Great post. The answer to the cost of living question is yes and no. Here in the states we have some obvious, and horrendous cost increases since you and I were kids. The biggest two are taxes and health care. If you look at the percentage of all tax debt paid by working families today, and the share paid by corporate America it is nearly reversed as compared to fifty years ago. Special interests have hijacked our government, and spend money like a bunch of drunken saylors, while big business has effectively excused themselves from the table when it came time to pay the bill. Health care is another obscene burden for many millions, with millions more who simply cannot afford it, or do not qualify to buy it if they wanted to. There other side of the coin is expectations and the entitlement mindset that we have developed as we went from a nation of citizens to a nation of consumers. Fifty years ago a new house was 1100sq. ft and a color TV was something the neighbors owned. Now we are a (failing) nation of consumers. Young kids get jobs, get married and assume that they are entitled to the McMansion, two new cars and a week in Jamaica every winter. It may of taken mom and dad an entire lifetime to reach that point (if at all), but they want it NOW, and have the credit cards to get there. We are now reaching the point of no return with this economy, and a lot of it was based on the all important "consumer" and their painfully irresponsible behavior and stupidity. Sounds a bit pessimistic, but in reality I think the truth will be far worse than we would like to admit. Rough seas ahead.

I've been trying to forget these past few years but the memories of how to be poor are coming back and will serve me well.

PQ

Being poor = living beyond your means ..

Triff ..

I am broke but not broken....

I think Tiogacounty said it well, having spent over half of my military career in faraway places such as the Philippines and Thailand and a host of other third world countries I realized that I had everything. Even the government here passes out money to those who have nothing or have something but use the system. When Mom or Dad gets old in these poor countries, the family is expected to take care of their own. If you have no money, your loved ones leave this world at an early age. I was taken away upon my return to the motherland when I see 6 or 7 street lights at every intersection burning all night long in the middle of nowhere. And yet the people in these third world countries can hardly afford to burn 1 lightbulb for a few hours in the evening. Every peso or baht or whatever the currency may be is going straight to food just to survive nowadays in these poor places. I grew up poor, I act as if I am poor, and I will remain that way. I came into this world with nothing and I will leave with nothing and so will every human being that ever had a beating heart. I promise you.

Actually, I would disagree with the original post. I mean -- we homesteaders know how to be poor, but many people (such as my exH, cough cough), don't know how to be poor, but they sure know how to impoverish themselves.

Like bouncing checks from sheer bad accounting, not getting a video back on time, leaving tools out in the rain, eating out instead of cooking in, buying in big quanities but letting half the food go bad so the cost is actually double, not strategizing the most efficient use of their vehicle, paying for heat instead of putting on a sweater, etc, etc.

Well said, thank you.

Funny how this topic came up- I was thinking about this on my drive home.

My cubicle neighbor had a $100+k income as a high-end realtor. Now she's working an office job for a quarter of what she used to have, and has lost her truck and will loose her lovely house. There was really nothing she could do, with the market collapsing as it did.

BUT I am constantly surprised by her inability to be "poor" or to think of ways to raise money. She has two kids who are old enough to work, but she doesn't want to ask/tell them to get jobs. She is having a terrible time finding a new place because it has to have four bedrooms for the four family members. And she just bought a new SUV- with a 72 month loan- because she didn't want to make her kids ride to school in an old vehicle.

I just feel sorry for her.

I grew up that way, too, and ya know, it gets so ingrained in you that you really don't know how to do otherwise?

I don't go to doctors, either. LOL

We have learned to be poor, and to be happy with what we have. I hope that our boys have seen this and will recall the lessons when/if the time comes in their lives they need to be good at it.

My wife and I were talking about this the other night. My Brother and his wife have both taken large pay cuts, but dont know how to be "poor". Wife has gone shopping with SIL and suggested different things to buy or to prepare, but the suggestions were not well recived.

Now that our bank accouts are in better shape than they were then, we still live poor. The things we had and learned to do then to save money then still saves money today. Do we dispose of more income foolishly than back then? Yes we do, but it is still a treat when we do so.

IBCNYA, I would have to guess that you are ex-Navy. I would further guess that you were homeported out of Yokuska.



.

I've done so much with so little that I can do anything with nothing! Well, pretty close to it anyway. A few years ago my kids asked how come everyone has a big house and new cars and seem to be able to buy anything they want(we were in line at Wal-Mart, with people who had carts full of stuff). I had to explain how people like to charge everything on credit cards and that we only use the money we have. So a while back when the banks were having problems again, my kids were there with questions. See, they don't see it as being poor, they just know that we cook beans, not get them from a can and that we "share clothes" with others (hand me downs) and playing board games and playing outside is fun instead of being kooked up in the house with a videogame. Anyway I told them that a lot of people will be affected by this, some will lose their homes and some will lose their toys (boats, etc.) but that it really wouldn't affect us, because we have always lived differently then the people with the credit cards.And that other people are going to have a harder time than us. Our car is paid for and we only buy what we need and can pay for, we know how to find free things to do like the free museum and zoo days. See we are creative and resoursful, we know how to cook from scratch, grow a garden and hunt out a bargin (freecycle). The look on my kids faces said it all, the look of worry left and big smiles emerged. As we walked away from the bank they were skipping and joyful, not scared. To me, if thats being poor than I'm the richest person I know.

:clap: :goodjob:

--sgl

Every body needs to be poor at least once,I have. I was born poor,and looks like I will die poor and in between I was poor then too.Two things that bug me is someone rich TRYING to act poor and someone poor TRYING to act rich. When you see me,you seeing someone poor acting poor. Of course I've had plenty of experience at IT> Eddie

If you have more than $1000 in consumer debt, you are poor. Credit is for poor people. If you weren't poor you would pay cash. The banks got us into this mess by advertising that we could have anything in the world if we would just use their credit cards. "Buy now! Pay later!" Remember those advertisements from the 70's? They got people to believe that it was "more chic" to walk up to the cash register with cash in your pocket and pull out that sparkling gold colored credit card. Credit cards aren't cheap to use. Not only do you have to pay more for the merchandise, you then have to pay interest on the balance of your credit card. Our local gas station gives 9¢/gallon discount on gas if you pay cash. Walk into any retail store and they are hawking "10% off your bill if you apply for our credit card". Know why? It costs the store about 5% for you to use a credit card (fees) so it might as well be theirs so they get to keep the money. Stores push that fee onto the consumer with higher prices for everyone.

Finance that $20,000 new car for 60 months and suddenly you are paying $25,000 for it. If you can afford the payments, drive a junker for 60 months and put those "payments" into a bank account. In five years you can pay cash for a car and then repeat the cycle. You will never finance another car. If you can't afford to save for it, you can't afford it to start with. Credit is for poor people.

Listening to all the people around me saying how much they loss in stocks and things. Most of them loss more than we live off for a yr. They looked at us and say what did you loose. Awh Nothing. We have no stocks, we are poor by these people standards. Ok maybe, we paid off a mortgage this yr, we own all our farm equipment, no payments. If we could go off the grid we would. We have no credit cards. All our monthly bills are paid. HUmm. Our pantry is stocked, our freezers are full, we still have animals walking around the pasture. I dont see us as poor. I see us as rich. We may not have the luxuries alot of people have , but we have peace of mind, knowing tomorrow we will eat and be warm, and dont depend on the stock market for tomorrow money.

Poor folks are rich in ways rich people dont understand

Poor is no future rich is not having today but having a plan for tomorrow. The problem with people (Remember that I am apart of being a people) is that they only build for one day not tomorrow.
IF you would be honest with your self and look at what you are working to sustain that does not build wealth (Wealth is not just money but a balance of happiness that is mental and monetary) What I have found that makes the biggest difference is we are so far behind the imaginary 8 Ball we build temporary fences only to rebuild later. We but new cars because we don't have time to fix the old. We get so much in the rat race we loose a lot of the true happiness. The great thing is even though we may not be in the position we want we still are closer to where we want to be that many.

This thought hit me not too long ago too. Was when I was paying at a gas station in my 13 year old paid off new to me car. Some guy in front of me was griping about how much it took to fill his humungus leased truck,,, (it was that bad a of a gripe) he was joined in the whinefest by the lady behind me who said she didnt know what she was going to do about ... bla bla...(I dont remember exactly what it was)
I didnt know what to say at the time, so I said nothing, but It actually made me feel pretty good that entire day. That I am not one of those that I meet all worried and upset and frustrated and whining because I am loosing some luxury that I have grown acustomed to or will have to change my ways all that much in order to get by.

We live in abundance but have very little money.

Today, being Saturday, we went to yard sales. There was one where the fellow was just trying to clear out a storage space and had a lot of things in the free box. One of which was a lovely dark blue terrycloth bathrobe. Very soft and warm, looked like new but it was a size too small for either my DH or me. Sigh! It seemed perhaps something my nephew could wear so I took it along when we bought a few of the fellow's other wonderful treasures. At another yard sale later in the day we met an acquaintance who mentioned he had lost his job and was free to do odd jobs if we had any. He was also asking if we had seen any small heaters at any of the other yard sales earlier since he was looking for one. In the discussions of when it was cold and all, my DH mentioned the flannel robe I'd made for him earlier this month and how warm it was. The fellow mentioned he just had a cold thin cotton one. My nephew will now never know about the warm soft terrycloth robe he almost got but the warm robe went to a perfect home for it. There can be abundance even if folks have no money and if there is abundance how can we be poor?

Wow hotzcatz, how cool is that!!! You probably made his day, see, sometimes things are just meant to be!!! Today you were his angel :). I sure you will be blessed by your giving.

When I was in my 20"s I had an old guy that worked with me give me the best advise I ever had.(Wish I had been smart enough to listen)As he was wipeing off his worn, stained dentures with a ragged handkerchief,after eating quail that he had shot for lunch he told me he had worked at minimum wage or just above all of his life.His wife stayed home and tended the kids.He had a nice brick home and 100 acres paid for ,he didn't owe anybody."It ain't how much you make ,its what you do with it".

very good. our family, meaning my DH, myself, kids, aren't rich. we too gave up a better income to come live in SD! but...i leave my house unlocked (unless certain relatives are in town) my car with keys in it. i can't just run in for groceries cuz i'll meet a half dozen ppl to visit with and it takes 30 mins to buy a package of fruit! we have benefit suppers for those who have fallen on hard times, which is reassuring to me knowing they'd throw one for US if it came needed. my kids have pets, the occasional new clothes, toy,etc., and so do me and hubby!

but, we drive cars that are clunkers. we wear thrift store specials (how bout when the thrift store gives it to you?! is that bad??! hahaha!) keep our heat low, and put on more. make our dinner, not go out for it. are we poor? i really dont' know, dont' much care! it wont' change anytime soon, so no reason to 'categorize' myself either way.

i am working at a hunting lodge (anyone remember my trying to decide to take the job? i did, happy so too) and those guys amaze me with the money they toss around for nothing. but then, there they are on 'vacation', on the phone non-stop trying to handle business. eww, how stressful!

some time ago in church the pastor read off a list of things...if you have a roof and a warm bed, you are better off than 80% (i think, i could be off but it was a huge number) of the world. if you have enough to eat for today, and then the week, you're better off than 75% of the world....gee, i AM rich.

i have a very healthy family, we have jobs that pay our bills, we have only one credit card with no balance (kids seen an ad for credit cards, saying most have 8. that gave me a nice lead-in for a lesson in not using credit!) we have money saved. we have some really cool fun stuff we like!:rock: i ain't like those hunters, but we ain't got it bad either. its all relative

there is a song from some time ago "power windows" a rich man has all these fine things, pool, club memberships, etc., and a guy with a junky car...but the rich man is crying as his family is cold and not there, and the 'poor' fella is happy cuz he's got his girl with him. again, its all in how you see yourself...

This post really spoke to me. It summarizes my reasons for the move we are making.

I am currently in CA and unemployed for the last eight months. I have tried getting work in and out my field to no avail.

We finally decided to cash in my retirement, get completely out of debt and move back to Idaho. We had lived until two years ago and were happy except for money. I wasn't making what I could make in CA, so we left.

Now we are headed back with no job, but with the feeling it's the right thing to do.

We have a solid church there that takes care of one another. We have many friends and acquaintances. There is a sense of community that we don't have here. It's s very rural area where you still at least feel like you have your freedom. The cost of living is low. We will have many opportunities to hunt and camp, or just go for a drive down some dirt road we've never been down before. It's the type of place you could survive if the economy or civilization goes bad.

The post kind of gave me some reassurance that we are making a good move, albeit not one that seems to make sense. It's a decision of the heart rather than of the head and seems to go against the grain. I'm glad there are other like us out there.

Well said!!!!:clap::clap::clap:

how did you pay rent, utilities, food for 3, and college tuiition on $2000 a year?

My guess it was a long time ago. There is no way someone could do that today. Heck even when I lived at my old place (all paid off and property taxes were 125 bucks) it would have been pretty tough.

For the most part even the poor live pretty decent in this country. So far this year I have made $12500 from various jobs plus unemployment. So I guess I would qualify as poor. I don't feel poor, act poor, and I have more savings than my richer friends. I think knowing how to be poor requires an attitude adjustment. One has to be happy with what they got and have low expectations. I figure in some countries I'd be a rich man and that is the attitude I live by.

My dh was raised (as he calls it) dirt poor. There were many times that the only thing that they had to eat were things his mother had canned or they hunted and fished for. No money for extras, you did not go to see a dentist (he never went to one before we were married) or doctor unless you were deathly sick. BUT he knows how to do almost anything/repair anything. He has an eye for what the future may hold. He is beyond prepared! I am thankful, he knows how to be poor, he is not afraid of work and could/would do anything to make our lives more comfortable. I am thankful he knows how to be poor and that I will be beside him if it comes to that..QB