Do you ever wonder what it's like to be poor?

[yolosnail]

Okay, so as I was browsing ebay for random tat this afternoon, I started wondering what it would be like if I couldn't afford to go out and buy something that I wanted. 

I am by no means rich, but I can go out and buy things if I want them. I grew up around people with money (some of them a lot of money), but I also had quite a lot of friends who weren't so fortunate, but I've personally never really been in a situation where I couldn't afford anything.

I don't mean to sound snobby or anything because I don't have enough money to go out and buy expensive cars or anything like that (although I really wish I did, I wouldn't mind a new Range Rover instead of my 2012 Nissan).

I go into Cash Converters and CEX a lot to see if there are any bargains (I do love a good bargain) and look at the price that they buy things for and there are people in situations where they have to sell their stuff for that price, and I just think to myself 'thank God I'm not in a situation like that', although I probably will be soon at the rate I'm buying things on ebay. My life is starting to turn into that Weird Al song 

 

Judging by a lot of the guys' (or gals') systems on here, I am guessing that they aren't exactly poor either (or they spend money wisely, or get into debt), so I was just wondering if you ever feel like that

[SansVarnic]

I do'nt wonder I actually know. Don't ask I wont share my personal experience, but I will tell its not fun. 

Its does have it positives but there are much more negatives.

[Godlygamer23]

If you can't afford a brand new Lamborghini, and know people that can...just compare yourself to them. You're poor in relation to them.

[Zusafek]

I grew up poor. So I've been there. Because of that I have a much better appreciation of the things I can now do. But I worked my ass off to get to the point I'm at. Now I have the rest of my family coming to me to beg for money. It sucks....

[JCMPTech]

See most people see me show up on a Job site and think I am poor.  I drive an old 2003 Jeep, my daily use PC is an i5 thinkbook, my office "servers" are just repurposed Intel core2Quad Dell Optiplexs, and I don't exactly dress to impress.  We have lots of land and a list of projects so if you saw me on my days off I'd have work boots and covered with dirt.   So I have had clients look down  on me not knowing they make substantially less than me, I just have different priorities.  What they don't see is the 36 acres and custom manufactured  home with 30 year mortgage,  that we paid off in less than  five years, nothing we own  is financed (my old jeep, 2013 CR-V, and Ford F150 paid cash) , and I could decide to take months off at a time and not worry about bills.  I cannot afford to buy anything I want, because I choose to pay off everything I need early.  Because of this I may not have the best toys, but my kids never see a babysitter, they are with me, their mother, or grandmother, I have the freedom to set my schedule, and be comfortable enough to never struggle but also enjoy life, and not spend all my time chasing the dollar. 

[yolosnail]

10 minutes ago, JCMPTech said:

See most people see me show up on a Job site and think I am poor.  I drive an old 2003 Jeep, my daily use PC is an i5 thinkbook, my "servers" are just repurposed Intel core2Quad Dell Optiplexs, and I don't exactly dress to impress.  We have lots of land and a list of projects so if you saw me on my days off I'd have work boots and covered with dirt.    so I have had clients look down  on me not knowing they make substantially less than me, I just have different priorities.  What they don't see is the 36 acres and custom manufactures home with 30 year mortgage,  that we paid off in less than  five years, that nothing we own  is financed, and I could decide to take months off at a time and not worry about bills.  I cannot afford to buy anything I want, because I choose to pay off everything I need early.  Because of this I may not have the best toys, but my kids never see a babysitter, they are with me, their mother, or grandmother, I have the freedom to set my schedule, and be comfortable enough to never struggle but also enjoy life, and not spend all my time chasing the dollar. 

I agree with you on the point of not having debt. To me, if you can't afford to buy something outright, you can't afford it. Because if you suddenly don't have a job, how are you supposed to keep up on the repayments. If the asset loses value, you won't end up paying more for it than it is actually worth. One of our houses was paid for in cash, and the other only has about 20k left on the mortgage.

Our last house we bought cheap, completely ripped the inside out, leaving only the shell, did a loft conversion and completely modernized it. We did all of the work ourselves so it didn't cost much more than the materials. We then sold the house for 4 times what we paid for it. 

I don't really like spending money on things, unless it's so cheap that I can't pass up on the offer, or I can make money from it. Well, unless it's from AliExpress, I just can't help in that place

[Volbet]

Been there, done that.

There was a time where all I owned was the clothes I wore, so I don't really have to imagine it (insert humblebrag here).

 

 

[TetraSky]

When I was a kid, sometimes my dinner consisted of bland noodles with margarine(if we were lucky)

Spoiler

 

, because we were too poor to afford anything to go on the noodles. ... quite often, my mother wouldn't eat anything, letting me and my brother eat, because it was "more important" that we ate something compared to her... and that's one of the least extreme example of poverty from my childhood, don't feel like digging up the memories that are worse than that.

We had a ton of debts, most of my parents salaries went into paying these debts, barely able to pay the interests...

That's why I grew up refusing to have anything to do with anything "credit" related.

I was 26 when I got my first credit card and I only use it if I know I can immediately repay the amount I just took off it.

 

If you can't afford something now, avoid credit and just wait until you can afford it, no matter how tempting it might be. You never know if something will happen, making you unable to repay it immediately, starting a downward slope toward a bigger and bigger debt, until you can no longer make the minimum payments. 

 

 

So yeah, I don't need to wonder how it's like to be poor. To me, you've never truly been poor if you haven't had to go a couple days without being able to afford food/eating.
I spend my money wisely, saving money over months/years if I want something really expensive. (Like the 3500$ for my Lasik surgery, it took me 7 years to save up get the whole amount... with plenty of "bad luck" in that time frame that required me to take some of that money out... Sure take a long time to save up when you have bills and a rent to pay, on a shitty salary)

[JCMPTech]

47 minutes ago, yolosnail said:

I agree with you on the point of not having debt. To me, if you can't afford to buy something outright, you can't afford it. Because if you suddenly don't have a job, how are you supposed to keep up on the repayments. If the asset loses value, you won't end up paying more for it than it is actually worth. One of our houses was paid for in cash, and the other only has about 20k left on the mortgage.

Our last house we bought cheap, completely ripped the inside out, leaving only the shell, did a loft conversion and completely modernized it. We did all of the work ourselves so it didn't cost much more than the materials. We then sold the house for 4 times what we paid for it. 

I don't really like spending money on things, unless it's so cheap that I can't pass up on the offer, or I can make money from it. Well, unless it's from AliExpress, I just can't help in that place

I guess my main point though is perception and priorities.  I have friends who would appear to have more than me, but my income is double theirs.  I just choose to live below my means while others live above theirs.  To some people material possessions are a measurement of success, while I myself measure success with less tangible items.

  We were going to wait and build a larger house but the wife ended up pregnant sooner than later, and going the manufactured route allowed the wife to start with a basic shape and shell, designed  the layout the way she wanted, and five weeks later it was delivered In pieces.  I did most of the site work except for the foundation  pouring, I let the pros handle that.

 

I also have a client that is a farmer and lives like he's broke yet is a millionaire, he recently sold a small lot of his farm for over 2.4 million and its just a very tiny piece of his land. Lifestyle is not always a accurate representation of a person's income.  Some of the wealthiest of my clients live very modest lifestyles 

[Sir Asvald]

3 hours ago, Zusafek said:

Now I have the rest of my family coming to me to beg for money. It sucks....

Your Mum's side or Dads? I mean it good to help your family out. But if they are outright begging. That's wrong... With me, It wasn't a case of not being poor. It was because I was in debts. So I used to share a house when I was at uni, one of my house mates paid the bills. Now that I work I have enough money and I paid him back and paid off my debts.

[Sir Asvald]

50 minutes ago, JCMPTech said:

I guess my main point though is perception and priorities.  I have friends who would appear to have more than me, but my income is double theirs.  I just choose to live below my means while others live above theirs

So true. I have friends who make £70K+ and they live in "cheap" areas. Not because they can't find a nice place, because they like to live and be good with their money. Nowadays you people with flashy cars and at the end of the day, they go bankrupt or no money at all or people that win the lottery and splash the cash and loose everything. Everyone has a choice in life. 

 

 

[yolosnail]

5 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

Your Mum's side or Dads? I mean it good to help your family out. But if they are outright begging. That's wrong... With me, It wasn't a case of not being poor. It was because I was in debts. So I used to share a house when I was at uni, one of my house mates paid the bills. Now that I work I have enough money and I paid him back and paid off my debts.

When I was really young, my father emptied my my savings account that my grandparents had set up for me and spent it on himself.  I found out a few years ago about that and fair to say we don't talk anymore. In fact, I don't speak to that side of the family any more. 

[mmCharles]

Topics like this are always a question of relativity. My idea of poor will be different to your idea of poor. I’m in a position where, if I wanted to, could go out and pick up something of moderate value for my hobbies. Cars, properties etc. are not on the table however. 

[yolosnail]

4 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

If you can't afford a brand new Lamborghini, and know people that can...just compare yourself to them. You're poor in relation to them.

Compared to some of the people I know, I may as well be homeless. Some of them like to show off their wealth but some of them don't. I think it just depends on the person.

7 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

they live in "cheap" areas

I would much rather buy a bigger house in a cheap place and make it nice, rather than spend a load of money to get a shoe box in a more expensive area. 

 

9 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

people with flashy cars

I don't get the whole flash cars thing, in fact, I don't understand why people buy brand new cars, as soon as you get in, it's already lost an awful lot of money, I would rather buy a car that is a year or two old that has already lost most of the money it's going to lose

[Zusafek]

22 minutes ago, Abdul201588 said:

Your Mum's side or Dads? I mean it good to help your family out. But if they are outright begging. That's wrong... With me, It wasn't a case of not being poor. It was because I was in debts. So I used to share a house when I was at uni, one of my house mates paid the bills. Now that I work I have enough money and I paid him back and paid off my debts.

Both sides. Which is why I had to cut ties with them. I only worry about my own family and the families of my employees. That's all that matters to me now. 

[JCMPTech]

14 minutes ago, yolosnail said:

Compared to some of the people I know, I may as well be homeless. Some of them like to show off their wealth but some of them don't. I think it just depends on the person.

I would much rather buy a bigger house in a cheap place and make it nice, rather than spend a load of money to get a shoe box in a more expensive area. 

 

I don't get the whole flash cars thing, in fact, I don't understand why people buy brand new cars, as soon as you get in, it's already lost an awful lot of money, I would rather buy a car that is a year or two old that has already lost most of the money it's going to lose

Exactly, we bought the CR-V "used" with 8k on it and the year previous model so we had a nicer family vehicle, but my Jeep and Truck are for my business.  I am a IT Contractor in the middle of nowhere and have clients across three counties, driving 60K a year, a financed a new vehicle would put me at 300K miles once paid off on a five year loan and have zero trade in value, so I will forever run my business with beater vehicles. 

[yolosnail]

1 minute ago, JCMPTech said:

Exactly, we bought the CR-V "used" with 8k on it and the year previous model so we had a nicer family vehicle, but my Jeep and Truck are for my business.  I am a IT Contractor in the middle of nowhere and have clients across three counties, driving 60K a year, a financed a new vehicle would put me at 300K miles once paid off on a five year loan and have zero trade in value, so I will forever run my business with beater vehicles. 

Our current car was an ex-lease vehicle which was leased out to a doctor up in Scotland, so it had high mileage for the age. About 100k miles for a 3 year old car (which for the UK is high), but it's a diesel so it can run forever. The interior was immaculate because it was only ever him who sat in it so the other 4 seats were brand new.  The only problem with it was there was scratches on the front from where they removed the doctors logo, but we got the car for half of what a good one was selling for and mechanically it is perfect. It was a top of the range car for the price of a bottom spec one so it was a no brainer. 

Plus, I think the older model we have is much better than the new one, the new ones come with a less powerful engine (only 130bhp compared to 170bhp), have less room inside, aren't as good off road.

Prior to that we always had ex-demonstrator cars, with a few thousand miles on them, but they were always top spec to get customers to want to buy them so you get a nicer car for less money. The only time we had a brand new car was a Vauxhall Zafira about 15 years ago, but that was because we got around 8k off the list price which took the price of a new one down to the price of a used one. 

[FloRolf]

i'm also not poor nor was i ever poor but i'm also not rich. I often wonder about how it would be if i was rich though, and not poor.

Being poor sucks and i hopefully never have to be in that situation. Coming from your eBay intro, i sometimes wonder why people try to sell their shit for $1. I wouldn't bother inserting stuff for $1 into ebay, i'd just throw it away or give it to someone who needs it. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 hours ago, JCMPTech said:

See most people see me show up on a Job site and think I am poor.  I drive an old 2003 Jeep, my daily use PC is an i5 thinkbook, my office "servers" are just repurposed Intel core2Quad Dell Optiplexs, and I don't exactly dress to impress.  We have lots of land and a list of projects so if you saw me on my days off I'd have work boots and covered with dirt.   So I have had clients look down  on me not knowing they make substantially less than me, I just have different priorities.  What they don't see is the 36 acres and custom manufactured  home with 30 year mortgage,  that we paid off in less than  five years, nothing we own  is financed (my old jeep, 2013 CR-V, and Ford F150 paid cash) , and I could decide to take months off at a time and not worry about bills.  I cannot afford to buy anything I want, because I choose to pay off everything I need early.  Because of this I may not have the best toys, but my kids never see a babysitter, they are with me, their mother, or grandmother, I have the freedom to set my schedule, and be comfortable enough to never struggle but also enjoy life, and not spend all my time chasing the dollar. 

Sounds like a Dave Ramsey story right there.

[dizmo]

I'd much rather be rich in friends and poor monetarily. Money's nice, but it's far from the most important thing in life.

[TacticlTwinkie]

Here is my stance on it, and I am stealing the joke from Daniel Tosh: they say money can't buy happiness, but have you ever seen someone sad on a jet ski? No, you havn't. I have been pretty poor in the past, and now I'm doing pretty OK. I never want to go back there. I'm not rich, or even really middle class, but I'm now keeping my head above water and am able to treat myself occasionally (very occasionally). 

Thinking about it, living near Los Angeles may not be the best move. My money would go alot farther living somewhere else. But it's where I grew up, and it's the only place I'll ever call home...so I'm probably not leaving anytime soon. 

[Tsuki]

i dont have to wonder.

i work 40 hours/week at $6 above minimum wage.

im 2 months behind on bills, $3 short on rent, and have to borrow gas money from somebody almost every week.

[Psittac]

Growing up we didn't have much, my parents had me when they were 20 and I wasn't exactly planned.  However since I was born my dad has worked up to 7 days a week day or night to provide.  He has almost never spent money on himself yet sparred no expense for his kids, all my friends thought we were rich in comparison but they didn't understand the sacrifice my father put forward. Today my dad is reaching 60 and I have been working with him for the past 10+ years, myself working 7 days a week frequently and long hours at that.  Now the unfortunate thing is my dad doesn't know how to stop doing what he has been all this time.  All he knows is hard work and giving his kids everything within his means.  I tend to do the majority of the physical work these days while he handles the phone and customers but I'm getting worried about him.  The past 2 or 3 day's he has been sick and barely sleeping, yet yesterday when I went over to my parent's he started moving the piano because "sh*t has to get done".  I don't know, just wish he could finally focus on doing what he want's to do and enjoy life a little more.

 

On the note of people not being able to afford thing's, I have a blind friend who I met 7ish years ago.  He was sleeping in his sisters basement on a deflated air mattress with his only possession an old ass laptop that wouldn't boot any more.  Today he lives in a house my family owns with his mom and they pay rent equal to their two bedroom apartment before it went up the year they moved out.  I have given him a number of computers one of which I built a couple years ago when money was tight.  More recently I gave him my 3570k and purchased him a dac/hp amp/amp and a set of speakers so now he can sit back and listen to various media.  I look at it as a solid investment as he relies on his computer for the bulk of his day.  The biggest investment though is the time and effort and ability to work with disabled people.

[Yoinkerman]

9 hours ago, yolosnail said:

Okay, so as I was browsing ebay for random tat this afternoon, I started wondering what it would be like if I couldn't afford to go out and buy something that I wanted. 

I am by no means rich, but I can go out and buy things if I want them. I grew up around people with money (some of them a lot of money), but I also had quite a lot of friends who weren't so fortunate, but I've personally never really been in a situation where I couldn't afford anything.

I don't mean to sound snobby or anything because I don't have enough money to go out and buy expensive cars or anything like that (although I really wish I did, I wouldn't mind a new Range Rover instead of my 2012 Nissan).

I go into Cash Converters and CEX a lot to see if there are any bargains (I do love a good bargain) and look at the price that they buy things for and there are people in situations where they have to sell their stuff for that price, and I just think to myself 'thank God I'm not in a situation like that', although I probably will be soon at the rate I'm buying things on ebay. My life is starting to turn into that Weird Al song 

 

Judging by a lot of the guys' (or gals') systems on here, I am guessing that they aren't exactly poor either (or they spend money wisely, or get into debt), so I was just wondering if you ever feel like that

No I'm good I lived a number of years below the poverty line I'm good

[mrchow19910319]

the negative impact of being financially challenged can last a long time. 

from your physical health to mental health, both of them can be damaged over time. 

lack of money makes you more angry, more sensitive. 

and you keep telling yourself: "its not I dont want to buy those things, it is that whoever buy those are just a bunch of show offs" then 10 years later you can easily afford those things you previously cant afford then you realised: "ah... i was so grumpy growing up... i hope i didnt hurt anybody, I was so insecure cos I dont have that much money,. therefore while other people go out and having fun I had to come out excuses not going out with them"

 

I think that the real challenge is how much money is enough. Even one day you made it big while money is never gonna be an issue, I promise you other aspect of your life will give you challenge. 

 

many people had the experience that when they dont have that much money (just finish college or such) they are actually more happier. when they do have money, things start to change. their relationship with their loved ones and old friends start to feel quite strange.