How to be poor.

[sandy whitelinger]

I've pretty much been poor for my entire adult life. I observe that being poor is a major source of stress for many people, whereas I'm fairly satisfied with my life, so I thought I'd share some tips. I'd love to hear the tips of others.

1. Do what you love.

This is the foundation of my general sense of satisfaction. Many if not most of us are dissuaded from pursuing our passions due to the materialistic leanings of our culture. We learn to overvalue careers that bring high remuneration and undervalue careers that bring happiness. Get to know yourself and what makes you happy. That's what you should be doing, with as much of your day as you can reasonably get away with.

2. Be flexible.

Be on the lookout for any opportunity to a) make a bit of extra money to help make ends meet, and b) reduce your cost of living. This might mean a part time job waiting tables, or it might mean starting a vegetable garden on your balcony. If you're going to be poor (hopefully because you're doing what you love), the cost of housing will be the biggest problem in your life. Learn to be comfortable with a wide variety of living arrangements. Room-mates, small apartments, sleeping in the back of a van, etc.

3. Learn to let go.

Let go of the hope that things are going to get better and better. They're not. Every generation has had it a little worse than the last ever since the unholy trinity of Reagan-Thatcher-Mulroney forever redistributed the bulk of our society's shared wealth to flow ever upwards. Your parents university education meant more than yours, their jobs were more secure than yours, their pensions will sustain them while yours will not, etc. We are at a turning point in human history due to climate change, peak oil, over-population and our resulting global credit over-extension. So, from now on, things will get ever-so-slightly worse every year, for just about everyone. Learn to be delighted that it's only slightly worse, rather than SUBSTANTIALLY worse (For example, civil war or famine).

That's all I've got for the moment, but I'd like to hear your ideas. Even a few of you who are no longer poor were poor at one point, and it would be interesting to hear where you found your little delights at the time.

I was with you until you brought up politics.

Reuse freezer bags and cook from scratch.

Repair your own car and house.

Buy used.

 

[oldbadger]

Goodness gracious! I addressed only an ethical problem for people who make a particular choice.
Nowhere did I even imply how great their numbers are, or even address public policy towards them.
Neither did I justify evil doings by some wealthy types. And you didn't even respond to what I actually
said....sniff, sniff...I'm ever so hurt! You old.....old....badger!

Please,Mr Revolting :sorry1: I'm really really sorry that I was so nasty an' fick an' all. Mrs Badger's already told me off an' I've got to write 'I won't be nasty to Mr Revolting' one hundred times. But it is fun, winding you up, 'Ouch! :slap:

 

[oldbadger]

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

Ha ha! And £40 cheaper too!
They don't award 'gotchas', so you can have a frubal instead.
That's our only material vice, I think.
We don't do big hols, and I've had a Foldup bike for years now instead of a car. Obviously in England distances are tiny compared with yours. I hear that you lot don't think anything of driving 40 miles to do your weekly shopping. We go 2/3 mile!

But Mrs B loves her big telly, and now we've got it, so do I.

 

[dust1n]

You jest, but if an artist decides to pursue a profession which pays so little that other taxpayers must carry his load,
this does seem an unethical choice. Sure the artist might convince himself that he offers intangible value which justifies
this eleemosynary existence, but the taxpayer who has no choice in providing the largess, would likely disagree. To be
poor by choice is fine, provided that one is not a burden to the unwilling.

Good point! Much like Ayn Rand.

"...It was revealed in the recent "Oral History of Ayn Rand" by Scott McConnell (founder of the media department at the Ayn Rand Institute) that in the end Ayn was a vip-dipper as well. An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).

As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help."


But alas she did and said it was wrong for everyone else to do so. Apart from the strong implication that those who take the help are morally weak, it is also a philosophic point that such help dulls the will to work, to save and government assistance is said to dull the entrepreneurial spirit.


In the end, Miss Rand was a hypocrite but she could never be faulted for failing to act in her own self-interest."

Michael Ford: Ayn Rand and the VIP-DIPers

Perhaps we should just let artists starve. It's all dead, weightless material anyway.

 

[dust1n]

Ha ha! And £40 cheaper too!
They don't award 'gotchas', so you can have a frubal instead.
That's our only material vice, I think.
We don't do big hols, and I've had a Foldup bike for years now instead of a car. Obviously in England distances are tiny compared with yours. I hear that you lot don't think anything of driving 40 miles to do your weekly shopping. We go 2/3 mile!

But Mrs B loves her big telly, and now we've got it, so do I.

I guess it all comes down to how it's used.

 

[Revoltingest]

Good point! Much like Ayn Rand.
"...It was revealed in the recent "Oral History of Ayn Rand" by Scott McConnell (founder of the media department at the Ayn Rand Institute) that in the end Ayn was a vip-dipper as well. An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).
As Pryor said, "Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out" without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn "despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help."
But alas she did and said it was wrong for everyone else to do so. Apart from the strong implication that those who take the help are morally weak, it is also a philosophic point that such help dulls the will to work, to save and government assistance is said to dull the entrepreneurial spirit.
In the end, Miss Rand was a hypocrite but she could never be faulted for failing to act in her own self-interest."
Michael Ford: Ayn Rand and the VIP-DIPers
Perhaps we should just let artists starve. It's all dead, weightless material anyway.

Since I'm not an acolyte of Ayn Rand, I don't know her full personal history nor do I defend her every act (or even belief).
I stand by my values....not hers. I'll not address the ethical issue directly in this thread, at the Canuckistanian's request.

 

[Wirey]

You're all crazy. I have been poor, and not BC artist poor, I mean diagnosed-with-malnutrition-and-put-in-a-wheelchair-maybe-for-life poor (really). The fact that you own a computer and can afford electricity makes you rich, trust me. The biggest difference, financially speaking, between myself and all you povs is strictly a slight increase in expendable wealth.

 

[dust1n]

Since I'm not an acolyte of Ayn Rand, I don't know her full personal history nor do I defend her every act (or even belief).
I stand by my values....not hers. I'll not address the ethical issue directly in this thread, at the Canuckistanian's request.

Well, I know a good deal about it, and I agree with your values. They obviously suck more money from the system than they put in. Like Ayn Rand, Socrates, Tesla, Van Gogh, Poe, Stephen Foster, and Gutenburg.

 

[dust1n]

You're all crazy. I have been poor, and not BC artist poor, I mean diagnosed-with-malnutrition-and-put-in-a-wheelchair-maybe-for-life poor (really). The fact that you own a computer and can afford electricity makes you rich, trust me. The biggest difference, financially speaking, between myself and all you povs is strictly a slight increase in expendable wealth.

That's nothing. I once knew 30,000 kids who died this week from malnutrition and diseases from water because none was publicly available with contraction a disease curable with thirty bucks! Now that's poor. (Sorry, I don't mean to make light of your past or anything [I've been hungry too], but there is certainly a difference between poor and impoverished.)

 

[Revoltingest]

You're all crazy. I have been poor, and not BC artist poor, I mean diagnosed-with-malnutrition-and-put-in-a-wheelchair-maybe-for-life poor (really). The fact that you own a computer and can afford electricity makes you rich, trust me. The biggest difference, financially speaking, between myself and all you povs is strictly a slight increase in expendable wealth.

It's true!
Here is a young Wirey. Look how gaunt & beaten down he is....

But thanx to Canuckistanian health care & clean living, here he is today, a
picture of health & fecundity, & sporting a bike instead of a wheelchair.....
Moderator cut: image removed

 

[Wirey]

It's true!
Here is a young Wirey. Look how gaunt & beaten down he is....

But thanx to Canuckistanian health care & clean living, here he is today, a
picture of health & fecundity, & sporting a bike instead of a wheelchair.....
Moderator cut: image removed

Why you always got that Fabio pic ready?

 

[Revoltingest]

Well, I know a good deal about it, and I agree with your values. They obviously suck more money from the system than they put in. Like Ayn Rand, Socrates, Tesla, Van Gogh, Poe, Stephen Foster, and Gutenburg.

You really want to suck me into a prohibited discussion, don't you, you crafty henchman?
It ain't gonna work.

 

[dust1n]

You really want to suck me into a prohibited discussion, don't you, you crafty henchman?
It ain't gonna work.

That discussion is prohibited because we are already in total agreement. Unlikely we are going to progress further when we are on the same page.

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

I was sadly heartbreakingly contemplating cancelling some of my charities before reading this thread, now I'm thinking just don't spread any money on myself for a while (apart from books, one thing I can't stop...well and pret a manger)

 

[Wherenextcolumbus]

You're all crazy. I have been poor, and not BC artist poor, I mean diagnosed-with-malnutrition-and-put-in-a-wheelchair-maybe-for-life poor (really). The fact that you own a computer and can afford electricity makes you rich, trust me. The biggest difference, financially speaking, between myself and all you povs is strictly a slight increase in expendable wealth.

Remember that thread about ideas for buying a present for your wife...how much was your budget again?

 

[Alceste]

You're all crazy. I have been poor, and not BC artist poor, I mean diagnosed-with-malnutrition-and-put-in-a-wheelchair-maybe-for-life poor (really). The fact that you own a computer and can afford electricity makes you rich, trust me. The biggest difference, financially speaking, between myself and all you povs is strictly a slight increase in expendable wealth.

Ok, ok, you don't have to call being too poor to ever go to the dentist or afford a place to live "poor" either if you don't want to. It's all relative anyway.

Nevertheless, I still think this conversation about how to get the most out of life without spending any money to do it is interesting and useful.

Now will you please explain to Rev that you don't mind paying taxes, even if a fraction of them goes toward helping others less fortunate or ambitious than yourself?

 

[Alceste]

I was sadly heartbreakingly contemplating cancelling some of my charities before reading this thread, now I'm thinking just don't spread any money on myself for a while (apart from books, one thing I can't stop...well and pret a manger)

Alternatively, you could donate your time as opposed to money. I have been organizing fundraising events that raise more for local charities than I could have donated, and I volunteered at a women's resource centre until I decided I couldn't afford the gas.

 

[Wirey]

Ok, ok, you don't have to call being too poor to ever go to the dentist or afford a place to live "poor" either if you don't want to. It's all relative anyway.

Nevertheless, I still think this conversation about how to get the most out of life without spending any money to do it is interesting and useful.

Now will you please explain to Rev that you don't mind paying taxes, even if a fraction of them goes toward helping others less fortunate or ambitious than yourself?

True story for Revoltingest: My federal taxes for this year (not including provincial taxes) more than a unionized electrician working a 40 hour week would gross in a year in Alberta, and I still don't mind.

 

[Vinayaka]

True story for Revoltingest: My federal taxes for this year (not including provincial taxes) more than a unionized electrician working a 40 hour week would gross in a year in Alberta, and I still don't mind.

I'd love to pay that much in taxes! More even. My kid is an apprentice electrician, and she does okay. You must be a millionaire, or do you do a little copper sales on the side, (if you get the drift) and maybe that's how you got your name.

 

[Alceste]

I'd love to pay that much in taxes! More even. My kid is an apprentice electrician, and she does okay. You must be a millionaire, or do you do a little copper sales on the side, (if you get the drift) and maybe that's how you got your name.

Me too, I'd love to be in Wirey's tax bracket, provided I could get there by doing something I enjoy. If I ever do get there, I am confident that future me won't begrudge present me the use of a few of the roads and power lines I'll be paying for.