tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3624763122424469439.post9001613377513619548..comments2023-07-14T06:13:32.639-07:00Comments on Higher Ed, Lower Income: Is there a course on how to live well in poverty?captiv8edhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11082449835686605409noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3624763122424469439.post-55796393503865317852011-02-02T13:29:00.266-08:002011-02-02T13:29:00.266-08:00Hot meals on the road? Yeah, totally doable. Mos...Hot meals on the road? Yeah, totally doable. Most rest stops have either outlets or concrete/metal tables available. If the former are present, we use our little plug-in single burner ($8 on sale at Target) to re-heat a pre-cooked meal. If not, we light a can of sterno to do the same.<br /><br />The veggies are cold, but as long as we have a warm main dish we are fine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3624763122424469439.post-37281124440461178022010-11-12T10:21:26.557-08:002010-11-12T10:21:26.557-08:00I think that 'time-poverty' makes money po...I think that 'time-poverty' makes money poverty so much harder. Before I went back to school, I could spend time making nutritious meals, tending the garden, planning free activities, avoiding convenience foods. Now that I am working and going to school (and homeschooling, for cripes sake!) there is no time for cooking much, and our food budget has gone way up. I have managed to pack dinner to school every night so far, but it is not always the most nutritious or well rounded meal.<br /><br />I know that the only way we travel is when we are sent tickets by family who deem it has been too long since they have seen us. And I just don't shop, much. (the target boycott was really good for my wallet LOL) but it IS stressful, and guilt making. Lately, I have been considering downsizing my job yet again to 1 day a week; I now work 3 and do school 3 and I am not sure I can maintain this schedule. But that would mean more loans, and I am very resistant to that.<br /><br />I am sorry to hear that you have no good hiking where you are. that stinks. <br /><br />so which is your favorite city? I am rather curious...jenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09734737877809894833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3624763122424469439.post-3454086721979968522010-11-12T00:00:33.233-08:002010-11-12T00:00:33.233-08:00I don't know that this will make you feel any ...I don't know that this will make you feel any BETTER, but I feel like we used to make so much less... how come we make more $ now, but our standard of living doesn't seem to go up?<br />I've figured out that a large part of it is medical bills, and the fact that in the past those kinds of bills generally just didn't get paid. Or we didn't go to the doctor, even when very sick. We also had crappier diets, and were blissfully unaware of our kids' allergies.<br /><br />The only friends of mine that I understood the travel thing with is my friends that worked for the airlines. Low-income jobs, but travels to Europe. But they met people there that they met online beforehand, so they didn't do the tourist stuff. (Book Strapped by Tamara Draut was really good, but I disagreed with her justifying some purchases--including travel--but she made the point people are more mobile than in the past, not staying in their hometowns, and that was one of the top expenses causing 20/30-something's debt.) And I'd bet just a few people travel, compared to those who would like to, but we notice the ones who do because we envy them. (I've never met hubby's extended family that are all in Illinois.)<br /><br />Before hubby had back pain we used to save a lot with him doing car stuff too. I know the basics, and have learned more as I go along, but I can't do the bigger stuff he could, and frustratingly, some stuff I stubbornly refuse to see as "guy stuff" like fixing kitchen sink or the car--just plain requires upper body strength I don't have, so he winds up helping me, even though it hurts his back.<br /><br />As for feeling poor, when I ate at school I'd always get the soup: it was the cheapest and it was warm. I was too tempted by the espresso stand cocoa and mochas, so I started carrying teabags in my backpack and buying 25cent cup of hot water. I don't like the taste of alcohol, and when I go out with friends to a bar it's super-cheap. Some places serve the DD free soda. So I drink Coke, listen to music and play darts for under $5. <br /><br />Although every money guru out there says, "just stop having that latte every morning" you almost don't want to be seen in a Starbucks...but I find friends and I spend less when we want to meet up and talk for hours when we go to coffee shops than when we went to Denny's back in the day. <br /><br />The deli/eating sections of grocery stores are often quite nice too, and good places for hot dinners in a restaurant setting for little more than grocery prices. Might work for dinner on the road! Oh, and pizza is super-fun to make from scratch--Jiffy mix pizza crust is easy and each kid can make their own small pizza w/ their own toppings. Not that we don't sometimes splurge on fast-food, but it's usually Teriakyi or KFC. Or we pick up one of those ready-to-bake, pre-marinated roasts, or butter and herb topped salmons from Costco.<br /><br />For me it's not so much whether or not I buy them lunch or a muffin when we go to the farmer's market, it's standing there, trying to decide if I SHOULD buy it. Even when I do buy, it's not any more soothing because it's not the not buying that leaves me in knots, it's the deliberation. I just want to be able to buy the muffin and not think about it!<br /><br />But truth is, even if I were able to do that, the idea of balancing the checkbook and calculating how much money I was wasting on impulse buys (like I did when I fist moved out on my own!) it would just make me sick. So I guess I try and learn to love (or at least accept) the deliberation. What else can you do?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08404064352435805557noreply@blogger.com