How to be poor.

[Wirey]

I'm lucky. I love my work, and it pays well.

 

[illykitty]

I'm living quite a comfortable life thanks to my husband, his job pays enough for both of us and some more but I'm not independent. That said, I'm not complaining. My mom doesn't have much money (barely having enough for food, shelter and bills) and it was like that in my childhood as well.

BUT I realised any sadness I've endured in my childhood wasn't from lacking money, it was from cruel children and some traumatic experiences. Those were the truly damaging things. I had enough, my family got me toys and clothes and my mom would always make sure we had food and a roof over our heads.

But yeah all that to say I can relate, a lot of the tips said in this thread I've used at one time or another. Right now, for example, I both volunteering and shop at a charity shop. Get some real gems there, for very little money and it goes towards something good (our shop for the RSPCA). Spending some time reading, I've learned a bit about our society and I can't say I'm a fan of materialism and the side effects of it so it's a plus on all sides.

 

[Alceste]

I'm lucky. I love my work, and it pays well.

I can't do oil stuff. I'm too much of a tree hugger. In Canada that's like an economic death sentence.

 

[Me Myself]

I mean I haven't got any money.

What do people usually mean by "poor" in your part of the world?

Being uncertain about each meal, and definetely no internet.

The funny part, is that poor people here regularly have huhge plasma TVs (in their one room, ilegal house made by them of woody stuff). This is a good idea though: e guys selling the tvs give them waaaaaaay better credit than the guys at the banks. If one of their children got ill, and they needed a really expensive drug to help him, e bank wont help them at all, but they can sell eir ultra awesome TV or sound system.

Crazy stuff.

 

[savagewind]

If you have a microwave you can cook the dish sponge in it to make it last a lot longer. Less solid waste too.

 

[oldbadger]

That's another good tip - charity shops! I can't begin to tell you how liberating it is not to own any clothes that cost more than five bucks. Doesn't matter if you spill coffee on it, snag it, if it shrinks or pills... just pack it off back to the charity shop and get a new one.

I haven't bought anything but thrift shop clothes for years. Dishes too. Doesn't matter if you break a 50 cent wine glass - even if it is hand blown.

Ha ha!

Cut glass is way out of fashion here, so I often find beautiful bowls, glasses etc in cut-glass for almost nothing.

I don't buy many clothes from charity shops, because a decent pair of jeans costs £10 in our local superstore, and my T shirts cost £3 on ebay. Socks are 5 pairs for £3. etc.

My wife is not into shopping at all. All her mates are shopping crazy. But she looks so good in Jeans and T shirt...... who cares?

 

[oldbadger]

Ha. I wouldn't be able to use a netbook. I got to have a modem and a 50 ft Ethernet cord so I can keep a desktop going. I need the hard drive space, and all the buttons for recording music and stuff. And a huge screen. That helps.

I like don't like small and mobile. I like big and functional. Also cheaper and less invasive.

Cool! My wife keeps all her music on a tiny netbook, just like mine. It is plugged into a sound system, and she can select and play her choice faster than she could find a CD.

But........ our telly is big; a 50" telly at the end of a 12' lounge is BIG!!!!

 

[oldbadger]

Sure, but my point is that to be poor is to lack. To be poor is to not have enough to be comfortable.
People who go to bed hungry and cold cannot be comfortable. People whose kids are doing badly at school because the books are too expensive cannot be comfortable.

Yes.......
Hunger. Cold. The worst two? If you have a dinner inside and you are warm, that is a start.

 

[Wirey]

I can't do oil stuff. I'm too much of a tree hugger. In Canada that's like an economic death sentence.

I don't do 'oil stuff', I do electrical stuff. Oil just happens to be where all the cutting edge technology is right now. Plus, I get cheap gas now that I've built my own catalytic cracking chamber.

 

[Revoltingest]

I don't do 'oil stuff', I do electrical stuff. Oil just happens to be where all the cutting edge technology is right now. Plus, I get cheap gas now that I've built my own catalytic cracking chamber.

Doesn't that "oil stuff" finance benefits for Canuckistan's poor?
Without you, they'd have to do without or find a more lucrative line of work.

 

[Alceste]

Doesn't that "oil stuff" finance benefits for Canuckistan's poor?
Without you, they'd have to do without or find a more lucrative line of work.

Not really - the oil corporations don't pay much tax. In fact, Alberta had a huge deficit last year due to their failure to collect enough royalties from the oil corporations. The associated high incomes in the oilfield are taxed, I suppose, but that revenue is going to Alberta, not where I live, or to Ontario, where Stephen Harper is wasting it on new prisons and military stuff. It does create jobs, though, if that's what you're into and you don't have ethical issues with living off the world's dirtiest oil.

 

[Revoltingest]

Not really - the oil corporations don't pay much tax. In fact, Alberta had a huge deficit last year due to their failure to collect enough royalties from the oil corporations. The associated high incomes in the oilfield are taxed, I suppose, but that revenue is going to Alberta, not where I live, or to Ontario, where Stephen Harper is wasting it on new prisons and military stuff. It does create jobs, though, if that's what you're into and you don't have ethical issues with living off the world's dirtiest oil.

I'm sure all those highly paid workers like Wirey pay taxes thru the nose.
So don't criticize me....you're the one slopping at that trough.

 

[Alceste]

I'm sure all those highly paid workers like Wirey pay taxes thru the nose.
So don't criticize me....you're the one slopping at that trough.

I am? How?

 

[Revoltingest]

I am? How?

Their taxes cover health care, roads, national parks, etc, which the poor use, but don't cover the cost for.

 

[Vinayaka]

One can hardly blame the highly skilled worker. My son is one of them, and I can't blame him. Take another lesser paying job ... well, maybe, but then someone else just takes the high paying one.

It is dirty oil though and we will all pay for that ... eventually.

 

[dust1n]

Cool! My wife keeps all her music on a tiny netbook, just like mine. It is plugged into a sound system, and she can select and play her choice faster than she could find a CD.

But........ our telly is big; a 50" telly at the end of a 12' lounge is BIG!!!!

That's the way to go... a single nice television set and hard drive space.

 

[Alceste]

Their taxes cover health care, roads, national parks, etc, which the poor use, but don't cover the cost for.

I pay a 5-12% consumption tax on everything I buy, as well as various other taxes including income tax, and I haven't been to the doctor in ten years. I also don't live in Alberta, so the oil revenue is not a major feature of the economy of the area I live in. There is a lot of eco-tourism, recreation, fishing, lumber, mining, farming etc. but not much dirty oil. There are however a lot of absent BC dads working in Alberta at the moment.

You specifically said I, personally, am "slopping at that trough". Please be more specific. What is Wirey paying for with his high Alberta oil industry income that I am using in BC without contributing to?

 

[Alceste]

One can hardly blame the highly skilled worker. My son is one of them, and I can't blame him. Take another lesser paying job ... well, maybe, but then someone else just takes the high paying one.

It is dirty oil though and we will all pay for that ... eventually.

Exactly - I won't contribute to it. Basing our economy on the tar sands is the worst idea Canada has ever had.

 

[Revoltingest]

I pay a 5-12% consumption tax on everything I buy, as well as various other taxes including income tax, and I haven't been to the doctor in ten years. I also don't live in Alberta, so the oil revenue is not a major feature of the economy of the area I live in. There is a lot of eco-tourism, recreation, fishing, lumber, mining, farming etc. but not much dirty oil. There are however a lot of absent BC dads working in Alberta at the moment.

You specifically said I, personally, am "slopping at that trough". Please be more specific. What is Wirey paying for with his high Alberta oil industry income that I am using in BC without contributing to?

Your health insurance will be there, when the day comes for you to use it. And as poor as you say you are, your
consumption tax appears to not be enuf to pull your weight in gov bennies consumed. No doubt that oil worker
pay & tax money finds its way to where you live. And your better off neighbors & their tourist customers foot
the bill for infrastructure you use.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

These damn artists. All they do is consume everything by people who contribute more to society. They never give anything to the culture, to the people, to anything really except....hey...I heard of a poetry reading somewhere and a drumming festival that sounds fun! Wanna go meet up and catch some tunes and grab a bite to eat afterward at the brewey where there's that indie film showing?

Oh, I forgot to keep putting those damn starving artists in their place, let me continue...they never contribute to society. All they do is take take take and given nothing in return...*trails off*...