Poverty isn’t just a game

[BDBoop]

I sincerely wish this game could teach me something I didn't already know.

I mean if you have to play this game to know what the working poor face on a monthly basis, you have been blessed.

FWIW I went down on the 23rd day thanks to that speeding ticket.

And in my experience, it is usually the unplannable things that happen to us which make it nearly impossible for the working poor to ever get out of working poverty.

Now we all know that the unhappy surprises are inevitable, but preparing for them usually means having money in the bank to be prepared.

Which is basically impossible if your income isn't high enough for you to have disposable income every paycheck after you pay your KNOWABLE BILLS.

I got through the vet, the speeding ticket, and even shopping, because I have been poor and understand how to economize. In real life you can make payments on speeding tickets, you do not have to pay them all at once. In real life you can sleep in the car, get a gym membership, and save the $800 in rent that this scenario forced you to pay up front. The added bonus is you do not have to pay extra for the membership to get exercise.

By presenting these choices as either/or this grossly over simplified the choices people make to save money and better themselves. If anyone learns anything from this it should be that people who design these things are incredibly stupid.

By the way, I did not talk to the union organizer because my experience is that unions make my life worse. I was not afraid to talk to him, why should I be. That blurb that in real life many poor people are afraid to talk to union organizers is bullshit.

The exercise says you are a parent. Would you sleep in the car then?

 

[BDBoop]

I would keep the television, but do without cable, air conditioning a microwave is not necessary and I would take the bus to save on gas, insurance, and car maintenence. I have had to do it before and would do it again if need be..oh and I wouldn't pay over $600 for an apartment either.

You presume that's an option. For me to find an apartment for less than $600, takes me off any form of public transportation. AND supposing my daughter is a child in this reality - puts me in a building I wouldn't feel she was safe in.

Having a child does complicate things. I would have bought more groceries, and different food, if I had known up front I was supposed to be feeding a child. I think the kid starved to death because I spent about $50 bucks on enough to get me through the month.

Yup. I did the same thing. Only spent like 30. We would have been starving in less than two weeks.