Have you EVER been poor? Can you add on to this list?
Being Poor
Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.
Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.
Being poor is having to keep buying 0 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an 0 car in America that’s worth a damn.
Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.
Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends over to yours.
Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.
Being poor is living next to the freeway.
Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.
Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn’t mind when you ask for help.
Being poor is off-brand toys.
Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.
Being poor is knowing you can’t leave on the coffee table when your friends are around.
Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt.
Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn’t have make dinner tonight because you’re not hungry anyway.
Being poor is Goodwill underwear.
Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.
Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.
Being poor is your kid’s school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.
Being poor is thinking an hour is a really good deal.
Being poor is relying on people who don’t give a damn about you.
Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.
Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.
Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.
Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.
Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.
Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.
Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.
Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.
Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won’t listen to you beg them against doing so.
Being poor is a cough that doesn’t go away.
Being poor is making sure you don’t spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.
Being poor is a 0 paycheck advance from a company that takes 0 when the paycheck comes in.
Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.
Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.
Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.
Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.
Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.
Being poor is not being able to take a good job because you don’t have anyone you trust to watch your kids.
Being poor is seeing how few options you have.
Being poor is running in place.
Being poor is people wondering why you didn’t leave.
Keep your chin up folks.
"Sapphire" thinks TOO highly of ‘herself! You are NO GEM!! DEAD COMMON!
I hope others have also REPORTED Ms. (wanna be) Sapphire. Karma.
I’m not asking about people in other countries. My question was plain. Have YOU even been poor? Can you add on to this list?
44 Responses
sapphire
05 Mar 2010
RUAQT?
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is not having any friends.
♥♥falloutche
05 Mar 2010
being poor is…. sucky
chocoroll_3
05 Mar 2010
first one is wrong… i used to sleep in the park… so u can see how poor i was…
being poor means not know how much everything costs… u dont know it cus u never buy anything
zen
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is saying, "No, thanks, you go ahead, I am not hungry."
Being poor is wearing whatever you have, but making sure that it is CLEAN.
Being really poor is having your kids tell you, "Don’t worry, everything will be OK…"
sasha69
05 Mar 2010
That makes me want to cry. I know I have been poor.
If more people were willing to help we wouldn’t have this problem, I thank god every day I have a job and food, and I try my best to help others when I can.
God Bless YOU
wesley h
05 Mar 2010
being poor means more financial aide. Free college
MentalCaseMaggot
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is washing plastic silverware in cold water.
BlackGuyLover
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is when you are having to eat 25 cent boxes of macaroni & cheese yet again for the 29th time this month! Being poor is when your son is the only trumpet player in the high school band with a dented & beat up trumpet. Being poor is when the lock on your van door is broke & a cut up electrical cord is tied to it to keep it from flying open & you falling out the door. Being poor is being the only one at work with a rip in your underwear or pantyhose that you hope & pray no one finds out cause you have fallen down with a dress on in front of everyone & your legs go up in the air & they all see it. Being poor is having to cook all your meals on a hot plate & then having to use the hot plate as a heater for your room. Being poor is when the only thing in the house to eat is a broken piece of raw spaghetti that you have swept out from under your cook stove. Being poor is when your water gets whacked off & you have to bath in the river or in the rain. Being poor is when you have to dye your hair with koolaid. Being poor is when you have to feed your cat greenbeans. Being poor is when you have to eat dirt. Being poor is when you have to use vanilla extract as deodarant.
bebobz6
05 Mar 2010
you seem to have it all covered. Try counting your blessings.
foolnomore2games
05 Mar 2010
Oh yeah I have been poor…
I know how to make a pound of ground beef last four or more meals.
Rinsing out the laundry soap container when it gets to the bottom to make sure you are making use of all of it.
Telling your kids when they see a commercial to tell you when they dont want something instead of when they do want something so you do feel guilty for knowing how much they do want and not being able to get it for them.
Digging through the couch and only finding $2.89 when you need $3.00 and panicing because you have already searched all the pants pockets,corners, drawers, and piggy banks and you dont know where you are going to get that last 11 cents.
heather
05 Mar 2010
being poor is not buying raisin bran its buying the store brand EVERYTHING
being poor is dressing your little girl in her big brothers hand me downs
being poor is eating oodles of noodle (ramen noodles) and Bologna sandwiches for dinner EVERY night
kevtho1
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is busting cans in the supermarket for ten cent off.
nice girl :)
05 Mar 2010
Wow that’s depressing how many of those I can relate to 
LZ1980
05 Mar 2010
How about this?
Being rich is ability to buy all you want, being poor is knowing the value of all you have.
fr_chuck
05 Mar 2010
card board on the wall to keep the wind out
Having to go on the back porch to get into the bath room
having friends who are ashamed that they pay for thier school lunch since most of the other kids all get free lunches.
Dial up internet would be a move up.
Nasser S
05 Mar 2010
Dear, this not being poor this is in some country like Egypt or any other third world , still rich to buy car , have a place to stay have a toys what ever the brand …..etc .
Another level for real poor …. I hope you understand .
Thanks
Susan K
05 Mar 2010
The items on your list have the makings of a truly excellent poem. You are rich in creativity and spirit. Remember, however, that the truly poor of the earth are in Darfur, Bangladesh, Somalia and places where there isn’t even food to steal. Keep things in perspective.
nursesr4evr
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is a paycheck away from being homeless.
honeybunny_27200
05 Mar 2010
hmmm i’ve never been poor.
if thats what its like then gah dang i’m happy that i’m not.
it sounds like its hell.
Lucky for me I’m pretty well-off.
mass.brain
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is always having B.O.
monica
05 Mar 2010
I am sure at one point in time or another, the average person has been poor in their life time, according to this list.
ilse72
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is wearing ill-fitting, out of style hand me downs from cousins who are much better off.
Being poor is knowing that love is the most important thing of all. The love overshadows the things you don’t have.
My husband and I both grew up in large, poor families. However, we worked hard and did very well. Anyone who wants it badly enough, can attain a better life. It requires hard work, ambition, drive, incentive and, most of all, a positive attitude.
thesecitiessleep
05 Mar 2010
well im thinking back on my childhood, and i remember when we never got christmas presents. and we got stuff from the school anf for somereason the post man would come and leave us stuff, probably because we were on welfare. But "Being poor is being a kid and not understanding why your teacher just gave your mom a turkey during the holidays" "Being poor is wearing the same three shirts over and over and the kids picking on you"
sandcatsle
05 Mar 2010
Broke is temporary, poor is a way of life.
Poor is knowing that as soon as you find an extra $100 to pay toward your credit card, something will break that will cost $100.
Poor is accepting a babysitting job at less than $2 an hour because you can’t justify putting your child in daycare for roughly the same amount of money you would make if you had a regular job.
cassandra_on_the
05 Mar 2010
I believed all the answers above about being poor until I saw real poverty in a third world country
his best girl
05 Mar 2010
being poor is your kid asking you why your hair is black on top and blonde on the bottom and you can’t afford the $2.99 box of hair dye to cover the roots
P.S. really thought this was cute..needed a good laugh about the good ol’ days
ggrrrrrrrooowwwl
05 Mar 2010
Grew up poor, now I work my ass off to have the things I want. But I understand ppl who cannot and wish there was something I could do. Here are some things I went through.
Being poor is saving to be broke
Being poor is working at a store you can’t afford to shop in.
Being poor is feeding your children and going hungry yourself because there is not enough to go around.
Being poor is having to pawn the things you do have to get things you need and don’t have.
Being poor is having to secure a loan with the title to your $800 car, that is an inch from breaking down, to buy fuel.
Comments to add. Being poor sucks truly, but I personally think that everyone should be poor at one point in their lives. It makes them appreciate what they do have, and makes them more efficient. Saw a couple of the posts afterwards, one in particular, ‘rinsing the laundry soap container out to make sure you used it all’, yes, I understand that poor ppl must do this to make it last, but doesn’t that just make good sense? I am actually doing OK now and I do that anyway.
I know I said that some ppl can’t do anything about their situation, but I am retracting, not deleting, this statement. I grew up dirt poor when I think about it, at times the government paid for everything we got, and I got myself out of it. Yes I graduated HS, but I did not go to college. A HS diploma and a GED mean the same thing, nothing. I still manage to get by pretty well though. It all depends on how much someone is willing to do to change their situation, and keep from going into it again.
chanel21
05 Mar 2010
being poor is having no power or gas for 8 months and living of hot dogs
DougDoug_
05 Mar 2010
being poor is letting the walls rot, because you won’t live there very long anyways.
saint_leo_the_gr
05 Mar 2010
Taking a month to save up $10 to get the carburetor on your 20 year old car fixed. And then carry the carburetor 2 miles in the winter wind by hand to the repair shop to the point that you can’t feel your fingers. You get a part time job making $3.15 an hour and feel like an angel landed on your shoulder.
countryguy
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is…
Riding your bike to work for a year.
Waiting the six months for the bank to take your house.
Asking truck drivers for clothes.
Super glue the soles of the shoes.
Friends help you break into an empty room in a apartment
and you live there for a couple of months.
Live in your car, or pickup.
Being poor is temporary, if you want it to be.
P.S. I’ve had good luck with $400-$500 cars. How?
I made friends with an insurance agent, he referred old folks to me or he talked them out of their nice low mileage older car.
Aunt Weway
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is having to eat potatoes for a month cause you don’t have money for anything else and that’s all there is.
Being poor is where will you sleep the next night.
alexis
05 Mar 2010
yes I can add to the list. Being poor is watching your mother steal meat, and food in the store to feed you. And living at the lake in a tent. Most everyone there is camping out. We were pretending to be camping out but we really lived there. Until the forest ranger told us we had to leave. Oh and not going to school because you don’t have clothes. Wearing the same shoes for two years. Eating mush for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Using canned milk diluted with water for milk. I know exactly how it feels to be beyond poor. I’ve had to walk in the snow to go two miles to the store to steal food to eat.
Amberlyn C
05 Mar 2010
thats so sad. i use to be poor when i was little and i remember sitting at the table and i was eating supper. my mom didnt eat anything because there wasnt enough for her so she went to bed hungry. DONT YOU THINK THAT IF YOU DONT WANT TO BE POOR THAT YOU WONT BE…….WELL I KNOW THAT NOONE WANTS TO BE POOR BUT ALOT OF THEM DONT HAVE NO FAMILY AND NO SUPPORT. being poor is eating beans until the next social security check comes in
BEING POOR IS HAVING TO EXPLAIN TO YOUR CHILDREN WHY THEY CANT HAVE ALL THE COOL STUFF THAT THE KIDS AT SCHOOL HAVE
Capricorn61
05 Mar 2010
To answer the question, yes, I have been poor. If we are speaking financially, and the definition of poor is "lacking the necessities needed to meet one’s basic living needs," then I have been financially poor. But I have never been poor in spirit. I always had hope; hope that someday, I wouldn’t have to struggle for everything, or go without, or watch my kids go without. I have even been homeless for a short while. A lot of times, you need money to make money. You need money to get a reliable car in order to work. You need money to buy clothes for the type of profession you want to work in; you need money to pay a babysitter until you first paycheck, the list could go on and on, and so could I, but I won’t.
texansis
05 Mar 2010
I remember a few of those.
jess4rsake
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is staying up all night because the sounds of the firecrackers in the hi-rise hallways won’t let you sleep.
Being poor is walking away from that bargain dress (under 18 dollars) you needed to replace the tattered one you’ve been washing every other day for a week by hand.
Being poor is a whole family living on 3 dollars for a week’s worth of spaghetti dinners with no meat, rationed out by the cupful.
Being poor is seeing your parents work two jobs to keep the family in a building where there is no heat, no security and no maintenance.
Being poor is taking the same course as your siblings to share the same books in a community college.
Being poor is walking everywhere that your friends get to ride.
Being poor is picking up the pennies in the school hallway that all the wealthier kids pitch and leave lying around, when no one is looking.
Being poor is keeping quiet when you see prostitutes, pimps and crack addicts that live next to you because the cops don’t want to hear what you have to say, either.
Being poor is standing in a long, hot line to get government giveaways of cheese, chunks of butter, powdered milk and spam.
Being poor is making an agreement with the gas and the electric company to pay "on a tab" to keep them from acting on the most recent shut-off notice.
Being poor is buying meat on credit and quietly, taking verbal abuse from the store owners just for them to keep your business.
Being poor is staying at home all summer when other kids your age get to go to summer camps, amusement parks and summer getaways out of town.
Being poor is catching roof leaks in your bedroom and livingroom ceiling because no one has money to get a repair and no one will give you credit.
Being poor is a unique choice between stealing and starving.
Being poor is taking a chance to buy furniture you know is "hot" because it is much cheaper than the same item that was not stolen.
Being poor is living in a place you hate because you cannot afford to move anywhere else that is better.
celine
05 Mar 2010
Being poor is staying after school everyday so other students won’t see where you get off the bus.
Being poor is wearing the same pants and worn out sneakers to school EVERYDAY, ALL YEAR long.
Being poor is warming your water on the stove so you can take a shower.
flavormint
05 Mar 2010
ok being poor hummm being poor is when your mom sell’s liquor out the back door to keep the utilities on only for them to get cut off any way being poor is wearing big hand-me-down clothes that is held up with safety pin’s being poor is being laught at for holy sock’s/panties being poor is watching mom and dad fight over money being poor is bring in the stick’s for the fireplace being poor is packing water from a mile away to your home being poor is liveing with no toilet inside the house being poor is useing bath water from left over from the other five kid;’s being poor is wipeing grease around you lip’s so the other children would think you ate lunch being poor is walking a 2 mile’s to school with no breakfast or lunch and walking 2 miles back when the bus goes straight by your house but you are not allowed to ride because of your color being poor is no one give’s a dern wheather you have school supplie’s are not being poor is cooking in the fireplace being poor is sleeping on the floor while carrying a baby being poor is not being able to buy formular being poor is not being able to see a doctor because of no money be thankful be greatful!!!
ALi
05 Mar 2010
HI
I relly immpresed, This situation is temporary and you can enhance your financial situation,I can say I felt being poor and exprience it when i was a child but i never let myself it hurts me and dissaponts me. If you compare yourself with some people you are still rich. have you ever seen how people lives in africa and some parts of third world countries, please do not wacth distance between you and other people,try to fill it.
Sometimes we have to take things easy but we must always be thinking of improvment.
With best wishes …. Ali
totalgitfromwiga
05 Mar 2010
You have a car?
I am poorer than you are……….
no car, no house…
but I do not FEEL poor……….
check your head!
And remember, you have the one thing that money cannot buy:
poverty!
sapphire09angel
05 Mar 2010
MISERY LOVES COMPANY DOESN"T IT??? I AGREE WITH SAPPHIRE> GET UP AND DO SOMETHINg ABOUT IT.
mixed
05 Mar 2010
I was reading through the answers and I have to say that was kind of immature of you to say. I to also agree with sapphire. Get up and do something about it.
get up and make something better of yourself. Everyone has the potential to accomplish anything and everything. Stop wasteing time saying "why me" when you can get up and get a better job and better living conditions. Get over yourself and stop saying "WHY ME" when you can be doing something about it.
THE MINUTE YOU START EXPECTING LESS OF YOURSELF IS IN THAT EXACT MINUTE YOU’RE WILLING TO GIVE THAT MUCH LESS.