BEING POOR

[BREEZEMOMMY]

Being Poor

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn't mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can't leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don't have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn't have make dinner tonight because you're not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you'll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid's teacher assuming you don't have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that's two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn't know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you're being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it's all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won't listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn't go away.

Being poor is making sure you don't spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.

Posted by john at September 3, 2005 12:14 AM

I FOUND THIS AT www.scalzi.com

BREEZEMOMMY

[alma]

Being poor is being afraid to smile because you have lost a tooth in front, or have crappy teeth, or have no teeth at all.

Being poor is having severe malnutrition when you are 13 from lack of food, and having all your teeth removed when you are 19 from years of hunger and malnurishment when you DID eat.

Being poor is having to move every three months because your mom couldn't pay the rent and all your furniture was put out into the streets and all the kids laughing at you.

Being poor is having your dad in prison while you are a kid and everyone knowing it, and your reputation of being on the welfare also preceeding you everwhere you moved.

Being poor means you are so hungry all the time you can't think about your lessons, or much of anything else, excepts the pangs of hunger.

Being poor is visiting your dad in the jail on weekends to bring him some of what little you had to eat, and so glad he is not in state prison this time.

Being poor is having one brother taken into the c.c.c., (civilian conservation corps), and your mom getting 25 dollars a month, and having one less mouth to feed, and more for the kids that are left.

Being poor means that the other brother is drafted into the army and sent abroad, and glad to get the job.

Being poor means getting pregnant while still a kid, and delighted to get married, just to have a home of your own and a husband with a job so you can eat and feed an adorable real life baby doll that is on it's way.

Being poor means that you are just continuing the cycle of poverty that has gone on generation after generation with most of the people you know within your class.

Being poor means it may take 4 generations for that cycle to be broken, and then being poor is trying to pretend that it never happened, and certainly never talking about it.
love, alma
who ain't told you nothin bout being poor. There are just no words to tell the story, and particularly to people who have no ears to hear, no eyes to see, and no heart to feel, anyway.

Being poor is what most of the world is trying to tell to a world that is not listening.

[MYellowRose]

Being poor is wondering why everyone is willing to send money to feed people overseas when there are so many of us here who could use that money!
Being poor is sending an email to national companies begging for coupons for their products.
Being poor is hinting to people that you'd like something they may be getting ready to throw away or donate, a tv, a computer, a 20 year old car, or whatever you've been living without for months.
Being poor is not being able to find even a part-time job because you don't have the proper skills and can't afford to go to school to get them.
Being poor is having to see if you can get to a job by the city bus, usually the answer is no.
Being poor is not being able to put much, if anything, into the collection plate at church on Sunday! :'(

[Txanne]

What a humbling post.

:'( annie

[MNMOM]

Growing up we were poor, but I guess I didn't think too much about it because all my playmates were in the same condition too. I remember how hard Mom and Dad worked to take care of us and for that I owe them my deepest gratitude.
Being poor meant alot of things, but I always knew that we were loved.

[grandmajoy]

Being poor is graciously accepting the community giving box even though nothing fits and some of the canned food is from stores that have not been around in fifteen years.

I have some positive things about being poor though.

being poor means teaching you're kids that if they want something they have to work for it, and then watching their pride as they say I bought this with money I made. Its also people complimenting on what a good worker you're child is.

being poor is knowing I can handle changes life throws at me .

being poor means yes I can live without T.V. and my kids are the best readers in school because of it.

being poor means not taking things for granted.

being poor means learning to trust in you're self to fix that sink, fix the car, or change the oil. Its learning to do things for you're self that others have someone else do for them.

[Txanne]

[[ Learning to trust in yourself ]]----That is the greatest gift being poor has ever given me.

I learned as a newly widowed wife---what it was to really depend on my self----all alone----and the greatest pride--in making a life for myself----litterally carving it out of the woods.

I really like that------learning to trust yourself.

Been poor will teach what IS really precious.

annie

[alma]

Being poor in spirit is the worst kind of "poor" , i guess.

I see so many young people around here who have every thing going for them. They are young and healthy, have all their teeth, and all their limbs, and beautiful skin and eyes that shine so bright when they chose to smile.

They have daddys and mommys and are driven around in new cars, have the best of clothes, and yet have a miserable attitude, never satisfied, never content, never have enough of themselves to be able to give some poor stranger a simple smile.

It is especially apparent in some of the "old rich" neighborhoods around here and how they treat the "new rich".

--and how they treat the clerks in the stores nearby
where they shop.

Most of them went to the best schools and learned all kinds of professional and coorperate skills that would assure them of a really good job in their daddy's law firm, or whatever, the minute they left school.

--but, it would be so nice if a few more of them learned some of the social skills that we were taught in the school of hard knocks, how to be civil, how to be polite, how to be longsuffering and yet be able to give off with gentle smiles from morning to night, in spite of the persoanl suffering and pain, and hunger and economic trials and tribulations in our own lives.

No matter how hungry we were in so many ways, we always had enough to share our crumbs with another.

In that sense, we were wealthy, indeed.
We could be satisfied with so little,--no bottomless pit with us.

We had a wealth or caring and sharing that i seldom see these days around where we live.

There are million dollar homes on one side of us, and very poor homes on the other side, and we have to go through one or the other when we go anywhere to buy anything, and run into the extreme class differences everywhere we go.

If you ever need anything, just ask a poor person, and you have a far better chance of getting the help you need.

I used to work for a lot of HAVES when i lived near D.C.,
taking care of their kinds, house sitting when they were away, etc. and they were always good to me, but there was always that underlying current that exists here.

There seems to be no end to the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS, and the WANNABEES in nashville.

These kids come here to hit the jackpot. They have to buy cowboy hats and boots and guitars, and make a lot of demo tapes and all the other accrutaments that go with being a wannabee star.

They makes the rounds each night to play in one nightclub or another,always hoping to be discovered, and after a few years if they don't make it big, they go home broken in spirit for the most part and deep in debt to boot.

Old Nashville makes a lot of money picking up the spoils of broken dreams.

Yeah, we have the poor who are rich in spirit, and the rich who are poor in spirt, the same as everywhere else, and then there is us. love, alma

[Dont-tread-on-me]

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn't mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can't leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don't have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn't have make dinner tonight because you're not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you'll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid's teacher assuming you don't have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that's two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn't know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you're being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it's all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won't listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn't go away.

Being poor is making sure you don't spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.



Being poor is burying ones self in self-pity and doing one heck of a lot of whining? eh?

Without a doubt, a big part of the problem.

[unclesam]

Being poor is burying ones self in self-pity and doing one heck of a lot of whining? eh?

Without a doubt, a big part of the problem.

I guess some people never heard the old saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything".

[unclesam]

Psalms 9:18

Psalms 69:33

Psalms 107:41

Amos 8:4

James 2:5

I think the poor are a lot better off in other ways. Moneys not everything.

Have you ever noticed that alot of the "rich" people live in a fantasy world and are to put it bluntly real jerks?

[edward_4576]

I may be flamed after I post this but here goes. I think that in today's society we are being "programmed" to want things, as I tell my wife if THSTF and someone wants to take my house as long as I have my family everything else is just stuff.

Food and medicine are crucial to our lives but I see people (young people) who walk around that are obese. I understand that there are true medicial/genetic tendencies towards obesity but when I see kids devouring monster thick burgers that gives enough calories to feed a combat soldier I wonder.

Every time I turn on the tube I see a drug for this or that, as my wife says "Isn't there any orifice that is sacred anymore?" We practice good and smart hygiene and we don't get flu shots, our belief is that it just weakens the immune system.

Is being poor the same thing as being impoverished? I don't think so. Many families that I know don't drive around in $45,000 Hummers, they drive just plain trucks. Is it a requirement that everyone have that 54" hi-def TV? I burn wood to keep warm, am I poor because I don't have a $10,000 heating system? We buy food in bulk and at closeout stores. I weight 165 lbs.

A lot of marriages are going by the wayside. Why? Because of the grass is greener syndrome. I help my neighbors, I know that I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world (sorry ladies) and I know that if they took everything from me today I would survive and in the end I would still be richer than all the miserable penny pinching, bean counting, three carbon copy SOB's out there.

[shadowood]

According to some people I know and lots I don't. I am supposed to be poor, because I am a single mom. :o ::)

As long as my daughter and I have each other, we are very rich.

SWF

[edward_4576]

That's pretty much what I wanted to say, You go right for the heart Shadow...

I've studied history a bit, in the new world the pilgrims didn't even have bread. They made it and so can we. Gulch if you can, D-dive if you must, but good neigbors will never let you down. Family, friends, your church. there are always alternatives.

[Dont-tread-on-me]

I guess some people never heard the old saying, *"if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything".



Might not be the politically correct and nice thing to say, but it is the truth.

Things are never as good as they seem and things are never as bad as they seem.

Let's all be thankfull for what we DO have!!!! ;D

[Txanne]

Dont Tread----

I agree about the self pity---and I found for myself--that getting into the business of surviving after being widowed--i didnt have time to be pitiful.

There was so much to over come----and it was an adventure----The best i ever had.

annie

[bookwormom]

I guess there is poor and there is poor.
I know the kind of poor where you are crying walking home from school because you are freezing so bad and it really hurts.
having a pair of gum boots as your only shoes for those months that have an R in them and going barefoot most of the other times.
when you got shoes mother bought them so big she stuffed newspaper in the toes and you wore them until they were too small and then a sibling got them.
eating potatoes in one form or the other every day for at least two meals, no meat, not much milk.
mother not taking you along because it cost 25 cents for your busticket.
having a sunday dress made out of curtains.
not even knowing what an allowance is.
sharing a twinbed with your sister. ice forming on the ceiling from your breath. I could go on.

itactually it was not bad. we were all poor. I think it must be harder to be poor when you see how other people are not poor. we had a teacher who did not allow bananas in lunchboxes. only a few could afford them and she did not want the kids who never had a banana to have to watch the ones who did. we were rich in those famous things money can't buy. No TV, but a story telling granma, no car, but fun hikes with our family. Luckily there was a library. I did not know a kid who was not a ferocious reader, I did not know any whiners or complainers and woe to the poor soul who was not polite to an older person, helped the older lady carrying a bag, opened doors, offered a seat.

what was really heart wrenching in the above posts was the one about the letter to "dad" begging for the childsupport. about hoping the toothache would go away. there is some poverty that is homemade. I was a lucky kid, my parents are still in love after sixty years. we had to help Dad saw wood for the winter (no chainsaw) and had to help mom stack it and then had to carry it in the house and fill the woodbox. Dad was proud of us. we picked up every pinecone for kindling. we picked berries, mom made jars and jars of juice, wild greens, mushrooms, we made money where we could, we were tough, responsible kids, we counted our money and had a good feeling because it added up, by nickles and dimes, and we felt happy and elated for pooling our resources and buying our mother a pair of houseslippers for Christmas. Because we were poor I learned so many things. Every little good thing was a great joy, wether you found a really good berry patch just loaded, or getting things for christmas that you needed anyway. A good family is like a stone wall behind your back, and children being poor because their parents are making stupid mistakes is just so sad. .

[Txanne]

You are just too cool!!

Logic and love all rolled into one.

annie

[Cassie]

Being Poor is a state of mind and a lack of spirit.
Blaming everyone else for your poor choices. Its not what I haven't, Its what I given in the sprit of love and faith. :-*

[MNMOM]

Bookwormom,
That part about sharing a bed to keep warm, my two sisters and I shared a bed in the wintertime to keep warm in an upstairs bedroom with no central heat, two would be at the top of the bed and one at the bottom of the bed, it sure helped in keeping your feet warm.

[Txanne]

I had to run to the store this afternoon---the radio was playing----guess what came on?

Coat of Many Colors--by Dolly Parton---made by the love of a Mother.

Tiny pieces of cloth-sewn in love.

annie

[MYellowRose]

After thinking of my post and the others here it made me realize how blessed I actually am. I do have an income and a place to live and something to eat and wear. I've got access to the public library which furnishes books for me to read and the computer for me to use so I can visit this website.
I intend to improve my life in some way each and every day and quit with the pity party. You folks are right, it's just not worth it.

[Txanne]

* After thinking of my post and the others here it made me realize how blessed I actually am. *I do have an income and a place to live and something to eat and wear. *I've got access to the public library which furnishes books for me to read and the computer for me to use so I can visit this website. *
* I intend to improve my life in some way each and every day and quit with the pity party. *You folks are right, it's just not worth it.


Good show sweetheart!!

I find for myself---my selfpity can make me seem poorer than I am.

Chin up---Love ya and you can do anything you desire to do.

annie---adjusting her additude

[mangyhyena]

Thank you all for sharing that. It was educational.

I really liked MYellowRose's post about doing just one thing each day to improve life. If there is any way to pull one's self out of poverty, that is it.

[leera]

Being poor is eating the free lunch at school because you know there's nothing in the cupboards at home............

I do believe "poor" is a state of mind.........I've had days like that,where nothing seems to shine a light on the day,and all your problems seem endless.

But if I had kept thinking like that I wouldn't be as close to being out of debt as I am right now.

Heck.I'm BROKE! Been broke so long I forgot what it feels like not to be broke.

I think you have to take each day in stride and make the best with what you can.I do.

Most of my current wordrobe came from freecycle....... ;D

I DON'T agree with "taking a lamp from a stranger's garbage"........I'm a die hard dumpster diver and curb side shopper....and DAMN proud of it. ;D

[MYellowRose]

I remember my senior year of high school. I went to school then worked afterward. Sometimes I felt lucky to have my job as a waitress. After the place closed I remember picking up soda bottles and turning them in for the deposit at the local grocery store so I had bus money to and from school, a whole 11 cents one way including the transfer. I then learned to walk the few blocks downtown to a stop where I could catch a bus home without transferring. Not only did I save a penny but it actually took less time! LOL Would you believe I didn't feel poor then, nor do I actually feel poor now, my problems are those I've either created or brought on myself. However I do remember being poor off and on during my childhood though I think it taught me to rely only on myself later in life.

[buzzy]

You know, everyone here has figured out how to climb out of poverty.

Has anyone thought that it's ironic we are debating the upside and downside of being poor.....using computers hooked up to the Internet?

Obviously, even those of you who have been bone poor managed a way out. And those of you who think you are hurtin' (you may be..) aren't really doing TOO bad.

;)

[nancy1340]

Buz, several folks here do not own their own computers. They use the ones in library's.

[tufhelp]

;) Welcome Buzz, I don’t know about the others here, but I ain’t sittin here sucking lattés and surfen the internet, I give up stuff so I can have this stuff… I buy second hand almost everything. The thrift store is my mall. I pinch pennies to get a bit of fun and a lot of information off of the net. Working poor folks have cars, TVs, whatever, possibly better off than their folks, but not likely. It is a matter of priorities, eat out or pay for an ISP, second hand jeans or a phone line, 10 year old car or don’t eat meat… I guess I don’t see myself as “doing OK”, I see myself as doing with and doing without, just like everyone. Can count my blessings and am proud of my achievements, but I sure could stand to be doing better…

[leera]

My internet service is one thing I do splurge on.It costs me $9.95 a month.......and there are times when I can not even afford that......but there is always the library......

It is my link to the outside world......my connection to my cyber friends.......and to my friends who live far far away.......

BUT,I don't have cable or satelite TV.
I don't belong to any clubs.
The ONLY magazine I subscribe to is BWH.

Most of my wordrobe is second hand.....a lot of it is from freecycle.

All of the shelving in our house was made by us.

I can and preserve as much as possible to cut down on grocery bills.

I live a fairly simple life,nothing fancy......and who can afford latte's???? I can't....... :D

[hillbilly_mom]

Reading this thread really makes me smile. It is ironic that I was raised by parents who considered themselves well off. We never went without anything. We always had the latest and greatest gadget.

Then I married the man of my dreams and my world changed. ;) My parents think we are poor. We may not have a big fancy house. We may not have the newest pick up truck in the driveway. What we have is a whole lot better than that. We have love and understanding. To me, being poor isn't whether you have money or not. Being poor is an attitude of how you choose to live your life. I could whine and complain that I don't get to go on overseas trips. I could cry because I don't have fancy jewlery. Ah, but I have better things than that. I have a deep abiding faith in my husband and children. So even if my parents think I am poor, they are so wrong. I am richer than they will ever be. I have the love in my family that was so missing in my childhood. My husband and kids get all the love that I missed out on. They don't think we are poor. And neither do I. :)

[nancy1340]

Way to go Mom. ;D

[HillbillyPapa]

Being Poor--- is= Hopping a slow moving coal train to throw off enough coal to do you through the cold spell, and you can go get some when the backroads open up!
Being Poor----is= Your mother scooting across the frozen river on her butt- just to be able to pull enough coal across in a cardboard box to keep ya warm until the river thaws and you can get your wooden boat across to get some in!
Being Poor---is= Not having running water or a bathroom in your house until you are about 12 years old. Barely had the luxury of Electricity that far out lin the sticks!
Being Poor---is= Feeling like everyone is looking at you because the knees of your jeans have holes in them, and your haircut looks like someone put a bowl on your head to cut your hair!
Being Poor---is also==== Getting happy when someone brings ya a catfish by,, or maybe a big fat groundhog to eat!
Being Poor---is also==== The harder you work, the farther in debt you are!
Being Poor---is also==== Being real happy (somone) thought enough of you to come around and visit-- which didn't make you feel like most other people did!
Being Poor---is==== Popcorn Balls for Christmas,, and Homeade Candy,,, and a great big sweet potatoe!
Being Poor is when everybody else eats,, and your mom says --- I'm not hungry----(not saying that nothing left to eat had anything to do with it).
ONe thing I have learned and learned WELL though=-=is this-=========
Being Poor is One THING,,,,, and going around and FEELING Poor is ANother Thing Altogether! After all,,,,, we all could be a lot worse off!
What if we lost our health,,,,, or if death came and took one of our loved ones away suddenly=========? What if our House (whatever kind we may have) burned down?
That's why I say this----------------- Living Better,, and Doing Better than those around you is not a sin~! But this is----------- When WE start Feeling like we are BETTER than everyone around us,,, then we are in trouble folks!!! ;)

[Mysticdream44]

My internet service is one thing I do splurge on.It costs me $9.95 a month.......and there are times when I can not even afford that......but there is always the library......

It is my link to the outside world......my connection to my cyber friends.......and to my friends who live far far away.......

BUT,I don't have cable or satelite TV.
I don't belong to any clubs.
The ONLY magazine I subscribe to is BWH.

Most of my wordrobe is second hand.....a lot of it is from freecycle.

All of the shelving in our house was made by us.

I can and preserve as much as possible to cut down on grocery bills.

I live a fairly simple life,nothing fancy......and who can afford latte's???? I can't....... :D


Leera, you didn't say what internet service you have but we have AOL. It started out at $19.95 a month, and then my DH called to tell them we were going to cancel the service, well of course they asked why and he told them he found a internet service for $9.95 a month and we were going to go with them. They dropped our AOL to $4.95 a month. So try calling your internet service and tell them your going to cancel and I bet they will drop the price. It's worth a try at least.

[leera]

That is a very good idea,but has one drawback.......where I live,we are very limited in choices,and there are very few internet providers that have local dial up numbers.

AOL would be long distance,and even our own local phone service doesn't have a local dial up for our area! Now that's pretty sad.....

I tried one that was $4.95 a month....and was not at all happy with it.I went two weeks without being to connect and never did get a person to talk to,to try and fix the problem.......

The company I'm currently using is a small one called AllDial........have had no problems with them,it's month to month with no contract or anything.And if by chance I can't pay my bill.....no problem,the library is right down the road.

[Archangel]

Being Poor is knowing what this post means.
Being rich is when your kids tell you they are glad we did not have much growing up, so they are not brats like their cousins. Tearful Michael

[BrentL]

most of what i read above this is "americianized poor"

most of the original post was junk. getting mad at your kids for wanting whats on tv? ya right. ask someone who is in a 3rd world country if they wanna trade.

and I really like what archangel said, Being rich is when your kids tell you they are glad we did not have much growing up, so they are not brats like their cousins.

who cares if you are "material poor" if you are "love rich"

quit the whine'n, theres someone who is poorer, and i dont care how much you are worth, to someone you are poor.

its all perspective.

[longshot]

being poor is reading that first post and realizing that even though u have a government job and your wife works many of those behaviours are you r own and there doesnt seem to be a way to that brighter future we were promissed if we did good in school and went to post-secondary and got good marks there and worked your butt off when u graduated and got a job and started a family.


ls :'(

[alma]

One thing, longshot, and a few others, you have a WEALTH of understanding.

You KNOW something that so many others will never comprehend, and your knowing makes you a very special person, and certainly you are an inspiration to many who are in the same boat.

So many of us spend our whole life in a boat going upstream, and spend all of our lives rowing against the tide, when the current is just so swift that it is impossible to get that damned boat to turn around and go the other way.

Those born in a boat riding the tide don't know how lucky they are, and yet can't be content if they are not trying to sink every ship going the other way.

Thanks for some of the posts here. We need to hold up the torch for one another, especially when the night is dark and long. Every little flicker of light helps so much.

There is a hymn "throw out the lifline" that i really can relate to. love, alma

[Hogleg]

The "poor" person in the original post would be alot better off if he would quit taking "pay day loans". Stop leasing couches, and stop stealing meat. It is this irresponsible behavior that keeps him poor and puts him at risk. Yet he chooses to blame society for his situation.

[Wiscontessa]

Hello from a new member.

I have lurked here for a long, long time and tonight decided to join.

Archangel, you are so right when you say "Being rich is when your kids tell you they are glad we did not have much growing up, so they are not brats". My 23yo son recently thanked me for this very thing.

I, too, think a lot of being "poor" is a state of mind and a lot is self-inflicted. Not all, but a lot. I manage two food pantries and see a lot of "poor" people who only need an attitude adjustment and a few lifestyle changes to not be poor anymore. It's very frustrating as I am there to help people, but they don't seem to want that kind of help.

Growing up, my family was not what I would consider poor. Even now, I don't think of my childhood that way, although judging from some of the posts here, we probably were. Attitude.

When I married we had a comfortable life. When I divorced it was a struggle as it is for many single parents. I worked two or three jobs at a time and for a while ran a home-based business. I collected the aluminum cans, plastic and glass bottles from work to recycle for cash to pay the gas bill. Lifestyle adjustment.

I still live much the same way as I did then. A friend who has had financial trouble since the day I met her said to me a while ago "I don't know how you can live that way". I didn't say it to her, but I thought "I don't know how you can't."

[leera]

Welcome aboard!!!!!

I don't consider myself "poor".....broke maybe,but not poor......

To me poor would mean:

Being homeless
Being hungry all the time
Not having clean clothes
Being underweight from lack of food

By those standards,I am not poor,and most people aren't........

Yes there are times when the money runs out before the bills do,or the car breaks and you can't get it fixed just now........and there are things that make you want to scream and stomp your feet at the world......

I too think that a lot,not all,but a lot of people just need to see that they can change the way they live,and better themselves.......but there are also some people out there who, no matter what,will not see and are not willing to change to better themselves.

[BrendaSue]

??? I have known poor, single mom that worked 2 to 3 jobs to give the kiddos what they needed...but like most of you, that is all we needed was my kids.....If I could do it over again? I can't say I would do it the same way again, but I would hope I wouldn't have strayed far from where we were....because of what we have now..

[alma]

Middle class kids are exposed to all kinds of working skills while they are growing up.
.
'They watch while men are fixing their electricity when it goes out, and wonder about a million things, and ask a million questions, and get a few answers, and get to play with some of the wires and other things the workman leaves behind, bending them, shaping them into some stange thing, dreaming some kind of creative dream.

They watch the plumber, the same, and ask so many questions that the plumber thinks he will go nuts if the kid doesn't get off his back so he can do his job in peace.

They watch their dads fixing the family car, and have a hand in that too, and get to touch a lot of their dad's tools.

They watch their mom's cooking in the kitchen and have to help in making cookies, and all kind of goodies.

They watch while the adults do all kinds of things, and are half way home, and comfortable in any number of skills that could earn them a living when they are adut.

I think that having a mom and dad, or another loving
adults to emulate, and help you to develop some degree of skills at home and at school, or at church,
is priceless. It is money in the bank.

Also, having a dad as a lawyer helps. You can go right into his office when you get out of school, even as a moron, and become quite adept in time with a little tender help.

If your dad is a professional, the same, or your mom.
You can go to the office with any of them and help now and again, and get to know the people etc. who can give you a helping hand when you are applying for a job.

Even applying for a job requires a certain amount of social skills.

It requires some physical health and emotional health, and many social accomplishments.

There is so much that goes into being rich or poor or middle class.

Being poor to me means hunger, not having a decent warm home physically as well as emotionally.

Being around loving parents who care and have the time and energy to give you a hug and tell you how great you you are, and how much you mean to them, and how wonderful your little project has turned out, and helping you to get the info and help you need for any given thing.

When you live in a garbage can or a dumpster like i've said before, there are so many others within that same crowded dumpster or neighborhood, that are tying to make a life with a lot of throw away and broken down things, and the remnants of a other broken life.

It is not that way being raised in a country club atmosphere.

There damn well IS a differnece.

You can sugar coat it all you want, but being poor is a lot more than attitude.

You grow up with all kinds of health problems later in life that have a direct relation to your early life, both physical, mental, emotional, social, etc.

Being poor is something no one desires, and everyone is trying the best they know to get through the day.

If you gotta beg, borrow or steal. Survival is the first law.
--and the rich steal in a million ways that the poor would never dream of doing to their fellow man.

Long live our poor people. God bless them all. love, alma

[pancho]

Alma, being poor is something you have to experience to understand. It is hard for some people to understand the health, emotional, mental, and social problems that being poor can lead to in later years. Most will never have to go through such an experience.
If a person thinks being poor is just an attitude or an outlook on life, they have never had the bad luck of experiencing being poor. Hopefully they never will.

[ffd430]

My Wife and I make less than 10,000 a year... but with 4 kids and our families living close by we're very rich on love... we both agree that's what counts.

[buzzy]

I don't want to be a spoil sport, by my hunch is there are a lot of people in this thread pretending they were a lot poorer than they really were.

No proof. Just a hunch.

Don't get bent out of shape, but there ya go.

[alma]

Being is "poor" is surely relative.
By yesterdays stands, we are living better than many wealthy person of 100 years ago.

They would consider themselves really poor if they saw what we have, light and gas and cars and refrigerators and gas or electric stoves, indoor toilets, etc. that they never had.

They would be aghast at our medical profession (such as it is), and it's ability to keep us living so much longer than most of the folks in those days.

I was poor growing up, but i was "poor" in america--and that is a different kind of poor from what millions of people around the world know. I was rich by their standards.

My dad left my mom with five kids and she was not well at all, but worked day and night to keep a roof over our heads. The welfare make up the difference between what my mom could earn and the cost of the rent.

We had to move about 13 times before i was a teen ager. Our reputation always preceeded us.

My dad and brother were in and out of prison a lot and we were on welfare, and were irish catholic, and what could be worse than that?

--and still my mom worked and worked, and never had a boyfriend, or a night out that i ever remember. She was a dedicated catholic.

We were the latchkey kids of our time, taking care of ourselves most of the time, seldom playing outside with the protestant kids who looked down on irish catholics, and some were not allowed to play with us anyway.

A nine year old little girl walked from the bus to our houses that were near each other. It took about 5 minutes and she was not supposed to be socializing with us--
--but she told me about the grace of god in that 5 minute trek, and i never forgot what she told me, and it blessed me in a million ways over the years, even though i have been agnostic for years, i never forgot the grace of god, impossible as that sounds.

I had severe malnutrition before i even entered my teens and lost most of my teeth by the time i was 19. I had married at 17 and was a widow about the time i lost my teeth, and i had a crippled son to care for.

I took a job on a drillpress in a manufacturing plant during wwii, and as a secretary for awhile until i married bill 63 years ago, and was a housewife most of the time after that, taking only baby sitting jobs, etc. and once *as a pre school teacher, to make ends meet.

I have had narcolepsy since i was about ten years old, and that sure didn't help anything then, or now.
I have seldom been able to drive a car or go *anywhere alone, never to an afternoon movie without someone to drive me.

--but, i did what i could. I have studied more than anyone i ever knew except ivy league people, and wiritten a number of books and done a million things.

If i had not had the damnable narcolepsy, i would not have been able to stay home and do all these things.
I live in spite of it, and am proud of the life i have lived, and still live.

Life is often long and hard, and it is so hard to dream so many dreams that turn to nightmares, and then you have to pick up what's left of your life and go on.

I've had cancer 40 years ago, and again last year, and had a hip replacement and a heat valvue replaced and another on that leaks, and a million other things, and still i enjoy life for themost *part, and have a lot of fun wherever i go, mostly to docs and places sue takes me.

I tell you all my troubles so others will know something about what makes a person live such a frugal life, by necessity for so long, and now by choice. love, alma

I am "poor" and yet i am not "poor".

modified to say love, alma. i say "love alma" so i can collect all the stuff i write to print up if and when i want them, and this way i get only things i have written and not others who mention my name. The love alma is a phrase, and it helps me to collect what i want of my stuff only.

[tufhelp]

I don't want to be a spoil sport, by my hunch is there are a lot of people in this thread pretending they were a lot poorer than they really were...

Some are even under the impression that they are clairvoyant as well, go figure. :-*

[buzzy]

I must have been closer than I thought.

[Morning_Owl]

Being poor is your mom going to the emergency room when your 5, and no one telling you why. She collapsed at work. Why? Finally a fireman pulled me aside and told me she wasn't eating. "But I have dinner every night" "I understand honey but does she" At that point I realized she hadn't been. That never happened again, mom and I split dinner no matter what. I refused to eat more than half and told her I was full. Because of this I will never turn a hungry person away.
I don't have alot, but I have plenty of food. A freezer full of moose meat and beside I'm a great cook ;D

Some people consider me poor and ask me how can you live like this. I just laugh and tell them I like the way I live and I'm not poor. I've got plenty to eat hell I'm 30 lbs over weight and I've got a roof over my head and I'm warm. Unless I've been on here to long reading posts and let the dang fire go out. ;) Oopps.

[longshot]

poor a state of mind?

watching your mother not eating so the kids can, thats poor

wondering why dad isnt home and working 3 jobs thats poor especially when theres not enough food .

being grown up your self and managing to have enough food but not being able to cover the rent and all the bills and playing one off against the other.

wondering if you have enough gass to get to work, and if you can get enough money to pay for the gas to get to work.

seeing your kid not have the stuff his cousins and friends get and feeling sick that the clothes on his back was charity.

seeing him walking home from school with sneakers on and knowing that the boots he needs for winter is atleast a week away and him having feet red and cold from the slush and snow, thats poor.

we're trying to make things better getting the upper hand on debt and looking at starting a farm and a campground so we can be self sufficent but till then and after i will always know what poor is

ls

[daphodil]

I agree that 'poor' can sometimes be a state of mind.

But there are children who suffer from hunger--I think Shania Twain talks about this when she was a child. I think children are deeply affected when they are in an environment of 'haves' and they do have to 'want' for basics.

It's different to be in a society of classes and a society where all are in the same boat. But I like that here you can raise yourself up, or you can stay the same, or even fail. Still, children aren't able to go out and work.

I think there were times in history when children were indentured, sent off to work in factories, sent to live with richer kin, etc.

And I think in India? there are places where parents send kids to work all day in mindless work to survive. That is very sad. I don't think it is that bad over here, generally speaking.

[tufhelp]

I must have been closer than I thought.

Making a rebuttal comment makes you closer than you thought? Nothing could be further away. Interesting conundrum; say nothing you are right, say something you are right... Hmmmmmm

[bookwormom]

it makes me sick on the stomach when I think of someone who works three jobs and they are still poor. there is something seriously wrong with a society when someone who works all day can barely keep body and soul together. Husband had a cousin who died in a car crash because he fell asleep driving home from his third job.
Unfortunately I do know some people who are poor because they just seem to do everything wrong. Please do not get me wrong, I am not saying that in a judgemental way, I just do not know how to state it in a less offencive way. I have first hand experience. (husbands stepsister, son's girlfriend, cousins's daughter, friends son) they are broke on an income that we saved some money on for a rainy day). My heart really goes out to folks who are working hard, struggling and still trapped in poverty.

I grew up after the war in Germany, now that was poor down to the bones, However, it was optimistic, it was so bad it just had to get better. Nobody looked down their nose at you for being poor. It was a hard struggle just to have food. I am sure we were malnourished, especially in winter, I used to get boils on my knees, in spring we would eat sheep sorrel and all kinds of wild greens. My Dad experienced really bitter poverty as a kid. He says it is hard to watch someone eat when you have not had any supper and no breakfast and you are really hungry. to this day he feels thankful to some guy who as a kid let him take a bite from his bread. Dad stepped into a fresh cowpile to warm his feet, because it was freezing and he still had no shoes, he peed on his feet for the same reason. Dad is the kind of person if you were stranded somewhere or TSHTF I would like to have along. He is in his eighties now and he takes tourists on hikes in the mountains.

[bookwormom]

PS
oh buzzy, I don't think anybody posting above is faking it. if you always had and have enough, that is reason for being grateful.

[nancy1340]

I don't want to be a spoil sport, by my hunch is there are a lot of people in this thread pretending they were a lot poorer than they really were.

No proof. *Just a hunch. *

Don't get bent out of shape, but there ya go.

Totally uncalled for.

You ever suffer from malnutrition because you didn't have enough to eat? I did when I was a small child.

[buzzy]

Everybody relax. I wasn't accusing anyone of not being hungry.

All I was saying was sometimes people can embellish their memories and maybe a few folks were doing it.

Sheesh.

I didn't mean to spoil the party.

[BREEZEMOMMY]

hi everyone . i wrote the first post . IT IS NOT
MY STORY !!! I TOOK IT FROM THE NOTED
ARTICLE . i may not be rich , but my kids are
well fed and have nice trailer in which to live .

on the other hand our whole family works in
our church food pantry twice a week . we
meet some of the nicest , yet , poorest
people around . many are tiny children . some
are very old ; people who have worked all
their lives and don't have the means to
pay their everyday bills . don't tell me they
aren't poor !!!!!!!!!


BREEZEMOMMY

[greenacres]

Hello from a new member. I have lurked here for while and tonight decided to join. Here are some of my thoughts about this subject.

I grew up poor and have been poor most of my life, even homeless a couple times. I was upper middle class for a few years and now I'm poor again. One of the biggest mistakes I made in life was striving to become middle class and trying to fit in with middle class people when I was poor. Being too proud to admit to people that I was poor. Now I don't care if middle class people look down on me for being poor. Happiness has nothing to do with being rich or poor. Some of the happiest times in my life have been when I was poor. After many years of experience, I have learned how to live well and enjoy life with very little money.

[robert]

we poor folks have less to loss when it hits the fan.and we already know how to get by with out. the meek shall inherit the earth

[bookwormom]

I, too, think a lot of being "poor" is a state of mind and a lot is self-inflicted. Not all, but a lot. I manage two food pantries and see a lot of "poor" people who only need an attitude adjustment and a few lifestyle changes to not be poor anymore. It's very frustrating as I am there to help people, but they don't seem to want that kind of help.

Interesting point Wiscontessa. we know some people like that. we just discussed it and husband is wondering, are some people like that because they do not want to learn or because they are incapable to. ?

[Wiscontessa]

bookwormom, I think it is partly because they don't want to and partly because they often don't have to. With so many assistance programs out there eager to help, there is sometimes little incentive to make changes for those who really, truly are able to. (I'm not talking about the disabled or senior citizens on fixed incomes.)

[Funkhouser]

After reading the post from scalzi.com, I realize I have lived through most of the things mentioned. Except for me it was flip and fold, not even a futon mattress...and only being $6 short on the power bill would have been a blessing, as a lot of times it was a far wider gap than that. In America, we tend to forget just how well we have it (generally speaking). I know there are some in particular that have absolutely nothing, but even these folks can go to soup kitchens and other outreach programs... where as people in Sudan and other 'third world' countries have no such options.

[Naughty_Pines]

Being poor is not having the basics that you need rather than not having what you want.

I remember "dead mans stew." A slice of bread broken up in a bowl of warm milk for supper.

[Ernie]

Most of the things I really enjoy don't cost us any money or end up paying for themselves. Reading through that list, I can recall going through those times and being unhappy. Now we've learned to adjust our life and surprise, surprise, now we've got some money to our name.

We found that 1% of television was worth watching and the rest was designed to waste your time and sell you stuff. When we realized that, the television went out in the garage and hasn't been turned on since. (Soon to be garage sale fodder). Kids don't miss it, and neither do the adults. We read a lot more, and I'd miss my nightly game of chess with the boys and the cuddling up on the couch after the kids go to bed.

Being embarassed about clothes? I'm not. Definitely not anymore. Thoreau said, "No man ever stood lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes." I see a man wearing dirty overalls now and I'm dying to go talk to him, see what he plants or crafts and find out if he can teach me something.

I'm not poor now. Haven't been for awhile. Some of it was due to learning some marketable skills, on my own from the library. Nobody needs a college education today unless you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or college professor. The most of it, however, came from living cheap (making Lincoln yelp when you pinch him, as my mama used to say) and changing my mindset.

I know at this point that I'll never be poor again, regardless of how much money I may or may not have in the future.

[aussieron]

I'm not considered poor, though I am considered a bit eccentric, I discovered at a young age how marketers try to create a cult of envy to con people into buying the latest car or a new boat etc. Luckily I have never fallen into this trap, though a lot of my friends have, and they are not happy, their credit card debt would keep me awake at night worrying about it. I am fervently anti-consumerism, which makes me very resourceful by necessity.
In this world of blatant consumerism , if you are relatively poor you can take advantage of society's wastefulness,
every weekend I go scrounging at the local tip looking for bargains, I've saved tens of thousands of dollars over the years.
Because I'm now on a disability pension, I have the time to make the things I need and the time to think and research my passion for alternative technologies.
I've read all the posts on this thread and found them all interesting.
Being poor can be a negative or a positive, depending on the individual, on the positive side it should make you more resourceful.

[nancy1340]

I'm not poor now. Haven't been for awhile. Some of it was due to learning some marketable skills, on my own from the library. Nobody needs a college education today unless you want to be a doctor, lawyer, or college professor. The most of it, however, came from living cheap (making Lincoln yelp when you pinch him, as my mama used to say) and changing my mindset.


Here's a article you will find interesting then.

http://bullnotbull.com/archive/dow13k-1.html
And good for you! You sound happy and full filled.

[creekside-angie]

One of my sons drives me nuts! He always says "why are we so poor?" Well, his poor and my poor are two different things.His buddies are all spoiled in my opinion and I make him work after school to get what he wants.Hes learning now that want and need are two different things!
Poor is defenatly a mind set to me. I buy used, put up food, hunt and fish for meat and heat with wood because I choose to not because I am forced to. This kid just don't understand that things like that, to me, lead to a better way of life, even tho he grew up with me doin' it. All he wants is instant foods and snacks and all the advertised traps society has to offer.
Yup, poor is definately a state of mind ! ;D

[MYellowRose]

:) I recently realized that you're only "poor" if you don't know better. I'm not "poor" I'm "money challenged" and I'm to a point in life where I don't really care! As long as I am able to pay my bills, buy dog & cat food, and a few groceries I'm content.
After my doc's appointment this morning I filled out a volunteer application out at the VA hospital where I now get my medical care. Since I haven't been able to find anything in the way of a job I'll help out there occasionally.
I need some new underwear but I'm going to wait until August to buy it when they have the "tax free" weekend just before school starts. I won't save more than a couple of dollars but every penny counts.
I just read a book about "The cheapest family in America" by the Economides, don't remember the exact title or the couples first names but much of what they said made sense.

[flatwater]

Being poor is an attitude, when we identify what really matters in our life then we often find out we have a lot to be thankful for. The poorest person in America only has to look at the poorest person in one of the third world countries and then say thank you Lord but for the grace of God go I.
Flatwater

[WileyCoyote]

I read something like this once; please pardon me while I paraphrase it with my poor overstuffed memory:

Being poor is considering yourself lucky if you have meat once a week.
Being poor means only having one change of clothes - including underwear.
Being poor means having to boil your water because it isn't potable.. if you can find fuel to boil it.
Being poor means that, if you have a roof at all, it leaks in the rain.
Being poor means having medical care - a day's walk away - that you can't use because you have no money.
Being poor means that you walk everywhere.
Being poor means that you are lucky if you find an old tire - because that means you'll have shoes for the winter.
Being poor means that you don't bury your mother in a box because you can't afford the wood.

We were "poor" for a long time; and my kids used to complain on occasion. Many's the time I used a boullion cube and pretended it was a meat casserole, and we used to sit in the living room and scrape together and roll pennies for gas money for the old car... the abandoned rusted out wreck that we paid Billy a case of beer to drop an engine from another wreck into. Designer clothes? Only if they were castoffs in the secondhand store.

Quite a "comedown" from my father, who was so wealthy that he thought nothing of buying a string of real pearls for his daughter's 12th birthday, or of covering his wife in diamonds every Christmas for all the parties they attended. She ended up trying to kill him...
I've been rich. I've been poor. I prefer rich - but I'd rather do poor in a shack with a giggling, handclasping family telling ghost stories by kerosene lamp.

[Keep_It_Simple]

My husband and I were into "biggering" as he went up the corporate ladder. Every time we moved and he got a sizeable raise, we biggered our house and our headaches. Finally, we said - what are we doing? On this last move, we drastically reduced. We talked to our two sons and figured out what we needed and could live with and that is what we bought. Since then, 6 years ago, I have been systematically reducing our possessions. We found out we can do with much less than what we thought. We enjoy wearing used clothing (Goodwill or whatever) because we know the money we save. We sit with pride on our used furniture (some pieces gotten for free curbside) and my husband and I smile as the boys and dogs play on it without worry of "depreciation". Our big screen tv has been replaced with a smaller "regular" television set to occassionally rent movies on and the cable tv connection has been tossed because there is nothing good on tv anyways. We don't have a dryer because you can dry clothes for free ourside on a line. We don't think of ourselves as poor from our great reduction, but think of ourselves as MUCH RICHER with less. Our sons are not spoiled brats who think the world and their parents owe them everything. (Their friends have plenty of electronic stuff, but they still don't feel deprived - we talk about materialism and economics and money a lot as well as what REALLLY matters in life - God, our family, and those kinds of things). My husband still continues to do very well at work and we are stockpiling the money and looking forward to very early retirement where we call the shots. We now live on less than the current "poverty" level and do very well. My sons friends very much enjoy coming over to our house because people are home (as opposed to out working like dogs to buy more things) and are relaxed and happy. I bake them pizza or cake from scratch and they just love it. And in case you were wondering, no, neither my husband nor myself were born with silver spoons in our mouths. It was quite the opposite. We both worked/supported our way through college. My husband even went into the Navy to help pay for his college. And I want my kids to have the childhood I had - full of love and happiness and contentment. All things having nothing to do with a material possession. I thank God every day he guided me to where I am today.

[TNDadx4]

Being poor is...

...Having no furniture in your house and not wanting your friends to come over and see you.

I can remember as a teen, getting a bad grade in one of my classes because my teacher had given us a homework assignment to draw a layout of our houses with furniture, etc. I did and received a failing grade because all that I put in it was a bed and a chair in the living room. The reason that that was all that I put iin it is because that was all that we had at that point in our lives. I told him that we didn't have any furniture. He then told me to draw a house that I had lived in previously that had furniture ::)

... seeing the past due notices come in for the rent, electric, etc.


I won't say that all of my youth was like that, but some was, becuase my parents couldn't handle money well.


... looking under the seats of your car for loose change to buy a loaf of bread. I can remember doing this when my wife and I were first married and living in an apartment.


All in all, though, God has truely blessed my wife, kids and myself.
I've also learned that you can be poor, but still happy. Comparitively speaking, though all this, we were still rich when compared to other parts of the world.

[bookwormom]

wow, what an honest guy you are.
since the teacher did not come to your house you could have drawn any make believe house you wanted. Rotten to get a bad grade for this, I bet he did not believe you.

[TNDadx4]

I really didn't think much about it. I didn;t think that he was going to grade me based upon the contents of my house.

You're probably right, though. He probably thought that I was just trying to as little work as possible to get by.

I was upset with him, but it really didn't bother me until I told me parents. They were upset because I told someone that we were poor.

[bookwormom]

that's just it, there are some hardworking poor who do not let on, and there are some that holler gimme gimme gimme all the time without ever lifting a finger.

[Babs]

If being poor means having second and third hand furniture..already broken in, no fear of being the first to stain it, comfy to sit on..I guess I am

If being poor means buying clothes at a second hand store....I already am..but why would I want to pay a outlandish price for a pair of pants only to have to wash them a few dozen times, do a few hundred leg bends just to be able to bend in them? Na, I'll pay a quarter and let someone else do that kind of work.

If being poor means I grow and hunt for my own food cuz the price of food in the stores is outragous..I guess I am.

If being poor means using candles and oil lamps at night, cuz my light bill is to high ..I guess I am

If being poor means heating with wood cuz we cant afford a gas furnace..I guess I am.

If being poor means I can whip up a awesome meal with potatoes cuz there is nothing else, and make you think you are eating a T-bone..I guess I am.

If being poor means my children look at all the high tech gatgets and gizmo handed to their friends and think it is such a waste of money and how their friends dont understand what working is about or how wasteful they are..I guess I am.

If being poor means my children hug and kiss me good night (those at home now are 16 and 19) and thank me daily for raising them the way I did. Having them tell me and show me that they would much rather live with ME then their Dad (who already said he does not want them to) because he is to 'high tec' and does not know the real meaning of living...Then I guess I am..

I can live without, and do by choice. I worked high paying jobs...but at what cost? The cost of watching my children grow up and raised by someone else who does not have the same morals and values I have. *I* had my children and *I* will raise them. I made this choice for them and for myself. I did not want them raised in a world where everyone works off the 'dont tell me you love me, but show me' theory. I was raised that way, NOT my children!
I TELL my children I love them and show them every day..by what we do and what we learn.

But you know what? If all this means I am poor then I have one thing to say...

I AM PROUD TO BE POOR!!!!

Ive lived, Ive learned and Ive loved and have no regrets. Are times tough? Depends on how you think. I dont see the worse in everything, you cant, it'll eat you up. Keep your chin up, find something to smile about and keep a positive attitude, and find a fix or a way around it. I find this helps me thru those times when I get the disconnection notices.

I love my life, my children love our life. My children love me and say so on a daily basis. THAT no amount of money can buy.

I dont look at it as being poor. I am the richest woman in the world. What I have is priceless. People spend their lives savings trying to buy what I have, and you know what? They cant!

[Steve_L]

I grew up poor, on welfare. I can identify with some, and it's hard, especially when you go to a school were lots of your peers are NOT poor.

As soon as I turned 16 and the gooberment let me work, I got a job and that was the end of welfare. Mom's rule was that I first had to pay her what welfare paid her.

Various people promised me that they'd help if I got into college. They let me down. That taught me that I was on my own. I leached off poor kid financial aid and got a BS in physics. Then I found out there were no jobs for people with a BS in physics. So, I went back into an electrical engineering program taking academic overload, completely paying my own way. Not a dime in financial aid since I already had a degree. . I worked 40 hours a week pushing a mop at a fast food place and being insulted by teenagers who's parents bought them everything. . Made the deans list. Made honor society. Went to class stinking of honest sweat and resturant filth.

Never in all my life did I have such drive, I hated being poor. I hated going to that job, but I knew I was lucky to get it.

[BUTTERSMOM]

NOT BEING POOR is being able to sincerely say there is always someone that's got it worse than us and knowing with what little we've got we're still able to help family. I may feel poor sometimes, but I'm actually just broke. *I can relate to SO many of these posts.........a LOT of them would definitely be considered poor by other people:

1. Being thrilled about the new IKEA cheese grater from the food pantry, since you just can't justify spending the $5 at the grocery store. ;D

2. Your son continues to sleep on the couch because the recycled mattress on the floor hurts his back. :( or you give up your bed for him and sleep on the couch.

3. Having to charge Mom $3 to take her to the food pantry, cuz otherwise you won't have gas money for work the next day. *:-[

4. Your brother has a midlife crisis at 29 figuring out how to help Mom/Sister/Nephew not become homeless. :( and never have to worry about it again.

5. You come home with 20 boxes of cereal from the dumpster at 5:30am *;) *and son says OH COOL!!! *:D

6. You always keep ALL your receipts, in case you need an emergency return for cash before payday. *8)

7. You never contribute to "snack day" at work, because it NEVER FAILS, it's the day before payday and you're dead broke! *>:( but getting to eat an awesome meal that day and "claiming" some leftovers for son's dinner.

8. Your son's teacher asks him if he needs some new jeans, cuz the ones he's got on shoulda have been scrapped a LONG time ago. :-[

9. Not keeping napkins in the house because they're not a "necessity". *;D My Mom has SINCE learned this is not POOR.

10. Having child support put in your savings account instead of checking, cuz you may be NSF before payday.

11. Working 20hrs OT for one 2-week paycheck and being happy for the $50 left over after all the bills.

A lot of "poor" is really just "ghetto fabulous" - choosing which way you prefer your deprivation. *I just got rid of my internet at home, don't want the bill. I've got access at work 'tho. *I keep my house at 60 in the winter and have one lamp used some nights. Anything not in use is unplugged and my gas & electric bill runs $95/mo average.

PET PEEVE:
Watching any of the house hunting shows and thinking how picky some people are, of things that you would be MORE than happy & content with!

[anna]

I didn't know we were poor until I moved to a different school as a sophmore. The girls at that school went to great pains to let me know I was poor with my homemade cotton skirts and blouses. They made me feel bad about myself for 3 lousy years. Then I graduated left and never looked back. However, it took me years to get past that "poor" feeling and to realize I like homemade cotton clothes and the other "poor" things they made fun of and realized what snobby &#*$! they were.

[rubestr3]

Yeah, we grew up poor. But with our Irish background, I was taught to laugh at it when we could. So, when I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 27, I learned to laugh with the pain. No matter how things will go, I have my sense of humor. I am 37, cancer free and life is good. I remember the bad and know Mom and Dad did what they could.

[alma]

I had my first cancer at age 45-6 or so, and lost one breast then. Had my second cancer at about age 83 or so, a couple of years ago, and lost the other.
Life is good, only this old age tying is getting old, and is a trip in itself.
Lots of luck to you, and all others, who have had to put up with this very real and very clear and very present danger.
Too bad this silent enemy in our midst goes relatively unchallenged compared to the attention and funding given to the search and destroy missions abroad.
Hussein did not kill 400,000 people from lung cancer last year, directly caused by the smoking of cigarettes.
We did it ourself.
Why don't we send in a search and destroy mission to the giant cigarette companys, for one thing, among many others things right here in this contry. love, alma

[mtwildflower]

Every time I turn on the tube I see a drug for this or that, as my wife says "Isn't there any orifice that is sacred anymore?" *

A-flippin-MEN!!!

[mtwildflower]

...we were on welfare, and were irish catholic, and what could be worse than that?



Protestant Irish? ;)

Just a little St. Paddy's Day humor for you.