Is anyone here s**t poor?

[hendrix]

I'm **** poor.

been living off $160 (about $110US) a week, which covers everything. $90 on rent, $15 to cover power and internet, manage to spend only $25 on food a week. $30 bus fares. I eat a lot of eggs and potatoes.

 

[dfagdfsh]

there were times growing up when we were extremely poor, ie: couldn't afford the telephone bill, eating off $15 a week or donated food.

as a college student I'm pretty 'poor', but at the same time my food/housing is covered by my tuition, so I have very few expenses that I manage to cover

 

[Trompe le Monde]

Originally Posted by FStyles

Not that anyone will read this with any interest now on the 3rd/4th page, but my folks and I came here from China with not a penny over $200 and a dream. Neither were educated or spoke a lick of Engrish, I was 4, and we knew no one. (when i say $200, I mean it. No bank account, just had 10 $20's) I won't ramble on with any sob stories, but we were pretty piss poor. No one to turn to back home and definately no one to help here. We were on legit visas but we never once took a penny from the gov't other than the free education and free meals provided to me.
Our story started around 20 years ago. Arrived with absolutely nothing in assets. Family and friends gave us 5 items: a 10 year old Plymouth Colt hatchback, a 19" television, and 3 bicycles. My dad drove the car to deliver pizza while my mom rode bicycle to occupational college. We were also supported by welfare, medicare, and foodstamps. Today my parents own their newly-constructed house outright, as well as all of the vehicles in their household. My 2 sisters are halfway through their PharmD programs, which I partially fund having been in the pro workforce for a few years. There's nothing wrong with and no shame in using government funds for their intended purposes. Last week I bought 1 pair of shoes that cost more than the value of my parent's Colt and their 2 subsequent cars. Had someone told them that in 1990, they probably wouldve suffered a seizure

 

[quevola]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Well, I was already "different" being the only person of Asian descent in school and kids would taunt or tease me for a number of things. One easy one was that I was wearing goodwill clothes, hand me down shoes, had cheap glasses, and brought things like a bowl of beans to school for lunch in a brown bag (that I had to use until it wore out).

I'm sure that if I'd have been comfortably middle class like many of the other kids in that school, they would have teased me about something else. Either way, a person can only take so much taunting/being shoved around/ having your **** stolen or clothes ripped/etc. before he develops a bad attitude.

I was also being beaten at home if that makes any difference. I had an attitude problem.

Ah **** Slim, now I feel horrible about giving you crap about Hasselbeck and the Seahawks. I will from now on root for them (unless they are playing the Cowboys of course).

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by Trompe le Monde

My dad drove the car to deliver pizza while my mom rode bicycle to occupational college. We were also supported by welfare, medicaid, and foodstamps.

FTFY

 

[LabelKing]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

Not all philosophers are stoics. Many lead lives of luxury and probably wouldn't have had it any other way.
Philosophers and men of leisure would also have been at the top of the class system in say China.

 

[odoreater]

I was born in a small village in a country where the average income was about $100 per month. There were about 10 people living in the same house at the time. We had maybe 2 bowls and 2 cups between the 10 of us. That's pretty **** poor I guess.

When we moved to the United States, we lived in the attic of a three story building, with no air conditioning, in a neighborhood where shootings were a daily occurrence.

 

[dah328]

Originally Posted by Trompe le Monde

My dad drove the car to deliver pizza while my mom rode bicycle to occupational college. We were also supported by welfare, medicare, and foodstamps.

There's nothing wrong with and no shame in using government funds for their intended purposes.
I thought the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 restricted welfare payments to immigrants?

 

[Connemara]

I **** on poor people. Does that count for anything?

 

[munchausen]

I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

^That sounds rough.

 

[Lel]

Yo Slim, tell me how to eat cheap in Seattle.

U-District food prices are jacked up and I don't want to spend my entire day busing around the city to try and find cheaper food.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

Originally Posted by dah328

I thought the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 restricted welfare payments to immigrants?
we immigrated in 1992
not sure when we stopped receiving them; i was more into ninja turtles than personal finance at the time

 

[FStyles]

Originally Posted by Trompe le Monde

We were also supported by welfare, medicare, and foodstamps.

There's nothing wrong with and no shame in using government funds for their intended purposes.

I totally agree. There isn't anything wrong with it at all.......we just didn't .

I asked them about it later in life and my parent' train of thought was that since we were already given this debt of gratitude by this government, we shouldn't deplete its resource any further than we were.

Plus it makes the story that much betta

 

[nootje]

grew up suburban, and from there had a childhood of extremes.. kicked out in early teens, couple of nights on the streets before the state put me in a sort of juvenile detention center.. Stayed in there for 3,5 years, got picked up by my parents again who at this time were very rich.. lived a life of luxury for a couple of years and gradually went back to a more normal life, which admittedly is still above average..

so far from poor now, but did know desolation for a while..