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Did you know that some banks require a minimum balance and charge their clients a fee if they drop below it? Sounds absurd, I know. But that's just the beginning of the journey we're taking.
Recently, Reddit user Paratrooperkid made a post on r/AntiWork, asking others to list all the examples why being poor is actually expensive. And they definitely picked the right place for it.
r/AntiWork is a subreddit with 1.3 million members who, according to the community itself, "want to end work, are curious about ending work, want to get the most out of a work-free life, want more information on anti-work ideas, and want personal help with their own jobs/work-related struggles." In other words, these folks have plenty of shared experiences regarding unemployment.
As more and more people shared their answers, the post went viral and now has 60K upvotes and 16K comments. Here are some of the (indirect) ways the system taxes the most vulnerable ones.
Image credits: Paratrooperkid
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Rent vs mortgage. The bank says you're too poor for an $800 mortgage payment, so you have to pay $1500 on rent instead.
Helen Haley 4 years ago
Plus a minimum of like 10K up front. Because everyone can save that when they have to pay $1500 in rent a month.
Honu 4 years ago
There aren't a lot of places in the US where you could get into a house with $10K. The median home price is about $375K. It's hard to get a mortgage with less than 10% down. 20% is more like it. The poster's $800 example would be the mortgage (without taxes or anything) on about a $175K (30 year fixed) mortgage. So getting into that with that 10% minimum that would mean something like a house in the $195K range with $20K down.
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Nicholas Kraemer 4 years ago
A bit misleading since on top of the mortgage you have insurance, property tax, utilities, and maintenance. It seems cheaper until that broken furnace is your problem, no hot water is your problem, and so on
Honu 4 years ago
True, but in the US you can deduct your mortgage interest and property tax from your income for tax purposes. That can save you quite a bit of money. Though the amounts you can deduct were capped a few years ago at levels that are a bit low for high COL areas.
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Loty 4 years ago
This is actually bogus. The problem is not with your $1500 rent payment, it's the fact that you don't have $150,000 in cash for the downpayment. The banks learned it the hard way not to give out mortgages to people who have no skin in the game.
Pat Bond 4 years ago
Yes, spot on. To determine your mortgage rate, banks classify mortgages according to their Loan-to-Value (LTV). This means that if you put down a 10% deposit, you'll require a 90% LTV mortgage. Many lenders work out your mortgage rate according to the LTV band that your mortgage fits into - as a rule of thumb, a deposit up to 15% (anything over an 85% loan) will be charged the highest rates, and rates offered will then drop as deposits rise to 40% (60% loan), with a few lenders providing the best rates at up to 50% deposit. These bands exist because customers who pay a larger deposit are of less risk to the bank. The more equity you have in the property from the start the more likely you are to be able to cover the remainder of your mortgage if your property loses value.
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Missy Moo Moo 4 years ago
The bank needs you to have decent deposit so that if you lose your job and can't pay, they can recoup their money in a fluctuating market.... has everyone already forgotten the GFC?
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
If you can't pay your mortgage the bank takes your house and sells it to the highest bidder. It's the banks fault that they let properties go for less than half the value because they know they can still haunt you for the rest of your life.
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Nicki Schussler 4 years ago
assume they can find $800 rent - they are still losing because someone with a mortgage will eventually own the home and be able to stop paying the loan back, but the renter will always have rent. also rent tends to go up (unless you have rent control) but mortgage payments are usually pretty stable.
Sean Harrison 4 years ago
You guys are forgetting that after the '08 housing crash banks wound up owning a lot of properties, including apartment complexes. They figured out they can make more money renting an apartment than giving out mortgages.
Bridget Barmore 1 year ago
Food, groceries, kids gas etc. It's hard to live if you don't make a ton of money. I am disabled and in the last three years I lost my 22 year old daughter, my brother, my nephew and my mom just got out of a coma.
Perfumista Perfumista 4 years ago
I lost my good paying job an now have a crappy paying one. I can't refinance my mortgage to lower my payments because I currently don't earn enough to qualify for a mortgage.
Dave P 4 years ago
that's because most states require you to put down between 10% and 25% of a houses value before getting the mortgage. It isnt the bank, it is the state law. New Jersey has a law that for a first time housebuyer it is just 5% for that first house. You are blaming the wrong people, the bank cannot legally give you the mortgage unless you have a certain amount down, with a certain amount of earnings or savings. Its the law.
Mazer 4 years ago
I rent, I have had to endure the costs and stresses of moving out every five years. I’m disabled snd have a housing voucher. 1 out of 10 people with a housing voucher ever get housing. Once you have signed up for housing on one county, you can not move out of that county without a massive hassle. You are stuck. Our county does not give renters interest on their deposits snd has a no reason needed to end a lease on the land leechers side, god forbid a renter needs to break a lease. Land leechers ALWAYS find a way to cut into a cleaning deposit…ALWAYS
RELATED:
#2
Well. Here's a good example of something that happens all the time. Daily. Single mom hasn't gotten her child support check on time. A water* utility bill hits her account that was supposed to be covered by that support. Bank account goes -$135.00 due to the utility bill. The overdraft then incurs a $45 overdraft fee. So. The mom is now -$180 and the electric company sends a letter saying her power will be shut off if payment is not rendered by x date. She knows she won't be paid until two days after the cutoff. So. Waiting for support and her check she's now scouring her floorboard for change to put in her tank to get herself to work and the kids to school. The electric cutoff day comes and goes and the support check doesn't show up. Because she's being paid a sh*t wage she has nothing left over for this emergency. The electric gets cutoff and now her $135.00 bill has incurred a $50 service restart fee. Now her electric bill is $185.00 and she still owes $175 to the bank for the water* overdraft. She is still waiting on the support check. But now because she had to pay the extras for the overdraft, and the electric, she can't afford lunch for the kids this week. So she again scours change to get a loaf of bread and peanut butter. Her kids are still hungry so they get lunch from the school. If the school isn't a*sholes they'll have an account for her kids that will now also be negative. This actually happened in my friends household. It was the most heartbreaking bullsh*t thing you'd ever hear. And it happens every.single.minute.
OhForSmegSake 4 years ago
Yup. This s**t happened to my neighbour more than once. I couldn't pay her bills but I'd make her and the kids dinner, let them bathe at my house, or buy them groceries when I could.
Jessica Gunn 4 years ago
This is me right now. Currently looking for anything that may be of value in the house to sell or p**n. And then, I need to find some change to buy some food for the week.
Cactus McCoy 4 years ago
That's why electricity providers here are not allowed to cancel supply because of one or two unpaid bills. It is considered something we call "basic need"...
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
Yeah, but thel still charge an extra amout due payment delays, just like a fine for not paying on time. So at the end it is just the same. Poor people having to pay more money for noy having enough money
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Got Myself 4 Dwarves 4 years ago
Hang the hell on- in America they literally cut off your electric if you miss ONE payment? My husband rented his flat for two years, they didn't pay a single payment in that whole time and still didn't get cut off - we never paid for it either since we could prove it was rented out and gave the company the tenants forwarding info. Even if we fell months behind we could contact them and set up a minimum payment to keep paying something until we're back on our feet - it's insane to think people live in a place that is so quick to leave them without basic essential needs like heating and the ability to cook a meal - the more I learn about the US the more I'm glad I live in Scotland.
Lindsey Judd-Bruder 3 years ago
They do the minimum payment thing here, too. That's probably the "one" payment the mom in this example missed.
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ZAPanda 4 years ago (edited)
This is about 30 million people here. The banks need to have laws saying they can't charge overdraft fees on anyone earning less than X amount. Otherwise it's just perpetuating poverty. Fortunately water and electricity here is free to a certain amount - I can't recall the volumes, something like 50kL and 5 MW but I stand to be corrected. Housing is provided if you are below a certain income, so as to reduce homelessness, and state schools are free and provide one meal a day. But hey, I guess that is an evil socialist government for you. Oh yes I forgot, they also give you like $23 per month during covid. Sounds like nothing but it will buy a week of basic groceries.
Helena Murphy 4 years ago
I am sure this must happen ….. it breaks my heart though thinking of the choices mums in the US have to make …. Gas v Food …… electricity v food …..??? The U.K. is just amazing when it comes to things like this … benefits etc free schools and medical …!
JD Lee 4 years ago
It’s a shame the fathers aren’t dinged all the late fees. I know so many single mothers who get paid a ton less than the men, & don’t have the opportunities the men get because they sacrificed their lives education & career to marry a deadbeat & have his kids. A man is not a good investment ladies. I have yet to meet a single father with this problem.
Christinah Huchro 4 years ago
Been there a couple times. When the power was turned off for 24 hours once, I told the kids we would be "Camping" in our house. We made it a fun experience. Still, so humiliating for me. I would hide in the bathroom and take cry breaks.
#3
The hardest part of being poor for me, was the “cost” of time. My weekly grocery trip took almost four hours. Between the time spent looking over fliers and making a list of what I could afford, walking to the closest bus stop, transferring to another bus, an hour of shopping and tallying up my total to make sure I was within budget, waiting up to 20 minutes for a bus home, including another transfer and the walk home with all my groceries from the bus stop. I would often go without groceries because I didn’t have time to get to the store and was stuck making Kraft Dinner Mac and Cheese without butter or milk, because that is what was in the pantry. Now that I live more comfortably, I drive to the store in 10 minutes, spend 30 minutes shopping and am home and finished within an hour.
ETA: it’s been more than 10 years since I ate Sad KD and today I’m lucky to have a full cupboard, fridge and freezer. I am so sorry for everybody who can recognize themselves in this post. I never realized this was such a universal experience.
lenka 4 years ago
Yes. When I was a teen I lived by myself in a little hovel on the outside of town. I didn't have a washing machine or car so I would have to walk to the laundromat to wash clothes. If I left them there, they were stolen so I had to sit and wait for them to be done and then walk home again. Instead of being able to throw a load of laundry in and go to work, it took three hours of my time. Then I had to do grocery shopping. Couldn't carry laundry and groceries and they weren't in the same direction anyway, so walk to the supermarket, shop takes time because you have to carefully inspect prices and then walk home again. I was unable to pick up extra working hours to get out of poverty because poverty demanded my time.
Zeljka Anastasia 1 year ago
I left home at 16. I handwashed my clothes in the sink and hung them to dry in the bathtub because I didn't have money/transportation for the laundromat. I lived on pasta with a squirt of italian dressing and cut up tomatoes or whatever veggies were cheap. I still watch prices but definitely indulge now.
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ZAPanda 4 years ago
We had some riots here and the wealthy areas were barely affected. I saw a friend who lived far away in an area which was hit badly, and she was in my suburb. I asked her why, she said, the shops there were empty. She'd travelled an hour to get there at cost of about $2 on unreliable public transport, which for her was expensive. I said you know what, tell me what you need. I bought her her groceries that she could carry. Those of us who can help have a duty to help.
Rachknits 4 years ago
When I was in my 20s I had a time when all I had to eat was a huge tupperware full of oatmeal that had been given to me by a family friend, I cooked it mostly with water and it was a real treat if I was fortunate enough to afford milk. At the time I was considerably thinner than I am now...
Henny Hana 4 years ago
There was a time in my life where i only have some rice and i had to boil water,added some msg for flavour and ate that s**t. There was also a time in my life that i literally only had water for 3 days cuz i didn't have any money.
John Dilligaf 4 years ago
not only the time involved, but when you're walking or riding the bus to the store you can't buy as much. You can only get as much as you can easily carry . So no bulk savings - no mega packs of toilet paper or 10 lb bags of rice or jumbo laundry detergent anything like that. And you also have to make more frequent trips since you can't buy as much per trip.
Kantami Blossom 4 years ago
sadly know that feeling too well, when i was younger and still in a situation like that i forgot one of the items on my list and had to walk about two and a half miles to the shop because my budget was so tight i could no longer afford the 85p bus trip.
Sean Kieley 4 years ago (edited)
Yo, seriously. throw all your whites in the bathtub... put some detergent in, fill w water and walk for 20 minutes in the bathtub. - no bleach needed and your whites will never be whiter! #truth Did this for years when I had no laundry money
OhForSmegSake 4 years ago
If you've ever been poor enough that you have to dumpster dive behind grocery stores for food or- God forbid- steal fruit and veggies from people's gardens, that's something that can only be done at certain hours of the night. You get very little sleep and are not very productive at school/work the next day.
Mazer 4 years ago
When you live in your vehicle, there is no way to keep cool on hot days or warm on cold nights. If I want a hot meal I must either buy fast food or try to sneak a turn at the microwave at a convenience store. Washing your hair in the gas station bathroom is a luxury, usually it’s over a sewer grate after hours in an industrial area.
#4
It’s cheaper to buy processed foods, leading to higher risk of cancer and other illnesses. Healthy foods are a privilege. I wish I could afford more fruit
Caro Caro 4 years ago
This is outrageous. We've had posts here on BP about food/diet. Governments (USA?) should budge in and do something. I'm lucky that where I live veggies and fruit are cheap and good quality.
Phil DeBlanc 4 years ago
This! So much! After moving the the EU, I have lost a lot of weight and it's mostly because of better, healthier food. Even the local Aldi has fresh produce free of crap, meat free of steroids and even the processed foods have fewer additives.
Kantami Blossom 4 years ago
that's why i can't stand it when governments complain about obesity and say people should eat healthier, you can feed a family of four for a day on less than £15 on cheap food but would need two or three times that amount to feed them the healthy food.
Elisabeth Mager 4 years ago
Some of you here have obviously no idea what poor means. Having little money is not the same. If you have yo work 3 jobs to make ends meet, you really don't have the time or the energy to cook meals, go extensive grocery shopping to find the cheapest options etc
Thalia Lovering 4 years ago (edited)
One of the reasons I love living in Greece is that healthy options are cheap and processed options are expensive. The more unhealthy something is, the more expensive it gets.
Mazer 4 years ago
If you don’t own a vehicle and public transportation sucks getting what you need when you need it is nearly impossible, being disabled on top of that makes getting anywhere ridiculous. I applied for free county transportation for the disabled, the paperwork I had to fill out was over an inch thick. There were no guarantees you would be picked up on time for an appointment. They requested you be prepared to wait outside (no matter the weather conditions) for an hour before your scheduled pickup time, but to expect to have to wait for an hour past pickup time!
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
A lot of US obesity is due to this. A box of mac and cheese to feed your kids is $.50 and a frozen pizza for you and the spouse is $1.25. Its $4 for broccoli, the chicken costs $8, and $5 for apples with the same number of calories.
Soleil SanMao 4 years ago
I remember one of the fellows at the university did research on "food desserts." In some communities there are no grocery stores. Just corner/convenience stores that sell snacks, sodas, lottery tickets and cigarettes. Not one piece of produce within a 50 mile radius.
Douglas Mosier 4 years ago
Potatoes and dry beans are cheap. And compared to fresh, frozen veg and fruit are pretty inexpensive.
#5
Getting to and from work. Since you're poor, you cannot afford to live close to work and thus have a longer commute.
But you also cannot afford to own and run a reliable car, so you have a beater that breaks all the time and gets poor mileage.
When it breaks, you can't get paid because you aren't at work so you have a new bill PLUS halted income.
To compensate, you take out high interest loans to repair the car. But it breaks again later so you're always in debt for high interest loans on top of the car costs.
I see this a lot in the northeast.
Gaby Almodovar 4 years ago
Must be a hell living in countries or country-parts without decent public transport.
Charlene Viera 4 years ago
Yeah it is! I live in Mountain View CA and the bus isn’t really reliable. To catch a bus to work, (before I bought a used car) , I had to walk a mile to a bus stop! They’ve gotten better, but it wasn’t easy.
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Sky Render 4 years ago
It's a long shot for many, but if you can save up enough to buy an older Toyota (pretty much anything from '92 to '01), you can get in this sweet spot where your car's upkeep and maintenance is less than bus fares. Which used car dealerships have started to realize and started selling those models for 150 to 300% of what they were asking for them 2 to 3 years ago...
Rainy Day Wolf 4 years ago
I've never had a car, I've never been closer than an hour from my jobs, but transport is pretty good in my country, I get to sleep or read or watch a movie or listen to music on my way to work, I'd had the opportunity to get a car but I don't want to fight in traffic if I can just sleep through it.
Michael Gawthrop-Hutchins 4 years ago
A corollary of this is that in a lot of areas, often times the best paying jobs that you can get without an expensive degree are located in areas with no public transit access. In my area, want to get a job somewhere without a car and don't have a degree, you are looking at $12-$14 an hour at most (with most being under $10). With a car, you can drive out to the industrial centers outside town and get $17-$21 an hour. Of course, you need to already have to have the money for a car before you can get that job that needs a car.
Mazer 4 years ago
Horrible public transportation options, bad bus schedules, high costs to cross bridges. Commuting in my area from home into the city is $100. a month. So many people can not afford to live that close to the city (pay is higher), so they opt for a two hour commute one way, destroying their vehicle in short order. You are screwed if someone hits your car.
Devan Boster 4 years ago (edited)
For me, before I had a car, I was spending $7 a day, 5 days a week, making my monthly transportation fee $140. I was only making 11/hr. It was so expensive.
Load More Replies... ZAPanda 4 years ago
There's a huge proportion of people here with that problem. Mostly they end up taking rickety minibuses to work instead. But they have gang warfare and sometimes just fire on each other while carrying passengers. Of course, a lot of bosses are racists POSes and cr@p on the workers when they arrive late.
Eric Mac Fadden 4 years ago
I moved near my work. A 20min walk saves me at least R$ 250,00 (Brazilian Reais) of waiting... but I had luck to find a place cheaper and better than before...
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Well done. Here most jobs are in an area called Sandton which is the richest area in the continent. The nearest low-income area is called Alexandra and it's about 5-10km away... not really walking distance. As you walk to work, you pass mansions that cost region of $1m. Apartments in the employment area are ballpark 130 000 - 1m USD. Some even up to 4m USD. Most people who have to travel to get there are earning like $ 400 or so per month... they will NEVER own in that area.
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#6
Shoes.
You need good shoes to work in, but you can't afford good shoes so you buy ok shoes that break after 3 months.
After 4 pairs of ok shoes in a year, you've spent more than if you'd bought 1 pair of good shoes.
Sarcastic Cow 4 years ago (edited)
For more see genius Terry Pratchetts character cpt. Sam Vimes ´Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.´
Sarah 4 years ago
Oh, I've read about that. It was maybe the best and most straightforward example I've ever read. I couldn't remember what it was called though so thank you for the reminder!
Load More Replies... Helen Haley 4 years ago
And you'll never have enough money at once to actually buy the good pair in the first place.
Denise Lewis 4 years ago
i worked at mc Donald's i was 38 and newly divorced there rule is you have to have black or white shoes solid color well i had black sneakers that had a pink stripe some 20 something year old kept harassing me about my sneakers and the pink stripe it was never ending even when i calmly told her i could not afford to buy another pair i had no one helping me husband boyfriend what ever i also had a 16 year old daughter at home everything i made went to bills and gas to get to work i couldn't even afford to buy food for my daughter i had to feed her on whatever i could take home from work at the end of the night i had no furniture i didn't have real forks and knives to eat with i was using plastic utensils but this bitch didn't seem to get what i was saying she kept it up right until my last day of work there the last time she did this they suspended her from work for harassment she should have gotten fired but she was one of the managers friends
Gaby Almodovar 4 years ago
There are things on what you can't spare, no matter how poor you are. Safety work shoes are one of them. You can have a work-accident, and second-hand, or just poorly-made shoes can cost your health or ability to work.
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
This is one of the best examples, but it goes further than just shoes. The rich & ultra rich get that way off our backs. Saying this looks like I am saying they rip off wages & such & though true it is not what I mean. By buying shoddy products that need constant replacement, we can never save, & worse is we make the people selling that crap rich. The work boots in this scenario are easy to understand. I went into construction after working in food service for a couple years & started out by buying a good $120 pair of boots with my final paycheck. That pair of boots lasted 7 years. When I finally had to replace it, I bought a pair that was around $35 which were destroyed within a few months. Luckily for me, my situation changed & I ended up in a different profession, but can you imagine.
Thomas Turnbull 4 years ago
If you need safety boots for work your workplace will more than likely pay for them.
Elizabeth Calvert 4 years ago
So much yes to this! I ended with shoes that killed my feet b/c they didn't fit right. Personal favorite was when I had a pair falling apart I put duct tap on them and had dept sup who was on a power trip threaten to send me home b/c of my shoes or I could clock out and go buy a new pair. I just looked at her said " don't you think I'd a pair of shoes that actually fit and aren't falling apart? Do you think I wear these as a fashion statement? Do you what the fashion statement is that I'm making? I'm poor. I can't afford new shoes right now" got her leave me alone
#7
I can help you out. I worked with homeless folks in LA for a few years. The stories I could tell you.
One that was a recurring tale, all too common, were parking tickets. Rich people? Big deal. Pay it online, it’s an afterthought at its worst.
Now that same parking ticket issued to a homeless person living out of their car, trying to scrounge together money for a deposit on a place whilst working a sh*tty service sector job?
That’s devastating. It’s another 2-3 months of sleeping in the car. Or maybe it’s a few days worth of missed meals. Or maybe it’s skipping out on that expensive medication that your sh*tty insurance wont cover.
I could provide you endless examples of the way this country punishes the poor. People need a reality check.
Cactus McCoy 4 years ago
Living in your car WHILE HAVING A BLOODY JOB is insane. The underlying system is completely broken.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
40% of US homeless are working a full time job.
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Scott Moore 4 years ago
Start fining everyone on a percentage basis. Rich people pay more and poor people less. I believe Sweden or Denmark does this for traffic tickets.
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
daily expected expense value or something like that. A speeding ticket can cost a rich person a few hundred grand rather than the $250 it would be at a flat rate.
Load More Replies... Mazer 4 years ago
When I quoted that being homeless can cost a municipality nearly a million dollars a year, this is one of the reasons. Everything is monetized. S person gets a parking ticket or more than one, can’t pay, the overdue fines end up costing the municipality because now the person must go to court. So let’s start the balance sheet, parking enforcement officer $15 an hour with benefits, they usually drive a vehicle, add gas and maintenance fees, ticket transcripts must be delivered to court every morning in person, there is another hour or more the municipality is paying that employee. The courts must process the ticket, computer input, a letter is generated snd sent to the address where the vehicle was registered, chances are if a as person had become homeless, records might not be updated. These minor things cost money, lots of money, the more homeless, the more money. Trash pickup, hazmat suits, Emergency room visits, clinic visits, Hospitalization costs, etc etc etc. 1/2
Mazer 4 years ago
2/2 You pay for it all while corporations, billionaires create more homeless as fo greedy landlords who increase rent by $100. A year. I know zero people who get a $100. A year raise. I do know everyone I know who works had 3 to ( part time jobs just to cover basics). Corporate welfare sucks more money out of you than any person getting welfare or other social services, yet it’s the person getting government assistance who is chastised!! Much like people blaming foreigners for taking their job, blame the company not the worker!!
Load More Replies... Douglas Mosier 4 years ago
OK, I know it's easy to say but not so easy to implement, but MOVE TO A DIFFERENT AREA OF THE COUNTRY. HOw many of those employed homeless people are living in areas where a sh*thole costs 1500 bucks? Where I live, a fairly nice 2br apt costs maybe 700 and that's on the high side.
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
Most people think their debts & responsibilities tie them to an area. Most people are not willing to pull up & start over in a new place like this as it hurts fianancially for years afterwards. Why is it taking a veteran with a full time job & no chemical dependencies or any problems that are not financial in nature 2 years or more living homeless to get approved for a HUD apartment? This is a huge part of what needs addressed. I mean, if a veteran who has no problems cannot get into an open apartment quickly, who are they assisting?
Load More Replies... #8
I don’t own my home, I rent. My colleague owns. We make the same money and pay the same income taxes. The gov uses the taxes to upgrade the roads, and infrastructure in town. My colleague’s equity goes up, so does my landlord’s, because of our tax dollars spent. So he gets richer. My land lord gets richer.
Me? My rent goes up
Patti Vance 4 years ago
this is something that pisses me off to no end. if you have a person or couple with decent jobs who show through their history that they are good renters but have no other assets or a huge savings, why the hell would a lending agency think they were not a good risk to have a mortgage. renting costs so much more than owning. also, not all apartments have utilities included and, if a person/couple is renting they they already are paying for those kind of things.
Jennifer Reding 4 years ago
Not entirely true. I spent years renting, but now live in a house that we own because I got married and my husband had equity. (Believe me--I've been poor, eating mac n cheese because it was 50cents a box, or pasta with butter on it every night because it was cheap). On top of the mortgage, you have to include homeowners insurance and property taxes, which altogether can exceed what you were paying in rent for the same house. As a renter, you are not responsible for repairs to the property--every year in this house we have had to replace or repair something. Some years, it's not bad, like just the hot water heater. Other years, it was the AC and HVAC system ($$$). Last year was a several thousand dollar roof repair. We are looking at replacing kitchen appliances next year, because both the refrigerator and oven are on their last legs.Our home is only 20 years old--older houses cost even more. When they say owning a home is a money pit, it's often not an exaggeration.
Load More Replies... Loty 4 years ago
I don't know where you live but in NJ property taxes make sure you are NOT getting richer when you own a house.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
You missed the point. Both your equity and the landlords goes up. Both of you can claim your mortgage interest against those taxes. The person renting is paying more than the mortgage, is paying the landowner the money to cover the taxes, and gets $0 equity and $0 tax deduction. If you get laid off, you can use that equity to borrow against to make it to the next job. The renter just gets evicted.
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Mickie Shea 4 years ago
You must buy as soon as possible, even if not the home you want. Be a renter and a landlord.
Soleil SanMao 4 years ago
I know of a landlord that when his HOA fees go up ($5-$10) he raises his rent $40-$50. smh.
abby smink 4 years ago
The thing I always hated about renting, is me and the person next to me could have the same exact floorplan, same amenities, etc, and our rents will be drastically different. Rent is whatever the hell they want it to be.
#9
I’ve never had the money to spend on regular dental work so now I’m spending thousands more to fix everything that was neglected
I would like to make an edit and add that a ton of you in the comments have suggested dental tourism and dental schools. Both are great ideas!
Cee Mor 4 years ago
I just tried a new dentist and it was over 600 for a cleaning...now I have to try out another more affordable dentist to get the fillings done...in about 6 months.
Katinka Min 4 years ago
It si 80-90€ for a thorough clean in Germany - and I'm considering having it done in Spain , having read Irishwoman's comment. Seriosuly, just go on a nice trip and have it done, here, in Europe.
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Laurie Diggins 4 years ago
Dental care shouldn’t be separated from “Health” care. Research what happens to one’s digestive system. Dental coverage is usually between $1,000-1,500, which is a mere drop in the bucket! Who sets these parameters! The elite.
Admiralu 7 months ago
That’s PPO insurance. Dental PPO is different from medical. Dental PPO is worthless. Dental HMO is better because it covers more procedures. You have to choose from a list and make sure you choose an office with surgery and endodonics in the office. The larger chains do. You don’t need an employer either, you can get insurance from MetLife for less than $20 a month.
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Patti Vance 4 years ago
so true! health insurance normally doesn't include dental work so while you can go to a doctor for illness or emergencies you can't do this for dental issues. if you do have an emergency like an absess the most an e.r. can do is give antibiotics and, if you have a kind doctor, some pain meds to get you by until you can get to a dentist. since an absess usually means a root canal and crown which is minimum of $1000 you opt to get it pulled. then, over time, depending on which tooth, your teeth will begin to migrate little by little because every tooth provides support for its neighbor. by the time and if ever you get dental insurance you will still spend a lot fixing issues that would have been minor had you been able to take care of them when they started. even cleanings are hard because they may not be too expensive you still have to take time off work and, sadly, they can reveal issues that will haunt you.
Jessica Gunn 4 years ago
My teeth currently breaking apart, and always in some sort of pain. Can only eat on one side of my mouth. Can I fix this? Hell no. And at this point, I probably never will, and I've accepted my fate
Tee Witt 4 years ago
This is true for me in England at the moment, can not see it altering. Why people vote down when people tell truths always puzzles me.
Load More Replies... Soleil SanMao 4 years ago
We had a temp that wanted to be hired full time in the worst way so she could obtain medical benefits. She was finally hired and the first thing she did was take herself and her 3 kids to the dentist. She was literally singing about it in the office. "We're going to the den-tist. And I'm so hap-py!" Just typing that, brings a tear to my eyes.
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
Yeah. Dental care is super expensive. In regular times it is hard to afford, during and after lockdown it has become a luxury like buying a private plane... or an island *sigh*
Admiralu 7 months ago
If you are in the US, visit MetLife for their Dental HMO. Less than $20 a month, covers a lot with affordable copays.
Load More Replies... ZAPanda 4 years ago
dental here isn't covered by any national safety net, so you have to pay. Last time I got a quote for an implant they wanted like $2000. I guess that won't happen soon.
#10
You meticulously maintain a high mileage used car that is totaled in a car accident that is not your fault. Insurance company will only pay you $1,000 for your car.
Chucky Cheezburger 4 years ago
This sucks even when someone isn't poor. It's such a pain to replace a car for what rip-off...er, I mean insurance company deems your car worth.
Annamagelic 4 years ago
This happened to my husband last summer. He was driving our 12 year old fully paid for car that we intended to keep for a couple more years. Another driver just plowed right into him. We got almost nothing for the totaled car, and had to find something new while car inventories was almost non existent. Fortunately we were in a financial position that it wasn't catastrophic for us, but we are now saddled with a high car payment we were not expecting.
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Kantami Blossom 4 years ago
my father who's disabled had his car hit by another driver, it was declared a rightoff because the insurance company didn't want to pay the £800 to repair it and gave my father a £500 payout. he'd used this insurance company his entire life paying them thousands over the years and on hs first accident they cheap out and leave him without a car (insurance is just legal robbery)
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
Yup. My van has been broken into six times. There is nothing in it to steal, the van itself isn’t worth stealing. Car repair costs are astronomical..$150 an hour!!
Chucky Cheezburger 4 years ago
Sweet Jiminy effing crickets! We're these all claims to the same insurance company? If it was, Im surprised they didn't drop your coverage completely.
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Sky Render 4 years ago
Most people don't consider their insurance provider's total loss valuation vendor as a key part of their insurance, but there are several firms out there! Some are more willing to work with their clients than others. Though my old firm was known as one of the generous ones, it always did break my heart when I completed a valuation on a vehicle that was so low that it would barely cover the cost of getting a dodgy replacement off of Craigslist...
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
That $1000 won't even make the down payment so that 20 mile trip to work now takes 2 1/2 hours by bus each way and your life spirals because 5 hours of your day is now transportation to work.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
In the Netherlands your insurance premium is based on the price of the car when it was new. Even when you bought it when it was 8 years old. A €40 000 car from 2015 which you bought for €20 000 will cost you as just much in insurance premium now as it would have done back in 2015.
Eglė Bukauskaitė 3 years ago
yeah, we had a 20+ year mitsubishi. The money we spent on few little tweaks. I still cannot forgive my mom for not letting to sell it and rather spend 2000€ on little metal sheet on rusted spot. So we sold it last year... for 180€
Katinka Min 4 years ago
Huh??? How?? Ah nevermind, the US... I stopped trying to understand why people put up with this s**t.
#11
Many banks charge a monthly fee to have an account with a balance under a certain level (e.g. $1500). It's literally a poverty fee.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Seems that a US bank that would treat their customers like European banks do, would blow all the other US banks out of the water.
Phil DeBlanc 4 years ago
I was blown away when I moved to Belgium and the debit card I got here works in any ATM and there is no fee.
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Got Myself 4 Dwarves 4 years ago
After I left my ex husband he left me several thousands of pounds in debt in my name I had no idea existed and he just left it. It was so bad that I ended up having to go bankrupt - cost me £50 and my credit rating but s**t happens - as a result I opened a basic bank account that doesn't have overdraft facilities and if I happen to miss I direct debit it just bounces back and tried again in a few days - zero fees. Has all the same functions of any other account except an overdrafts and the possibility of being charged as you're running short that month - completely stress free
Kt 4 years ago
This is like the account i have. Any monies requested will just be blocked if the money isn't in the account. No overdraft.
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Ben Steinberg 4 years ago
Use a credit union instead of a bank -- they are different entities, both can loan you money or keep your money safe but a credit union tends to be less predatory.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
This is a thing here too. Our banks are basically predators. You pay at least $10 per month in "account fees" and then a further $4 if you go into overdraft, never mind the interest which they hit you at like >10%. They also charge you for any and all electronic payments, except debit card purchases in-store. Cash withdrawal, especially at another bank's ATM - oops, there goes $1. Not unusual to lose about $20/month just on random fees.
Jackie Hagen 1 year ago
There ARE banks that have no minimums, except to open, like $100 in 30 days. They are mostly smaller, local and regional banks. The big ones? No
#12
if you cant afford your own laundry machine or an apartment that comes with one it costs like $10 in quarters to do laundry. EVERY TIME.
Jenny Shmurak 4 years ago
And that's a luxury too. In my country I've never seen those quarters laundry places. Always thought it was an american movies thing. Also, noone has a washing machine in the basement of apartment buildings. Only in dorms.
Martha Meyer 4 years ago (edited)
There are laundormats here in Germany too. I've never used one though, so I don't know what it costs to do a load of washing. Newer buildings will often have basement space dediated for laundry as well, but I live in a building that's 70 years old and we have that too - plus space for drying lines in the attic.
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The Scout 4 years ago
In most of Europe a washing machine is standard in nearly every household. I know of only three laundromats in the bigger city I live near to, which are mostly used by college students and foreign workers.
Vladimíra Matejová 4 years ago
slovakia: I have never seen a laundrymat in my life. only in dormitories. everyone has a washimg machine if not new at least a second hand. there are services for washing clothes but those are mostly for luxurious or hard to wash clothes such as ball room gowns and fur and cost a lot. you pay by piece
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Michael Gawthrop-Hutchins 4 years ago
Even if you can afford your own laundry machine, if you can't afford a higher end one, you are going to pay a lot more for water, a lot more for electricity, a lot more for detergent, and your clothes will wear out a lot quicker. I went from a low end top loader to a mid range front load and my clothes, no joke, last twice as long as they did before. Top loaders beat the s**t out of clothes.
Alice Platzer 4 years ago
Agree! Had a top loader in my first apartment and paid an arm and a leg on the water bill. Now live where there are two washing machines and a dryer in the basement for 13 tenants. Much better! One washload-->1 €.
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Paul Z. 4 years ago
Washing 30 times = $300. $300 is a cheap washing machine. Second hand. Buy a good second hand brand start saving money.
Lindsey Judd-Bruder 3 years ago
You don't understand. Go back up, and read the entry about the shoes, my guy.
Load More Replies... Lindsey Judd-Bruder 3 years ago (edited)
More than $10, if you have a family. Where I live, at some places it costs $2.75-$3 PER CYCLE. And that's just to WASH. Drying only costs .25¢ per cycle. BUT the cycles are short and the dryers usually not that hot. It usually takes 3 or 4 cycles (or even 5, for heavy stuff) to get your clothes completely dry. I'm positive this is on purpose. In any case, if you have a family, especially little kids who make a lot of messes and therefore a lot of laundry, $10 ain't gonna cut it. Not even close.
#13
I’m the opposite of poor and I see this every day. Because I have money to always pay my credit card bills fully on time I buy everything with them and wind up with a 2% discount/cash back on everything I buy. This adds up to thousands of $/year. There are tons of things that are discounted if you are rich. One of the sh*ttiest things about our economy
Cactus McCoy 4 years ago
Yeah. Also, being able to buy the good, lasting stuff leads to not spending money on many things like good quality clothing, appliences and tools. Saves a HUGE ammount of money over time.
Alex the Country Dog 4 years ago
Is it just me, or does it bother anyone else that OP phrased it as "I'm the opposite of poor..." The opposite of poor is rich, but I think rich people have difficulty owning the phrase "I am rich." Is it because saying "I am rich" makes a person feel more obligation to use their wealth to help fix the things they recognize are inequitable?
ZAPanda 4 years ago
I think it might be a matter of degree. There's "having a four bedroom house and two cars"-rich, and there's Bill Gates rich.
Load More Replies... Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
Most things like this only work if you have the money already. Buy one/get one assumes you can afford the first one. 20% off your purchase over $500. $2500 rebate on a new $14K car. Your job matching your 401K contributions on paycheck that doesn't cover rent so you can't put money in the 401K.
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago (edited)
Rigth. Discounts? For rich people only. Free services? Sponsors? Richs only. Promotions? Again only for rich. Good credit deals? Only if you are drowning with money. Free samples? Extra amount of any product? Prizes, 2x1 offers, sales, "pay in chash and you get a 2 month all inclusive paid holiday"... absolutely everything for rich people to save money. Fines and penalty fees, and higher interest for all who don't have money.
Lucky2BAlive. 4 years ago
Be thankful that you can eat healthy. When you can’t, it’s a firestorm of things that can and do go wrong. Falling below the poverty live does not change who you are, but complicates even getting the most basic of things needed. We don’t have a voice, but are part of a statistical number often incorrect. And we are not part of the discussion because we don’t have a voice, and have never been invited to table an honest discussion. That’s where help begins.
Lynn Morello 4 years ago
We forced ourselves to get rid of our credit cards and have been so much better off. We are not rich by any means, but we are not up to our necks in debt.
Michael Gawthrop-Hutchins 4 years ago
It isn't so much that you are getting 2% back on everything you buy. The merchant marks prices up by 5% to make up for the fact that they are getting charged about that by the credit card processors every time they make a credit card sale. Your credit card company gives you 2% to encourage you to make more purchases on your credit card so they get more merchant fees. You are still getting screwed by the credit card company, but at least you get something for involuntarily playing this game that we are all stuck in. The people who pay cash just get the higher prices at the store.
Stannous Flouride 4 years ago
I'm in pretty much the same situation. I'm not rich but I have a rent-controlled apartment and a stable retirement (Social Security) income. But I _was_ poor and pretty much still live that way: There's only one light, a radio, and this laptop using power as I write this and when I get cold I put on a sweater so my utilities are about 60% lower than my neighbors. I eat well but shop at less expensive grocery stores and take buses to get there. But the advantages this has given me are substantial. I paid off my daughter's NYU student loans and gave her a $250/month allowance thru her Master's degree and for almost a year after as she traveled abroad. I am able to add a few hundred $$ to my savings every month and twice in the last 8 years was able to take 2 month volunteer vacations in Mexico & Peru. (both were doing tasks that could not have been done by locals, I'm careful about that)
#14
How about the fact that homelessness is illegal
Caro Caro 4 years ago
God the hopelessness. How can you make it illegal if you don't help? WTF is wrong with people.
Lucky2BAlive. 4 years ago
It’s all tragically true. Just as it’s equally tru that you can’t get th job without an address, or an address without yet job. And now? You could b very well us,if I’d, BUT, if your credit rating is crap? No job for you. And you better hope you don’t get sick.
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Loty 4 years ago
What kills me is the fact that people are perfectly ok with spending $35k a year on inmates in prisons but spending money on homeless is a trigger point.
Something 4 years ago
It's also disturbing that people are okay with paying for more inmates but not for a higher cost per inmate. We need to imprison fewer people, but people who are in prison (and those who aren't) should have access to quality food, healthcare, education and living conditions. Treating inmates humanely reduces recidivism and can actually save money in the long run.
Load More Replies... Mazer 4 years ago
Feeding homeless people is illegal, loitering is illegal, sleeping in your car is illegal, yet the same people who are creating these ridiculous laws are also passively endorsing homelessness
Terry Filkohazi 4 years ago
I live in Las Vegas. Rich town. Not very many people know, beneath the glitz & glitter, there are around 1,000 people (pre-pandemic) that live in the flood tunnels & make that their homes.
Load More Replies... WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
How about the fact that people vote for jerks that make these laws?
ZAPanda 4 years ago
In our country it's definitely racism. If you go to Cape Town they do similar stuff, forcibly removing homeless people etc. You can guess who is removing whom. https://www.newframe.com/watch-homeless-residents-take-on-city-of-cape-town/
Load More Replies... ZAPanda 4 years ago
Homelessness has a range of solutions here... The weirdo druggie types end up in special places like stepdown facilities which are quite often charities. The actual homeless people here tend to be kids who have lost all parental figures OR older guys who can't get work. They are often in a YMCA or something similar. Then you have generic unemployed people - usually women or matrons of families, and they get free government housing. It's not great but it is an actual house with actual bathroom, etc.
#15
Attendance micromanagement at work. Hear me out. I am currently at a much higher paying position. It’s salaried. My boss has the mindset that she doesn’t care when things get done just so long as they get done. She’s flexible on when I clock in/out and doesn’t feel the need to track if I’m hitting exactly forty hours a week. (Again, salaried position). Contrast to past jobs that paid less than half as much. Many of my coworkers took public transit (couldn’t own a car). I could have easily taken public transit, it was one bus and short walk from my house. However. I opted to drive because we would be disciplined for being more than two minutes “tardy” clocking in. The bus is NOT that reliable, y’all. So we have multiple workers showing up 10-20 minutes early to sit around with unpaid time so they don’t get docked for being tardy. And the policy was such that three tardies mean you get written up, then it escalates to action, then to termination. It’s real easy to lose your job because your bus route is not reliable. But most of the people taking the bus to work are in the low paying positions that micromanage if you’re two minutes late (even if it’s out of your control). Bosses keep their thumbs on the low earners and it keeps them there.
rspanther 4 years ago
I like to say that the only reliable thing about my public transit is that it is unreliable.
Mazer 4 years ago
And what if you are sick, the clinics are not usually open after 5pm, they demand payment upfront. Often patients (even ones using government insurance for the poor) can not get specialty care. People think if a person is on disability they just get everything handed to them Ed m and get Fred medical care. My current situation is slowly killing me, it had already cost me 2/3rds of my patella (knee cap), a serious case of anemia (surgeon decided to not follow standard operating procedures, causing massive blood loss). I’m referred to surgeon after surgeon due to an allergic reaction to the cement in my leg. I take 10 allergy pills a day to reduce the systemic symptoms. It’s slowly killing me and may eventually cost me my leg. Doctors, especially surgeons don’t want cases like mine that are complicated and will take years to resolve, it’s easier for them to deny, gaslight and minimize than take a patient that will pay pennies on the dollar. 1/2
Mazer 4 years ago
More poor people insured by the government die due to delay and/or denial of care. It’s sickening.
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Kate Koppen 1 year ago
In Germany, you are always responsible for getting to work punctually, even in a snow storm, when all public transit is cancelled, you are basically obliged to pay your entire day's paycheck for a taxi to take you to work (and they wonder why people call in sick on snow days...). This has led to many places where employees accumulate up to an entire hour before work because their public transit connection sucks. An entire hour, no money, often no shelter, just standing in front of the building, freezing, to be punctual for work instead of ten minutes late.
pamela nichols 4 years ago
And if (especially in retail), they try to get an extra 15 to 20 mind of work out of you. Well your here you might as well face these shelves. We started meeting up at a breakfast place around the corner until clock in time.
avril raven 4 years ago
Back when i worked at Mc donalds, at first i lived out in the sticks, so there was no bus. Taxis were 13.70 a ride, and that was the CHEAPEST.. So id save some and leave three hours ahead of time to walk to work. When we moved where i could take a bus, i got there 2-3 hours early so that i could catch a bus at all. And since i was making diddly squat, sometimes the meal id have for the day was the free meal i was given for working a shift that day.. the rules have changed since 2015.. I gained a lot of weight eating Mc donalds because thats what i could afford. Anything that wasnt mc donalds or was healthy was a treat. I HATE mc donalds, and will turn my face from it now.
avril raven 4 years ago
I had a boss that would do this, and i didnt have a bus that would go to my house, so id leave for work three HOURS early just to walk there. Or when i did have the bus id get there three hours early.
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
Again it sucks to have little value to a company and to be easily replaced. learn something of value and get paid for it. Not preaching, suggesting.
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
yep... Hiring part time from temp agencies too. You can get a "full time" position that has a chance to be hired on by the company, but that literally NEVER happens. Why? The temp agency has a contract with the company & once you meet the time requirement, the company just keeps you temp. It costs them less as neither the temp agency nor the company has to pay benefits or health insurance or anything like that plus miss 1 day for whatever reason & your job is gone. Being poor is flipping expensive yall.
#16
Only being able to afford the small jar of mayo (or whatever), even though the larger jar is a better deal.
Overdraft fees that charge you money for having no money.
Late fees for not being able to afford your bills.
Having to go to the closest grocery store, even though it may not be the cheapest, because it's on the bus route or within walking distance.
Payday loans
Rent to own stores where you have to pay a ton of money for a couch, but pay weekly
Alice 4 years ago
Local fb groups here in the UK are a great source of unwanted furniture, where people can offer their unwanted sofas and stuff for someone who might like them.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
A person still has minimum requirements to use things like that. You need a truck to haul it in and $100 you don't have to pay for it. The rent to own stores bring it to living room then charge $10 a week for the next 5 years. If you miss a week in year 3 after paying $1500 for a $500 sofa, they come take it away.
Load More Replies... Douglas Mosier 4 years ago
Payday loans are EVIL and should be severely restricted with very low interest caps. A former roommate used to be in a payday loan vicious cycle and the b*st*rds charged, like 300% interest!!
Devan Boster 4 years ago
Payday loans. Once I got stuck in a payday loan loop. Took me so long to get out of and I was losing money.
Matej Chrenko 4 years ago
Sorry, but rent to own stores are used only by not very bright or greedy people, if you can afford a nice couch you can pay outright and not overpay it in instalments or if you can't afford it, you can find a couch for 30-50 dollars on craigslist (or sometimes even for free when somebody from your neighbourhood is renovating)
Rabbit Lord 4 years ago
Larger does not neccessarily mean better, I personally prefer smaller packages because I often only need a small amount of this and that so buying a larger package means a better money/amount ratio but often leads in my case to throw away a lot of stuff because at some time stuff's rotting in my fridge. But that's still a privilege (I had) that I can buy stuff without caring about the costs in the first place to buy stuff that's cheaper in the end for me because I don't have to throw away any remains.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
I got this far in the Panda presentation and my eyes were tearing up. Oddly enough, I'm grateful to have experienced so many of these situations and can identify with people like I used to be (and still follow lessons learned). Yeah, here (in the US) there are plenty of free and used offerings to be had - but you need the means to GET them. On top of everything, the "punishments" for being poor, or lesser, like bank overdrafts, like visiting every local grocery for their biggest advertised products - a totally endless list of the wealthier making sure the poorer among us are punished for being poor, simply trying to get on our feet. I hate society in this part of the planet right now; while we have plenty of generous and helpful people around who mostly could use a bit of help themselves, we have a plethora of greed, plain and simple.
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
Saved so much money on home furnishings by shopping Assignment Stores. True they do have lots of unnecessaries, however there are lots of basics, like beds, couches, tables, even appliance that come with guarantees.
Soleil SanMao 4 years ago
Yes, the bank/finance industry makes most of it's money from those that default. I heard a financial analyst say the banking industry was shaking in it's boots because 50% of households paid their bills ON TIME that month. I had to play the sound bite back because I thought I heard it wrong. Get out of credit card/consumer debt as fast as you can. Like your life and future depends on it.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
"Rent-to-own stores, where you have to pay a ton of money for a couch, but pay weekly." Stores that sell you things on the famous "easy to pay in weekly instalments" system. You buy a $300 couch but pay it off weekly. In the end you have paid $600 for a $300 couch or you're still paying for a couch that has been dumped 4 years ago.
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#17
And you spend so much time just trying to survive you have little time to improve yourself
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
People always say take classes or whatever self-improvement stuff, but have no clue that a multiple job holding person has to literally budget the time it takes to brush their teeth just so they can make ends meet. There is no extra time.
JD Lee 4 years ago
This needs to be at the top. This is so incredibly true. It drove me to suicide not too long ago.. the medical bills for that fail was enough to put me in the mindset of considering stealing a gun so I wouldn’t fail. I literally felt death was my only option because I COULD NOT afford to live another day. It cost too much.
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
This part be true. On-Line learning is coming of age and may help some.
Mazer 4 years ago
And you get no breaks from the stressors of debt or trying to stay out of debt. I embraced exploring nature, had a good camera from years ago, made great photos, donated them to local non profits, raised $4k for one non profit (I can not make any income on disability). Arrogant surgeons have taken all of those coping mechanisms away. Everything becomes a balance of if I do this, then I can’t do that, people get pissed off because you constantly say I’m sorry I can’t afford to go (to movies, out for a meal, to drive to a park to enjoy the out of doors etc), after awhile the phone stops ringing and the invitations stop coming.
Jennifer Reding 4 years ago
This. When I was younger and had to work two jobs so I could afford rent, I would have loved to go to college--but where would I find the time? I finally found graveyard work that paid a little more and was able to take some classes during the day, but I was chronically sleep deprived. It sucked, because I still needed that weekend job to survive...
#18
When I first lived on my own (escaped a bad situation), I bought a splurge...$100 of groceries. I meal prepped, made dozens of bags of frozen prepared veggies etc. I was eating healthy and I felt like I actually just did good for myself. I thought it was a smart move. I was literally set up for almost two months. The power went out. My insurance couldn't cover it. I lost so much food. I just saved a few items that were frozen solid. I cried until I threw up. I eventually had my dad drop off some leftovers but I never told him what happened, I was too embarrassed.
Dianellian 4 years ago
That’s so sad. You shouldn’t be embarrassed as I’m sure your dad didn’t mind helping you out.
Anna Bender 4 years ago
Maybe he did mind, remember, she was escaping a bad situation.
Load More Replies... Sky Render 4 years ago
Lesson #1 of lean living: keep a well-stocked pantry of foods that need no refrigeration! That will get you through disasters like power outages in a way that a well-stocked fridge or freezer will not.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
I worry about this. I stock up when things are on sale but as a result I have too much food . One power outage and I'd lose $1000s.
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Tee Witt 4 years ago
Dried food is the best to stock pile, I learnt that when power was put out by a storm, no help from anyone or anywhere.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
There are food banks and free pantries everywhere, even midsized cities (e.g. Greeley, Ft. Collins).
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Roy Phillips 4 years ago
I've been hungry when there was no one to ask for help; if there is someone who would understand, swallow your pride and let them know you are hungry and need help. I have never forgot how it feels to be hungry and alone.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
This happened to a coworker of mine. Power was cut. For six months. Couldn't keep food.
Nancy Lynch 4 years ago
Relatives don't talk to me anymore. Borrowing money to get to the end of the month did that. That got old real fast and they don't believe you when you tell them you will try to pay them back. I really want to, but where does that money come from?
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
You did a right move by expanding your food supply. It's the electricals who F'd up, not you. Everyone, ought have a basic knowledge of survivable foods that require no electrical. Storage is King. Build, now, a pantry for food storage. Be sure to rotate and use appropriately.
#19
Not being able to afford preventive medical care leads to huge medical bills later. I’ve seen it numerous times where people put off routine exams/procedures, and then come through the ER and end up with an amputation, or even death, because the illness had progressed so far before they sought treatment.
Helen Haley 4 years ago
Every injury, every cough, every tooth pain is accompanied by panic because it is like having a hole in your pocket. You have no idea how much this is going to cost. But you know it is likely to ruin you.
Monday 4 years ago
and you know that delaying treatment is going to make it worse....but you're also hoping it'll just go away and save you the expense.
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WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Civilised world: "I think I have a flu coming up. Time to see the doctor..." Usa: "I have been having this migraine for 4 weeks now, my stomach hurts and my poo is red. Guess I'm dying..."
Vicky Zar 4 years ago
And this includes not only the „doctors bill“. Europeans even still get paid when they are sick.
Load More Replies... Gogubaci 4 years ago
socialised healthcare works everywhere in the world. a lot of it is focused on prevention. I shake my head in disbelief everyday I hear americans defending their retarded system.
Elizabeth Calvert 4 years ago
While I whole heartedly agree with you overall point, please don't use the word retarded. It's just plain not nice.
Load More Replies... Lucky2BAlive. 4 years ago
And if you have an identical injury or illness as the person next to you, and they have insurance and you don’t? Guess who gets better treatment.
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
Medicare for all, is a worthy goal and could be implemented, today. However, we'd have to find a way for insurance companies to maintain profits. Insurance companies must be kept out the final draft. A candidate saw a way with a laddered method. Every time you lower the age for benefits, the feds take the responsibilities and the insurers are left with the healthier citizens. Eventually private insurance companies will have had time to re-invest in profitable ventures.
Brandon O'Bryant 4 years ago
I work security at a rural hospital- we have a couple families that will ONLY come in when there is something wrong with everyone. Broken bone? set and splint it themselves, sinus infection? keep Kleenex on hand all the time and ignore it otherwise.
Caroline Driver 4 years ago
The 'Greatest Country in the World' is barbaric to it's sick, and it's so endemic it will never be erased, the rich have too much vested in it.
Mazer 4 years ago
This. Maybe I should have waited to put the realities here. When the USA decided to treat medicine as a business, I knew people would suffer and die. I had a serious debate with s nurse about this, she said it needed changing, I said if the guy who writes the checks to pay for care is deciding, people will suffer because that person is paid to avoid writing the checks. Sure enough, two people, same disease, poor patients get less quality care if any, pre-existing conditions became a thing and if you were treated for acne when on your terms, they could legally prevent you from getting life saving surgery
#20
40,000 per year before taxes 35,200 after taxes Rent 1100 × 12 = 13200 Car note 400 × 12 = 4800 Car insurance 200 × 12 = 2400 Utilities, gas for the car, internet 400 x 12 = 4800 Food 400 × 12 = 4800 Total 30,000 These are nice round numbers and I live in one of the "lowest cost of living" states in the US....this also includes 0 entertainment expenses like Netflix, going out with friends, taking a vacation etc. 5200 bucks left over to save for the year easily gets decimated by just 1 or 2 car issues, maybe 1 or 2 doctor/dentist visits, God forbid you have 1 of each Car issue, doctor visit and dentist visit in the same year... Imagine working 40+ hrs a week just to be able to work 40+ hrs a week and stay alive....nothing more.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
PS the above is not remotely poor, it's middle class here. Let me give an example. Here, about 30% are unemployed. Those who are, earn ballpark $12000. That $1000/month will have to cover housing, a contribution towards the state schooling, probably food - mostly porridge and stew - school uniforms, and public transport. That's all. Definitely not insurance, internet, car, medical insurance, holidays. That's all luxury stuff. That's the reality of about 30 million people here.
Jasmine Butler 4 years ago
I live in ATL where everything is 30 min away and public transportation is spotty at best. I'm not sure about where he lives but here a car is damn near a necessity
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Yurie 4 years ago
Are there two cars? Who pays $400 A month for car note at that salary and $200 a month for car insurance?
Michael Gawthrop-Hutchins 4 years ago
As has been mentioned, the note holder will require you to have full coverage. Plus, car insurance rates are based on your credit score, so if you have bad credit, your rates are much higher.
Load More Replies... Honu 4 years ago
It's a good thing they don't have a chronic health issue that requires regular doctor visits or prescriptions. A friend of mine with type 1 diabetes pays more than that $5K per year even WITH health insurance. A couple thousand running through his deductible, then (as is typical with US PPO health insurance) the insurance only covers 80% of the rest of his expenses. That's one of the many sucky things about US health care. People end up not going for treatment when they need it even when they have insurance because it's still too expensive for them.
Bex 4 years ago
My biggest issue here is someone paying $400 a month on a car payment and $400 a month on groceries. Get a cheaper car and be smarter about shopping. And yes, I understand prices fluctuate depending on where you live, but I live in Boston and even having excellent public transportation, I had a car w a less than $200 a month payment and I never spend that much on groceries, I barely hit $200 (and I dont buy junk, I buy fresh produce and fruit and meats).
Douglas Mosier 4 years ago (edited)
get a roommate; rent slashed in half. buy a car from a rental agency; car payment slashed in half. Stop buying meat and dairy; grocery slashed in half. Savings: just under $1000 a month. Don't ell me it's impossible, because that's what I did for 5 years to be able to buy a house with a mortgage a little lower than my half of the rent with the roommates.
Brian Stanton 3 years ago
You havent heard? Old advice dude. Rental car companies etc are in shortage. They sold off their cars early covid and never recovered.
Load More Replies... Mazer 4 years ago
There is a channel on YouTube titled Invisible People, it’s an eye opener listening to how good hard working honest people end up homeless at the hands of Corporate American
Cai Nowicki 4 years ago
Bear in mind this is at $40k a year - as in, $19.25/hour. That's what it costs to feed and house one person, with almost nothing left over.
ZAPanda 4 years ago (edited)
So a salary of USD 40 000 per year here will buy you a 3 bedroom house and a midrange car, two servants, regular groceries, and private schooling. But it will be tight. 40 000 per year here is a VERY GOOD salary, middle management. Most people earn about 12 000 if they are employed.
Brian Stanton 3 years ago
Not saying where holds little weight. Also explains why scammers think we are so rich, not understanding cost of living
Load More Replies... #21
For me, it was moreso the fact that everything was a choice. The mental strain of trying to figure out how to budget $100 when you realistically need $150...it's f*cking horrible.
It leads to bad decisions over time too. I smoked cigarettes because I was always so stressed and cigarettes are expensive. I knew I was wasting money and couldn't really afford it, but it was one of the only things that got me through shifts of hell at work
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
Cigarrettes... alcohol... now you know why poor people get into them
Mazer 4 years ago
Self medicating, it’s completely understandable (especially given the lack of affordable and after hours therapists), but self medicating can lead to serious addiction issues. Alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, Valium, illicit drug use, all to deal with the stress. I get it, my coping mechanisms were stripped when arrogant orthopedic surgeons ruined my leg/body. I know the trap all too well, I learned to draw, take better photos, volunteer from home, learn about nature more in-depth, and learned how to effectively complain about abusive and neglectful medical employees
JD Lee 4 years ago
I started cutting myself. It was free. I wish I could say I could have stopped, but frankly, I couldn’t. And each time I would kind of hope that one of those cuts would be just a bit too aggressive …
Ongawa Nakata 3 years ago
Former cutter here!! I stopped when i cut the outside of my wrist and it aint stop bleeding for two days STRAIGHT. Had to wrap a SOCK around it bc the usual wrist/arm band was NOT gon work! I parlayed quiting THAT into drinking, drugs, UNsafe sexual behaviors, toxic relationships, etc etc etc. Escaping poverty and the straight up MISERY it breeds is IMPOSSIBLE and the scars on my arms never did go away, temp be like 100 and 9 degrees and ill STILL have a cardigan on. Just hope nobody else start the cutting isht- its NOT a feasible alt to therapy. It IS obvs cheaper, hence its appeal, but anyone considering takinh up this hobby, DONT!!!
Load More Replies... Mickie Shea 4 years ago
We need to feel good about something. So people do things that allow them to feel good.
Cactus McCoy 4 years ago
Because quitting a highly addictive substance while under constant stress and pressure is so simple. Wait, I'll get my Quit Smoking-cannon and shoot myself to Quitter's Lane.
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#22
I overdrafted my account by $.27. The bank charged me $35. My credit score was bad so my interest was worse when getting a car. My credit sucked so I couldn't buy a house so I had to rent for almost double.
Just some of my past examples.
Thorfin Wolfsbane 4 years ago
yeah, I know people who think we need to elect "business person" to run the country, but I'm like, "you know this isn't a business, but a country?
Load More Replies... rabbit 4 years ago
Got a store credit card bill for $24. Paid it but the payment was a couple of days late. My bad. Next bill came: $24 unpaid, $25 late fee, plus interest. Contacted the company and talked to its phone answering computer which couldn't handle my issue. Tried a couple more times before finally getting a person who could fix it. In the meantime, another bill came. The $24 payment was acknowledged, the $25 late fee was doubled, plus interest. I now owed over $60 for a bill that was paid. The real person I finally reached "forgave" the late fees and interest. I've never used that card since. Also shared my experience with family members who have the same card.
Mazer 4 years ago
Credit Unions are better than banks. My neighbor was charged $80 for going $1.50 over her balance. I suggested a credit union, she closed her bank account the next week, thrilled with the Credit Union. As she was closing her account, the teller asked why she was closing the account. My friend told her “because of your outrageous penalty fees” The teller asked where she was going to be banking, my friend said a credit union. The teller got snappy and said “well how convenient could that possibly be?” My friend started to smile, she replied”hmmm that’s a consideration isn’t it?” The teller started to get full of herself. My friend picked up her money and said “well the nearest branch is in the lobby of the office building I work in, all Credit Union ATMs are available to me for deposits or withdrawals, some free and all convenient stores like 7-11 have ATMs where I can withdrawal money as does all Costco stores, plus reasonable loans, car sales etc, the tellers demeanor was total defeat.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
Logic doesn't count for squat in a society so totally unbalanced and divided. Makes me so angry.
Lynn Morello 4 years ago
I put a stop on my Bank account that as soon as it reached $0.50 I couldn't withdraw any money at all, So it could never go into overdraught.
Mickie Shea 4 years ago
Dump they bank and use only where your in control. Make cash work until you sure of income.
#23
College loans: spend thirty years paying interest on a college degree because you don't have rich parents. Also if you don't have a college degree, you'll be excluded from nearly all jobs that pay decently.
Freedom of "choice"
Becky Samuel 4 years ago (edited)
I would contest the 'free' part of that statement. The USA locks away a greater proportion of its population than any other country.
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Mark Drury 4 years ago
Trades pay well and you don't have to take out enormous loans. This obsession with a college education is destructive. If more young people went the trade route, there are tons of jobs out there, then college degrees would be more scarce and wages would rise.
Littlemiss 4 years ago
If you live somewhere apprenticeships are available. Here they cut out training centers and left people to have to go to university to get massive student loan to get less experience.
Load More Replies... Lynn Morello 4 years ago
But you still can't get a job because they want to have people with 5 years Experience under their belt.
Deb Dedon 3 years ago
Hey, go into debt for a degree that promises employment, which doesn't happen, and find out years later that the school you attended deliberately withheld job postings sent to women until those job closing dates had passed. Pay back the loan anyway...and SHRED 'alumni' and fund-raising mail from that school.
Kirsten Dayne 4 years ago
Yeah, the only reason I'm able to go to uni without loans is bc I'm able to live with my parents, who are financially stable. If I had to pay rent, I'd either be on student loans or not going to uni. Even worse if you think you know what you want to do, finish school for that, and realize you actually hate that industry, which took up the entirety of what your parents saved up for school for you for literally your whole life.............. yeah. And I'm in Canada. The US is worse off.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
U-grad from Stanford then law school because I had wanted to be a lawyer since I was a boy. Enjoyed school, loved the clerkships, HATED actual lawyering. Went back to school and became a social worker. We all know how much that pays.
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Mickie Shea 4 years ago
Actually being poor is not a matter of choice, it is a matter of environment. Like all things it passes on to the young.
#24
Not me personally but my best friend recently got an unpaid internship at a hospital because he needs the experience as an upcoming graduate student in an MPH program. The hospital required him to be fully vaccinated and to get a sh*t ton of shots. However, they won’t pay for it and if you don’t do it, you will lose your spot. Since he has no insurance, he ended up paying $280 out of pocket to go work for free just so he can build his resume. SMH !
Thorfin Wolfsbane 4 years ago
"intern" is the new word for indentured servant, but being an indentured servant was better because room, board, and clothing was provided.
Sky Render 4 years ago
So true. You're not only giving away your labor for free (and usually being abused while doing so), you're actively paying to do so because the necessities of staying alive don't just stop costing money. And unlike being a volunteer, you're not doing it out of the goodness of your heart; you're doing it because the system has been engineered in such a way that an employer won't pay you for your work until you do it for free for a time first.
Load More Replies... Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
'Unpaid intern" is class warfare. Most can only afford to take the position by having someone already in the higher classes paying your bills. Its a way for the rich to meet the kids of other rich people so they can network and continue to be in a higher class.
V Martinez 4 years ago
Covid vaccines here in the US have been free. So far. My oldest (adult) child is not on any insurance, he was not charged for that vaccine. Unless your insurance covers a specific vaccine, then you pay for vaccines, or whatever part insurance won't cover. (Like 80/20.)
Load More Replies... lenka 4 years ago
Even just internships! Big firms pay big money. They also usually only recruit graduates from their intern pool. The intern pool of people who could afford to spend a summer working for free. If you(r parents) cant afford to work for free, you will also limit your chances of securing well paying jobs, no matter how good at your job you are.
Faith Donovan 4 years ago
My last degree required 2 internships to complete. While paid internships were available, they didn't count towards the requirement. What kind of BS is that?!
Kate Koppen 1 year ago
that's the kind of nonsense that will only end if they can no longer find interns willing to work for free and without vaccinations provided.
Soleil SanMao 4 years ago
Not one hospital I ever worked, made any employee/intern/fellow/resident/volunteer, etc. pay for pre-employment, x-rays, tests, exams or shots.
#25
How abput depression and anxiety caused by financial pressures being 'treated' by a therapist and being charged $75 copay per visit. Then, if the anxiety is bad enough that you don't go, you get a $45 cancellation fee unless you cancel 2 days+ in advance. Self-fueling system.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
US health care is a for profit system and only aimed at being beneficial for the ones working in the business. It doesn't matter if your treatment makes you better or makes you dead, you will pay the bills.
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
Therapy is a luxury. Like gold jewelery, cruises, dental care and 3 months safaris. None regular person could afford any of them
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
Look into community mental health. Also, university training programs will often operate a free clinic for their students to get experience. Their work is closely supervised by licensed mental health professionals. Work smarter, not harder.
Load More Replies... Soleil SanMao 4 years ago
I was told that mental illness has no expiration date so insurance companies don't like to pay because therapy can go on and on and on. The reimbursement is ridiculous. Most mental health providers don't even deal with insurance co/claims. Not worth their time.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
I don't know where you live, but even in rural Colorado there is free community mental health.
Namea 1 year ago
A lot of type 2 diabetics are like that because they can't afford to eat healthy. Then they have to try and come up with 500+ a month for insulin.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
Lean Cuisines are $2.50 on sale and they ARE healthy.
Load More Replies... Sue Sanders 4 years ago
I wouldn't go to a therapist with that kind of policy. Healthcare, physical or mental, shouldn't be a "make the expert wealthy" situation; at best, it ought to be a "let the expert live a slightly better life than his/her patients, and that's sufficient. Just how rich does any human have to be, anyway? A few nice vacations, maybe one summer home, a private school? Go beyond that and you're not what humanity ought to be.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago (edited)
This is absurd on its face. Why should a therapist only live "a little better" than their clients (and what if they work in a prison?) Unless they've written books and become famous (John Bradshaw, Brenee Brown) no therapist is getting rich. In 2004 I had a job requiring an MSSW + 2 years experience (6 years of college). It paid $17/hr! How much should your brain surgeon make; the one operating on you after they find a tumor. A laborer is worthy of his wages.
Load More Replies... #26
If you have a low credit score you have to pay a $300 deposit in order to get power turned on at your place. (In Las Vegas Nevada)
In Vegas there's only one power company NV Energy
Sakeena 4 years ago
Oo this is a big one. Entergy in the southeast is notorious. And don’t miss a few days out sick and can’t afford your light bill. You gotta get it caught up and pay a reconnect fee.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
A/C that you pay by the hour using pay boxes in low income housing in PHOENIX.
Load More Replies... WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Credit score is just another scam. In the Netherlands people who loan money for what ever reason get registered. There's a rule that no one can loan more than X% of their income. Every time someone wants to take out a loan or a mortgage the bank has to check the register to see how many loans you already have to pay of. If you would exceed the percentage you can loan on your income, it's illegal to approve the loan or mortgage. Loans that are fully paid back are erased and there's also no record of how good or bad you are in paying of outstanding debts.
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
This is excellent WilvanderHeijden. I really do wish other nations & institutions would follow this example.
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Anna Repp 4 years ago
I got charged $100 by ComEd for something like a "protection fee" because I was not paying my bills on time and was very behind in electricity payments, too. They would refund that fee to you after you've been paying your bills on time and in full for 12 months in a row. I think that was just preying on the already poor...
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
Some good news for a change: after 12 months of on-time payments of your electrical bill in Phoenix, you can average your payments, spreading out those horrible summer A/C bills.
Load More Replies... abby smink 4 years ago
Same with wifi. There's like 2 or 3 companies around, tops, and they can basically charge whatever they feel. And with everything being online now including job searches,it's become a necessity.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
If you're in the US and are on Medicaid or SNAP (food stamps) you can get a free smart phone (with wifi). These are colloquially called "Obama phones" although George W. signed the legislation.
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Michael Gawthrop-Hutchins 4 years ago
Be somewhat grateful with NV Energy, at least we have the Nevada Public Utility Commission to reign them in a little bit. I've heard horror stories from friends in unregulated states with companies that offered great deals to sign up but then absolutely shafted them after a year or so. They know that no one is going to read the fine print and realize that they are signing up for a sucker deal. It's the same shady business model that cable companies use to lure people in.
Bec Jac 4 years ago
In Florida its 2 months of what the last person who lived there used...and again, only one power company. They also charge us fees so they can upgrade their equipment then charge us more money to use the upgraded equipment. Now I live in Mississippi and they have multiple companies and they do things like allow you to pre pay for electric so you can put money on your account every paycheck instead of one big payment and they also allow you to pay over time...as long as you're making payments they will keep your power on.
#27
We're in the New England states where it's gotten to 15 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. We've been without heat for three weeks now because it will cost us $800 to fill our K1 tank. We don't have the $350 for 100 gallons either. We're currently jacking up our electric bill, risking fire, and risking the safety of us and our cats by using the oven to heat the house. We're also risking our pipes bursting.
All because we can't come up with $350 upfront.
Bill 4 years ago
Off road diesel is K2 with dye. You only need 5 gallons to run at sub zero for 24 hours from empty. I know lots of people who fill up a 5 gallon gas can every day
Alex the Country Dog 4 years ago
This is helpful, and hopeful, but I've heard that it will invalidate the warranty on your storage tank to use offroad diesel... ? (Legitimately asking--not trying to undermine the suggestion.)
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Cold Contagious 4 years ago
They'd definitely be safer buying a couple of space heaters on sale instead of running their oven. I know it'd be cheaper. A radiator space heater is not that bad and is oil filled so it holds heat better and warms the room better.
V Martinez 4 years ago
I used to have one years ago, but mine felt like it took forever to warm up once I turned it on. I switched to a small space heater with a safety feature. (It tips over like 1-2", it shuts off, senses something too close, it shuts off.) I'd put in on a step stool in the hall, aimed at our bedrooms at night, doors open, we stayed warm enough. During the day, we weren't home, so it stayed off. It warmed us up pretty quick too.
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Denise Lewis 4 years ago
heating assistance they will give your oil company i would say somewhere around aa thousand to put oil in your tank and if you get that you will get elp for your electricity i live in Maine i am on it look into it
Admiralu 7 months ago
Get a few wearable blankets from Amazon. They are about $30. The Sherpa fleece is very warm, they are oversized and have hoods and big pockets. You will be warm when you wear one. Add some heat holders for your feet. They are thermal socks that are much better than wool. Warmth on a budget.
Lindsey Judd-Bruder 3 years ago (edited)
Same with propane heat. You know, those big, sausage-shaped tanks you see behind people's houses? Yeah, they cost like $500 to fill. And it's not like buying gas for your car. You HAVE to fill it. They will NOT sell you $50 or $100 worth. You have to have the whole $500, or they won't even bother coming out. I can remember one winter when my son was little, spending a week huddled in bed with him and my husband, under an electric blanket, with a little electric space heater on the dresser, pointed right at us. Wearing long sleeves, pants, gloves, and even hats, in bed. We didn't leave that room all week, and we barely left the bed.
#28
Higher interest rates any time you borrow. Lack of assets to borrow money against. Lower paying jobs are generally harder on a person’s body and lead to more doctor visits and medical bills. Driving a cheap old car means shelling out more money for repairs and fuel than a person driving a newer model.
Helen Haley 4 years ago
My dad freaked out when he heard what my auto loan interest rate was. My credit score wasn't even that bad.
Mazer 4 years ago
Yep, I pay less in insurance and registration, more in maintenance and smog checks. I wrote to the State Governor to ask that they stop making people pay vehicle registration once a year, to give people s as choice of 1 times a year payment, twice a year, quarterly or monthly but they have not responded yet. I keep making the suggestions
Loty 4 years ago
Hey, rich people have a lot of expenses too. Those Tesla Model X repair bills are not going to pay themselves.
Noel Calvert 4 years ago
When an unexpected $100 bill can literally make you homeless, comparing to rich people who can pay a $10,000 bill at any time without worry is at best naive...
Load More Replies... #29
Friend broke his glasses today. Insurance wants a reeval of his eyes to get new ones, so now he's out a couple hundred for the script and can't work until they're replaced. Also can't drive until he can see.
Becky Samuel 4 years ago
What shíthole country is this in? An eye test costs under £20 on the high street.
Tom De Paul 7 months ago
Lion's Club will make glasses for low income individuals. So will some rescue missions.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
Catch 22 in action - all over the place, at least here in the US. Don't tell me to go elsewhere; I'm too old, so most countries wouldn't accept a retired person in their 70s, no matter what my education.
Lynn Morello 4 years ago
Australia here, An eye test cost nothing then You get two pair of glasses for $199, and a rebate from your health fund.
Colin L 4 years ago
If they're being sold without prescriptions then they aren't operating legally. Glasses and contracts are medical devices, and get regulated that way. If they aren't... you may be buying "novelty contacts" which aren't designed for long term wear and you'll need to spend more to replace them.
Load More Replies... #30
Poor people can’t pay for childcare. The wealthy rely on underpaying people to take care of their kids. Meaning it’s easier to have two income households without the penalty of being a parent. Perpetuating the cycle of poverty
Elizabeth Calvert 4 years ago
I honestly felt bad for having my son in daycare/preschool b/c I knew the people who worked there weren't getting paid anywhere near enough. The only reason I could even afford for him to go to preschool is the child support payments (his sperm donor is fed gov so if he doesn't pay they'll dock his pay to pay me and he knows it). The number other single parents who had their children there and had gov aid cards at least where I live they could get a good a preschool/daycare. At least then... There's been an election so we'll see what happens
Load More Replies... Littlemiss 4 years ago
Been there, done that. Worked I'm a place that charged me more in childcare fees each week than they paid me. Then had the balls to say they were good employers because they gave us a box of chocolates for birthdays and Christmas.
Julie Patel 1 year ago
For me, I'm not paying for childcare. I'd get reliable people who want to take care of my kids but not paid. They have to be friends of mine and I'll return the favor.
Stephanie Raymond 3 years ago
Kids are expensive, condoms are relatively cheap. Could just leave it at the hospital
BJ Hage 4 years ago
Sorry, at $4500 a month plus room and board our child care provider is not under paid.
Sakeena 4 years ago
“Sorry.” ~BJ Hage, solving poverty one “sorry” at a time.
Load More Replies... #31
Thing I’ve noticed, as I have made more, is that I receive more free stuff. It could be clothes for the children that are good quality and have barely been worn, if at all. You’re more likely to be invited to events that have free food or giveaways. Work will provide free lunches or other things like gift cards that you don’t get in an entry level job. I’m more likely to get discounts on things, presumably because people expect a quid pro quo. Not meant to be a brag but it is noticeable how much more you don’t have to pay for as you move out of poverty.
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
Indeed. It is outrageous the amount of free stuff richer people get just for being able to pay expensivier things... if you have enough money, then you most certainly won't need to pay for anything, because everyting is free. Only poor people need money to survive
#32
Years ago, I was a seasonal on call worker for a furniture retailer. I was not offered benefits which i was ok with because i had state benefits for low income. Well, turns out I made too much money for state assistance for medication (diabetes) but not enough to afford the actual medication out of pocket. I had to go into credit card debt to afford my insulin. Luckily that was a temporary experience however it was very eye opening.
Cactus McCoy 4 years ago
Keeping socialism away from your health since 1776!
Load More Replies... Pangolin Pal 4 years ago
Means testing for public benefits is always a horrorshow. USA-sians are way, way too worried about somebody possibly obtaining a benefit they don't technically qualify for, and not remotely worried enough about people who need help actually getting it.
#33
There are no grocery stores in your neighborhood and you don't have a car. The Bodega you can walk to is under stocked and extremely expensive. These are your groceries.
There is no bank near you and they close at 4 or 5. So you can't take a bus to the bank. So you have to use check cashing services that take a percent.
You have a mild toothache you can't afford to fix. So I becomes an outrageous expense when it turns into an abscess.
Olga Dremina 4 years ago
What do you mean no groceries in your neighborhood? There are potential customers, and store owners are just like "nah... Skip"???
H.L.Lewis 4 years ago
There are many big cities that are actually " food deserts" where there are simply no grocery stores because of the high overhead and rents. So no fresh foods for the people who live there.
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#34
As a single mom, I have to stay below a certain income in order to keep free healthcare for me & my kids, and to stay in my “low income” apartment that I pay $1000/month in rent. So for me, the most expensive part of being poor, is trying to break the cycle of being poor in a system that was designed to keep us down here.
Pangolin Pal 4 years ago
Means-testing for public benefits is poison. I can't comment on more civilized countries, but here in the USA, there is a damn good reason why Social Security and Medicare are so beloved -- EVERYONE participates, and EVERYONE benefits.
H.L.Lewis 4 years ago
In the state I live in you cannot just be living under the poverty level to get medicaid. There has to be at least one other requirement filled. The state was given more money from the US govt to expand medicare and medicaid. But instead they have put more restrictions on it. So if you are not a child, a teen, pregnant, blind, disabled, 65, have dependants, you cannot get medical help. Also they restrict how much money you can have to qualify. Which I get, you don't want someone who doesn't need it taking it. But the total amount of money you are allowed to have in checking and savings is $3000. Which is next to nothing. One car accident away from being gone. One trip to the emergency room from being gone. One small disaster from being gone...the system is designed to keep the poor impoverished.
#35
Let’s say you have an accident or stroke. If you’re able to afford private insurance, you are able to get some level of rehab. But if you are on Medicaid….you’re f*cked. Most states’ Medicaid programs DO NOT cover rehab. Physical or occupational. They do pay for nursing home care. They are willing to pay more in the long run to keep you in the system than to help pull you out of a hole.
Nichola Drigout 4 years ago
I live in France, my husband had a brain tumour, needed surgery and is on hormones for life as the tulour destroyed the pituatry gland. He then had a stroke, was on life support and paralysed. My husband has recovered really welll because of the rehab was amazing, he was in hospital for 5 months. Now the government are giving us four hours of cleaning help for the next 3 months at the house to make our lives easier. This has cost us nothing, other than the emotional turmoil, I don't know what I'd have done if we'd have had to pay for this.
Load More Replies... #36
old cars need more repairs, public transportation is more expensive than driving, rent is more expensive than mortgage, energy efficient appliances cost more, nutritious food is more expensive, burglaries and attacks happen in poorer neighborhoods as does police violence, low paying jobs are not qualifications for higher paying jobs, good doctors don’t take poor people health insurance, pollution is higher in poor neighborhoods, laundromats are more expensive than a washing machine, cleaning dishes takes more time than a dishwasher, late bill fees and tickets are not based on percentage of income
Cold Contagious 4 years ago
Hell yes exactly! A lot of good doctors don't accept the state's medicaid (poor ppl insurance) it's so hard to find a doctor that will take good care of patients with a lot of chronic illnesses that are younger than average. It's hard to find one that will listen and spend more than 3-5 minutes tops in your exam room and that's no exaggeration at all, just a fact. This was prior to the pandemic, so it's insane now.
Paula Marowsky 4 years ago
Personaly know all of that. Want to cry, but even being sad, depressed and need therapy will cost insanely much money I cannot dream to have. Being sad as such a luxury I cannot afford anymore
#37
My husband ends up spending money several times a year on doctors appointments because he can't afford his tonsillectomy and instead gets tonsillitis almost monthly. My father couldn't afford proper dental care, now he has dentures that he's wiped out his savings to pay off. My oldest sibling can't afford a house near their jobs, so they instead stay with a friend and commute back and forth across state lines (2.5 hours each way) to spend their days off with their spouse, who is at my parents house.
Cactus McCoy 4 years ago
If only there was a way of reducing medical costs to a level that the health of the whole nation would improve...
Ripley Dog 4 years ago
Wait, are you saying "those people" might benefit from MY tax dollars?! That's some commie s**t right there... why do you hate freedom? /s
Load More Replies... Sue Sanders 4 years ago
Universal healthcare. Maybe you'd have to wait a bit for elective surgery, but for the overall population, it's a lifesaver. Consider the whole instead of an entitled few. Period.
#38
Buying in bulk. You can only afford to buy a single roll of toilet paper instead of the better deal for more. Stuff like this. Also insurance. Going to the doctors takes an unpaid day off of work, and it costs at least $100 since you have no insurance.
Pangolin Pal 4 years ago
Not to mention, if you live in a tiny apartment, you don't even have storage space for more than 1 roll of toilet paper at a time.
#39
I went to the doctor to get a checkup for something I was pretty sure was just a swollen/tense muscle (I was right) and the doctor was very condescending and checking everything in the area except where I said it was. I was sent to get an xray for my foot and was prescribed antibiotics for my other foot as I had a toe that got infected because I clipped that nail weird and it started bleeding. Antibiotics were I believe $75 which is absurd. I got a bill from the clinic, a bill for the doctor, and a bill from the xray place, and a bill for the xray tech, which is already what the f*ck, the 4 of which totalled to be over $600. At the time I was making around 900 per biweekly paycheck, and I have other bills that total to over 600. Which means I was effectively broke until I finished paying off those bullsh*t bills.
#40
I've started my real job 2 years ago. You'd think, hey, now I had enough money rolling in every month to afford some decent clothes (need to be clothed in business chique but all I had left were shirts and worn down sweatpants and 1 or 2 good things). I've spent roughly 1k, if not 1,5k of my salary during these first 2 years on clothes and I still don't have anywhere near enough clothes to not constantly worry about not wearing the same thing too often. Could I have gone for even cheaper clothes? Hardly, as it wasn't even top notch stuff. Just a wide variety of everything you need but don't have anymore, a decent winter jacket, bras, shirts, pants... ESPECIALLY if you gain weight during your unemployment, which come on, it's so common. You're feeling low, you can only afford junk food, etc. Most people go up a size or two in those circumstances. Sh*t breaks down too, it's been 2 years of wearing the original good pants and the first wave of clothes I was able to buy. They're trashed by now. This isn't supposed to be a pity-party-comment, it's just to highlight that rich people don't realise how much you have to pay in order to even work somewhere. Most importantly; if you don't have nice clothes anymore, your chances of GETTING a job are significantly worse.
Spinstapink 4 years ago
not to mention, you feel like crap, too, if you don't have nice clothes like everyone else is wearing. You'll get passed over for promotions, as well, if you are 'dressing for the job you want'.
#41
The monetary burden of poor people is staggering, but the stress is just as bad if not worse. Owing money that you don't have is incredibly stressful, as is struggling to perform a sh*tty job just to barely scrape by.
The mental burden of being poor also requires money to cope with, and since professional help is expensive, it often ends up being dealt with in an unhealthy way (inebriation at best, s****de at worst). Things like drugs can cause additional health issues, as well as potentially risking fines or jail/prison, so it's a slippery slope.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
So much of life is stressed out to the max by things we didn't cause ourselves, and then every route to relief is blocked - not by laziness or ignorance on our part, but by greed and desire for power and, yes, for ignorance on their part, too, elsewhere. I'm so sick of it all; so angry about what our country is like these days.
#42
Not being able to save by buying in bulk. Even though it costs less per unit, the TOTAL is higher
Not having access to credit lines with better interest rates / payment plans because your credit score is sh*t or you don't have any collateral
Having to buy cheap sh*t that breaks fast because you can't afford good quality stuff (clothes, shoes, electronics) - Terry Pratchett wrote about it, btw...
Cayna Louise 4 years ago (edited)
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness
Load More Replies... #43
Insurance. I just moved from a decent neighbourhood to another decent neighbourhood, same quadrant of the city, but because the one I’m moving to has older homes that are cheaper to rent and thus have more low income people like me living there, my vehicle insurance shot up with 160 cad. I can’t afford that. I might as well have stayed in the more affluent area. I’ll be drowning in debt either way.
#44
Chase $35 overdraft fee.
Eileen Barnett 4 years ago
Fu*k Chase Bank!! They tried that s**t on me, and i walked on them. Greedy Bastards!!
#45
Spending $800 to fix a 22 year old truck that is worth $500 cause you can’t afford a newer vehicle, and can’t get to work without a reliable vehicle (live in the country 30 miles from the city). Or spending $150/wk on gas for said truck cause you don’t have a job, so can’t get a car loan for a vehicle that would cost less than what the cost of gas is.
Thankfully I’m past that point in my life.
#46
My roommate physically assaulted me and the apartment complex I was renting from wanted $6,300 for me to break my lease, which was more money than I had earned during the previous six months working part-time because I was still in college. If you own your own home, count your f*cking blessings. Being a renter is utter bullsh*t.
#47
I worked at Walmart back about 2005. When someone wanted to buy a camera we would always try to push them to the next price up. If they could afford it they bought it. If they couldn’t we tried to saddle them with an 18-26% interest card. So a $150 camera would end up costing them nearly a thousand and/or ruining their credit score for years. The entire department quit over the policy.
#48
Had a child with health issues where insurance only covered a portion of the cost. Credit got wrecked so we had 1 “good” car which my wife drove. Couldn’t get a loan on another car for a couple of hundred per month so I was forced to keep buying high mileage cars for 2k or so (all I could ever scrape together) that would last 3-6 months getting me to work. I spent far more buying junk cars over 2-3 years than I would have had I been able to just buy a cheap economical new car.
#49
On occasion I get parking tickets, because the city I live in wants us to move our car to the opposite side of the street every day. To me this is a prime example, because if I was rich enough to buy a home and own a drive way I wouldn’t need to worry about moving my car every single day. It’s a literal tax on the poor.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
No its not. I've lived in these neighborhoods. There are no snow plows in July and the street sweeper comes once a month. Its a way to make revenue by forcing everyone to move every single day or get ticketed. Also by limiting the side you can park on, it lowers the availability of parking by half so there are some forced to park illegally or walk 2 miles with their groceries.
Load More Replies... #50
Banking fees, overdraft fees, ATM fees, etc. All disappear when you have enough in your account. Also just everything is relatively more expensive. If you make 10 dollars an hour, to fill up your 12 gal tank is 1/2 a workday (ignoring taxes). When you make 40 an hour, it's 1/8. Car insurance, healthcare premiums, utilities, food. For people with low income, the essentials are a huge percentage, if not all, of income. When you make more money the essentials are a small fraction.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
You got it. Now if high school or, better yet, college students were made to take courses on that subject. But that leaves the young people without means for college left in the hard crash-course of life-and-learn. Damn.
#51
My wife and I don’t have the time and energy to cook for ourselves most nights. A good, home cooked dinner costs maybe $15-20, and I usually make 4-6 servings per meal. That adds up to 4 cooked dinners a week with leftovers making up other meals, or about $60-$80 in dinner money. Instead we’ve been spending $120-150 weekly on fast food bc otherwise we don’t have the time or energy left to feed ourselves. At this point it feels like I’m paying to work.
Pangolin Pal 4 years ago
Is there any way you can get your hands on a slow-cooker or crockpot? Maybe second-hand? When I was working 2-3 jobs and very cash-poor, cooking a huge vat of beans and rice with some veggies and spices, which would keep for a long time and fill me up, was a life-saver. To this day, my slow-cooker is my favorite appliance, because I owe it big-time for saving me back in the day.
Mrs S 4 years ago
Yay, slow cookers, and yay beans and rice, still a fave meal!
Load More Replies... #52
My mom used to use those check cashing places because she would be short each payday. She must have spent thousands over the years. The first thing I did when I had a job was to tell her never to use those places again because I could spot her any time.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
Good advice to your mom. The more you use those places, the deeper in debt you become. For most people, if they look hard enough, if they research, if they try to find answers, this in-debt to the debtors doesn't have to happen, at least not in that area.
#53
Don’t make enough per hour, need to work long hours at job. Job isn’t very good because you needed it out of high school and couldn’t afford higher education. Can’t make time to study for higher education without reducing work hours… etc.
#54
Sh*tty cars are targeted by cops. I haven't gotten pulled over in a decade but when I drove a POS I always had my eyes out for the fuzz and got a ticket at least once a quarter. I drive the same.
#55
The inability to afford a lawyer or to afford the time needed to consult with one/try to find a good one that might actually work without costing a lot upfront. This applies in many, many situations, but the one that's fully boned me is disability. I cannot afford a lawyer to help me to successfully navigate the disability application process. I can't even afford the bills for the numerous doctor visits required to build my case. To top it off, each and every form needed from a medical provider requires that I go in for an appointment (paying that expense in time, travel, and the office bill), then pay anywhere from $75-200 per form needed (keeping in mind that most doctors charge that even though they also expect me to fill out and send the form - they just sign it). Add the expectation that disability will be denied & require appeal, drawing out the process even further... And that part of my disability includes PTSD related to bad medical experiences, so the whole process is triggering to begin with... Well, let's just say that even though I should qualify for disability assistance, I'm stuck with nothing. Meanwhile, I get to watch affluent ladies with only a small portion of my chronic ailments easily hire a lawyer and get on disability.
Cayna Louise 4 years ago
That sucks, there ought to be a lawyer who will work with you on contingency
#56
Uber driver here. I live in a Major city with sh*t public transportation - I can’t even tell you how many rides I give weekly where the Uber Ride one way costs more then the passengers hourly wage. I drive tons of people working part time shifts that pay 12$ an hour when the Ride just to work costs 20$- I feel very bad for them. It’s not like I am making the big bucks driving Uber but sh*t paying 40$ to get to and from work when you only make a few hundred a week just doesn’t make any sense to me- but this is the reality for many
#57
The ones who say eat at home Sometimes, okay all of the time, groceries are more money than having a meal at McDonald's.
Pangolin Pal 4 years ago
I mentioned this on another post - is there any way you can get your hands on a slow-cooker or crockpot? Maybe second-hand? When I was working 2-3 jobs and very cash-poor, cooking a huge vat of beans and rice with some veggies and spices, which would keep for a long time and fill me up, was a life-saver. To this day, my slow-cooker is my favorite appliance, because I owe it big-time for saving me back in the day.
Ervin Conn 4 years ago
Someone else posted and said it was the opposite. My wife and I don’t have the time and energy to cook for ourselves most nights. A good, home cooked dinner costs maybe $15-20, and I usually make 4-6 servings per meal. That adds up to 4 cooked dinners a week with leftovers making up other meals, or about $60-$80 in dinner money. Instead we’ve been spending $120-150 weekly on fast food bc otherwise we don’t have the time or energy left to feed ourselves. At this point it feels like I’m paying to work
#58
My car was repossessed. Until I get a new one, I’m paying Uber $40/day to get to and from work. Sucks, man.
#59
Friggin' FHA loans. Actually! Better example: Car title loans. Payday cash advance loans. Literally if you're rich you can afford a loan from a bank with a normal interest rate. You can afford a regular mortgage. You can pay general cost of living bills on time and not need loans for them. If you're poor, you can't actually make ends meet, so you're constantly taking out shady loans just to pay for, like, utilities, or co-pays on medications. You're chronically underemployed because you're always burning out at work. This is because when you have a job, you're constantly trying to work 60+ hours per week so you don't lose your car or house over debt. But that's unsustainable. You get physically sick or have a mental breakdown and lose your job. Time for another loan! People kill themselves over this.
#60
Banks will take withdrawals out before deposits in order to hit you with overdraft fees. So that $100 electric bill might cost you and extra $50 because you don’t have as much money as other people in your account.
#61
I’m taking time off work to care for wife with cancer, because my checking account balance is low and I’m not receiving a paycheck (no qualifying direct deposits) I’m caught with the $12/month service charge.
#62
currently paying 300 a week for a motel room
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
Not acceptable - on the other hand, most of us would need more detailed information about your circumstances before we could comment intelligently.
#63
Not owning the means of production. Sounds like a hilarious trope, right? Not really. I have a buddy who is notorious from thinking he's the smartest guy ever and that's why he has access to wealth. His parents have him a "starter property" he instantly took a load against it to get a second property, paid for by renting out the first. Both properties were several acres. He was making more than the mortgage just from the house on one property. With the rest of the land, he hosted WOOFers. They ran his chicken egg business that sold to the local bakeries and cafes. An additional live-in worker was in his own modified school bus. He maintained both properties' infrastructure, making minor improvements. This included irrigation for the second property to become a licensed hemp farm, where he hired on travelers to camp on his land in exchange for food (from his other property) and space, and a percent of the final harvest. He "employed" over a dozen people at no risk and with no money up front, simply exploiting their basic human needs for pay. Those who worked there, by the end, didn't have the means to walk away wealthier and often supplemented their pay with food stamps to get by. The guy didn't do sh*t aside from smoke weed and tell people what to do. He had no idea how to even instruct people to do tasks and had them do the research to make him money. A clueless leader to a personal army built on the fact that his family had a sh*t-tier piece of land in the country.
#64
If you’re unable to pay a higher premium on your car insurance, something like a broken windshield will cost $1000+ just to meet the deductible.
#65
We rented a house once and had to heat it. Delivery for oil wouldn’t come unless you wanted a full tank or xxx amount of dollars of oil. To keep the furnace running we would fill jerry cans of furnace oil from a gas station pump and go a few days at a time, but the amount of $$ we spent on a little bit of oil (or diesel) at a gas station multiple times would be way higher then dropping 900 all at once for a fill up
#66
The first time i had large bills to pay was when i was homeless sleeping in my car. I had to put all my stuff in storage. While i worked as a lyft driver during the day and slept in the car at night so i could make enough to afford the storage, gas, maintenance and insurance and fast food everyday.
Sue Sanders 4 years ago
Without further information, I'd say get rid of your storage items, or at least pare them down to sentimental stuff. Storage units suck the energy out of budgets, in the first place, and when a person finally gets out on his/her own there are plenty of local websites with people giving all sorts of items away, no cost. (You need a laptop; go to a public library and ask for one through their free Internet. Hell, ask a librarian; they're not there for their beauty, ya know.) Insurance - again, need more information. Fast food? No. Buy cans and bags and even fresh foods that will last longer, for less cost; put it in your trunk. Where there's a will, there's (almost always, or usually) a way.
#67
You know where rich Americans go for dental work? Mexico. I just had two wisdom teeth and one molar removed and it cost $2442 because I can't afford insurance, or a vacation to Mexico. Still need two other wisdom teeth removed and another problem molar, but we'll see! I'm poor so I might just die instead!
Cayna Louise 4 years ago
I called it quits on all the failed root canals and started having them just pull the teeth.
#68
Not having the money to pay liability insurance getting pulled over and being charged $500+ for not having insurance + $134 for court costs + a insurance rate that shoots up for "lapse"
#70
Let's not start to mention any type of non violent crimes that get people on probation and/or into the system based off of racist class traitor cops.. Literally poverty enforcers
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
Cops don't enforce the laws equally. Whose more likely to be pulled over - someone going 3 mph in a good neighborhood or someone doing the same thing in a bad one because they look "fishy"? Not many gated communities have a speed trap right outside their only way to work.
Load More Replies...Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
Bill Evs 4 years ago (edited)
I hate saying this as I don't really like all these "look how bad America is" articles but it's obvious a lot (as in the majority) of these posts are from Americans. Guys, please, something is fundamentally wrong when you have to choose between medical care or rent and when a box of some salty, fatty, sugar laden conveyor belt food is cheaper to buy than vegetables.
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
Nothing any citizen can do about it. Corporate greed has politicians by the balls, they have no spine to change things. Unfortunately creating your own system when the system is broken usually means doing something illegal which just makes things worse. Voting for a politician interested in Making changes amounts to nothing. There is no political will to change things. Unfortunately this entire scenario creates a weak country with citizens who don’t trust their government…rightly so
Load More Replies...
Got Myself 4 Dwarves 4 years ago
Thank f**k I live in Scotland, yeah a lot of these still apply but I have zero concerns about my utilities being cut off, medical bills, decent public transport, free education, free school meals in primary school....the list could go on. I'd rather eat my own toes than live in the society that's developed in a so called developed country
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
This is a depressing list of how a dystopian society looks like and how it is to live in one. But do keep voting for politicians who rather see you dead than earning a livable wage, telling you that you're a lazy POS if you refuse to work for less than a livable wage.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
The rich get what they want in politics because they have the time to ask for it. Karen can go to the town hall meetings to make homelessness illegal because she's not on a bus between jobs trying to avoid homelessness. A doctor can give money to a lobbyist to sit in a senator's office just waiting for a meeting while his patient who gave them that money doesn't have the time to sit in that same senator's office.
Load More Replies... Sean Harrison 4 years ago
And you know what? Not a god-damn thing is going to change. This s**t has gone on in the USA since the late 70's (probably earlier) and our politicians have done little to nothing to help the average American. It's easy to blame Trump for the January 6th riot, but he didn't create it. The anger, frustration, and mistrust were already there, he just fanned the flames. And if our politicians don't wake up and smell what they've been shoveling us it's going to get worse, a lot worse. And if you think it can't happen here, did you ever think in your lifetime a riot would storm the Capitol Building?
ZAPanda 4 years ago
A lot of these posts have been depressing to read. Create a socialist party. It's the only way out. The rest of the planet does it. https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/registering-political-party/
Load More Replies... Patti Vance 4 years ago
i know there are people that will deny this but there is still an issue with a single woman buying a home. doesn't matter that you may have owned in the past when you were married. or, perhaps you are widowed and the loss of an income caused you to have to sell your former home. now, you are trying to buy a smaller place. the scrutiny you go through in insane.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Which country are you in Caro? You CAN do a lot. Push for global justice. Join and do charity work for an NGO which deals with global justice. Protest for America to accept rulings of the ICC, WHO, UN, and other international bodies.
Load More Replies...
Rabbit Lord 4 years ago
Unlike other Posts this is a very good one that shows how our society slowly turns more and more into... well let's say: paid slavery. I live in german where the lower classes could live relatively good but over the years I see more and more people begging, collecting returnable bottles for life and stuff, while on the other side rents are exploding and the life costs are going higher and higher. I fear that it doesn't take so long until we are at the same point the U.S. is today.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Germany was colonised by American in 1945 and remains mentally affected by their way of thinking, even though they "officially" pulled out in 1989.
Load More Replies... rabbit 4 years ago
Oh, but it isn't over. With the wealth gap exploding over the past couple of years, there are corporations and super wealthy who are looking forward to the feudal society that is looming. Consider the number of people who have jumped on the authoritarian band wagon of he-who-shall-not-be-named. They are right in that the things are really bad but having a dictator who has absolutely no empathy and who only considers what he wants is not the way to go. I'm afraid we are too far down the rabbit hole for a good outcome.
Mazer 4 years ago
This is been an ongoing an ever growing problem since the Reagan administration it got worse during the Gulf War with the first Bush and then the second Bush administration. The hope is that you make majority of the population so poor that they’re working so hard and they’re so exhausted that they really can’t put any extra effort time or money into trying to change things. It’s unfortunate it’s cruel and it’s completely unnecessary and ultimately the entire country will pay for it sooner or later and it’s not gonna be pretty. I sat on the board as a volunteer from my local clinic for over 10 years and I’m telling you it was the most amazing eye-opening experience I’ve ever had.
Bill Evs 4 years ago (edited)
I hate saying this as I don't really like all these "look how bad America is" articles but it's obvious a lot (as in the majority) of these posts are from Americans. Guys, please, something is fundamentally wrong when you have to choose between medical care or rent and when a box of some salty, fatty, sugar laden conveyor belt food is cheaper to buy than vegetables.
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
Nothing any citizen can do about it. Corporate greed has politicians by the balls, they have no spine to change things. Unfortunately creating your own system when the system is broken usually means doing something illegal which just makes things worse. Voting for a politician interested in Making changes amounts to nothing. There is no political will to change things. Unfortunately this entire scenario creates a weak country with citizens who don’t trust their government…rightly so
Load More Replies... Got Myself 4 Dwarves 4 years ago
Thank f**k I live in Scotland, yeah a lot of these still apply but I have zero concerns about my utilities being cut off, medical bills, decent public transport, free education, free school meals in primary school....the list could go on. I'd rather eat my own toes than live in the society that's developed in a so called developed country
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
This is a depressing list of how a dystopian society looks like and how it is to live in one. But do keep voting for politicians who rather see you dead than earning a livable wage, telling you that you're a lazy POS if you refuse to work for less than a livable wage.
Two_rolling_black_eyes 4 years ago
The rich get what they want in politics because they have the time to ask for it. Karen can go to the town hall meetings to make homelessness illegal because she's not on a bus between jobs trying to avoid homelessness. A doctor can give money to a lobbyist to sit in a senator's office just waiting for a meeting while his patient who gave them that money doesn't have the time to sit in that same senator's office.
Load More Replies... Sean Harrison 4 years ago
And you know what? Not a god-damn thing is going to change. This s**t has gone on in the USA since the late 70's (probably earlier) and our politicians have done little to nothing to help the average American. It's easy to blame Trump for the January 6th riot, but he didn't create it. The anger, frustration, and mistrust were already there, he just fanned the flames. And if our politicians don't wake up and smell what they've been shoveling us it's going to get worse, a lot worse. And if you think it can't happen here, did you ever think in your lifetime a riot would storm the Capitol Building?
ZAPanda 4 years ago
A lot of these posts have been depressing to read. Create a socialist party. It's the only way out. The rest of the planet does it. https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/registering-political-party/
Load More Replies... Patti Vance 4 years ago
i know there are people that will deny this but there is still an issue with a single woman buying a home. doesn't matter that you may have owned in the past when you were married. or, perhaps you are widowed and the loss of an income caused you to have to sell your former home. now, you are trying to buy a smaller place. the scrutiny you go through in insane.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Which country are you in Caro? You CAN do a lot. Push for global justice. Join and do charity work for an NGO which deals with global justice. Protest for America to accept rulings of the ICC, WHO, UN, and other international bodies.
Load More Replies... Rabbit Lord 4 years ago
Unlike other Posts this is a very good one that shows how our society slowly turns more and more into... well let's say: paid slavery. I live in german where the lower classes could live relatively good but over the years I see more and more people begging, collecting returnable bottles for life and stuff, while on the other side rents are exploding and the life costs are going higher and higher. I fear that it doesn't take so long until we are at the same point the U.S. is today.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Germany was colonised by American in 1945 and remains mentally affected by their way of thinking, even though they "officially" pulled out in 1989.
Load More Replies... rabbit 4 years ago
Oh, but it isn't over. With the wealth gap exploding over the past couple of years, there are corporations and super wealthy who are looking forward to the feudal society that is looming. Consider the number of people who have jumped on the authoritarian band wagon of he-who-shall-not-be-named. They are right in that the things are really bad but having a dictator who has absolutely no empathy and who only considers what he wants is not the way to go. I'm afraid we are too far down the rabbit hole for a good outcome.
Mazer 4 years ago
This is been an ongoing an ever growing problem since the Reagan administration it got worse during the Gulf War with the first Bush and then the second Bush administration. The hope is that you make majority of the population so poor that they’re working so hard and they’re so exhausted that they really can’t put any extra effort time or money into trying to change things. It’s unfortunate it’s cruel and it’s completely unnecessary and ultimately the entire country will pay for it sooner or later and it’s not gonna be pretty. I sat on the board as a volunteer from my local clinic for over 10 years and I’m telling you it was the most amazing eye-opening experience I’ve ever had.
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