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Paying to park at a hospital!?! That is just so wrong in my book.
I grew up 'poor', but had all the basic needs met, but nothing extra or fancy. The worst time as a child was when my parents split up.
All my adult life I've been in the poverty bracket by federal standards. I've had times when the only money I had was what was in my pocket and I have had times when I have had a nice, but very small compared to the norm, savings. But it was enough for me to feel 'safe'. I've had times when I was so very grateful for the chickens and their eggs.
While I fall under the bracket of poverty, I have been quite comfortable most of the time. I have been able to get small loans from my credit union to buy a used car or equipment for our business.
While having more money sure would be nice, I'm not one who feels like a failure. I'm doing what I enjoy and not stuck in a box job that I can't stand. I don't like other's judgmental assement of my finances or how I live. I feel pretty proud that I can live so cheaply and yet have a nice large house (that I rent). Housing is the only thing that buggers me up. I can't stand giving someone else money for a home when I could be buying my own. However, when I was in the position to buy, I was not where I wanted to be for the next 10 years...then 'stuff' happened and we moved away, and away went the funds in the process.
That was 3 years ago and we are starting to get back to where we were.
In my generation (I am 69) it was fairly common to be poor while attending college. A lot of us worked part-time jobs while in college and pinched every penny. That was not at all unusual, but we regarded it as a temporary situation lasting no more than a few years, and indeed, for the majority of us that's how it turned out.
In my generation (I am 69) it was fairly common to be poor whileattending college. A lot of us worked part-time jobs while in college and pinched every penny. That was not at all unusual, but we regarded it as a temporary situation lasting no more than a few years, and indeed, for the majority of us that's how it turned out.
While I was in graduate school and my husband was in law school we once had to live on a big bag of potatoes for more than two weeks, but we never considered ourselves "poor" just students.
I wonder how many students today would live on just potatoes for two days let alone two weeks.
Thank you I currently work as a bank teller and customers are always making jokes/remarks about their money and saying things that make me cringe. One guy got upset thatI couldn't cash a $4k check because it was stale dated and he asked me how much money I make and said he felt sorry for me and he hopes I'm in school because my job sucks, I must be new...blah blah blah. I also see a lot of people come in to withdraw money from these cards that their unemployment money comes on and they are so embarrassed sometimes. It's upsetting.
Who forgets to cash a $4,000 check? And then gets mad because it is too old to cash? That's crazy.
Does having to borrow against your life insurance to buy food and pay rent count?
Yes, if it caused a profound sense of sadness. And I think it may have.
Ever since this thread started and I shared what I could, I have been remembering the way it was with me when I was alone in the world and so broke. I remember that my eyes could hardly lift off the pavement at times, and I remember wondering how it was all going to turn out. And I remember not being able to talk about it.
I ask this because I came across a post on a different forum and the comments got heated. Some of the people were so stuck up and not understanding or sympathetic at all. It made me wonder if they used to be poor too and now they aren't so they kind of have a disdain towards those who haven't gotten ahead like they have.
I grew up poor. I was homeless for the majority of my childhood and then when I was teenager was placed into foster care, which didn't really help. Now I'm in college but for a year, I worked two jobs and had nowhere to live so I slept on the all nighter bus (the route took a few hours), took showers at my gym, went to school then job #1 and then job #2. Eventually I saved up enough to get my own place and I'm still struggling kind of. I eat mostly salads and pb&j and occasionally ramen. I clip coupons, take public transportation and my apartment is furnished by secondhand furniture that the local st. vincent de paul donated to me. I am no longer homeless but I still consider myself poor so it saddens me to think people look down on people like me (and those who are worse off) because of my income and lack of assets.
So I ask: Have you ever been poor? How poor and if you aren't anymore, how did you move up?
I didn't grow up poor. But I grew up in a household with improvident parents who spent every dime they made and then some. So I slogged my way through school with a full-time job and paid for my own car. I went to school from 8:00-2:30, and worked from 3:00 to midnight for two long years. My last two years I was in the heart of my major, so I pared back to 24-32 hours a week.
My first job out of school in 1984 (The only one I was offered) netted $750/month. My apartment was $170. My car payment was $166. My utilities were another $150. And every three months a $250 car insurance payment came due. So call my monthly expenses before the first bag of groceries to be around $566, leaving me $46 bucks a week for food. I mean, I remember the time the bushings went out on my Chevette five days before payday, a $300 hit. After paying the garage, I had ten bucks left in my checking account. I went to the grocery store, bought an econo pack of baloney, some "bread" that more closely resembled sawdust, some orange KoolAde and lived off that for the week. If I didn't work a second job four-five nights a week that added another $300, I would have been on food stamps. But since my father died that fall without any kind of insurance to speak of, I was actually kicking my mother $100-$200 a month. So, after all expenses were paid (Except groceries), I had about $300 left over. I was smart to get an apartment four blocks from my job, so I could make a tank of gas last a month.
Every month for my first two years was walking the proverbial tightrope. I didn't have a television. I brought my lunch to work every day. My entertainment was library books. I dated on the ultra cheap. I had one six pack of beer a week, and would go out one night a week. But, somehow, I always managed to save $150 a month. I mean, it would have been a total emergency for me to tap into the savings, too. In fact, the incompetent bookkeeper at my office screwed up our withholding because of how they reimbursed us on travel. As a result, the IRS considered about $5,000 in travel reimbursements to be taxable income. I drained my savings by writing a check to the government for $1100. My God that stung.
How did I make it up the ladder? By coming in early to my day job and working through lunch. I made as many contacts as I could and learned as much as I could, networking my ass off. I busted my ass and showed my employer how I deserved a raise, and got it. Even so, I still worked my part time job for another couple of years and just gave the money to my mother. Once she got on her feet, I quit that part-time job. I was so glad to actually have a life at night.
So, yeah, I totally get it. It isn't easy. It's tough as hell, in fact. But at the same time, the name of the game is discipline and the goal is to make steady progress every month in your career and in your financial life. Hey, it might only be a $100 in a month. But it's something. Do that month in and month out and you'll ultimately be far better off than the guy whose parents lent him money and blows all his month on going out every night.
That being said, I don't know if I would have ever termed myself poor. Yeah, I fit the government's definition of it. But I had a degree, a job, friends, a sense of humor and perspective, and my health. To this day, even though my wife and I earn really good livings, we live in a house that's smaller than what we can afford. We don't drive top-line cars and drive them until the wheels fall off. We don't eat out that often. I do wear nice clothes, however, because I am a business professional. Walk into a meeting wearing the stuff from the thrift store and no one will take you seriously. I know that's not easy to swallow, but it is just the way the world works. What's more, I really hate gambling, because I know how hard it was for us to earn that money in the first place. Whenever I see someone shoving quarters in a slot machine, I just have a visceral reaction to it.
On the other hand, I never asked someone to feel sorry for me when I was struggling. I never hit up anyone for a loan. I simply put one foot in front of the other. It would have never occurred to me to not have a second job, even though it was exhausting.
Thank you I currently work as a bank teller and customers are always making jokes/remarks about their money and saying things that make me cringe. One guy got upset that I couldn't cash a $4k check because it was stale dated and he asked me how much money I make and said he felt sorry for me and he hopes I'm in school because my job sucks, I must be new...blah blah blah. I also see a lot of people come in to withdraw money from these cards that their unemployment money comes on and they are so embarrassed sometimes. It's upsetting.
I want you to do something. I want you to hold your head high and be proud of yourself because you are working an honest job, and trying to get yourself an education. Pay no mind to the jerk who gave you a hard time about the check. HE is the one to be pitied because he gets his jollies by bullying someone who is only following the rules of their workplace.
I hope that someday you will reach a point in your life where you won't have to worry about a roof over your head or where your next meal will come from (although when you grow up "without", I think you will always tend to worry). Anyway, you will value what you have more than someone who had it handed to them on a silver platter, because you worked hard for everything you own, and everything you've accomplished.
I wish you good luck and continued success. You deserve it.
While I was in graduate school and my husband was in law school we once had to live on a big bag of potatoes for more than two weeks, but we never considered ourselves "poor" just students.
I wonder how many students today would live on just potatoes for two days let alone two weeks.
Well I am an older, full time student with kids to feed so I would and have but yeah.. I see a lot of spendy students when I am on and around campus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by germaine2626
Who forgets to cash a $4,000 check? And then gets mad because it is too old to cash? That's crazy.
Not to get too far off topic but I lived with a guy that forgot to cash thousands of dollars worth of checks. I was his roomate. He had a trust fund and tons of oil royalty checks coming in monthly. He had an office space he wasn't using, I asked if I could use it and he said if I cleaned it out, sure. Well, I did, and I unearthed an insane amount of money in uncashed checks, we're talking five figures. It was a shocking experience for me! It was hard for me to stomach because I worked and went to school and struggled and he had this forgotten pile of money lying around that would have covered my school and living expenses for a couple of years!
In my generation (I am 69) it was fairly common to be poor while attending college. A lot of us worked part-time jobs while in college and pinched every penny. That was not at all unusual, but we regarded it as a temporary situation lasting no more than a few years, and indeed, for the majority of us that's how it turned out.
My oldest brother was the only sibling to attend university..He was determined to get an education..My dad had just passed away and we were poor. The winters were horrifically cold. My brother would wrap news papers around his legs and body then put on his inadequate winter clothing and hitch hike 20 miles to the campus. The family refused to take charity - There was a difference in us compared to others. My mother and father had suffered war..revolution..and famine. We never thought of those days as being filled with hardship...compared to where my parents came from life was still good.
My eldest brother married a school teacher...Today he is very comfortable. They have a large beautiful home and if I were to ask my brother for a loan ...he still had the frugal mentality of a poor kid...."I have just enough money to last me for the rest of my life".....The guy is cheap..but he worked hard for what he has....where as myself, I spent my life having fun..and I am still poor - but somehow I live well. Poor is a state of mind. I dress well..groom myself and carry myself as if I own the world...I get by on attitude.
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I currently work as a bank teller and customers are always making jokes/remarks about their money and saying things that make me cringe. One guy got upset that I couldn't cash a $4k check because it was stale dated and he asked me how much money I make and said he felt sorry for me and he hopes I'm in school because my job sucks, I must be new...blah blah blah. I also see a lot of people come in to withdraw money from these cards that their unemployment money comes on and they are so embarrassed sometimes. It's upsetting.
