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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My family has been lucky to always be well off, and this is one of those things I could never ever bring up with anyone I know, but am secretly fascinated by poor people and wonder about so many aspects of their lives.

I think I'm poor now - not super poor, but poor enough that we have to watch how we spend.  So, I'll answer your questions:

Do you shop at WalMart?
Yes.  And I'm surprised that people say things like "no, I have ethics"  huh?  I need supplies and I find them the cheapest there.  I'm not goign to spend extra dollars for TP and shampoo just because some people think it's tacky (or not ethical???) to shop there.

Do you eat fast food all the time?
No.  On occasion we do, but get the dollar items.  we get bulk rice and we can get a whole chicken for $4.  we have chicken and rice (or spagetti) about 4 times a week. We make the chicken different ways so we don't get tired of it.

How big is your home?

We bought a very small house in a nice neighborhood because it was important for us to try and give our kids the best education we could afford (public school) so we have a 1200 sf home.  2 bedrooms, 1 bath, and 1 livingroom/familyroom/diningroom and 1 eat-in kitchen.  we have 2 kids.  Luckily they are both girls (don't know how we would have given them separate rooms if we had one of each).  Also, we opted for a SFH instead of condo because we wanted a yard - it gave us more options for staying home (see question on what we do on weekends)

What do you DO on weekends?

We belong to the neighborhood pool, so we do that.... a LOT.  Go to the neighborhood parks.... a LOT - we change it up a bit and try different parks in different neighborhoods.  Have playdates - have one of the kids go to a friend's house or have the friend come to ours.  And, we just hang out outside in the yard - kids will ride their bikes on sidewalk, play catch in the yard.

Where do you go on vacations?

My inlaws live in Florida and my parents live in Mass.  In the summer we drive and see my parents for a week.  Sometimes, about every other year because we have to save up for it) we go down to in-laws in the winter.  On off years, we'll either do a staycation and go into DC to the museums, etc or take a long weekend and go somewhere - bush gardens, etc.

Do you have very few clothes? Shoes?

Funny you ask this.  Yes.  I'll list my summer wardrobe.  2 kacky (spelling?) pants, 1 pair white jeans, 1 pair tan jeans.  (I don't wear shorts or skirts) About 6 short sleeve tops - various colors/styles but all semi-casual that can be used as summer tops, but also as shirts worn under suits in the winter.  1 pair each of white sandals, tan sandals, flip flops, sneakers, black pump, brown pump and beige/neutral pump, one pair of winter boots - not the fancy kind - the kind you can shovel snow in.  I will wear them and change into one of the above pumps for work in winter.  For winter, I have 2 pair of blue-jeans, 3 long-sleeve tops, 4 sweaters, about 6 suits some of which can be interchanged, 2 black work pants.

If you're too poor to go out, what do you do to get together with friends?

We visit each other at each other's houses.  BBQ, or we'll get a bottle or 2 of wine and pot-luck some apps and hang out at someone's house.  we typically rotate houses.

Do you have any friends who are well off? No.  Oh, wait.  I think one of our friends is well off, but we don't do much with them.

What do you do for fun? See above - hang out outside, go to pool, BBQ with friends, I like to read.

What do you think is the qualifier that makes a person poor? Well, for us, my husband lost his job and had to take one at a substantially reduced salary.  He only gets part time hours at this point, but we are doing okay.  I would guess that that's the reason for most.

Do your kids know you're poor? No, but they are young still.  there are times they ask for something their friends have, and we of course have to say no, but we get a lot of good things from second-hand stores and on craigs list.  we got them both bikes on CL and ALL their toys are used - even Christmas toys are purchased through CL, or thrift stores.  [b]PSA FOR YOU RICH FOLKS[/b] - [u]Please consider selling your used toys, bikes, skateboards, Wii and Wii games, DVDs, games, etc on Craig's list at a low low cost.  It's such a blessing to find these things for my kids so they don't totally feel like they miss out. [/u]

What do they do after school?  My husband is home with them.  We sign them up for one extra curricular at a time and try to find something on the cheap end that doesn't require purchasing equipment or anything (like there's no way we could afford tai kwon do or music lessons because that would also require getting an instrument)

Do they get teased in school? No, but they are young and it's not like it's obvious they are poor (again, we're not super poor, but we are living paycheck to paycheck and we have to watch how we spend our money).  They wear decent enough clothes and like I mentioned, we get some good deals on CL and thrift stores.

I always watch movies about really poor people and this whole lifestyle just fascinates me. [/quote][/quote]

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