Dirt poor?

[Radar]

Dirt poor eh? I'm perpetually broke, but I remember when I was in college, I was working 3 part time jobs, but couldn't keep up the pace. I quickly ran out of money and having realized I am a libertarian I would not take government loans or grants so I had to drop out. My father had money but wouldn't give me any. I ended up in a weekly apartment in a bad area of Las Vegas with this punk rocker friend of mine and his girlfriend. If we were one hour late on the rent they put a lock on the doorknob so we couldn't get in. We broke the lock on the window so we could sneak in and sleep at night until we could pay rent.

I remember having to "dine and ditch" for a 49 cent breakfast at the El Cortez once. We would donate plasma twice a week so we could eat. Eventually we got jobs at the plasma place. I later got a job at a crappy second run movie theater and the popcorn helped me survive for a long time.

It really sucked for me because at least he had a girlfriend. They'd pin up a blanket and have sex on the other side of it which only made me feel even more like a failure.

But no matter how poor I was, or how starving I was, I would never take any money from the government because I'm not a thief. In fact I even went back and paid for that 49 cent breakfast later.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally posted by Radar
I would never take any money from the government because I'm not a thief.

How would that make you a thief?

[warch]

Post it baby. We all need a bit of pain free.

I grew up middle class, Dad 2 jobs, Mom 1. Any poverty was by choice as a young adult, and is a main reason why there are no kidlets in Warchville. (Remember I went and got that dern Art History degree to my parent's chagrin.) My rock bottom though was in the early 80s, giving plasma, ugh, for bus money to get to work. The poverty was hardly romantic.

I liked to find work at places that would feed you- small restaurants or hotels were great. I spent all of my 20s and most of my 30s with short term health insurance at best and consider myself so damn lucky nothing too terrible went down. I did some bartering for stuff and services, had my wisdom teeth out as part of a med study, at one point the Mr. found a great Dr. that was a music fan and would swap treatment for lessons. I'm big on thrift stores and reusing stuff. I can cook large batches of great, cheap, peasant food. Beans and rice.
There was no way that I could handle a classic office job on a permanent basis and the lack of $ was my choice. Now, some would probably consider me poor today, but to me, even with one rusty 20 yr old car... being able to take the Mr. to a physical therapist and get my teeth cleaned for a modest charge and hangout in a crumbling house we dont rent but will eventually own in 15 years... it feels oh so flush.

[glatt]

I think "poor" is really more a state of mind than just a condition of how full your wallet happens to be at a particular point in time.

For me, being poor has more to do with a feeling of hopelessness. That things are not going to get any better any time soon. There were times after I graduated college that I had zero money. I was in debt up to my eyeballs with no income, living in a shitty basement apartment, eating crap. But I knew it was just temporary. Not because I had anything specific lined up, but because I knew that I had things going for me, and that things would work out somehow. I was young, and carefree.

So, yes. There were times that I was below the official poverty level, and I lived accordingly. But even though I was technically poor, I didn't feel poor. If anything, I felt inconvenienced by a lack of money.

Now, I am the sole provider for a family of four. I have significantly more income than back then. But I feel poorer, because I don't see a potential for more in the future. I see that I'm just getting by now, and that expenses will rise in the future, and my salary probably won't be rising enough to meet them.

Don't get me wrong. I have a great life, and no complaints. It's just that in the financial area, I don't have the optimism and carefree feeling I used to have when I was young but poor.

When I was poor, I didn't feel poor. And now that I'm not poor, I do feel poor.

[jaguar]

Interesting opinion glatt.

I have to admit, compared to most of these posts I've had it pretty damn easy, even at the worst of times.

I've lived on both ends of the scale now, being poor sucks, being in rich society sucks.

[glatt]

Originally posted by jaguar
Interesting opinion glatt.

Yeah. Well, maybe I just don't remember how bad it was and am all nostalgic and stuff.

But I really never felt bad back then for having no money. Maybe I wasn't poor enough to feel it.

[Clodfobble]

For me, glatt, the feeling bad about being poor comes because there are other people involved. I don't mind making sacrifices myself, and I'm very good at living very cheaply--when I was poor in college I knew it, but like you said, I didn't feel bad about my situation. But when spouses and kids became involved, suddenly I was very aware of how my situation stacked up with the "average" and felt bad about where I was.

[kerosene]

Perth and I went through a time before we were married where I had a budget of $8.00 for groceries per month. We use to fight over the sesame chicken flavored ramen and I made fried potatoes almost every night. This was about 5 years ago.

[warch]

Ok, who's noshed on the dried ramen noodles when there was no hot water or no time? Scavenged restaurant crackers? Other culinary strategies: A pal of mine talks of the delicate delights of wiener water soup. And of course Kraft dinner, aka ghetto noodles, made with water only. Umm.

Cheap ass Thai restaurant strategy: get some great veggie dish with some great sauce, like pad pak. eat half and take the rest home and use as starter flavor for a whole batch of soup to last youse the rest of the week. Add broth and any veggies you can find. or Ramen or pasta.

Who amongst us has put buffet food, gingerly wrapped in paper napkin, into their pockets or bag. Fess up.

[jinx]

Made meals of fast food condiments? Kfc has the best...

[lumberjim]

and stole their toliet paper, too....i'm so ashamed!

[Radar]

How would that make you a thief?

It would make you a theif because those programs are funded with stolen money.

And man I can't even tell you how much ramen I've eaten. Even very recently. But I've become an expert at it. And I shop in Mexican or Asian markets where you get 'em really cheap. (I don't spring for the Costco membership but sometimes tag along with those who do to buy stuff). Now I make 'em with a hotdog and an egg in them with kimchi if I can afford it. That's right Korean Ghetto style. I've also recently figured out to make rice (super cheap) and put taco bell taco sauce on it for flavor. Very filling.

My dad was REAAAAAAAALLLLY poor. They got ketchup packets from a nearby restaurant and put them in hot water for tomato soup. They'd put water in cereal when they had it, or if they had milk, they would put pieces of bread and sugar in it as cereal. They grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY (where I was born) which has HUGE amounts of snow and they couldn't afford jackets. My grandfather left my grandmother and dad when my dad was 8 and my dad had to start working at age 9. That's why my dad refused to help me with college. I assumed his being poor would mean he would try to make sure I got to go, but he said, "Nobody did it for me...so you do it for yourself." And he would have a point except for the fact the he never went to college.

I know how to stretch a dollar though. Even know I know when to buy rice, potatos, and ramen.

[Griff]

That's not Atkins though, brother. What you need to do is get some chickens and let them go out and find the food while you mooch off them by swiping their eggs. Its funny, I've switched over to eggs in the morning and I'm losing weight because I'm not hungry at lunch, so salad is enough... Anyway, if you look around the third world chickens = cheap protein.

[Troubleshooter]

Originally posted by Radar


It would make you a theif because those programs are funded with stolen money.

That's not an explanation, that's bait.

I'll bite though.

*everyone join in* How is it stolen?

And I'm no thief. I'm recouping some of my taxes before the cut financial aid so thin that you have to be a paraplegic, lesbian, Inuit, deaf, mute with two generations of unemployment behind you.

And in the current context...

Fried balogna sandwiches and rice by the 20 pound bag.

I started going out of state during the summer to stay with relatives that lived in areas that had jobs.

[lumberjim]

i get a rotissere chicken for lunch almost every day. I eat the whole thing, too. $5.99 and it keeps me full until I get home around 10, and then i just snack.....cost effective protien.