How do poor people afford everything?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Mortgage - don’t have one. Have a really cool landlord I’m upfront with and who works with me, and until I got this temp job, had help from unemployment and my mom.

TV - no cable. It’s free.

Phone - basic plan. I can come up with $50 bucks. That includes internet.

Internet - see above.

Car bill - it’s paid for. It’s totalled, yes, thanks to a bitch talking on her cellphone and rearending us, but it’s paid for and still runs. Took the insurance money, didn’t fix it since it still is running fine. Used insurance money to keep roof over our heads.

Gas/Insurance - work at home. Gas is minimal. Insurance is cheap for very basic.

Clothes - haven’t bought new clothes in years. Take that back - bought new jeans two years ago with a gift card I got as a Christmas present.

Food - until I got the temp job, I got food stamps. Haven’t for over a year and half now, I believe. We shop the sales papers - we go to another county to save on Cook County taxes, we clip coupons, we go to some stores on the day they do double coupons, we also go on Sr. Citizen day for the ten percent discount at our local store (I’m 46 but my husband qualifies). We buy in bulk when we can afford it and freeze it. We don’t go out often.

Electric/Gas/HVAC - I pay them when I can, borrow from my mom if necessary, and take full advantage of waiting until I get a disconnect notice and then set up a payment plan if there’s no other way. My husband is basically unemployed - I make the only money coming in - but when he DOES get a job (he’s self employed - construction and home remodeling) we put it all towards the utlities. And TRY to save something. But shit happens and it doesn’t always work out.

Dental Bills - not on our radar. We go to the Dr. when it’s life or death. Last time I went to the Dr. it was for a broken pelvis and that was the ER and only because it was so bad I couldn’t move. Last time he went to the Doctor, was ten years ago or so I think.

You do what you gotta do.

ETA - I’ve never had my nails done in my entire life, and the last time I went to a salon for a haircut (or a greatclips or whatever) was 1999.

22

I see that one can always save money on punctuation.

23

There is what you’d like, what you want, and what you NEED. People often confuse the first two for the last one.

24

Government aid, thrift stores and going without were my big three.

25

Do you know how little you have to make for financial aid? I make less than half of what your sister makes. I’m currently going back to school. Do you know how much financial aid I got offered on my FAFSA?

$45.

Everything else is loans.

Cut out nails. Cut out hair. Do it at Supercuts. No eating out, whatsoever. Eat beans and rice and potatoes. Eat ramen. Don’t have a mortgage. Don’t have a HOUSE. people always claim houses are better. Sure they are. Except for the upkeep. And the maintenance. And the property taxes. None of which I have to pay. Phone, basic. No smartphones. Limit new clothes or buy at Goodwill or Salvation Army. Don’t buy stuff on credit, ever, unless it’s a vital necessity. Most of the time if you can’t afford it in cash, you don’t really need it.

I mean there are so many places you can cut corners. I’m in a good position now, I save and just bought a new car and paid it off. This wasn’t how it always was. It took many years of living below my means before I could live at my means.

26

Well, in fairness, you almost certainly are paying for those things, you’re just doing it indirectly via rent. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance you’re paying MORE for them, since rentals are usually profit-generating for the owner, and that profit needs to come from someplace.

27

it’s worth it to get a house trust me you can get a 3 bed 2 bath n ow for 150,000 1,000 a month fools.

28

Are your posts intentionally incoherent in both form and substance? Just curious.

29

Yow, $100 a month for hair and nails? Last time I got my hair cut was in July (admittedly it’s getting pretty shaggy and I need to have it done again) and I’ve never in my life had my nails done. Does she work in a type of job where you need to be particularly presentable to the public (something like some types of sales)? Even then, she could do her own nails and get her hair cut somewhere inexpensive.

30

Maybe. But a) my rent is significantly lower than other comparable rentals in the area, and I get a 2 bedroom 1 bath house out of it b) there is nothing to compare to having something break down and calling the landlord.

Plus time. I have about 29 oak trees in my yard. I didn’t have to pick up a single leaf; landlord does it all with this big sucking machine. All I do is mow the lawn and maintain my garden. Tree falls on the power line? Landlord comes over with a chainsaw and does it.

Poor people don’t necessarily have time to do all this. You work two jobs and then have to come home and do your house maintenance? It is difficult and this is why I always say don’t rush people into home-buying. I’ve had so much pressure on me to buy, until the housing market fell apart. Then people got reaaaallly quiet. Let people decide for themselves when they are ready, and educate them about all the costs of owning. Not just monetary.

31

tripolar houses are real cheap now

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15-Edward-St-Worcester-MA-01605/56729081_zpid/

that house is 6 bed for 2 baths for 185,000, and i figure a 150,000 house must be around 1,000 a month.

32

I’m more in line with the sister.
When it came time to get a home, convenience to work was important and put me in a more expensive neighbor hood. Buying in 2004 also put me very near the peak of the bubble in my area. So I am saddled with much higher housing expenses than a poorer person, or even a lot of people in my income bracket would have.

Even so, I manage to have quite a few “things” and still save a little money in addition to my 401K. Probably not a lot of people in the 20K range putting money in 401K’s or savings. Seems to me pretty easy to see how a 60k earner could not imagine getting by on less.

33

The OP is the same guy who wanted to spent a thousand bucks a year on haircuts, right?

The “needs a manicure” comment makes so much more sense now.

34

Went to a tech college, not a university. Lived at home. Got rid of cable, watch shows online on broadcaster’s website. Don’t drink. Rent an apartment that isn’t as nice as I want (economy is good here, construction is booming, new expensive pretty houses and condos everywhere that I could get a ridiculous mortgage for). Took a car my parents gave me, even if it wasn’t my first choice. Saved up for travel. Don’t buy expensive clothes. Use a cell phone as a landline. Furniture is Ikea-level, not trendy designer. Manicure? Oh yeah, got one of those for my brother’s wedding. :stuck_out_tongue:

35

Do you own such a house?

36

Which is fine if you have $1000 a month to spend on housing, plus the costs of maintenance, insurance, property taxes, etc. In many places in the country, you can rent a place to live (not necessarily a house) for far less than that, and without the additional charges.

37

This may be difficult for you to wrap your head around, but housing prices vary HUGELY depending on where you are.

38

so if you were to buy this house how much would property taxes be?

39

My rough estimate is that for the current year the property was assessed at $1,464,400 and the taxes would be approximately $16,269 a year. I wonder how accurate my guesses will be.

40

What I’m trying to tell you is that is not the entire cost of owning a home. It’s that plus all of the stuff you also have to pay in an apartment (utilities, etc) PLUS maintenance, taxes, etc. I’m not including insurance because I do have renter’s insurance, but I am pretty sure renter’s insurance is far cheaper than house insurance.

Do I think sister should dump her house and go live in an apartment? Absolutely not…unless the numbers crunch better for her that way. But you asked how poor people live.

Oh yes, and the number one way to live well when you don’t make $60,000? DON’T GET SICK. Maybe a national healthcare mandate will at least take that constant worry away. Right now I and millions of other Americans rely on our jobs for healthcare. (I’m on my SO’s health plan). He gets sick, he loses his job, I can go back to my health insurance, but what happens if we both get sick? The world basically says “Fuck you”.