When you open your wallet and nothing comes out but dust, you know you're poor.

I was reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the poor have certainly come a long way since that time. The mom had at least four meals she could make from the loaves of stale bread that they bought for next to nothing.

I love fried bologna sandwiches. Somehow they became a sentimental reminder of my poor childhood. The thing is that at that time I didn't even know we were poor. But I don't think I've ever had to have ketchup soup.

Just eat lots of pasta. It's cheap and good.

It sounds to me like you know very well how to "make do" with what you have on hand!  That's, imho, a way of living that is wonderful!

I think that once you get past the "obvious number indicators" and the statistics,  "being poor" is a state of mind!

I've had nothing, in the way of belongings, no place to live, no job, and I've considered myself rich!

There's the awesome stars that illuminate the midnight blue sky at night,  a sun to heat our earth,  lakes to swim in,  wildlife to observe,  people that are happy to help others, and so much if we just pause to consider it for a moment.

Yes,  I know, we have war, world hunger, disease,  and so much that is horribly wrong and sad.  All we can do is acknowledge it and try to help however we can.  In doing that,  we are truly rich.

Now I'll get down off my soap box!  

Make SPAM Musubi, a big favorite here in the islands:

Square of sushi rice (recipes abound on the net, you'll need sushi rice vinegar, rice, and sugar)

SPAM (Sliced about 1/4 inch thick, maybe splash on some terriyaki sauce, then fry it up)

Top the sushi rice with the SPAM, and secure it with a strip of nori (seaweed)



SPAM isn't cheap around here, though.

Well at least I am at the point that no longer, the only pair of shoes I had were a ragged duct tapped together pair of sneakers. I literally think that was all that was holding them together. I've been to almost homeless I lived in a place smaller than a studio appartment and literally tried to live with practically no cash to my name. At least now I have a pair of good winter boots a necessity up north where I live and a good pair of sneakers and a lot of thirfty store clothing. I'm already got the open the wallet and nothing but lint is there.

Do you blog from the library/someone's house? How is it that you have internet?

I was reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and the poor have certainly come a long way since that time. The mom had at least four meals she could make from the loaves of stale bread that they bought for next to nothing.

That was my mom!  And I love Spam! (as do my sons who have never been poor).

I got the cheapest Intenet around I think I only pay $9.95 a month, but I also deal with the fact it is dial-up. My computer is the slowest in the land being around 7 years old and only has a 12.6 GB hard drive. I know egad is hardly the right term.

You know you're poor when you have to learn Spanish to read the ingredient labels of the food you buy! LOL (seriously, though...one of my rules of thumb to living cheaply is buy the foods the Mexicans buy).

I feel you. My wallet spends most of it time with old recepts, supermarket cards and business cards I pick up everywhere I go. Money spends less than a week in it.

I know when I'm poor when there are 4 of us but only enough food for 3. As long as my kids eat, I don't mind skipping a meal once in a while. I'm thankful that my kids are big fans of those cheap soup packs that cost about $.20 and the cups that cost about $.50. It's not that I'm always cheap, they just like them. Go figure.

I think that once you get past the "obvious number indicators" and the statistics, "being poor" is a state of mind!

That's what I always say. I'm here because of my lack of effort and my lack of knowing why I don't try harder. I guess in my mind I do try hard, really hard and at the same time I don't try hard enough.

I've had nothing, in the way of belongings, no place to live, no job, and I've considered myself rich!

Same here. I have always seen it as no matter how bad it has been for me, there are others who are worse. I have been lucky enough to avoid living in the streets. My family and my wifes family may not give usall the help in the world but they would never let us live on the streets either.

Do you blog from the library/someone's house? How is it that you have internet?

I know this was not to me but, I'm using the library. There is no phone at my mother-in-laws house so I go to the library. Besides, I get too look at books and other stuff as well.

I got the cheapest Intenet around I think I only pay $9.95 a month, but I also deal with the fact it is dial-up.

I haven't had DSL in over 4 years. Dial-up was my only friend.

My computer is the slowest in the land being around 7 years old and only has a 12.6 GB hard drive. I know egad is hardly the right term.

My PC was what I considered a really good of the very slow PC's. I have another PC now thanks to a great person on this site. Not as fast as mine was but it still does the job. At this point even your PC would make my day. I was so board without a PC for a month and thanks to DrGuy I'm living large again.

Well in the upgraded modern age and from what I've read in computer magazines I borrow from the library. I found out the following a fairly good computer has a 20GB hard drive. The basic hard drive one will need to possibably be upgrade to MS Vista in the future is a 40GB hard drive, but a majority of computer experts recomend the 80 GB hard drive. For those gamers and computer geeks out there that have money to spluge there are ever very expensive top of the line computers with hard drives with 100 GB or more. I was very fortunate to be in collage and was able to apply for a grant for my curent computer and even then the only reasn I was even considered elligible (other then income), is the fact my major was computer studies. By the way I also borrow DVD's, CD's, books and other things the library carries it is the only way I can afford to see a movie that has come out in the last year and listen to any music I don't already have.

Actually I know a couple of Vietnese phrases and some Danish as well as Bosnian. I lived in a very diverse building and learned that from the neighbors.

got the cheapest Intenet around I think I only pay $9.95 a month, but I also deal with the fact it is dial-up. My computer is the slowest in the land being around 7 years old and only has a 12.6 GB hard drive. I know egad is hardly the right term.

I cut my teeth on DOS and a 286 (I worked with 8088s and 8086s).  And when we got a 2400 baud modem, wow!

But yea, 7 years is long in the tooth.  Still, for word processing and Internet surfing, it is ok (the dial up even at 56k still sucks tho).

Oh yes my Old friend DOS. Don't laugh in 1999 I was programing 386's and 486's in DOS and worked with Window's 3.1. I didn't even see a computer with MS Windows 95 until the year 2000. I got my computer for school shortly after that and that had Windows 98 up until a year ago, when a computer genius friend I had helped me get it updated to 98 and added memory to it. It didn't cost much considerering the cost of even a Dell now days I got it upgraded and everthing for less then $300. I saved for several months just so I could upgrade. However I fear some day I may have to save for 2 or 3 years and consider getting a new computer. Maybe in 2009. I'm considering it, but I know I'll have to start saving now even to get one then!! I even remember Z 80 chips,the Wang and Appple IIIe's, as well as the very first MAC. Ok now I'm really showing my gray hair and age.

If I recall correctly my first computer had an 8088 processor.