Comments on: The Poorest Time of My Life

By: Dmarie

Dmarie — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:12:23 +0000

something about being young and hormonal that makes it hard to see all the options. It’s the low-money times that taught me to do so many of the things that now lessen my carbon footprint: like hanging laundry out to dry and cooking from scratch as opposed to buying packaged foods. Your iron-will about saving has surely served you well through the years, especially once you learned to spend some of the savings when really need be. What a great post…thanks for sharing and stimulating such an interesting lot of comments!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Wed, 04 May 2011 05:50:03 +0000

WOW. Some of you had it sooooo baddd!! And I’m sure others reading still do :( I appreciate you all sharing your stories like that – it takes a lot. Really really puts thing in perspective for ME too! Especially yours Tim – mannnnnn I can’t even fathom that! Shooting for your food?? Wow. I honestly don’t know what I would have done, that is harsh. Good for you for overcoming it though!!! It take a strong person to do that.

Ashley — Very thought provoking article, thanks so much for guest posting for us!!! Really good discussions here :)

By: Jackie

Jackie — Sun, 01 May 2011 02:21:43 +0000

I think the hardest lesson I have learned is life is it is okay to ask for help when you need it. I also think we grow and learn during our times of struggle. I know I have learned alot and like you have learned how little you can actually live on and be okay.

By: Liberty

Liberty — Sun, 01 May 2011 00:53:57 +0000

The poorest time of my life is always. I’ve never had a lot of money – I’ve gone years between owning cars. I’ve always shopped at Goodwill or Salvation Army and yard sales — and loved it. I’ve always taken public transportation. And I’ve always had fun in life. I’ve traveled the country because various companies I’ve worked for sent me for training. I attended an Opera Ball because I was on staff and got my ticket for the $300/plate dinner free. I’ve been comped tickets to various arts events because I’ve volunteered. I’ve traveled and played music professionally. I’ve traveled overseas. I have more fun creating things than buying things and have always been passionate about giving. I am joyfully in love with my husband of one year. Together we are not rich, but we are having fun and happy to have found each other. I was on food stamps for 4 months between jobs. I’ve used food pantry services on occasion. I’ve had to choose between groceries and medication. I’ve never felt poor. I watch the lives of the ‘rich’ on reality programs and I would never trade their life for mine. My only regret is not having enough money to start a foundation so I could give more money away to people in need.

By: Ericaatgobankingrates

Ericaatgobankingrates — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:52:14 +0000

Love this topic. Brought back great memories of poverty! I was living in London. Moved there on a whim and knew no one. I ran though all my money quickly and couldn’t get a job legally. Ended up cleaning houses (yes, under the table) but was still barely scraping by. I had just enough cash to pay for a meal’s worth of food: shredded potatoes, carrots, and onions bound together with an egg. Another starving student taught me to make it (he called it Russian pancake). Filled the belly but got disgusting after three days. I would look longingly at bakeries and cafes, dreaming of the day I could walk in and order ANYthing. Then my dad, out of the blue, sent me a letter and $20. First thing I did was get a sweet bun and a diet coke. Best meal I ever had.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:55:58 +0000

I am currently twenty-three and I graduated at the peak of the unemployment crisis, so jobs for new graduates were (and still are) very hard to come by. Luckily I did get hired within a few months of graduation and now, almost two years later I am still there. Now, I am in a similar situation as you, in that after paying bills, I don’t have ANY money to spend on anything else, whether it is fun activities, or even something as silly as chipping in for donuts like in your story. What baffles me about your story is that you had $10,000 in the bank! I don’t understand how someone my age could have earned that kind of money to put aside. I don’t have an emergency fund or a car, and at this point, I can’t foresee myself ever having one, at this rate at least. But if I had $10,000 in the bank, at least I’d feel a sense of security, if I lost my job, I won’t be kicked out of my apartment. I surprised you didn’t chip into your emergency fund at such desperate times, I know I would have, especially if I was expecting a baby. I am hoping things will turn around real soon and I know it can always be worse.

By: Sassy

Sassy — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:21:12 +0000

My poorest time was when I was living under HUD housing with a newborn. I was struggling to afford everything. I was 18 and had worked at a thrift store up until a couple days before I delivered. Once I had the baby, they said it was just a training program which was only available for one year. I didn’t have a job, Medicaid and food stamps claimed I made too much (ummmm really!?!? How?) and I was really struggling to make it.

By: Indian Thoughts

Indian Thoughts — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 06:27:06 +0000

I feel sad that you have gone through something like that at the most precious time of your life. But on the other hand, way you handled it made me very motivated. I would also have never asked for any help if GOD forbid I would have been in your situation and I completely understand when you say “Maybe just knowing that money was there was enough to make me feel less desperate”.

I don’t wanna and probably don’t have great story of my poorest time but I want to really thank you and J. Money from core of my heart for this post.

It gave me much needed motivation and hope to be optimistic again. I am writing a post on your post on my blog just because I got them compelling feeling after some many months now.

Thanks once again and I hope and pray that you never ever have to face such problems again in your life.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:36:05 +0000

My worst time was in college. I came from a working poor family. Both my parents were teachers so they made just enough that I didn’t qualify for financial aid but didnt make enough to actually help out any with school. I had to pay for college out of pocket, I would work through the summer and one semester and go to school the next semester. I could only afford to take classes one semester a year. I was managing ok this way until my car died at the beginning of a semester and it cost every cent I had to get it fixed including cashing out my tiny IRA. Living without motorized transportation in the South West is just not an option with the huge distances involved. I could not work and be a full time student at one of the toughest engineering schools, I was already spending 10-12 hrs a day on course work.

At first I swallowed my pride and tried getting food stamps which sent the ladies there into a tirade.. “See here you are trying to better yourself and they wont even help you out while any (expletive! *shouting at everyone else in line*) can sit on the couch and dont even have to show they are trying to find a job!” Wow sorry I asked. Turns out any full time student needs to be working 20 hrs a week minimum first before they qualify for food stamps, if I was working that much I wouldnt need money… I tried finding a food bank, there was none in the area.

After being without food for a week I broke down and pawned some very old sentimental tools that had been passed down 3 generations and after bills I had $50 to buy groceries to last for the next 3 months… I bought 50 lbs of pinto beans and 40 lbs of rice and some soy sauce. I already had a well stocked cupboard with spices otherwise I wouldn’t have lasted near as long as I did. I ate rice and beans for the next 90+ days and lived off of less than 50 cents a day. When the loose change I would find would be enough to buy a packet of Ramen it was a day of pure heaven. One day I found a dollar and was able to get a pack of hot dogs to cut up and cook with my rice and beans, OMG! when you are starving even a small piece of hot dog tastes like the best T Bone you’ve ever had. Whenever I would get low on gas I would have to drive 180 miles round trip into the city to donate plasma for gas money, which would not get me that much after the 1/3 a tank it cost to drive there.

About a month and a half in I couldn’t take it any more and was dying for just a taste of anything. My kingdom for a soda! I kept my Grandfathers old 30.30 winchester in the toolbox of my truck and scrounging up anything left of value I could find to pawn I bought one box of ammo, 20 shots only to put some food on the table. I know exactly how you felt with the donuts. Everyone around me seemed to happy without a care in the world while I was secretly depressed any time they ate around me. Here I was a student at a prestigious engineering school having to sneak out and hunt my own dinner to survive. In five hunts I only got 3 rabbits which yielded very little meat, a 30.30 is not good for rabbits. I later decided that the energy spent was not worth it, another trip for plasma/gas money, and the effort to find them and dress and cook them after I was probably spending more calories than I was getting.

Throughout all of this nobody knew. Nobody knew how horribly malnourished I was. I was a long distance runner and pretty thin to begin with but ended up growing a pot belly like you see in those African charity commercials and I guess they thought I was drinking a lot of beer or junk food.

The worst part of all of this though is the life long damage to my body those 3 months of rough patch caused. Prior to all of this I had an iron constitution. I could literally eat anything. Friends used to challenge me to eat the oddest most unusual things they could find on the menus at ethnic restaurants. For a year afterwards I would get horribly sick eating anything except beans or rice. I could afford real food again but I couldnt eat it! After being on such a strict diet for so long I lost the ability to digest anything else. Even to this day 12 years later I really have to be careful with what I eat. If its something new or something I havent had in a while it could make me sick within an hr or two of eating it.

By: Ashley @ Money Talks

Ashley @ Money Talks — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:34:15 +0000

@ Beth: I agree that anyone struggling should tell someone. and you are very sweet.

@ Jenna: I agree that your new forced spending habits will probably pay off. The same thing happened to us when I became a stay at home mom. We had to cut back to make it happen and those habits have stayed with us. I think me quitting my job was the best thing to happen to us financially. weird.

@ Donna: Ah! I lived on the third floor with a newborn and no elevator. It stinks!

@Jeremy: I agree with you and the asking for help with money in the bank. I think that’s exactly why I didn’t. But you are right that I should at least let some people know so they could smack me around a bit. lol. I think I was in serious denial. Like my brian just couldn’t accept the situation. If someone had told me what to do I would have done it. I literally couldn’t think of it.

@ fifi: It is kinda “fun” when you are young and free to kind of float around live on pizza and friend’s couches. It’s a different story when you are old and responsible. :(