Poor people habits.

[∞]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/

Kind of creeped me out.

[NewLeft]

Don't have any of those habits..

I pick up pennies..

[Fawkes]

"bean counter" and "excessive presents" are the only ones really true for me.

[Ele'ill]

Malt, Ramen, Like a G6

without reading anything

[Fawkes]

counting calories on food to get whatever has the most

[Leftsolidarity]

counting calories on food to get whatever has the most

^Hell yeah.

Protectiveness of food.

I was at my friend's house and his dad was like:
"My wife just took away my knife cuz I stabbed her in the hand"
Me: "Why the fuck did you do that?"
Him: "She grabbed at my food"
Him: "I don't feel that bad though cuz last year I got a steak knife in the gut for trying to get her food"

Not normal I know. I just know that (at least I do) when money is tight and you're used to that, you get very protective over food.

[citizen of industry]

Only spending short term in mind, going overboard on presents, spending extra money right goddamned now, and a taste for shitty food (I know exactly what the tv dinner in the pic tastes like - exactly.) Yep sounds like me. Good thing my wife controls the finances and doles me out spending money.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

Yep. Wow. I don't know whether to laugh or feel depressed.


Only spending short term in mind, going overboard on presents, spending extra money right goddamned now, and a taste for shitty food (I know exactly what the tv dinner in the pic tastes like - exactly.) Yep sounds like me. Good thing my wife controls the finances and doles me out spending money.
I saw it, thought of the way the corn tasted like corn-flavored cardboard ... the mashed potatoes that also taste like cardboard, but the edges get burned in the microwave and stick to the plastic so you get pissed that you can't eat the 'full serving' of mashed potatoes ... the rubbery chicken that looks like it should be crispy, yet you feel cheated because it's not .... and the god damn brownie that's always too fucking hot (or really, really dry) and burns your tongue.

Yep. Now I'm hungry.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Yup,sounds like me :cool:

[ВАЛТЕР]

Eating cereal with a fork to save milk...

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Eating cereal with a fork to save milk...

I do that anyway-fuck spoons! :cursing:
lol
- - - - - -

Eating cereal dry without any milk... something I did often in my youth because we had no milk.

[dodger]

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/

Kind of creeped me out.

I did not know whether to laugh or cry reading your link oo. Perhaps it is time now to stop following my daughter around the house and switching lights off, after her. She is 20yrs of age, better to admit defeat. Or is it?? she and her new hubby had their first marital row, in their new home. Livid he quietly confided in me, she is becoming a scold, harridan, in short a nag. Obsessed about electrical devices left on. I said go with the flow, let her be, at least she is not nagging about the X-box you bought. Yes my parental skills have been questioned, as I light my pipe, all the doubts evaporated. What a chip off the old block. A salt. I pray her hubby realizes what a gem he has found. I don't know where she gets it from. Though she should not nag her beau, no man loves a nagger. Must have got the nagging side from Wifey, could not possibly been from me.

Licking plates......though I never do it eating out...unless nobody is looking.
Used to collect up all the old discarded pieces of soap and boil them up into one bar. My ingrate family staged a strike refused to use it, just because of one tiny little hair embedded in the block. Hasn't stopped me! Though it is hidden away when we have visitors. Is there any law against grey soap? Jeeze.

[Ele'ill]

Being able to cope with losing teeth

[Misanthrope]

I don't like humor that reminds me of how god damned materialist the world is.

[Quail]

I have the not knowing how to deal with large amounts of money thing, the buying food that lasts for ages thing (although I actually have enough dried lentils, beans, etc. stashed away to feed myself for months now, but I only use them when I've run out of money for veg and tinned stuff) and the buying with the short term in mind thing.

[Ele'ill]

Running the barely running car out of gas; frequently. Public bathroom sink showers at work with one legit shower a week. Thermal bib overalls in the winter time are as central as heating gets.

[MotherCossack]

i consider my worst poor persons habit.. is thinking...
i am shit...
my life is shit...
i am not as good as everyone else...
other people think i am a boring joke...
i am an irritating social catastrophe...
no-one could ever take me seriously... or expect anything from me.

in a nutshell i lack confidence and self esteem...did anyone notice?!

Conversely though, i detest, loathe and despise [is that even possible... or do they all mean the same thing?? ] arrogant,privileged, posh, and entirely without any self doubt, people, [especially youthful ones] especially when they do things like jump to the front of a queue that you have been in for ages, presume to whisper something to the teacher, in whose line you are stewing (lets say it is open evening....)
yeah.... oh... whisper ... in the teachers ear , smile, act like they are so superior equal then depart.... with a dismissive smile at the common folk in the queue... that they have just ignored.
no inner doubts, anywhere... just does not occur to them.
well i hate it...

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Eating cereal with a fork to save milk...
I don't even eat cereal with milk...
Seriously, I don't.

[Fawkes]

Public bathroom sink showers at work with one legit shower a week.
"Showering" with deodorant = +1



- Putting make up on heavy so it lasts for multiple days
- Sleeping/fucking/masturbating to avoid hunger
- Cutting your own hair with your bathroom mirror, a mirror fragment you found on the sidewalk, and scissors from work (or maybe that's just me)
- Buying used clothes and dying them the color you want
- Finding more and more creative ways to make torn shoe laces function
- Carefully studying everything you find on the sidewalk to see if it could be of use to you
- Lathering up soap as shaving creme
- Cold showers replace a/c
- Using lipstick as face paint (:blushing:)
- Treating a robbery/mugging situation as if your life depended on it rather than just handing over whatever you have







and lastly: shoplifting

[MarxSchmarx]

Drinking alcohol at home for your entertainment. For the price of a movie theater show I can buy two bottles of liquor.

MotherCossack I think what you describe is not just poor people, many financially well to do people have the same problems you identify. I think poverty exacerbates it to some extent, but you need to find a way to create value in yourself, this is one of the real reasons I think religion appeals disporportionately to poor people.

Although I can def. relate to the food stuff, particularly developing a taste for awful food and the counting calories for food thing. As a student I often thought of food I bought in terms of calories per unit cost and continue to feel vaguely ripped off if I pay for food and don't feel stuffed.

[∞]

I look like Madonna.

[MotherCossack]

MotherCossack I think what you describe is not just poor people, many financially well to do people have the same problems you identify. I think poverty exacerbates it to some extent, but you need to find a way to create value in yourself, this is one of the real reasons I think religion appeals disporportionately to poor people.
are you saying i am just a sad fucker who just happens to be poor?
hmmm.... i s'pose. no.... maybe...
i think there are some universal rules...

poor folk tend to have low self esteem... how that manifests does depend on other factors...
-some do as i have, lose confidence and blame all things on own self.
- others do the opposite. act like an invincable dude and if anything goes wrong, blame the world.

there is also other stuff at play:
- self-destructive tendencies.
- the addictive gene.
- parental influence.
-sibling rivalry.

the bottom line is everyone is a bowl of soup.... a very different bowl of soup.... each with different ingredients, cooked differently,

no... actually... we're wine.... no cheese... no... wait... we're.... what the f--k are we?

good question! what food or drink do we resemble most?
DISCUSS!!!

[Jimmie Higgins]

I don't like humor that reminds me of how god damned materialist the world is.The world is materialist by definition. Things like religion or ideals are immaterial.

I can't say I grew up food-stamp poor, more like two working parents constantly in debt poor. Or, you know, what the Simpsons brilliantly called the upper lower middle class. So the food stuff doesn't really apply to my childhood.

However, my whole adult life of living paycheck to paycheck has definitely trained me to pick up most if not all of the habits on that list.

[Shotgun Opera]

I can relate to a lot of that except the food.

I deliberately go out of my way to avoid the crappy stereotypical poor people food in favor of healthier food. As a consequence I can get less food and go hungry more often, but I'd rather do that then load myself up with that garbage.

The clothing is the part I've always found bewildering. People who say "Oh yeah I've got like 50 pairs of jeans!" Wtf? You've only got one ass, what do you need 50 pairs of jeans for? Or the people who are proud of only having to do laundry once a month because they have so many clothes. I shop at Goodwill and similar stores and even then only when I really need a particular piece of clothing or my jeans have holes in the ass too big to ignore anymore.

One instinct I'm noticing more of is the desire not to throw anything away. EVERYTHING finds a second use in my place. Got an empty box? BAM! Now you have a laptop stand. Empty mayo jar? BAM! Instant sauce holder. Gift bags? BAM! Instant garbage bag (And you dont have to blow money on the plastic ones). My first instinct now upon ending up with garbage is to look at the item and wonder what else I could use it for.

Appliances cause the real head trip though. I lived with a couple who loved their kitchen gizmos and there was a device on the counter that I just could not recognize and had no idea what it's function was. I studied it for several minutes and couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was. After a while, one of them came by and told me it was an electric can opener....why do you need an electric can opener (that cost $15) when I can go down to the dollar store and for 50 cents, buy a hand can opener that works just as good? They had a lot of those little kitchen things that I just couldn't understand.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Shelves? Oh you mean those things rich people use instead of milk crates and empty Amazon.com boxes?