Tell me about being poor
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Don't be sad. We are the people that we are today because of how we grew up. Of course I wouldnt turn down a windfall and still hope someday to be RICH. But I am not looking for your sympathy because I grew up poor. I am stronger person bc of it. |
Anonymous
It made me sad to remember. Being poor felt very shameful at times. |
Anonymous
I agree. It did feel shameful. I am the pp who lived in shelters and in the car. I remember being in elementary school and because we had slept in the car the night before my mom would be the first in the drop off line at school. I was always ashamed to get out of the car bc we had all of the belongings we owned stacked up in there and it was clear thats where we lived. I didnt want anyone else to know because I was ashamed. I think this is the reason why I didnt have many friends growing up cause they couldnt "come over to my house" like normal friends do. |
Anonymous
|
Anonymous
Why? I was happier then than I am now, and I have a lot more money now! |
Anonymous
We were poor in that we received food stamps, discount on electricity bill, free lunch at school and made under the poverty line for a family of 8, but when we would go to community events, my parents would try to keep up appearances, so to speak. Sometimes I 'felt' poor because of certain situations and other times I felt like we had what we needed. My parents are still financially not well off, but better than when we were growing up. Me and my siblings help them out with bills and such, and no, we do not feel obligated or resentful at all. They're my parents and really wonderful people. Do you shop at WalMart? Yes as a child and yes now. Fyi - Where I live (not D.C - large major city), most people, regardless of income that I know shop at Wal-Mart and I will sound naive, but I didn't know until a few years ago that shopping at Wal-Mart was considered a 'poor' thing to do. Do you eat fast food all the time? We didn't eat fast food much as kids because we couldn't afford it. I used to think places like Friday's, Chili's, etc were 'fancy' and expensive because I never went as a child. How big is your home? We moved around a bit, all apartments, last one being about 600 square feet. When I was 10, we moved into a 2,000 square foot home and I thought it was so huge ha. What do you DO on weekends? Mostly watch tv, play outside with siblings/friends, visit family, go to the dollar cinema. Where do you go on vacations? We went on 2 trips when I was a kid, to visit family and for a wedding. Both out of state. Do you have very few clothes? Shoes? Yes, I did have few clothes and a couple pairs of shoes at a time. If you're too poor to go out, what do you do to get together with friends? Dollar cinema, stay at home and get snacks Do you have any friends who are well off? As an adult, I am not poor as I was as a kid, but I make under $50k and most of the people I know make 6 figure incomes. What do you do for fun? Not too much time for fun as I tend to work alot. What do you think is the qualifier that makes a person poor? I think it is not the same for every family. Do your kids know you're poor? Too young. What do they do after school? N/A Do they get teased in school? N/A |
Anonymous
| Common People by Pulp. Was this song written about you? Hey, everyone hates a tourist!! |
Anonymous
| It is a very interesting thread. I grew up poor in another country (not dismal poor, but low income - cheap clothes, no money for hanging out, free lunches at school) and now we have a 95K HHI, rent a 1BR, have one car (bought used), and honestly I think of myself as poor again... |
Anonymous
|
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge,
she studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College, that's where I, caught her eye. She told me that her Dad was loaded, I said "In that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola." She said "Fine." and in thirty seconds time she said, "I want to live like common people, I want to do whatever common people do, I want to sleep with common people, I want to sleep with common people, like you." Well what else could I do - I said "I'll see what I can do." I took her to a supermarket, I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere, so it started there. I said pretend you've got no money, she just laughed and said, "Oh you're so funny." I said "yeah? Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here. Are you sure you want to live like common people, you want to see whatever common people see, you want to sleep with common people, you want to sleep with common people, like me." But she didn't understand, she just smiled and held my hand. Rent a flat above a shop, cut your hair and get a job. Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school. But still you'll never get it right, cos when you're laid in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall, if you call your Dad he could stop it all. You'll never live like common people, you'll never do what common people do, you'll never fail like common people, you'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw, because there's nothing else to do. Sing along with the common people, sing along and it might just get you through, laugh along with the common people, laugh along even though they're laughing at you, and the stupid things that you do. Because you think that poor is cool. I want to live with common people, I want to live with common people etc... |
Anonymous
|
I am poor by DCUM standards.
Do you shop at WalMart? Rarely. Usually Target. Do you eat fast food all the time? Never. I eat mostly vegan. What do you DO on weekends? Exercise. Clean house. Yardwork. TV. Bars. Errands. Where do you go on vacations? To visit family. Do you have very few clothes? Shoes? I have plenty of clothes and shoes. No 100 dresses, though. What do you do for fun? Drinking, exercising, Netflix. What do you think is the qualifier that makes a person poor? I am not sure, it probably varies depending who you ask. |
Anonymous
| During FDR's first term, he commissioned a study on poverty in Appalachia. In response to a question on hunger, am old. mountain woman. replied, "Hits a whole lot worse being soul hungry than stomach hungry" I realize that you, OP, cannot possibly comprehend her answer because it would necessitate you having a soul. |
Anonymous
|
Poor as a kid, not poor now.
No Walmart, but shopped Goodwill, Salvation Army, and discount clothing stores (Target among them). Also loved the grunge 90s when thrifting became cool! Couldn't afford fast food, ate basics at home (spaghetti, chili, baked fish, tuna casserole, etc.). Vacations were road trips to visit family, maybe a day trip to a lake. Even when my parents made it into the middle class, vacations were still road trips where we all slept in one hotel room (2 parents, 2 kids). Weekend activities were grocery shopping, laundromat, house cleaning, and playing outside with neighborhood kids. Movies in the theater were a major treat, hardly saw any before high school (the first one I saw was ET and my grandmother took me). Roller skating was a big treat, only went for someone's birthday party. In the summer we'd get to go to the public pool when I was older, but not every week. Had very few clothes (still do, comparatively: it's hard to break the mindset of what you "really" need). Having more than one pair of jeans was a battle I started fighting for in junior high; my mother would tell me the clothing budget (usually $100 for a new school year in the 80s) and I would work with her for new clothes that maximized my outfit options. One pair of everyday shoes, one pair of dress shoes, and one pair of gym shoes for school. One dressy outfit in my current size (which usually needed to be purchased new for a family wedding). (PP who washed out her clothing, my mother also only had 2 dresses all through high school circa 1970, although I'm pretty sure she had a week of underwear). I definitely knew we were poor and tried to never ask my parents for anything other kids were getting. I was teased about my clothing repeating more frequently than was cool. |
Anonymous
Yes. I posted just after your post and didn't even touch on how abusive and dysfunctional my family was. We never went to bed hungry and we always had shoes and clothes that fit us, in addition to toys and books (often second-hand, but still ours). The worst part of my childhood had nothing to do with how little money we had. |
Anonymous
I grew up very poor but we were rural poor which I think is quite different than urban poor. Pretty much everyone around us was equally as poor so there wasn't really disparity between us and friends. |
Anonymous
yes, I can tell. |