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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think being poor dose not mean you can't be clean

79 replies

Mrbojangles1 · 24/04/2012 13:39

To think when people live like this it's about being dirty not POOr

I have seen doumentrys of people who live in mud huts who would not dare there place in that state

To clean ones home costs nothing whatever type of home you have

I am sick of people useing poverty as a excuse to be dirty buggers

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134196/Pictured-The-modern-day-poverty-Kentucky-people-live-running-water-electricity.html

OP posts:
LRDtheFeministDragon · 24/04/2012 14:27

What on earth do you mean 'not sure about poverty'? You mean you don't believe it exists? Or you think this article is lying about half these people being below the poverty line?

FWIW, people I know who got worried about healthcare in the States got worried they would be taxed more highly to pay for it. It's the same reaction you get over here when people suggest increasing benefits - whose taxes will pay for it? It may not seem a logical reaction to you, but it is very common. It certainly does not mean every blue collar worker in America has secretly solved the problem of poverty, does it?

LRDtheFeministDragon · 24/04/2012 14:28

Btw, peachy, it sounds as if you are doing as much as humanely possible and more than most of us have any idea about. I hope your granddad copes.

higgle · 24/04/2012 14:31

We were in Tanzania on holiday a couple of years ago. In the rural areas there were houses that were tiny - some little more than huts made of mud bricks and yet the women and children were immaculate. I really did not understand how you could see children coming from these places with really white socks and T shirts, the girls in pretty dresses (more white socks) and the mothers resplendant in well ironed robes and headresses. I felt like booking a lesson with one of them as I can't manage those standards from a nice mud and dust free house here.

TheRhubarb · 24/04/2012 14:34

Ah blue collar. Reading your posts is hard work mrbo.
And yes, they would vote against wouldn't they? Same thing would happen here. So long as it doesn't affect them, what do they care? America is also facing a financial crisis of its own, the people didn't think they could afford to pay yet more taxes. They didn't think the state healthcare system would work and didn't want to pay towards it whilst still paying private fees. There are many people in the UK who have the same thoughts.

porcamiseria · 24/04/2012 14:35

well, poor fuckers cant afford "Method cleaning products"

so what do you expect eh

Mrsjay · 24/04/2012 14:38

money has nothignt o do with being dirty imo My auntie used to clean houses for very professional people and i remember helping her 1 summer and quite frankly they were repulsive leaving everythign at their bums , anyway I would imagine these people are not happy living in squalar and circumstances dictate how they are feeling so perhaps they are bloody depressed about their situation , or they just dont care , lots of reasons for not clearing up imo

WorraLiberty · 24/04/2012 14:38

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Peachy · 24/04/2012 14:42

Thank you LRD Smile

Nan would cry to see the place- as houseproud as possible to get- but that's perhaps the root of it: MUm found Nan's teeth still on a shelf, and her shoes under the sofa- Nan passed a decade ago this month. He still misses her dreadfully.

TheRhubarb · 24/04/2012 14:50

Peachy, your poor grandad. Please don't feel bad, we can only do so much as we have our own families to look after too. The system may have failed him but you certainly haven't. Even if someone did clean his house for him, I get the impression he would struggle to keep up with it. For him, some comfort may be got by hoarding and hanging onto things, like hanging onto memories I suppose. As we get older our memories fade and one possibility is that by not throwing anything away, he is trying to cling onto the memories that these objects bring back.

Hugs for you x

LRDtheFeministDragon · 24/04/2012 14:54

Oh, that is sad. Sad It reminds me of finding my granny had kept my grandpa's dressing gown hanging up, and his wash cloth in the bathroom.

It does show, though, doesn't it, it is often much more complicated that just 'mess' to someone who's living there, doesn't it?

I think rhubarb is right there's not a very easy answer, even if someone were there to clean up the house for him.

Proudnscary · 24/04/2012 17:13

Why was my post deleted??

I said the OP was offensive and deliberately so.

It is. What's the problem??

MagsAloof · 24/04/2012 17:15

Their homes look messy and shabby, but not dirty, particularly.

YABU

StrandedBear · 24/04/2012 17:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AmberLeaf · 24/04/2012 17:37

Mrbojangles were you previously Maypole1 ?

VonHerrBurton · 25/04/2012 14:37

Proudnscary mine was too! I'm mortified, it's never happened to me before! I thought what I said was totally warranted and a suited the rude, ignorant tone of the OP!

Oh well, live and learn....

RaPaPaPumPumBootyMum · 25/04/2012 15:32

I didn't think the homes looked so bad Confused

Yes, the first was cluttered and dirty but the others looked clean and reasonably well maintained if a little cramped and in need of a paint job here and there...

So not sure what the OP was talking about tbh.

ColinFirthsGirth · 25/04/2012 18:41

I am not sure why people feel the need to judge other people in this way! Live your life the way you see fit and leave others to live their life in the way they want too.

ThePathanKhansWitch · 25/04/2012 18:55

OP I'm sorry that dirty buggers are using poverty to make you sick.

HTH.

pictish · 25/04/2012 19:02

Thanks for the invite to point and heap scorn OP, but no ta.

BumpingFuglies · 25/04/2012 19:51

Hang on there was another thread about this earlier! WTF is going on?

bochead · 25/04/2012 21:35

I think the author of this article sought out a vulnerable elderly batchelor to make a point. I wasn't impressed tbh. Lots of people have a slightly odd very stubborn elderly batchelor somewhere in their extended family. My Grandad & Dad both had a couple of batchelor buddies for whom the term "in need of a good woman to go in & sort his house out" could have been invented lol!

If it had been a family home rather than a place his nephew was just visiting for a few hours I'd have a different opinion.

The teenage married couple - I was impressed. Here's a lad who is stepping up to the plate in an age when men in the forties often try to abdicate all responsibiity for their offspring.

Both parents were graduating so were obviously trying to be responsible and get the qualifications needed to support the baby. Again here in the UK lots of teen Mums end up having to drop out of school due to lack of support with looking after their child and studying. The Dad, school and the girl's family all deserve praise for ensuring the girl got the support needed to continue to attend school and complete her studies despite the challenges of pregnancy and babycare.

Good on em I say, and I wish them all the luck in the world in building their new family life together!

The family homes all looked clean. The jobs were blue collar and it's a country area. They seemed like a poor but very decent hard working community to me. Nothing wrong with earning an honest living. Salt of the earth types with pride and dignity.

Losingitall · 25/04/2012 21:37

YABU for linking to the shitty mail!!

MumPaula · 25/04/2012 23:46

It was just the first home that was so dirty, some people are just disgusting. Poor doesn't equal dirty.
I'm still living in the US (waiting to move home) and I have never seen so much poverty in my life, and I grew up on a poor council house estate. Poor here is so different, it's awful. I'm a district nurse here (till Dd came along) I've seen more people with no teeth black teeth and missing teeth, not all were old meth users although there are lots of them.
Poor here live in a shack, a tent, a car, under a bridge kids too, not just adults. The safety net is full of holes people get lost in the system and refused help till it's too late and they have already lost it all and been evicted onto the streets.
I used to go an beg medication samples from the doctors office for old patients who had no money left to buy their medications and needed to pay the rent or buy food. These are older people who had worked hard all their lives and fallen on hard times, lost a job or got sick with no health insurance (under age 65 gets little to no help quite often). They try to live on their Social security check after age 65(equivalent to OAP But it's based on what you earned so if you were a minimum wage earner you get a lot less that a high earner) and a lot of time theres too much month left at the end of the money.
Sorry for the essay, poverty here is my biggest peeve about this country and it's everywhere.

TheSecondComing · 25/04/2012 23:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sashh · 26/04/2012 05:08

No running water and no electricity. American benefit system gives food stamps, not cleaning cloths and detergent stamps.

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