21-25 Things Poor People Buy
21. Oh god. Bags of frozen veggies and a couple packs of ramen can make a family meal. I used to buy these awful frozen chicken discs wrapped in bacon. They were terrible, filled with gristle and just nasty. Eating those with rice and frozen corn was a real treat.
I ate kraft dinner (mac and cheese) every day for about 2-3 years because that was all I could cook while my mom worked. (I could have made spaghetti-os, but I hated those). I had one of those cheap 99 cent pack donuts from the grocery store for breakfast. Lunch was Bologna sandwich and an apple. Finally, when I was about 10 or 11, I started teaching myself how to cook from my mom’s old cook books so my meals got a lot better. All carbs, and cheap fats with scalloped potatoes, rice, and cheap meats.
My local bus service used to have paper transfers. So you’d pay your fare, get the paper transfer that was good for an hour, and then you’d use it for the next bus. But if you were only going to the station, you’d get a paper transfer anyway, then hang around the station for an extra 5 minutes to see if anyone needed it. Conversely, you’d wait around for people getting off the bus, to see if you could score someone’s transfer. This only worked if you weren’t switching buses, but I got quite a few free rides this way (and gave many a transfer away)
Going without meds, living in constant pain because you can’t afford a prescription. I remember lying in my bed at night, and my mom would be sobbing in her bed from pain because she couldn’t afford the meds that would treat her rheumatoid arthritis or anything but generic Tylenol for her pain. I guess that’s not really buying anything.
Saving your birthday money from your grandma and aunts and uncles so you can pay for a babysitting course that lets you babysit at 12. Getting a babysitting job at 12, and babysitting every day from 3 until 7 or 8, to earn some money. Giving that money to your dad so he can pay his phone bill and put gas in his car. Getting a real job at 14, working at a fast food joint so you got to eat dirt cheap. Still giving your dad money, but this time knowing it is going to the casino or the bar (but still doing it anyway).
Being poor was awful.
22. At home surgery. I used a pair of needle, nose pliers, a razor blade, and some anti-septic super glue to remove a cyst on my forehead. The secret is to cut it in a “cat’s eye” shape, quickly push the skin back after you pull the cyst out (don’t let it pop) and get the glue on fast. It burns like ten bi*ches on a bi*ch boat, but it bleeds a lot and you have to get it on quick to stop the bleeding.
23. Extended stay at housing or motels/hotels. When you can’t qualify to get an apartment because you don’t have proof of income, you end up wasting more money to stay for a week at extended day housing or a cheap motel. It sucks having no home/being a transient. I promise myself never to be in the same situation again.
24. I know a really poor family that buys loads of candles to light their home at night so that they don’t have to pay for electricity. It makes me sad.
25. Having worked in a dollar store:
1. Dollar store steaks. Seriously steaks for 1 dollar. If that doesn’t sound sketchy I don’t know what does.
2. This is also a Hispanic thing I noticed. Fabulouso. That stuff cleans everything. I had no clue what it was until I grabbed a busted bottle to clean the bathroom one day.
3. You get real used to pasta and rice also. They are cheap and can be bought in bunches.
4. Ever buy 2 sandwiches from subway cause a 3rd is free? Coupons like this go a long way.
5. The dollar stores toilet paper is seriously better than the toilet paper my mom buys.
You think insanely poor people ARE THOSE EXAMPLES?????
(Facepalm)
I moved out when I was 17 while my family moved to Florida I stayed behind because I was a senior in high school and didn’t want to leave. It was a stupid decision seeming as I was working in a fast food restaurant and sleeping in the back of my jeep. I would wake up and go to anytime fitness workout and shower there then go to school go to work and I would park my car and sleep in the Walmart parking lot until I saved enough money to put a down payment on a apartment.
Wow, a lot of these are terrible and miss the point of the question completely. It’s not a contest of poverty of or sad story time.
Here’s just a few of the things poor people buy, that ordinary people probably don’t know about:
1.) Flavor-Aid, think of it as Kool-Aid’s second cousin, minus all of the flavor. It was only 10 cents cheaper than Kool-Aid, but when your broke every little bit counts.
2.) Powdered milk, we got it as kids from the food boxes that the government gave us. But trust me, it wasn’t remotely reminiscent of milk.
3.) Clothing Dye. You can buy this stuff for like a buck, so when your black slacks are fading this will make them look brand new. It’s pretty awesome, you can fix up at least 10 pairs with single bottle.
Spam and rice.
Not spam, cooked, and rice, cooked.
But a cup of rice, out of the six you have left, cooked in the same rice cooker, as one quarter of the two cans of spam you have left.
Manna from heaven.
Also Arroz Caldo. Which is rice stewed with whatever leftovers you have and everything in your seasoning selection.
Sometimes amazing, sometimes sad.
I have always been too proud to ask for money.
My parents, though wealthy, don’t know this about me.