MrsMdiver said:

lol

sympathy at last

eraclito said:

I told you that you would only attract the crazies...

Oh, what a walk down memory lane.

You sleep in a bathtub full of warm water because the water heater is all the heat you have.

Your laundry soap, dish soap, bath soap, shampoo, general cleaning soap comes in a big generic pink bottle. Or yellow if you bought the lemon scented stuff.

All laundry is done by hand in the bathtub and hung out (or in) to dry.

Your dishes consist a couple of 32 oz. Hardees cups and some plastic spoons swiped from a convenience store which you use to consume your groceries which consist of a half gallon of milk and some no-name cold cereal. If you remembered to swipe some sugar packets, you get a treat.

You can't drive your car at night because the battery is completely dead and won't run lights, but the car runs fine as long as you get a rolling start and pop the clutch. Just be home before dark and save all summer long for a battery.

You make friends with the manager of the nearby convenience store just so you have an air conditioned place to hang out during the humid summers.

Your favorite blanket is also your coat.

You finally score that big ticket item for which you've been saving for months-- a 13 inch black and white tv.

Your socks double as gloves.

For the occasional hot lunch, you wait until between 11 and 2 and walk across town (pre car) to get the $2.99 chicken box lunch special.

I know there are more. I actually enjoyed that stroll down memory lane because those were some of the times I was actually starting to succeed after having been completely homeless. I felt like royalty with my black and white tv and no battery having car.

My family's been everything but rich. We've been from upper middle-class to downright fucking perma-broke and everything in between. Before they were married, both my parents were actually homeless when they were young. My mom used to have to beg so she'd have money just to buy things like tampons.

So, here:

If your roommates are mice.

If you have no heat, even in winter.

If you couldn't afford rainboots or winter boots.

If you have no oven. I currently cook with a second-hand microwave. It's jolly.

Multi-purpose soap: one sudsy substance for everything.

If you have to borrow off credit to make sure rent is paid.

If everything in your pantry falls under the ramen noodles/instant rice/canned tuna category.

Two words: beans and rice.

And I'm grateful for them! About to go cook some right now.

Never been so poor that I didn't have a roof, heat (though I have done that thing where I warmed up in the bathtub, because hot water was included in my rent but other heat wasn't), or some kind of decent food. I'm lucky.

Money is pretty limited right now, but I still have plenty of clothes/shoes left over from my irresponsible credit-card days, my landlord lets me mooch of of his internetz, my car is absurdly reliable for having over 200k miles on it, and my lack of health insurance hasn't bitten me in the ass yet. It's all good. For now.

tackam said:

eggs and rice or sausage and potatos

Your son asks for a quarter for the bubblegum machine and you have to tell him no because food stamps aren't actual stamps anymore and you don't get change back.

It's the end of the month and you insist you are "fasting" when you are actually not eating so that your child can eat.

When you pick up any penny on the ground you can find, because pennies spend just as well as other money (if you can find enough of them).

If every fall, you are putting plastic on your windows in order to help keep out some of the cold in the winter time.

If you receive $274 a month and your rent is $250, and you wonder which bill will be paid with the extra $24.

If you've ever used the kiddie pool as a tub because your water was turned off, due to using the $24 to pay for the electric.

If you own a pair of jeans that are at least 10 years old and they are the best pair of pants you own.

If you have shoes with holes in them and insist you like them that way.

If you have to warn people when they come to your house to be careful where to step because the floor is weak there or has a hole in the floor.

If your car opens from the outside only on the passenger side and from the inside only on the drivers side, thereby causing you to have to go in the passenger side and out the drivers side.

You know what commodities are, when and where to get them.


-----

I'm glad I don't have to live this way anymore. While I feel it taught me some valuable lessons, it was hard when I knew my son wanted something or needed something and I just couldn't afford to get it for him. That was the hardest part about it.

Horsefeathers said:

Don't know weather to or Ohh Horsefeathers

... there's no floor to ceiling dividing wall between your rat-infested kitchen and your rat-infested bathroom

... in your bathroom there's a small bowl with loads of little bits of soap in it

... you take parts of your house apart to build or fix something somewhere else on your house

... you eat fish sauce on rice

Hi, Billmenever!

I've got another, and sadly, this currently applies to me:

Your eat the free food at work to save money. Groceries are damned pricey. If I actually had to pay for all my food, I'm not sure I could afford rent. And I'm not exactly a big eater.
[Edited 11/2/08 22:50pm]

When you have to live with a bunch of other people

..all you can do is think about what you need. ...


.....Lord have mercy.

God bless all you people who have been there..or are still there

.
[Edited 11/4/08 3:11am]

Dayclear said:

That does put it in perspective.

I was never that bad off in comparison, though it'd be a lie to say there aren't people in Canada and the U.S. genuinely living in Third World conditions.

Ashamed because I'm a survivor? Nah. I'm completely sympathetic to those worse off than me which is why I volunteer, but I make no apologies for being a survivor. You may choose to judge me based on what I choose to share, but I can choose to disregard it since I know where I've been, where I am and where I'm going.

Dayclear said:

C'mon, "ashamed"? Knowing that there are people worse off doesn't make you warm if your heat has been shut off, or full if you've had no dinner.

tackam said:

Exactly.

This thread has almost taking a bad turn several times now. It's just a reminder for us all, if we're in the situation now or have been in the past. And there may be some gallows humour in there sometimes but I think that's fine.

I can't claim I'm poor. In many ways I live very, very well, but there are aspects of life out here that are so different to my life in the west. It interests me seeing how I've become used to it, and makes me see how important in particular family is, above the material stuff. I would've considered aspects of my living conditions to be squalor at one time. Now I'm just grateful to have a roof over my head and food to eat.

.
[Edited 11/3/08 18:24pm]

You make miracle whip sandwiches because there is no lunchmeat.

You steal a bottle of shoe-white for your canvas sneakers, walking around with a pair of bright white shoes with holes in them.

You walk everywhere...damn, who has time to walk anymore?

You get a roach stuck in your ear and get rushed to the emergency room...don't ask

I would just like to say that I knew we didn't have as much as everyone else while I was growing up...sometimes no phone, new addresses all the damn time, no lights, no heat....but, we never went hungry. Thanks Mom.

Revolution said:

For me, its "thanks Pops!" ....but I definitely feel you on the rest....

Revolution said:

OMG, shoe-white and miracle whip sandwiches.

Now, the roach thing . . . I think I would have died.

something costs a quarter and you say.....Ain't that cheap!.

You take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and can not imagine that there are many far worse off then you


and then you forget to laugh at yourself and do something kind for another ...