[I_Like_Plants]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', '
')But let's see about me:

$600 a month for rent and utilities.
$100 a month for food.
$50 a month for gas and bus fare.
$500 a year for school supplies and clothes.

Around $9500 a year. Nothing else I can think of. No insurance, no tuition, no fees (or taxes). Do I count as poor? It'd be hard to say so given how great I feel and live.

This is how much I spend. I make a little more, but still right around the poverty line. I saved about a grand in the past year.

Next year, I'm hoping to get down to just buying a bike and no gas, so I'll come out even, but that bike should be a nice investment for the future. I can probably loss a few hundred on books, clothes and food (pssh, only rich people have sauce with spaghetti or sugar with their porridge).

[Revi]

This is a great article about poverty:

http://exiledonline.com/tips-for-new-paupers/

"My wife and I fell through many layers of poverty in a few months. First we revisited the genteel poverty known to grad students, the sort of poverty where you have scary dreams about the rent and eat a simple, wholesome diet towards the end of the month. But we fell right through that into the sort of Dickensian privation spoiled first-worlders like me never expected to experience. That’s the kind of poverty a lot of people are going to be experiencing soon—because I’m here to tell you, it can happen here and it can happen to you. And it’s remarkably unpleasant. You may be saying “Duh!” here but you’re probably not imagining the proper sort of unpleasantness. So I’ll try to lay out what to watch for, how to hunker down when it’s not just a matter of cutting back or selling your second car but having no car at all, having no money for heat or food."

[Spanktron9]

Revi-

Wow. Great firsthand account. I hope it helps others with the illusion that PO will be some return to 19th century elegance. For most, it will be much more like this. Thanks again.

EDIT- And they can have my down sleeping bag when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!

[vision-master]

I'm picking up 50 more bags of wood pellets this week!

[seahorse2]

Interesting the linked article emphasizes the importance of a good sleeping bag:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd no matter what, don’t sell your sleeping bag. I had a North Face down bag, and learned to love it way, way more than I loved myself.

[vision-master]

Once I lived in a van during the winter for 6 Months. I did have propane heat. I can remember the fist time I heard about "black ice" in Canada. It's was -40 F. I used to cook by placing a pot on the heater. Beans or canned soup, yum! That was 30 years ago.

[VMarcHart]

I was born in a very humble family. We were poor. Not homeless poor, but plain poor. Father tried to own a car, but it was above our heads and he sold it. We didn't own a car again until I was 19 or 20. Mother bought our first TV when I was 12 or 13. We loved it! To "eat out" was setting out a dining table in the backyard. We had 2 chickens and 2 fresh eggs daily. My little brother didn't own his first pair of new shoes until he was 9 or 10. He was so happy, and I even cried.

We were poor and lived within our means. I still do, and alas, few do.

John's story is very compeling, very real, and very sad. But here's the red flags that he was living above his limits:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e had only an unheated boat...

[Spanktron9]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'O')nce I lived in a van during the winter for 6 Months. I did have propane heat. I can remember the fist time I heard about "black ice" in Canada. It's was -40 F. I used to cook by placing a pot on the heater. Beans or canned soup, yum! That was 30 years ago.

[TheDude]

Oh, that's where Eli got that locale from.

Sleeping bag - check. Bought a couple of 10F rated Wenzels on sale. Piled on the peanut butter, too.

The OP article guy sings the praises of Prozac, quite loudly. If your getting up in the morning hinges on a steady supply of Happy Pills...that ain't getting off to a good start. The Betas in Brave New World couldn't handle existence without soma, either.

[Loki]

That was a good article. Funny, I have a friend finishing up his Ph.D. and worried about getting work once he's done. I always tell him there aren't many Ph.D.s in the unemployment line---guess I was wrong!

I wonder if the author's problem was that he was only looking for work in his field, and wouldn't accept anything "beneath" him. Yet he had no problem going to food banks. I was unemployed for a good chunk of last year---I have a master's and was a doctoral candidate at the time, but I was applying for $10/hr jobs and refused to get food stamps despite being eligible for them. I learned not to put my education on applications for $10/hr jobs. Ended up taking a job that paid crap, but that eventually led to something else. Now I'm back to making the same wage I was making 7 years ago. Yay for me. But I (mostly) enjoy my work, so I'm not too bummed about it.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', 'T')he OP article guy sings the praises of Prozac, quite loudly. If your getting up in the morning hinges on a steady supply of Happy Pills...that ain't getting off to a good start. The Betas in Brave New World couldn't handle existence without soma, either.

[threadbear]

Revi, This is just what I've been looking for. Thanks for having the heart and taking the time to post it. The other night, after reading about what is likely coming, I watched photo montages from the Great Depression on YOutube and just sat at my desk and cried. I'll be okay, but I'm very moved at what so many people are going to suffer and currently suffer in the third world.

[mgibbons19]

The PhD is an interesting experience. You go because it is something you are good at, and they are willing to pay you a little bit to get it. The job sounds cool, and when you are young, the job prospects don't sound so bad. But then you get older, and you are sort of stuck on this set of tracks. . You kind of know that other ppl are growing up, getting jobs, not incurring debt. You kind of know there are smart ppl in the world, and a few stupid ones too, who are doing fairly well. And you being to wonder if you made the wrong choice. Then your contract runs out, and the job prospects look suddenly very different.

Thing is, I can name several PhDs or ABDs who end up woefully under/unemployed and quite unhappy. The real world is close for a lot of them.

[Ferretlover]

From the article: $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'b')ut remember that it’s very hard to think clearly when your life has collapsed.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Article', 'A')ntidepressants. Get on them right away, if you’re not already. If you are, up your dose.

[threadbear]

About the author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dolan_(writer)

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Article', 'A')ntidepressants. Get on them right away, if you’re not already. If you are, up your dose.

[Revi]

I think he is a really good writer. Dolan may have been homeless in BC. He never said that they were on the US west coast. I think we all feel that this could never happen to us.

I know what he means about the attitude of the poor. I know a lot of poor people and they live in a different world. It's a world where you can't save money. They live by different rules. If someone has money they are expected to share it. Connections to other people are worth a lot more than money.

We think we'll never be in this situation, but it can happen, fast.

This next year or two could be when it happens.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Article', 'A')ntidepressants. Get on them right away, if you’re not already. If you are, up your dose.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'L')ast night I had to take a ativan. Fook me.
Felt drugged out all day today........

[smallpoxgirl]

Good article. Couple of thoughts. A: to a large extent poverty is about mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter. If you think you're too good to stand in line at the food bank or go to the community health center, it hurts. If you don't care, you get fed, and you get healthcare, and it's a lot better than most people in the world are doing. Humility goes FAR!

B: The housing thing. He mentions the problems of simple free housing solutions. No internet, no shower, no heat. There are solutions:

Internet, easily available at the public library for free.

Showers: join a health club. I lived in a cabin with no running water in the woods in Montana for three years. The local gas station had pay showers, but it cost $6 for a shower. A gym membership cost me $25/month. A MUCH better deal. Maybe you even work out some while you're their to get rid of stress and improve your mood.

Heat: All you need to sleep comfortably in frigid cold temperatures is a good sleeping bag, a good hat, and a set of heavy polypro long johns. Get yourself one of those -20 down mummy bags. Well worth the money. It will last you for years. Next you want a hat. It needs to be thick, well insulated, and it absolutely must have the earflaps that tie under your chin so it doesn't come off in the middle of the night. Next: Long johns. You can get them very affordably at the army navy store. Poly pro is the bomb. Don't be afraid to wear two pair if need be. A warm dog is optional but helpful. With that setup, I slept comfortably in my cabin and most nights didn't even bother lighting a fire. There were many mornings that I woke up and the snow still hadn't melted off my boots from the night before. I had to chip the ice of the dog's water dish (inside the cabin), but I slept fine.