How we went from $42,000 to $6,500 and lived to tell about it!

[Beekissed]

Have you ever thought that maybe....just maybe....some folks don't hate "poverty" the same as you do? We obviously didn't feel deprived or wish that we had a different life. And we certainly don't feel our children's lives would be more enriched by having "things"....things don't buy you happiness, as you so clearly demonstrate on this forum. Nearly everything you post is filled with anger and frustration. Decidedly NOT happy. And reading your posts about your daughter certainly didn't read like a happy child scenario.

Some folks learn to be content with whatever station in life they are, or they work to change it. Adaptability is the key to SS. I've found that those who handle poverty poorly will handle riches in the same way.

I really and truly do not find that my life is impoverished. I have everything I need, when I need it. God provides this to those who have faith and I have learned through some hard lessons to have faith. In the end, we will all leave this earth with the same possessions with which we arrived. All the stuff in between means very little, IMO.

The difference here is this:

I guess I just don't get why people romanticize poverty. I grew up in poverty and it was HORRIBLE. I would NEVER allow my child to grow up that way

You obviously feel like your childhood was deprived and it has made you strive to leave it.

I feel like my childhood was rich and worth any hardships I endured, so I feel no need to think of it as anything other than "romantic" that I learned so much and became so resilient.

Life gives us choices and we can choose to be content or discontent with them. You obviously have chosen a different path than some of us. We actually love our lives.

 

[hikerchick]

Have you ever thought that maybe....just maybe....some folks don't hate "poverty" the same as you do? We obviously didn't feel deprived or wish that we had a different life. And we certainly don't feel our children's lives would be more enriched by having "things"....things don't buy you happiness, as you so clearly demonstrate on this forum. Nearly everything you post is filled with anger and frustration. Decidedly NOT happy. And reading your posts about your daughter certainly didn't read like a happy child scenario.

Some folks learn to be content with whatever station in life they are, or they work to change it. Adaptability is the key to SS. I've found that those who handle poverty poorly will handle riches in the same way.

I really and truly do not find that my life is impoverished. I have everything I need, when I need it. God provides this to those who have faith and I have learned through some hard lessons to have faith. In the end, we will all leave this earth with the same possessions with which we arrived. All the stuff in between means very little, IMO.

The difference here is this:

I guess I just don't get why people romanticize poverty. I grew up in poverty and it was HORRIBLE. I would NEVER allow my child to grow up that way

You obviously feel like your childhood was deprived and it has made you strive to leave it.

I feel like my childhood was rich and worth any hardships I endured, so I feel no need to think of it as anything other than "romantic" that I learned so much and became so resilient.

Life gives us choices and we can choose to be content or discontent with them. You obviously have chosen a different path than some of us. We actually love our lives.

Exactly. life gives us choices. You dont' need to mock everyone who makes different choices than you do.

Are you saying that my daughter's mental illness was caused by not living in poverty?

i don't feel my inner city childhood was "rich". Living among junkies and prostitutes is not glamorous and forgive me if I don't want that for my child.

You are the angry one dear, not me. You continually make fun of anyone who has or wants to have more than you do. give it up.

 

[me&thegals]

ETA: This one got passed up by HC's and is actually in response to the one before.

Ummm, so?

Some of us are thrilled with our childhoods. Some of us are not. Some of us think we would have been thrilled with OTHER people's childhoods, and so on. What's the point? We all do the very best we can for OUR children. Some want more security for their kids, however they see that. Other people want different things.

I am so sick to death of this bickering back and forth over who had the most gloriously impoverished childhood. Who cares???

Besides, are all poverties the same? One "impoverished" childhood may include plenty of food and clothing, just all homemade and grown; lots of family togetherness and love.

Another's "impoverished" childhood may have been repeated hunger, neglect, abuse.

WHY is there this attitude of insisting that one life of poverty is equal to another life of poverty? And if one person thrived in their unwealthy life, then ALL people must have done so or otherwise be "upwardly mobile," grabbing, discontented people?

 

[hikerchick]

Why does everyone assume that anyone who likes nice things is merely trying to keep up with the Joneses? Can't anyone simply like a nice life? I dont' care about what anyone else has or doesn't have.

Not everyone wants to live in a shack without electricity. Is there no room on this forum for people like that?

You want poverty, fine. I respect your choices and don't feel the need to pigeonhole you or suspect your motives.

Please extend the same respect to those who chose to live differently.

We are not all shallow snobs trying to keep up with the Joneses.

 

[hwillm1977]

Personally, I feel wealthy. Truly wealthy. But, I choose to live simply, I love doing all the stuff I do at home and I could work more hours and earn more money if necessary.

Someone forced into it would probably feel differently.

I grew up poor... we didn't have much, but neither did most of the people in our little corner of the world. But because of my parents great attitudes and ingenuity I had no idea I was poor until we moved to a city and I got teased for not having the cool clothes. I can remember one week my dad got a lotto ticket from a neighbour for helping to put a fire out in his barn (Dad was the volunteer fire chief). we rolled around crying and laughing when we 'won' the lottery... We had won $10.00.

We got milk from a neighbour, beef from another neighbour, we had pigs, chickens and grew tomatoes to barter for a lot of our food. Twice a year all the women got together in our living room with all their kids clothes that didn't fit, and they 'shopped' from all the other women's bags of clothes. All the kids wore hand me downs, so no one really thought that was a reason to be teased.

I don't look down on my childhood. I LOVED every minute of it. We had more than a lot of people who live in true poverty, we had a roof over our head... we had a happy, loving home... we had fresh organic food, mostly grown within a mile of our house... I feel truly blessed to have grown up the way I did, and I don't regret a second of it. I realize now that it was a huge struggle for my parents, and a lot of stress... but they never let us see that, and I had no idea at the time.

I would love to be able to live on $6500/year... but I would love to be able to do it by choice, and I'd love to be living on that much but making (and saving) more than that. I guess I would like to do it, but with a safety net that my parents never had.

 

[MorelCabin]

Poverty or not, it is all about ones attitude and really it all boils down to how much you can love others, rich or poor. I've lived both sides of the issue, and I can't say I am any more happy with more money than not.
One thing that has touched me over and over again throught the years are the impoverished who will still give thier last $5 to someone who needs it more.

 

[hwillm1977]

Besides, are all poverties the same? One "impoverished" childhood may include plenty of food and clothing, just all homemade and grown; lots of family togetherness and love.

Another's "impoverished" childhood may have been repeated hunger, neglect, abuse.

That's an excellent point... my poor childhood was wonderful... hikerchick's was obviously not, but we lived in two VERY different worlds.

I think it's fantastic that she has worked so hard to get out of an inner city situation and done well by her daughter.

There are MANY different variations of a 'poor' childhood, and obviously different types of poverty.

 

[pioneergirl]

I'm done here, its getting out of hand. Touchy people, whatever you want to call it, I'm done.

 

[MorelCabin]

Besides, are all poverties the same? One "impoverished" childhood may include plenty of food and clothing, just all homemade and grown; lots of family togetherness and love.

Another's "impoverished" childhood may have been repeated hunger, neglect, abuse.

That's an excellent point... my poor childhood was wonderful... hikerchick's was obviously not, but we lived in two VERY different worlds.

I think it's fantastic that she has worked so hard to get out of an inner city situation and done well by her daughter.

There are MANY different variations of a 'poor' childhood, and obviously different types of poverty.

THis is so true. I grew up in a protective neighborhood, never had to worry much about anything terrible happening to me. Some of us I am sure grew up in nasty places with parents who may not not have been ideal or neighborhoods that were dangerous.

 

[dacjohns]

What's going on here on SS? Is the winter starting to get to everyone? Hot tempers everywhere.

Should we not ask for or give opinions? Is giving an opinion on an article the same as bashing a member of the fourm?

Go cut some firewood and get rid of the pent up aggression.

Note: this is a general statement and not directed towards any individual. I skim posts and often don't even know who made them.