I’ve never gone hungry in my life. With that statement it puts me in class that most of the world will never see. I have been lucky and had a parent that worked to make my childhood pleasant, enriching and carefree. With that base established I went to University and earned my degree in education and now make enough money to survive reasonably and keep my life nourishing and fulfilling.
I am certainly not upper class, heck probably lower middle class at best, but I have not had to endure decisions such as whether to eat or pay for rent, or fix the car or hope it does not explode on the way to work. I’ve always had the means so I’ve never had to make those decisions.
“Spent” is a game, if you can call living in poverty a game, about the decisions people like you and me have to face if things really get stuffed up and it goes south. What would you do? Go to the Spent website and find out.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
6 comments
March 2, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Bleatmop
One of the privileges that all non-poor people have is time. Pure and simple, everything takes longer when you are poor. Want to do laundry when you’re poor, get ready load your laundry up in portable containers, walk to the nearest bus station (usually far away in poorer neighborhoods), wait for the bus, take the bus, wait during one or two or three transfers to get to a laundromat, wait for an open machine, wait while your laundry is washing, wait for an open dryer, wait for a dryer, wait for your clothing to dry, fold and package your clothing at the laundromat, and wait for the buses on the trip back. So there goes your Saturday. Maybe Sunday you can go Grocery shopping. Meanwhile, of all the places the poor get to wait in, few are conducive to doing other productive things. I can remember trying to write a paper, quite unsuccessfully, while doing laundry as a university student. Nor did trying to read text books in the often cold or loud places I had to wait in during the chores go well.
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March 2, 2011 at 6:06 pm
Vern R. Kaine
“One of the privileges all non-poor people have is time.” Isn’t that the truth. Count HR departments and today’s employers in that group as well.
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it, I was actually “that poor” at one point (like living out of a car and eating Itchiban 12x a week for months) and see the time thing with people both then and now when I’m further from it.
Back then, people taking an extra two/three days to get back to you regarding a job was the difference between $50 minimum monthly payment to get you by and a $2000 lump sump that would immediately come due if you defaulted. Even now, however, I see people waiting months before starting a project, or hiring, or making an investment. The wealthier still make you wait. I’m paid to be patient, but at the same time in the back of my mind I’m thinking, “You a-hole! How many peoples’ lives are you holding up over this?”
It’s funny the coping habits we learn and keep from back then. Like the game, I still shop like I only have $50 to my name, I just now do it more often. I can’t eat KD, or itchiban, or McD’s anymore without feeling sick.
I get everything drycleaned because I hated the laundromat so much, and I still dump and hoard all my change. Having it in my pocket was annoying enough without it being a constant reminder of how little money I had. I remember filling up a Chevette one time with $2.25. haha
Bleat, congrats for getting through all that when you were younger. What did you study?
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March 2, 2011 at 6:41 pm
The Arbourist
Thanks to you both for sharing. Everyone has a story about life that we can learn from. I appreciate your contributions and the courage it takes to share on a public forum.
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March 2, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Bleatmop
Vern – Thank you. I’m sorry to hear that you had to live out of a car at one point. If it wasn’t for my now wife supporting my when I was in school, I may have ended up in the same fate. I also have problems eating Ichiban or KD to this day, though I did get creative at preparing both. Frying the boiled ichiban noodles, adding the powder and some soy and tobasco sauce was my idea of fine dining back then. And I feel you when it comes to money. I just preordered Homefront, a game for my PC and I still feel guilty for purchasing both of them. Again, if it wasn’t for my wonderful wife urging me to buy some of these things, I’d still probably live like I did in university.
To answer your question, I received my degree in nursing. It does make me wonder what you do that you are paid to be patient, unless it’s not something you wish to reveal of course.
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March 3, 2011 at 9:09 am
Vern R. Kaine
You’re welcome, and I agree about courage. Those who have far more serious and more harrowing stories require a significant amount of courage to share, even if shared anonymously. Cool that we have forums like this to do it in, get it out there, and learn from, so thank you. :)
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March 3, 2011 at 9:24 am
Vern R. Kaine
@Bleatmop:
Nursing – there’s a career that definitely requires patience, and also one that I would imagine makes a person thankful for what they have and can contribute. Congrats again!
As for me, I own a few businesses as well as act as a mentor and investor to others. I can relate, somewhat, to the helping profession in what I do as usually with business people have unhealthy mindsets about what resources they need to “get better” or improve their situations. Most of the holdbacks and hangups are mental rather than financial, like someone telling themselves they can’t quit smoking or exercise, that it’s “too difficult” or worse, “impossible”.
On the “time” thing again, though, often times I help these others raise capital for new ideas or expansion, which means going to the “big” investors of which there are four distinct breeds:
1) Those who got rich by being a lot smart and little lucky, and they know it
2) Those who got rich by being a lot lucky and very little smart, and they know it
3) Those who got rich by being very lucky and not knowing it, thinking instead that they were smart.
The only group out of those three who doesn’t wait (or make people wait) unnecessarily is group #2), but they’re rare. I forgot to add to my comments above that another thing I do now based on my years of being broke and waiting is that I never make people wait to hear back from me. Always within 24hrs, no matter when I happen to return the call/email (with discretion, of course – no 3am phone calls for something unimportant!)
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