13 Ways Being Poor Sucks That You May Not Have Thought About

It has taken over 30 years to get over my deep-seated hatred of Ramen. I suppose I think I should be thanking it for being there when I had no money, but I just can't.  Would you thank your former jailer for jail food?  For about 3-5 months I ate nothing but Ramen. If I was lucky I made deluxe Ramen which means I cut up a hot dog to put in it (because nothing goes together like chicken noodles and hotdog). F@% you Ramen.

When I started in radio, I lived 40 miles away. It was exciting and fun to go work in the big city while my small town friends were drinking beer in the supermarket parking lot. Still, I remember one night quite perfectly when I was driving around and a friend stopped me and asked me if I was headed to the radio station.  I told him that I was almost out of gas and was going to probably quit because I didn't have the money to get there in back. Fortunately he said "you gotta go" and gave me $5.  You see, when you're poor, spending $5 on gas to make $10 that you won't see for two weeks just doesn't seem like that good of a deal.

Yeah, it's the little things. When I was a kid, poor kids had three choices of Halloween costumes. You were either a ghost, a "hobo" or you cross-dressed.  Now, let's look into this. Being a ghost required an old sheet and if you were especially poor, it wasn't even all white. If you were super-super poor, later that night you were sleeping on a sheet that had two eyeholes cut into it.  It's hard to believe but some of us aspired to be a "hobo" for Halloween.  Back in the day the basically meant you were dressed as a homeless person, but you might get some of your moms lipstick on your cheeks to "clown it up a bit".  How about that cross-dressing? Yeah, it's no fun trick or treating when your friends want to play with your t!ts all night.

My family went from seemingly doing alright to pretty damn poor over the space of a few months (maybe it was going on longer, I really don't know).  What I can tell you is four of us lived in a converted garage and slept on army cots. Our only personal space was under the bed. That's it.  I spent A LOT of time out on my skateboard just to be anywhere but there.

I think this one is pretty summed up in the title. They'll say "why did he buy that stupid shirt when he doesn't even have enough money to go to the pool" and things of that nature. They don't know that your job or interview may require it. They don't know what a grind it is day in and day out eating nothing but Ramen that spend a dollar for a cold beer is your equivalent  to a luxury vacation.

"He doesn't hang out anymore", "He thinks he's too good for us".  There comes a point where you have to drop the baggage that's holding you back. You often have to cut some people loose before you can even offer them a hand up. In many cases when you do offer that hand, you'll notice they aren't reaching for it.

Do you know why so many homeless people look overweight? It's simple. The  cheap "food" is all sugar and starches and has near no nutritional value. Then again, you're lucky to have that. Thanks to Brownfield I.S.D. I had a good lunch each day and they'd let us football players hit the line twice (the other guys did it to bulk up, I did it because sometimes it was the only time I ate that day). In addition, dinner at my house was always something called "goulash" which meant, noodles plus whatever crap could be thrown in the pot.

When you're poor, fixing a hole in your tire is a luxury, buying a new tire is something that may set your plans back a couple of months. If your washing machine breaks, not only do you have to scrape up enough money to fix it, you get a double kick in the sack because you have to get money to go to the laundry mat until it's fixed. Boom-your wallet just got hit twice.

Did you see this new t.v. show, or that new movie? Of course you didn't. You might have been lucky enough to have a friend who sneaks you into the drive-in, but back in the day, even drive-ins played the movies 3-6 months after the regular theaters did. I am reminded of that scene in the original Charlie And The Chocolate Factory where they're doing math based on how many Wonka bars every kid has bought and Charlie is just plain lost.

There is an old saying that "A slave doesn't dream of freedom, a slave dreams of being master". It's pretty applicable here.  You tend to not dream of just improving your situation, you want everything and you want it now. You're more susceptible to get rich schemes, playing the lottery and taking big gambles. You've had it so hard for so long that having "enough" isn't enough, you want it all.

"Dates" become "hanging out", if you're lucky. More often that not, even the most gracious of girlfriends will decide that someone with a ride is a bit more attractive that you. This one sucks to bad, I'm not even going to dwell on it anymore.

You haven't eaten in 24 hours and that pack of hot dogs is just about pocket size.  Maybe you're over a friends house and his mom left the pocket change out by the laundry. Maybe some guy "was an assh*le anyway" and left his wallet out in the locker room. You'll think about it, find a way to justify it, and the pleasure of having something in your stomach will make it feel like it was the right thing to do.

Haircuts and deodorant are luxuries. You'll use your sisters deodorant and try to cover up the girly smell with a little mans cologne. Dental care is an afterthought and before you ever go to a doctor you'll hear questions like "how BAD is it bleeding?" before anybody heads to the hospital.