix it. This might involve selling everything they own, using the house down payment they've been saving up, and riding a greyhound bus to somewhere cheaper. Of course it's hard. Life is hard. I guess my point is, just because it sucks and it's hard doesn't mean they deserve to get a free pass from the truth of their situation.

blhack 18y ago

Where are you at in IA? /iowan that fled to phoenix and now regrets it..