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How do people manage to go hungry in this country?

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darkewaffle said:
Relatively small houses in central PA rent for about $700-800 a month iirc (not including utils), not sure what an apartment alone costs. $400 definitely sounds way understated. I was in Philly for a few years and rent and utils were both way worse as well.
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I'm apartment hunting in Philly right now. You can get apartments for under $500, but they're not in great places and generally not spaces you'd want to live in.
 
xanis said:
I'm apartment hunting in Philly right now. You can get apartments for under $500, but they're not in great places and generally not spaces you'd want to live in.
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Yeh they are in north Philly, don't include utilities and come included with muggings , burgelary , everything else. A decent apartment in northeast Philly will run you around 800 plus utilities. Insurance is expensive as crap for cars, as is everything else in this city. I don't even work in the city and I pay nearly 200 a paycheck just for city wage tax.
 
The real question is WTF do people have children if they can barely buy food and housing for themselves? I'm struggling with the idea of having a child and we are closer to $500/day of income.
 
KentState said:
The real question is WTF do people have children if they can barely buy food and housing for themselves? I'm struggling with the idea of having a child and we are closer to $500/day of income.
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They don't use rubbers is my guess. That and they think they will get help from the state.
 
Let's say two parents are making $8 an hour. All these numbers are just guesses.

$2500/month before taxes
$600/month for rent
$100/month for electric, gas, and water
$500/month for a car/insurance/gas (you're poor, you're not paying cash for that heap, you've got a high interest rate loan from a sleazy used "bad credit" lot, you live in a dump so your insurance is high, and you've probably got some regular repairs happening)
$500/month for food, toiletries, and other necessities (diapers, clothing, whatever)
$800/month for daycare maybe?

Already down to nothing left for the month and you haven't even paid taxes yet. I think some of those estimates could be low or high depending on the situation, but you get the picture. Oh, and you don't have insurance at your crappy job, so you're one sick kid or major car repair away from being in big trouble, since there is zero saving happening. Payday loan time, and you're done.
 
I don't know anyone paying 4-500 for rent unless they have roommates or live down south maybe. No way its that cheap unless you are in a shady area.
 
I live in the Southern part of the US (one of the lowest cost of living place) and a decent 1 br apt is way over $400/month as OP stated. At least in the upper $500 to $700 range per month for a decent place.
 
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Your numbers are way off.

Here in Arlington VA, a terrible 1 bedroom is $1400+. You might be able to find a tiny efficiency for $1100 if you really look hard.

You basically need a car, because living near a metro stop will increase your rent by $200+. So add another $250 for a car, and another $100/month for car insurance.

Do you have a phone? They are basically a necessity these days, so add another $50-$100 per month. Internet or cable TV? Add another $60-$150.

We haven't even touched food and we are at $1100+$250+$100+$50+$60 for bare minimums in a tiny terrible apartment, $1560/month.

Do you work for minimum wage? Nope? Then you probably have another $200 or so in student loans.

Do you wear clothes? Even if you don't care a bit about fashion and even if you don't need to dress up for work, just due to normal wear you are going to need to add another $20+/month overall for clothing expenses.

Do you ever buy any books, or music, or have any entertainment expenses at all? $40/month being modest, lets you buy maybe one or two games.

Do you need a computer? Even if you aren't a gamer, computers are usually at least $500, and will probably need to be replaced every 5 years or so to stay current, so add another $10/months.

$1830/month now. Still no food.

Do you have a kitchen at work? A refrigerator? If not, you have to eat out if you want lunch, add another $6/day or $120/month.


It's not as cheap as you make it out to be.
 
Lol 200 total student loans? Lucky I pay about 800 total in just student loans. One giant parent plus loan, the rest are smaller fafsa loans. Unlike my friends who's parents just ponied up the money I have to pay it back and even good grades didn't get me shit. Should have studied over seas.
 
Chiropteran said:
Your numbers are way off.

Here in Arlington VA, a terrible 1 bedroom is $1400+. You might be able to find a tiny efficiency for $1100 if you really look hard.

You basically need a car, because living near a metro stop will increase your rent by $200+. So add another $250 for a car, and another $100/month for car insurance.

Do you have a phone? They are basically a necessity these days, so add another $50-$100 per month. Internet or cable TV? Add another $60-$150.

We haven't even touched food and we are at $1100+$250+$100+$50+$60 for bare minimums in a tiny terrible apartment, $1560/month.

Do you work for minimum wage? Nope? Then you probably have another $200 or so in student loans.

Do you wear clothes? Even if you don't care a bit about fashion and even if you don't need to dress up for work, just due to normal wear you are going to need to add another $20+/month overall for clothing expenses.

Do you ever buy any books, or music, or have any entertainment expenses at all? $40/month being modest, lets you buy maybe one or two games.

Do you need a computer? Even if you aren't a gamer, computers are usually at least $500, and will probably need to be replaced every 5 years or so to stay current, so add another $10/months.

$1830/month now. Still no food.

Do you have a kitchen at work? A refrigerator? If not, you have to eat out if you want lunch, add another $6/day or $120/month.


It's not as cheap as you make it out to be.
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Lol you are retarded. When I first moved out at 19, I was living quite fine on 1200/Month by myself. Granted, it does look like I'm slightly better at managing money than you.
 
It's a combination of you being delusional with your cost of living numbers, and just stating "It should be easy to make x amount of money" and believing it. You are also leaving out the cost of addiction (junk food, drugs, cable/internet, etc.)

As stated in this thread there are numerous reasons people manage to go hungry. You either have a very narrow point of view or limited exposure to "the real world" if you can't see the reasons all around you.
 
Because of night life. Spending your money on geek toys versus going out and getting pussy makes a huge difference on how you budget. But some people will never get it.
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Say that you're healthy and don't have any medical bills.

Your rent is $400 a month. That's ~$14 a day.

I've been able to eat well and nutritiously on $5 a day (for example, buy a whole chicken at $1.50 a pound, buy some rice, cheap veggies, make a big ol' chicken stew).

So $19 a day on living expenses. $5 a day for food. Unless you're absolutely unemployed, how do you not have enough for a good diet?

Say that you've got a family of 4. Mother, father, 2 kids. That'd be maybe $15 a day for food. Two adults should be able to get that much each day, surely, right?

Replace the chicken with some grains, beans, or other vegetables and you can go even cheaper.

So I'm thinking it's a problem of people just not knowing what foods to buy and how to cook?
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Heroin
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
You could get a car for $250 a month. That's an extra $8.33 a day.
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Maybe you have to pay for a car in cash because your credit rating isn't that good to qualify for a loan of $250/mn. And that doesn't cover gas and insurance. Its basically a hurdle to be able to live a decent middle class lifestyle in America.

And going back to food, even if you could find cheap good food at a corner store, you still need enough time to cook the food or have to eat out.
 
About the rent thing. If you don't live in "the big city" $400 in rent is easily doable. I live in a small town 26k population and before buying we rented a 2 bedroom newly remodeled apartment for $425/mo. Central air, storage space, new everything.

Also there are jobs everywhere here. All these people whining on the news that they can't find work... Can't find it my ass, don't want to look or re-locate is more realistic. Got used to living for free off of us real tax payers, now people are lazy.

Just Say'in.
 
Ben90 said:
Lol you are retarded. When I first moved out at 19, I was living quite fine on 1200/Month by myself. Granted, it does look like I'm slightly better at managing money than you.
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Than me? Are you really assuming that I posted my own financial information?

Congrats on moving out at 19, huge accomplishment. When was this? Where did you live? I have no doubt that you can get far on $1200 in the ghetto.
 
Chiropteran said:
Than me? Are you really assuming that I posted my own financial information?

Congrats on moving out at 19, huge accomplishment. When was this? Where did you live? I have no doubt that you can get far on $1200 in the ghetto.
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2012-8-15-elvis_presley_1960s.jpg


And his mother cried...
 
Anubis said:
lol my friends morgage on his house is 400$ a month
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my "mortgage" is $400. to bad i also pay $450 tax and $89 insurance with it lol

when i got my divorce i looked at 3 bedroom apartments thinking it would be cheaper. Nope. they are $1200 a month heh
 
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