Being poor is...

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Money being the last thing you think of at night and first thing when you wake up.
Dreading party invites in school bags.
Wrapping the baby in blankets because it's cold but too early to justify the heating.
Feel free to add your own

This always makes me laugh in shock tbh.

How homeless people can have a smart phone seems to be the question on a lot of peoples tongue

Well that’s easy. A phone costs less than a house.

You need access to the internet to apply for jobs. Housing and anything else you may need

Using washing up liquid to wash hair.

Holes in shoes

Topping and tailing with cold water bc can't afford to put the hot water on.

The electric being cut off bc no money to put in the meter.

Selling my dirty socks to perverts for a few quid so I can put food on the table.

Stealing toilet paper from a pub toilet.

Using toilet paper bc sanitary towels are a luxury I can't justify.

Going to the local shop and buying one egg so I can eat.

Never opening mail, especially brown envelopes. Hiding when someone knocks at the door.

Being diagnosed with a mental health condition rather than being diagnosed as in poverty!

Going out on a date with a guy and crying bc the food in the restaurant is delicious and you've been used to eating 10p noodles and baked beans on toast.

Being frugal even when times are better bc you abhore waste. (The trauma of being poor never leaves you!)

@Meklk In this shitty, almost compassionless world it's people like you that restore my faith in human nature .😇

Using bar soap to wash your hair is cheaper than washing up liquid. And it works fine.

I have some Children’s coats that no longer fit mine this year if anyone knows of anyone who may need any?

x2 black puffa coats- age 2-3 & age 4-5
x1 black puffa coat age 8
x1 green waterproof coat age 18 months
x1 green waterproof coat age 3-4
x1 pink & purple waterproof coat age 8

I also have size 7 infant trainers and size 1 (kids) trainers.
Will post as soon as required if anyone wants to message me.

If anyone is Scotland needing sanitary products you can get them free-
Usually signs in public toilets of supermarkets telling you the code word to ask at customer services.

I've long worked out that I can't solve the worlds problems or make it a better place, but, I can make my little corner of it better. Sometimes it's the smallest things that make the biggest difference.

This annoys me so much too.

There was a post a few months ago about being poor and someone commented that they “only” had something like £75 before they had to dip into savings to pay a bill. When I pointed out that this is very different to being poor the poster told me that it is relative and she classes herself as poor.

I agree that the 'it's all relative' brigade have very little idea what poor truly means. However when I said earlier that "I've still a way to go yet, but I'm slowly but surely headed back to what I came from." because I still have savings, but they're already allocated to service contracted bills. They where my pension. Everything I built up over a lifetime climbing out of what I came from, will be gone in the next few weeks. Lockdown destroyed my quiet self sufficiency and everything I'd worked hard for long term.

I absolutely know what poor is, and don't call myself it, but am living a difficult lifestyle on a very small income, as an older, female, in a wheelchair, getting fewer and fewer bits of work. In December the vehicle goes, significantly reducing everything further, as I can't access public transport system independently, but my mobility PIP has to go to bills not enabling me to work. Yes there's a buffer time in which things could technically change, but they're unlikely to.

So while I agree there's a type of faux 'it's all relative' poor, there are also people having to live as poor who technically still have choices, but in reality they don't. I'm cautious to judge whose in that boat and whose just reluctant to spend an inheritance or their pension, etc.

This thread is heartbreaking. I've sobbed reading some of your responses. The state of our country is heartbreaking. I'm so sorry to each and every one of you that has suffered - you didn't deserve to.

I put some food on OLIO this morning and a young man collected it. He'd walked an hour and a half to collect it. I feel fucking awful that I'd not thought to ask where he lived and to offer to drop it off. I offered him a lift back but he was adamant he enjoyed the walk. What type of world do we live in where people are walking a 3 hour round trip to collect a little bit of food. It breaks my heart imagining that my DS could end up in that situation.

@Purplelion you Nan sounds like my DD’s bf. She loves him but is thinking of breaking up because he can’t understand why anyone doesn’t have their finances sorted, with no debt, by the time they are 21. They met in Uni and his parents paid for everything- tuition, rent, food and everything else.