This thread makes me think about the story of the Very Poor Family:
Once upon a time, there was a Family who were Very Very Poor. Everyone in the Family was Poor. The Father was Poor; the Mother was Poor; the Children were Poor; The Cook was Poor; the Chauffeur was Poor…
Well, for starters, I don’t have a mortgage. I rent, but because I’m willing to do some of the upkeep around this place my landlord cut us a deal and I pay about 2/3 the normal rent for a place like mine. And utilities are included in my rent so electric, gas, heat, and AC are all wrapped up into that one, stable, monthly payment. (negotiation for the win).
I also do lawn care for ours and a few other of the landlord’s buildings - that about $80-120 a month on top of my regular job.
We paid cash for our TV, and since it’s our major entertainment, it was somewhat important to us. We waited for a sale and did some negotiating (there’s that word again) and got about 30% off the usual price. But we don’t have cable. Since I now have steady full time employment we “splurged” and got Netflix which, combined with things like Hulu and station websites enable us to (eventually) watch just about everything.
When we became poor we stopped buying books and movies and now get them from the library.
Our current computer system was given to us by some friends of mine when our old one blew up. (That was thanks to social networking) The computer is the second half of our entertainment and the DSL is bundled with the phone, which is the only utility we pay for separate from our rent.
I don’t have a smartphone, I have a stupidphone because it a hell of a lot cheaper. For awhile we had only 1 cellphone for the household, shared by both of us.
Our vehicles were paid off back when we were still middle class. One is 10 years old the other 15. We keep up with maintenance so they’re still reliable. We got the cheapest car insurance we could find that wasn’t total crap, and because we have good driving records it keeps our rates down. We insure only for liability, not for the vehicle itself.
We got rid of our credit card and other debt back when we were middle class and have largely avoided acquiring more.
Each year I grow from half to nearly all our vegetables in the backyard - unlike some apartments, ours has plenty of backyard for the building. The landlord is totally OK with us using 1/4 of the space as a small farm as we give him some of the excess produce. I also switched from flowers to edible landscaping for the building.
We mostly eat home cooked meals made from scratch using mostly vegetables - meat is almost a condiment at my house rather than an actual entree.
Anything I can take down to the scrappers and turn in for cash I do so - this works out to about $25 “extra” a month.
I buy clothes at Goodwill. And only when I actually need them.
Our health insurance is a plan subsidized by the state government for those who do not have insurance through their employer, and thus we are able to afford it. It’s not deluxe care, but we can get preventive care, see a doctor if we get sick, and my spouse can manage his diabetes, including getting all his needed meds and regular testing.
Dental care - we’re big on preventive maintenance, though for awhile my “every six months” appointment was actually every 9-12 months. We let our dentist know up front our financial situation and when necessary have negotiated (there’s that word again!) payment plans. The dentist has also been kind enough to give us a discount when we’re really bad off, possibly because we’ve always been prompt with payments, honest, and maybe he just likes us (I knew him socially before he was our dentist - there’s that social networking thing again…)
New eyeglasses for me WERE a big problem - even going through deep discount places like Zenni optical my prescription works out to triple digits in cost - but we managed to scrape together the necessary funds to get them, mainly by being frugal elsewhere.
I do my own hair and nails (because I wear my hair long I only get it cut about once every two years), mend my own clothes - heck, I fix my own shoes these days! (But then, I am a cobbler now…)
Most household cleaning is done with bleachwater or vinegar instead of buying dozens of specialized products dyed in brilliant hues.
We look for sales, bargains, buy house brands and generic and discontinued items whenever possible.
The youngest piece of furniture in my house, I think is about 5 years old, and that’s because the old bed/mattress died. Most of it is in the 30-50 year range. My computer desk is nearly 70 years old. I have a few items that are 100+, like the sewing machine my mother-in-law picked up for a couple dollars at a yard sale and which I repaired/refurbished myself. Basically, we don’t buy furnishings very often.
See above about 1 haircut every two years for me. Because of my job I couldn’t keep a manicure anyhow so it doesn’t matter. In the summer when I wear sandals I do my own pedicure/foot upkeep myself.
Also, we don’t smoke (never have) and a six pack of beer is a very occasional luxury we stretch out over a month. We really bad off we give up that.
That only works if you are actually earning enough to spend $1,000 a month on housing. My total monthly bill for shelter/utilities is $600 - that’s for 1,100 square feet, parking space for two vehicles, and a yard big enough for a garden that grows a significant part of our food.
I am not “paying for nothing” by renting - I am paying for a place to live, to keep my stuff, park my vehicles, and grow some of my own food. I may not have equity in it, but neither do I have to suddenly cough up thousands to pay for a damaged roof, burst pipe, septic tank problem, or the like. Thanks to my crazy negotiating skills I’m paying an extremely low rate for all that. Oh, and in my state renters get a tax credit. It’s not quite as good as the one for a house (which is Federal) but it’s still nice to have it.
When we do get a windfall, like a tax return/EIC, gift from a relatives, etc. we stash it in a savings account as a rainy day fund. It gets slowly eaten up over the course of a year but it’s how we pay for car repairs, eyeglasses, and other things in cash so we don’t have to resort to credit.
So… frugality, cutting away of luxuries, negotiating, and social networks are how we do it.
you can use charge cards for things so the money don’t get taken away from your check right away and you can pay it back later/
With interest. Which means you’re paying for years if you can’t get together the money to pay off the balance. Which for the poor can be near impossible.
That’s where a lot of people run into trouble - being disciplined enough to actually pay it back, and fate getting in the way and not letting you pay it back.
yeah i mean if its only a few hundred dollars and you can control it but once it gets too much it gets hard to pay it off.
For someone who is poor, a few hundred dollars is like the sky itself. And if you have poor credit, forget about even having a credit card. Something tells me the OP has led a very sheltered life. Oh, well, always glad to educate.
Well, let’s see, for starters you need to divide income per head. 30K don’t go as far for a family of 4 as for a single person.
Second, when I made 12K, I:
Charge cards mean interest. I’m better off paying cash immediately than paying cash + interest.
You can’t be serious - your suggestion is stupid for someone of sharply limited means. For most items, if I can’t pay it off immediately then I can’t afford it period. I have too little money to throw some of it away on interest.
It seems like everything is a “luxury” to you. Your opinion is too biased on this matter.
Yeah well, one of the reasons I do my own nails is that the results are better than a professional manicure: I have wonky nails (had warts just beside several of them back in my teens, which left them with strange shapes) and the pros work on automatic. When you treat my nails as if they didn’t have a strange profile, you end up with something that does not look good at all; when you pay attention instead of filing them while going over your shopping list, they look good. People actually remark on what beautiful, healthy nails I have - when the manicure is DIY.
And considering what we know of Rushgeekgirl’s situation, Rocky… I’ve been poor, she’s Poor. Yes, her definition of luxury is very wide, but that’s because her income is very narrow and she’s got a little girl to care for. I’d like to see how you did in her shoes.
Yeah, being poor really makes you biased on the subject of luxury. :dubious:
Remember the OP is an 18 year old who’s mom pays for his weekly haircuts.
Why he’s trying to tell us how to live in the world is beyond me.
I never said that. Her original post and her reply to me, made it seem like she was counting 5 dollars worth of things as luxury items and thinks items other consider common are luxury items. I know she has a longer post history than I do, but come on. Five dollars isn’t “luxury”. There is something between necessities and luxury. If you feel everything feels into one category, it is being biased.
I am exactly who the OP was asking about. I’m poor. Are you poor? The idea that getting a manicure is anything but a luxury is ridiculous. I KNOW good grooming is important and looking especially nice is good in many fields. I’m telling you having your hair styled (not trimmed) and having your nails done by a professional is indeed a luxury.
There was no reason to be a jerk. Yes, everything is a “luxury” for me if it’s not a necessity. That’s what makes it a luxury. Your thinking it’s a necessity makes me think you think everything you want is a necessity. Surely that can’t be true can it?
When all your money goes to paying for food, clothing, and shelter, $5 for doing your nails is a luxury. Luxuries are things you can live without.
That was my whole point. When a person, any person, says every thing is a luxury, they are biased. I think most Dopers are from first world countries, in first world countries many things aren’t considered luxuries. For example, in third world countires computers are a luxury and we all access to them. The poster I was referring to says they can’t afford internet, many people in the US and first world country can. Thus, it is not a luxury. Saying everything is a luxury isn’t a valid argument. I’m done talking about off topic things. If you want to continue this useless talk, pit me. I would love to see what other think about the world of FIVE DOLLA LUXURY GOODS. :rolleyes:
I have already said what I think, dude… being affordable for most people doesn’t mean it’s not a luxury. Lobster is affordable for most Spaniards, yet it’s considered a luxury in Spain.
Rocky, a luxury can be defined as the opposite of a necessity, making nail polish a luxury for everyone. If you want to define it as a relative term, then everyone but the poor are biased. When you have only enough to survive then your opinion of what constitutes a luxury is totally unbiased.
Dental bills aren’t afforded, insurance is minimal, and it is either TV or internet not both. Cell phones may be tracphones where you buy minutes as you go. Here (Edit: In SE Kansas) the cost of living is very low, so you can afford more than other places. Mind you, wages are also proportionately low. In this particular town, a warehouse job with 40 hours a week that pays 11 to 12 dollars an hour with decent insurance as an option is a really good job.