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I was just wondering about this because i was talking on the phone to a friend of mine the other day . She was complaining because she got laid off about a yr ago from a really good paying job and since than she hasn't found one that pays has well. Well she was offered a job the other day making about 9.00 an hr and she was complaining because she doesn't know if it will be worth her time to take it. But she says that her dh wants her to take it because he cannot stand that he has to work while she stays home. (Her dh is a bit of a control freak when it comes to $$ ) My friend went on to tell me that her dh makes about 60,000 a yr and the only bills they have are the house pymt of 500.00 a month and then the usual food, gas, electric , insurance etc. She sounded really distressed over this and i just simply said that i think that it sounds like they could make it just fine on what he makes i mean they only have 1 kid at home and if they budget they will do just fine. She asked me how much we make i told her lets just say that for 3 of us we live off of less than 23,000 a yr. Now we don't have cable, caller id or go on vacations we live quite simply but we do it. She asked me how i can stand to live like we do- one paycheck from the next poor. She went on to say how she would never buy her dd clothes or herself for that matter clothes from the thift store . About how can we live without health insurance? Yada, Yada, Yada....
My point to this is that i never really considered us "poor" i mean yes things are tight at times but we manage.
So my question to you all is What do you consider Poor? Is there a certain income level that if you fell into that you would think of your self has poverty stricken? Or do you think that income doesn't really matter has long has your basic needs are met?
I told my friend that she should consider her family lucky because not everyone makes has much money and that offer free or next to free health insurance like her dh's does. I dunno she just made me feel bad. I mean my dh works 40 to 50 hrs a week but he just doesn't make has much ( i also work pt time on the weekend) so it's not like we are dead beats or anything.
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I wish we made that much. I know we make alittle less but we have 4 girls and lots of bills. I can't work. So that is not an option!
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I don't think there is a number where you can say, "That! That right there is when I'd be poor." I do know that when we were first married dh didn't make much (about a third of what we make now) and we didn't feel poor at the time. We just budgeted and watched our money and we didn't think much about it. Looking back, I think we were poor in comparison to a lot of people, but we didn't realize it, so it didn't matter. I think as long as you can afford to pay the bills, feed and clothe your family, then it isn't considered poor. When I think of poor I think of people not being able to take care of their family.
I don't think this question can really be answered objectively as it is all relative to location and the financial status of the person replying.
I do think, however, that your friend was very rude, and I'm sorry she made you feel bad.
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If you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, shoes on your feet and food on the table, you are NOT poor!!!!!!!!! Far from it. I too am sorry your friend made you feel that way.
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I agree. That was rude of your friend. If you're happy, that's really what matters, isn't it? This is giving me an idea for a spinoff post...
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Poor has a different definiton to different people. Personally, in terms of money, I will say 'poor' is when I am taking my change jar to the bank to cash it in to buy groceries, b/c the bank account is empty. Someone else I know thinks 'poor' is when there's only $1000. balance in her checking.
Onto your friend, I'm sorry she made you feel that way, I think your response to her was great! And like 80sgirl said...if you have a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and your family is happy and healthy...you're not poor!
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I'm sorry your friend made you feel bad. I guess in a way, I was thinking the same kinds of thoughts this week with some of my posts and got some very sweet answers from some of the ladies on this board. Sometimes comparing ourselves to other people or to have them do the comparing is very hurtful. We need to remember how blessed we are and to be as happy as we can in our own little bubbles. Life is too short to worry about anything other than how lucky we are to be able to see and love the people in our lives. Also, I guess a good measure of how good a friend is, is how they make us feel about ourselves and others. Please surround yourself with people who make you feel blessed. Big hugs...
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I can not believe that someone can say these things to you. People I sware! I don't think if I were you I would consider myself poor. You definately would know it if you were. I would consider myself poor if, I didn't have money for food and had to scrounge for money. If I struggled to keep the lights and electric on.
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That was terribly rude of your friend. There was a time when I waited until ds's diaper was totally sopping since we were almost out of diapers and had no money (or even credit card) to buy more. Now, when I look back, we were pretty poor (even though we made decent money, our debts were overwhelming). But even then, I did not consider us poor. We still had more than alot of people and we had steady paychecks coming in, a house, healthcare, etc.
It is such a realitive thing, that you cannot put a $ figure on.
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Don't forget what the message in It's a Wonderful life was about. George Bailey was the richest man in the world. He just didn't know it.
I agree it's a different definition for everyone.
allgirls