POVERTY THEORY

Giving Money to Beggars and Homeless People

2011-08-18T04:33:00.000-07:00

Giving Money to Beggars and Homeless People

Dates That Don't Cost A Lot of Money

2010-05-08T00:59:00.000-07:00

Poverty Theory

2009-03-25T05:52:00.001-07:00

Prepaid Cell Phone Plans: Why and When They're Better Than Pay-As-You-Go Plans
For subscribers who want a little flexibility and the best deal, a prepaid plan is often the best choice.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1054805/prepaid_cell_phone_plans_why_and_when.html

Eating On A $25 A Week Budget

2008-12-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

Not long ago someone asked how she could eat on less than $25 a week. Here are my thoughts on how I'd approach that problem. (It wouldn't be a good long-term diet, but it would get a person through a couple of bad weeks.)

If I were trying to do that I'd skim of $5 for a couple of coffees out each week (or one dollar menu sandwich and drink) - just some little treat and break from home food.

Then, with the $20 I'd probably buy a dozen eggs (about a dollar thirty)(scrambled or fried eggs, egg sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, etc.)

I'd buy a store brand margarine (for cooking the eggs and other things, maybe for adding to toast)
A small store brand mayo.
A small store brand mustard.
A store brand peanut butter.
A dollar-sized Parmesan cheese.
These basics should come to about $6.
(You probably wouldn't have to buy these every week, so I'll factor that in at the end of this. Mustard lasts forever. Mayo goes a long way. Margarine lasts forever. Peanut butter would probably go for a few weeks. The parmesan cheese may have to be purchased each week, depending).

A loaf of bread (anywhere from $1 to just under $4) (Sandwiches, toast) If you decide you won't spend top-price for the bread you can get a store brand one for about $2. Whole grain bread is nutritionally better than white.

Now you're up to approximately $9.

I may buy about $3 worth of tuna (the small, no-drain, foil packs are about a dollar each), or two cans may come to around $3 (but give you more than one serving)

$12 at this point.

I'd buy $2 worth of American cheese (Kraft and Land O' Lakes are about that for 16 individually wrapped slices, but you could get $2 worth of the thin-sliced at the deli too).

$14 at this point.

I'd probably buy two boxes of store brand pasta (about 1.50, I think - maybe 2.00 total). Rice is cheap, if you don't like pasta or if you'd want to buy both instead of two boxes of pasta. Brown rice is nutritionally better than white.

Tiny cans of tomato sauce (some with garlic and/or herbs) are about 60 cents.

At this point, it's up to (maybe $17).

I'd buy a 1.39 quart of orange juice (or a can of frozen to mix)
A head of lettuce.
One or two tomatos
A quart of milk (although if you drink coffee and use half and half or cream, that could work with any dishes needing milk or cream).

These last few things would bring the total up to about $22 (but if you either skim from that $5 you first skimmed, or factor in that you shouldn't need mayonnaise or peanut butter every week)that could make up for the extra $3 (that $17 plus the final approximate $5 at the end wouldn't allow for the $5 skimming at the beginning.)

I'd probably aim to add a bag of frozen vegetables each week, because you can take a few but leave the rest frozen. Suppose you kept carrots, snap peas, and broccoli in the freezer - those could be added to meals. Canned lima beans, canned carrots, and canned peas make good additions to meals too. If one week you bought one or two vegetables and another week you bought another one or two, you could build up a little stockpile for when you wanted them.

You may also to substitute a vegetable with a couple of apples or other fruits.

Also, you would need to have on hand salt, pepper, sugar (sweetener) or honey if you use them. You'd have to trade out some of the other things to get these; but these aren't items that get used up fast. If you set aside the money to, at the beginning of your "program", stock up on whichever of these basics you use, you wouldn't have to get them all at once in any one given week.

You'd have to trade one thing for another on the list (maybe a box of pasta, something from the "not-every-week" list, or doing without a coffee out) - but for under $2 you can usually get a box of store brand tea. For about $3 you can get store brand coffee. These aren't things you'd buy every week, so a little juggling would have to be done.

With the above stuff, you'd have a pretty good balance of nutrition - considering you'd only be spending that much and aren't going to be eating lavishly.

You could have peanut butter sandwiches, peanut butter or margarine on toast. You could also have:

Pasta or rice with vegetables, a basic salad or salad with tuna, pasta with a little tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese or pasta with a "faux" Alfredo type sauce on it. Tuna sandwiches, tuna in a tomato, tuna melts (with the cheese and bread). You could make cheese toast (paremesan cheese, margarine, and bread). Lettuce and tomato sandwiches. A little orange juice with breakfast. Tea or coffee with other meals. Microwaved lettuce, tomato, and cheese sandwiches.

Other substitutions: For about $3 you can get something like prepared chicken chunks or Healthy Choice (or other) deli meats. There are the canned and foil-packet salmon and other meats and/or fish for not much money. They could be substitutions for protein. A few pieces of chicken added to pasta or rice go a long way.

Since you don't like vegetables you could switch some of those with a couple of cans of vegetable juice (to get your servings without having to eat them). The cost for a big bottle would come to around the same as buying a few different vegetables in one shot.

There's also the store brand saltines with something like spread cheese, sliced cheese, tuna, or whatever you like on them. They can make a light meal. Also, store brand waffles or pancakes tend to be less than $2 for a bunch of them.

That's kind of what I have for off-the-top-of-the-head ideas. Basically, if you stay away from the meat counter and the prepared frozen meals there are a lot of cheap ways to put meals together.)

Gifts - When It's TRULY The Thought That Counts

2008-11-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some ideas on super-inexpensive gifts for when - REALLY - it's the thought that counts:

When the gift recipients will be family or friends (rather than, say, professional colleagues) it truly is the thought that counts. Family and friends understand the financial situation of those who struggle with finances. (If you have professional colleagues to whom you plan to give gifts chances are you also have the money to buy an appropriate one.)

Bear in mind that these suggestions are for the truly financially challenged (such as students, low-income individuals, unemployed people, and the unemployed), and remember that the future gift recipients really do understand the situation and don't want someone who is struggling to try to buy "better" gifts.

1. Gifts that have been created by the giver are always very nice. If you're able to paint, something like simple watercolor artworks on mats make a really nice gift. If you're not an artist but are able to make anything with materials from a crafts store or discount store's crafts department that's nice too. WalMart has a crafts department and sells unpainted wood cut-outs out of which wall-hangings can be made. The small bottles of paint sell for under fifty cents each.

One or two stems of artificial flowers can be taken apart and arranged attractively on the painted wall-hanging. Ribbon for decorating and/or hanging or stick-on flowers and other stick-ons are also available. Hangers can be found either in the crafts, framing, stationery or curtain-rod departments. While a glue gun and glue stick are always best, extremely inexpensive glue can be found in the stationery department for under a dollar.

For the beading-inclined, crafts departments have all kinds of beads that can easily be strung to make gifts for girls (over six years old or so) and women.

2. Dollar Stores and Discount Stores (like WalMart) offer a variety of items that can be pretty, attractive or useful. Stores like these often offer a variety of basic glass vases, which, in themselves, are often handy to have. For the person who has a little skill with a paintbrush, painting these basic vases can turn something basic into something very special.

These stores usually offer inexpensive photo albums, things like desk accessories, or tools. While inexpensive tools aren't what a professional would want, the person who has no tools in his car's trunk may appreciate a few basic screwdrivers, wrenches and/or flashlights. Often found in stores like this are standard knit ski caps and basic little knit gloves in all colors. Things like umbrellas or scarves can also be extremely inexpensive. There are also "gift-y" items like scented candles and candle accessories. Picture frames (especially with your photo or painting in it) make nice gifts. These stores often have holiday or year-round mugs, which could be filled with candy or nuts and wrapped Easter-basket style with colored, see-through paper and a ribbon tie.

Discount stores often offer rather pretty costume jewelry, but even gift shops often offer nice looking costume jewelry for under fifteen dollars. With inexpensive costume jewelry simpler is usually better, and staying away from large, fake stones is always a good idea (unless, of course, you know that the recipient likes huge, fake, stones). Simple pieces without "gems" or with only tiny ones are usually the nicest. Also available in discount stores and gift shops are keychains, coaster sets, and other smaller gifts such as sports-team associated bottle openers, hats, keychains, Teddy Bears, or mugs.

Discount and dollar stores often sell calendars for very little. Placemats, potholders, and placemat/potholder sets make nice little gifts. So do table-runners and doilies. Stores like these offer two-dollar calculators (although you have to hunt out the ones that don't look like they cost that), dollar FM radios that fit in a pocket or purse, super-cheap headphones or earbuds (for the person who could use an extra pair and doesn't care whether they're top-of-the-line).

Sometimes a shopper can find super-cheap books or CD's at these stores. Small-sized scents, moisturizers, and other bath products from well known companies are often available, and sometimes unknown companies offer these products in pretty packages/bottles. (Many lesser known companies offer products that have a nice scent.)

For the gift recipient who also struggles, sometimes a pretty gift bag full of things the recipient really needs makes the perfect gift. Does s/he need office or school supplies? Kitchen items? Bathroom items? Personal products? Gadgets? Would a selection of teas, candy, cookies, coffees or cheeses be something the recipient would like? Keep in mind that discount department stores and drug stores also offer some fairly nice holiday gift packages priced at ten dollars and under. Hunting carefully can often help the shopper find that particularly nice gift package that's just a little more appealing than some of the not-so-great ones. At holiday time candy is often packaged in special tins. So is popcorn.

These stores often offer fairly nice looking (but cheap) glass plates, bowls, glasses, juice decanters, or even wine glasses. Not all gift recipients are looking for Lenox items. Holiday time often brings sales on things like coffee makers, toasters and irons. Other kitchen/food gadgets are also usually available for under fifteen dollars. For the shopper who knows someone who needs a cell phone or Ipod case, these stores often offer very inexpensive but reasonably nice looking cases.

Toys for babies under two are usually quite inexpensive. Bibs and cute little undershirts are also available for babies. So are Golden Books (often sold at places like supermarkets). Coloring books, paint-with-water books, activity books and crayons make nice little gifts for children. Generally, the toy department at a discount store offers toys, books, craft sets, and other items for children between five and twelve.

Regardless of the age of the recipient, small stuffed animals are usually available at discount department stores, discount drug stores, and dollar stores. At holiday time there are often pretty porcelain, collector-type, dolls in a variety of sizes.

Sometimes a shopper may find a pretty slip or camisole as a gift for women. There are also trinket boxes, make-up cases (or sets of cases), and tote bags. Some men may appreciate a good package of their favorite kind of socks, a shaving set, or some thermal gloves. There are manicure sets for both genders. Also, don't overlook pretty soap dishes or handcream dispensers, high-quality ice scrapers or snow shovels meant to be kept in cars, or inexpensive throws (blanket-type) to be kept on a sofa or bed or in a car for emergencies. Boxes of notecards also make a nice but inexpensive gift. Small plants in attractive pots make nice gifts for the right person as well. A bunch of fresh cut flowers from the supermarket (either wrapped by the florist department or placed in an inexpensive vase) is a small but nice gift under some circumstances.

Sometimes inexpensive, but particularly appropriate, Christmas ornaments can be found. There are often also knick-knack items that may be particularly right for certain people.

3. For those in the AT&T Wireless area AT&T's website often offers prepaid, refurbished (but with a limited warranty) cell phones for under twenty dollars. These prepaid phones come with ten dollars' time on them, so when AT&T is offering a refurbished phone for ten dollars the shopper gets the phone and the time for his ten dollars. The gift recipient must, of course, pay at least fifteen dollars a month to keep the service on (although s/he will have 60 days before the account is closed).

4. Don't forget edible gifts that you put together yourself. There are easy-to-make fudge recipes, as well as easy-to-make cookie, coffee cake, and banana-nut breads. If baking from scratch is not possible Pillsbury offers quickbread mixes (date, banana, carrot, pumpkin, lemon poppy, apple, and others) at less than two dollars a mix. These mixes require eggs, shortening, vegetable oil, any add-ins one prefers, loaf pans (disposable foil loaf pans in packages of three or individually are available) and a mixing bowl. Mixing up several different kinds of quickbreads and presenting them on a pretty (and inexpensive) holiday plate or in a holiday tin makes an inexpensive gift. When they're presented on a plate or in a tin they can be cut into small slices. These breads can also be presented unsliced and wrapped attractively.

Party stores, as well as discount and dollar stores, usually carry plastic, "cut-glass-looking" plates, trays, and other dishes for inexpensive but attractive presentation of foods. Inexpensive baskets can also often be found, especially at holiday time. Fruit baskets or fruit trays can easily be made by adding (of course) fruit and wrapping. Unsliced fruit will last longer, although slicing/cutting it works better on trays.

5. Gift cards and gift certificates are available from most retailers and start with denominations of ten dollars (although fast-food places may offer five-dollar books of gift certificates). Whether its a book store, WalMart, Dunkin Donuts, CVS or McDonalds, these cards can make useful gifts for some people. Students who use prepaid phone service may appreciate a few dollars on a phone card (that is, of course, from their service provider).

Many of the above gifts can be mixed and matched and included in a gift bag of assorted gifts. A gift bag with things like a small box of notecards, some scented candles, a pretty keychain, and a trial size package of some personal product the recipient is known to use makes a nice gift.

When the recipient understands the giver's financial situation giving a card with the gift is often not necessary. Gift tags with a few extra words on them will do the job. When a greeting card is important it isn't necessary to pay three dollars for one. Dollar stores, discount stores, and supermarkets often offer cards for less. Making a card is also nice. Its also not necessary to pay top dollar for wrapping paper, gift bags, tissue paper, tape or ribbons. These items, too, can be found at dollar stores for very little money.

Finally, regardless of one's religion (or lack of it), keep in mind the words from the Christmas song, "The Little Drummer Boy", in which the drummer boy says, "I have no gift to bring....that's fit to give a king....shall I play for Him on my drum?"

Finding Holiday Spirit When the Spirit and Your Budget Don't Move You

2008-11-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

Whether Christmas holds a religious meaning for you, or whether your focus is on family, tradition, and that warm, peace-on-Earth approach, there are times when it can be a real challenge to feel even a shred of Christmas spirit.

For every family that gets to enjoy a festive Christmas with all the trimmings there are many more who simply don't have the money for such a Christmas. Whether or not money is an issue, there are many people who live alone and don't see the need to try to create some Christmas atmosphere. There are also those times when someone is sick or when people have had recent loss and can't imagine bothering with Christmas. Some of these people will have fond memories of Christmas seasons that "felt like Christmas". Others may have never experienced the feeling.

Regardless of circumstances, its just kind of nice when people don't feel that the Christmas season is for others but not for them. For people who need to create a Christmas for children (even grown ones) or elderly family members finding a way to create a little Christmas atmosphere is particularly important. How, though, can the person with limited means or limited energy muster up what it takes to create some Christmas atmosphere in the home? Its really not that difficult or expensive. The world is full of magazines that tell readers how to have a beautiful Christmas when energy and money are in abundance (or at least not stretched to the limit). The following ideas on making the Christmas season feel a little more like Christmas are for those who are stretched to the limit, whether that's when it comes to money, physical stamina, or emotional energy.

Must-Haves Whether You'll Eat Them or Not

Gingerbread Men: During the Christmas season every home should have a plate of gingerbread men and a bowl of candy canes out somewhere. Li'l Debbie has boxes of eight wrapped gingerbread men for just over one dollar. If you're able to make gingerbread that is, of course, even better. (4 pkgs x 1.39)

Candy Canes: Boxes of a dozen candy canes are also available for about a dollar or less. Traditional peppermint canes are the most Christmas-y. Besides being put out on display to create a little atmosphere, both gingerbread men and candy canes make inexpensive, traditional and charming tree decorations if you will have a tree. Sure, your taste may lean toward fine baked goods and elegant ornaments from a gift shop, but when you're stretched to the limit you sometimes need to go with what is simply Christmas-y and traditional. (3 pkgs x 1.00)

Must-Haves Whether They're Your Taste or Not

Balsam Christmas Wreath with a Red Bow for Your Front Door: Your first preference may not be the basic balsam wreath. Maybe you don't even like them. They are, however, easy to find and inexpensive. Decorating your door with one of these will leave more money to be spent on something else. Whether you like them or don't, they're Christmas-y and traditional. (Also, they smell like Christmas.) (About $5)

Window candles and extra bulbs: Traditional, plastic, window candles are extremely inexpensive. You may not be able to (or want to) put one in every window in your house, but put one (or a multi-bulb candelabra - also inexpensive) in the windows of the room where you'll spend most of your time. (3 or 4: $6 -$8)

String Lights: Window candles can make more atmosphere than string lights do, but if you have a spare few dollars for a string of lights to drape over a handrail or fireplace even better. If you're going to have a tree you will need at least two sets of string lights. (2 boxes of 100-lights: About $6)

Poinsettias: If you can only buy one little poinsettia to put on your dining table buy at least that. If buying a larger plant or additional smaller ones is possible, the more the better. If there's a reason you can't buy real plants consider looking for a few good fake poinsettias to put in the a glass vase. (Yes, fake flowers are often tacky, but its better to have a few fake poinsettias in vases than no poinsettias at all. They help with the Christmas feeling.)

Scented Potpourri, Tarts or Candles: Products to scent the home come in all kinds of Christmas-y scents. They can really ad to the atmosphere. One tart can be used several times. You do, of course, need a burner. If you can't come up with a burner votive candles are the next best thing. Votives can be found at dollar stores and grocery stores.

Christmas Music: Sometimes you can find inexpensive Christmas music in dollar stores, but even if you don't have and can't buy any radio stations often play Christmas music in the days leading up to Christmas. Some play nothing but Christmas music on Christmas Eve and Day.

Tablecloth: If you have a white, cream, red, green, or Christmas tablecloth iron it and put it on your table. Stores like WalMart sell tablecloths (sometimes in the Christmas aisle, rather than in domestics) for as little as $8. If you can't come up with a cloth tablecloth buy a disposable holiday version. The lightweight plastic table covers are inexpensive and durable enough to be able to leave on for the week or so before Christmas. Don't shop at a party store for these. Grocery stores, discount stores, and dollar stores are the best bet.

The above, basic, items will help create Christmas feeling in your home. Depending on how many of these items you need to buy the total expenditure could range as high as $30 or $35. If money is a problem it may be possible to buy these items over the course of a few weeks or more in order to make the expense less painful.

A Tree: A tree really helps create a Christmas atmosphere, so if at all possible its nice to have a tree.

Trees, of course, cost money and can be work to put up. If you already have an artificial tree that's one expense about which you won't need to worry. Small trees are sometimes easier to afford than full-sized trees. They're also easier to put up. Mini-trees are better than none, whether they're real or artificial. Real trees can be found relatively inexpensively, but they require work to put up. Its possible you would know someone who has an old artificial tree they don't want to use this year and would let you borrow. Even "tired" old artificial trees can be held together with wire or tape if they must be called to duty one last time.

A tree is more important to have when young children live in the home, but having even a small tree will add a little atmosphere to anyone's Christmas season.

Decorating the tree: The $35 I noted above includes four packages of Li'l Debbie gingerbread men. Use two or three to decorate the tree. That figure also includes three packages of candy canes. Use two for the tree. If you buy one or two sets of string lights use them on a tree rather than elsewhere in the house. If you're able to afford a third set of lights for the tree that would add sparkle. If your tree has nothing but lights, gingerbread men and candy canes it will look Christmas-y and traditional. Anything extra you're able to add will be even nicer.

Gifts: When young children are involved and money is the problem it may be necessary to ask for assistance from local groups which help Santa come for young children. When there aren't young children you will need to decide whether its possible to find tiny gifts for each family member or whether exchanging gifts is necessary. Dollar stores are great for finding inexpensive glass vases, photo albums, tools, knit caps, or any number of items that could be wrapped. These stores also sell wrapping paper for less. Making gifts is always a nice idea as well.

Christmas Dinner: While having a big dinner with all the fixings is, of course, the nicest thing to do, there can be times when cutting back on the lavish dinner in order to have a few Christmas goodies may feel more like Christmas. Some people would agree that they care less about the big dinner than they do the atmosphere, so don't feel bad about cutting back on the dinner. This may be one time when decorations and traditional treats may be more crucial than a big, fancy, dinner.

Christmas Goodies: It doesn't feel like Christmas without Christmas goodies, but for under $2 (sometimes as little as $1) you can buy a mix like Pillsbury's cranberry, apple, or date breads. For under $6 three breads can be made. Cutting small pieces can provide some for Christmas Eve and some for Christmas Day. If you're not able to provide any goodies other than these, the gingerbread men, and the candy canes at least these items are traditional. A nice extra is pop corn on Christmas Eve. Its inexpensive and smell nice when its popping.

Tips for When Your Money is Limited: When money is a problem, whether or not your Christmas will be as bare-bones as the one proposed above, try to begin picking up an item here or there no later than October. As early as possible, but no later than November, find ways to cut down on your regular grocery spending. Use the money you save by cutting back to buy what you need for Christmas. These may not be ideal, but the frozen meat case usually has small turkey breast roasts (in a foil pan with gravy) for about $3. Canned vegetables and instant potato are inexpensive. Add a package of dinner rolls, and you've got a modest dinner for the holiday.

Tips for When Your Physical Stamina is Low: If you have family members ask them to help. When it comes to putting up any decorations do one thing at a time, here or there, over the first week or so of December.

Tips for When Your Emotional Energy is Depleted: Again, ask for help. Again, don't try to do everything at once. Make lists to help clear your mind. Check off each completed task. Start taking out the holiday/special dishes early, only a few at a time. Make sure they're clean, dry, and wrapped so they'll be ready for use when you want them. Make sure all dishes you'll be using are ready to go by around December 15. Don't leave any gifts to collect before wrapping them, but even if you do get all wrapping done by no later than December 15 or so. The last ten days before Christmas should not be more stress than they need to be.

The above suggestions will not get you a big, beautiful, extravagant, Christmas. Using these suggestions may, however, get you a little Christmas feeling in the weeks before the holiday and a nice, traditional, little, Christmas Day. Whether you're low on money, physical stamina, emotional energy, or all of the above a nice little Christmas may be just the thing to help you forget your troubles and have that one special day.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas. These ideas are my gift to you.

Why Welfare Programs Don't Work

2008-08-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

Welfare programs generally don't work because 1) they don't generally give many people the one-time, reasonably small, financial boost they may need in order to be able to work and 2) they often assume that anyone who has applied for a welfare program isn't just without money but is also stupid, in need of counseling, and in need of job training they may not, in fact, need.

While it, of course, wouldn't make any sense to give benefits to a person who manages to find work, welfare programs often penalize recipients of benefits by decreasing benefits too soon after the person begins to get on his feet. People who live in Section 8 housing may need to be careful not to earn too much too soon because they may earn themselves out of health insurance they need and will earn themselves out of some rent assistance. Again, it may make sense that the working individual no longer should receive benefits; but addressing the costs of working (which are often too high a cost for the low-income person to be able to afford) to be unable to afford health care or housing would be addressing one of the primary reasons people are not able to get off welfare books.

The person without custody of a minor child may lose a home, a job, and a car; and there may be no welfare assistance for such a person, even if it were just to be able to help survive for a month or two, get a car, and be able to get to a job. People in this situation may play up the anxiety that results from it and apply for SSI because some income is better than none. The person kicked out of his home because of, perhaps, divorce may be living with a relative; and if he applies for SSI benefits he will be penalized for the fact that relative is paying his own housing expenses; while SSI considers half of those expenses as "income" for the applicant and reduces his benefits to the point where he is that much farther into poverty. Just the idea that the homeless person who goes in out of the weather to a relative's home will be seen as having income he doesn't have and can't use shows how assistance programs don't even recognize the autonomous nature of being an adult.

The man who goes to welfare to see if there's any assistance for the person who is out of work and out of a home may be offered any number of job training programs he doesn't need. A person can be an engineer, a teacher, an executive assistant, or a software designer and be laid off and out of a home. Welfare programs sometimes offer something

like "keyboard training" to people. Often, though, the person who is not eligible for assistance is also not eligible for any services offered to those who are.

Most people want to work. Most people do not want to be on assistance. There may be some who are out to defraud the system, but, in general, most people - no matter who they are - want to work, have health insurance for their families, and have a decent roof over their heads. Sometimes all it would take for some people to be able to work would be a temporary financial boost in the form of some minor cash assistance (compared to what it costs to keep whole families on Welfare for years), even if it were in the form of a low-interest, short-term, loan. There is, instead, insufficient or no cash for this type of assistance. As a result, people with children have the choice to either reject any dealings with the welfare programs at all and live in a cardboard box(or else sleep on a relative's couch); or to allow themselves to be sucked into the quagmire of food stamps, welfare health insurance, low-income housing and a lifestyle that many middle-class-values/potential workers can't imagine living in, and remaining in the poverty that welfare programs usually guarantee. It is a rare mother who reject being able to shelter and feed her children, so mothers often have little choice but to accept the poverty of welfare.

The person without children to feed may have the "luxury" of staying away from welfare and just sleeping on a relative's couch until he wears out his welcome.

Welfare programs are not about recognizing that people with no money may have values, may want to work, and may even be quite well qualified for some very decent jobs if they can get through an extremely rough financial spot. Welfare programs are not about empowering people to live the way most people want to live.

People who run welfare programs will tell you, "Well, this is not supposed to be a lifestyle. Its supposed to be a minimal level of assistance in times of crisis". The reality is welfare programs often do amount to lifestyle, and when people try to escape that lifestyle they are often penalized by the very programs that claim to encourage independence.

The Welfare Program "Joke"

2008-08-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Welfare Programs are, for people who are normal, hard-working, capable, people in financial hardship, a giant joke. Also, they are not designed to get people off welfare roles, as most people know. While these programs may be designed for a segment of the population who does choose to turn to welfare programs, there is a (possibly a much larger) segment of people in need for whom there is no assistance at all, or in whose lives welfare program will only cause devastation.If anyone were to do a little research into welfare programs they would discover that welfare programs make some assumptions about applicants/recipients.

1. They assume "these people" probably need counseling -and they're more than willing to provide that. In reality (not something in which welfare programs always deal), there are people who are in severe financial difficulty but who are otherwise completely solid, capable, individuals who need nothing more than money.

2. They assume "these people" may need "education" with regard to managing money - and they're often more than willing to provide that. In reality (again, something in which welfare programs and the government, in general, do not always deal), there are people who find themselves in situations beyond their control and whose financial problems have nothing to do with poor decision-making or poor spending habits. Further, there are people who would never have had financial problems had it not been for the way the courts disregard one or both partners in divorce cases. There are also people who would never have had money problems had the public schools not so dismally failed them as students. In other words, what the government doesn't seem to get is that money problems can occur as a result of something beyond a person's control and/or as a result of the government's own failure - and that education with regard to money management can be a giant waste of everyone's time and money.

3. The same applies to the available of "parenting programs" for the many people who don't need that. It's great that the government offers parenting programs, but not everybody who needs welfare assistance needs parenting programs. Again, there is such a thing as having financial disaster while being a perfectly capable (and in some cases, more than capable) parent.

4. They assume it is not important for a non-custodial parent of children under 18 to be able to earn a living, have a place to live, or remain "whole" enough to continue to provide emotional and financial support to his/her children. They don't care about anyone who does not have custody of minor children. They usually deal only with people who have custody of minor children. The fact that non-custodial parents may end up homeless or in poverty doesn't matter, in the eyes of the government. "After all, there just isn't enough money to provide assistance to people who don't have to care for minor children." While it is true the government pays "lip service" to the idea that non-custodial parents should remain parents, and while it is sometimes even ready to arrest "deadbeat" parents for not paying court-ordered support; the reality is that it is often the government that ties the hands of non-custodial parents (in any number of ways), and causes non-support to occur. With regard to emotional support and presence in the lives of children, the government (welfare programs and the court) do not even acknowledge the importance of that for families.

There are actually couples who would be able to divorce and have a "separated but not broken family", who end up with a "broken" or "pretty close to broken" family as a result of the way courts and the government, in general, mishandle divorces and mistreat divorcing people.

5. Welfare programs offer job training and help with job placement. Again, there is such a thing as a well educated and/or well trained/skilled individual who may have job skills/experience/education in more than one area - but who may have financial problems as a result of having been laid off and, perhaps, being too old to be able to easily get another job. Then, too, there are educated/skilled people who must leave a marriage because of domestic violence or a spouse's substance abuse. In fact, there are any number of causes for financial hardship that don't involve lack of education, intelligence, and/or marketable skills.

I actually know someone who called a welfare office, was told there was no assistance available except for job training, and responded with, "I don't need job training." This individual was actually told, "Well, maybe you'd like some anyway."

6. Welfare programs may offer "government insurance". This certainly helps a lot of people a lot of the time, but health care professionals often note the problems associated with government health insurance; and there is at least the chance that health care (regardless of what programs like to claim) is as high-quality as that provided under private health insurance.

7. Subsidized housing is available to those unfortunate enough to seek it. The problem with that is that people who are of middle-class mentality and are afraid of bad neighborhoods may not even consider it. Subsidized housing (like most welfare-related assistance) tends to be centered around horrible neighborhoods; and people who fall victim to it can easly end up with children in trouble and worse. With low-income housing also often comes low-income/low-performing schools and students who reflect that. Subsidized often is often housing located in "a world all its own", where truly seedy behavior is rampant.

8. Food Stamps. Food stamps are relatively easy for any number of people to get. They're not a bad idea, although the application involves asking people for income information for everyone in a house. If a divorced father, for example, is staying at his sister's home, the food stamps people will expect to have his sister's income factored in (even though siblings may live under one roof but generally keep their finances and food completely separate). This can discourage people staying in relative's homes from applying for food stamps; because normal, caring, people often do not want to ask relatives to share financial information when the financial problem is not theirs. Other than that, food stamps don't cause anyone too many problems. It is ironic, however, that people can buy candy, chips, and soda with them but cannot buy, say, a 99-cent sandwich at a fast-food place or some 2.00 chicken breasts that have been prepared and are sold at the supermarket. Apparently, the food stamps program "assumes" that a sandwich from a fast-food dollar menu or chicken breasts prepared at the local supermarket cannot possibly offer protein, while, of course, it appears candy, soda, and chips "must".

9. The SSI Program: This one's a bigger joke than "regular" welfare programs. It will be addressed in a separate post. I'm imagining a reader thinking, "but the SSI program is not for 'hard-working' people. It is for disabled people." Well, that's true enough - but "disability" covers a lot of ground, and sometimes the only "disability" a person has is related to having stress about not having a job or money. Then, too, the SSI program has on its "members roster" children who are said to have disabilities when, in fact, what they really have are parents who haven't managed to nurture their behavior and/or intellect adequately. (I'm not saying there aren't SOME kids for whom SSI is appropriate, or SOME kids who have genuine disabilities.)

In upcoming posts I'll be digging up (from under the rocks under which they hide) examples of how government programs cause, and or contribute substantially to, poverty and the problems associated with it.

The Physics of Homelessness

2008-08-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

If P represents a person (including his physical, mental, emotional, and financial wellbeing and his genes) and E represents his whole environment (including internal environment, such as high stress hormones, as well as external environment):

At any given moment a person's individual (internal and external) situation (S) is the sum of P plus E. While P (the person, himself) may change over a period of time, E (his internal and external environment) may or may not change from one moment to the next. Without assigning any unit of measurement to the term, "moment", in general and in life, any one moment in any one person's life tends to be affected by major changes or lack of major changes - and P (the person, himself) may or not factor into any changes in the next moment in time. Also, anyone who knows what it feels like to have a sudden fright can attest to recognizing that even P can be in different states from one moment to the next.

So, assuming that P plus E equals S the simple formula, S = S squared +E can be used to begin to understand the physics of homelessness. If one were able to use a computer that can produce fractal imaging one would see that by starting with S and applying this formula the resulting picture would be as individual as each "S" with which the imaging process started.

In plain English, each person's life and situation is a picture of all those individual moments (within the person and around him) that have created his present picture.

In order to understand why one person's "picture" has turned out ok while someone else's is bleak one needs to understand three other factors involved: When it comes to financial stability there are three categories. The first is static financial ability that can be difficult to achieve and maintain and is, except in the case of people who inherit vast wealth, something that can only be achieved over a long period of time. The more common types of financial situations are the ever-changing ones in which degree of stability and general financial wellbeing are moving a positive direction or a negative one. Situations (including emotional, mental, physical and financial) tend to snowball in whichever direction they are already going. Essentially, a parallel can be drawn between this snowballing phenomenon and the in-progress fractal image.

Which direction a person's situation takes is often related to the number of negative factors versus the number of positive factors in S.

While a person's situation may appear to remain relatively stagnant or even moving in a positive direction, there can be a point where the number of negative factors outweighing the positive ones is too great. This can cause a shift in the direction of the snowball.

Another factor that plays a large role at the starting point of any individual (which is essentially the present situation as it relates to a person's future) is how much margin of error any one situation has at any one time. In other words, the person of relative financial stability who inadvertently runs up three $35 overdraft fees in his checking account will not be as devastated by those fees as will the person in a situation that will be sent in a downward spiral as a result of those fees.

Room for error can, in a way, factor into a person's mental health as well. The person who is strong, solid, and very mentally whole will be able to cope better with financial struggles than will the person without benefit of coping skills. In other words, it may take less to destroy the life of person who starts out on emotional or mental thin ice, but even the healthiest and most solid of individuals can/will eventually be damaged by a long-term, downward, financial spiral.

This leads to what may be the most important principle in homelessness: When Negative-E outweighs S the nature/general wellbeing of P begins to change, and that leads to additional Negative-E (internal) factors which ultimately give yet more momentum to the downward spiral of S.

Many people tend to see homelessness in a simplistic way. They see homeless people as mentally ill people who got kicked out of their group home for breaking a rule, substance abusers who got kicked out of their home and had no place to go, or else families who couldn't pay their rent or mortgage and had no place to go. They may even see the divorced person who had to leave his home, stayed with relatives until his welcome was worn out, and couldn't afford to get an apartment.

Understanding the physics of homelessness helps us understand one very simple thing: There may be a point where even the strongest, most sensible, most solid, person may get to where he has had so much "Negative E" in his life he will either go insane or kill himself if he doesn't take a drink or use a drug that will make his immediate moment more bearable. Whether it is the strongest person who risks the psychotic breakdown or suicide, or whether the strongest are those who will do what it takes (drink or use a drug) to survive the moment of mental and physical torture of being homeless, is something I don't know. I do know that when a person crosses that threshold into homelessness his risk of "Negative E" outweighing S and ultimately destroying P is ominously high.

A Mix-and-Match Approach to Dirt-Cheap Meals

2008-08-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

For a hot meal that costs little and can be prepared easily, mix and match items from the following three categories. Some combinations, of course, will not suit your family's tastes. Some go together better than others. This general approach to meal-planning is a good way to come up with a number of different meals.

Stretching small portions of protein, including generous portions of common vegetables, and adding pasta, rice, or noodles (which are very inexpensive), make this approach to meals an inexpensive one. Suggested sauces and seasonings are either items kept on hand in most kitchens or items that are inexpensive to buy.

Amount of each required depends, of course, on the number to be served; but 1 package each of all but protein in cans or foil packs) will usually serve about 4 adults. Adding 2 cans or foil packs of protein is ideal.

1. CHOOSE AN INEXPENSIVE PROTEIN FROM THE FOLLOWING LIST OF SUGGESTIONS:

Packaged, cooked and cut, chicken or turkey chunks (sold near the meat or deli case)

Ground beef

Chicken strips

Soy scrambles

Soy "sausage", crumbled (you may have to purchase patties or links, and cut or crumble)

Canned tuna, shrimp, crab meat, salmon, ham, turkey, or chicken

Foil-packed tuna, shrimp, crab meat or salmon.

Preparing Protein:

Marinating beef or chicken in your choice of marinades after flavor

Brown beef in skillet or cook chicken..

Other items need no cooking. (Mixing ham, soy sausage, or chicken cooked chicken with onions, mushrooms, or seasoning of your choice, and browning the mixture in a skillet adds flavor.)

2. CHOOSE A BASE

Egg noodles (medium or wide make a heartier meal)

Pasta (angel hair, penne, elbows, butterfly are suggestions)

Mashed potato. (Cook your own potatoes or use instant. Adding more flakes than the box suggests makes instant potatoes more like "real" mashed potato.)

Rice (Any kind will do. Cook-your-own is inexpensive, but so is boil-in-bag or instant. The grocery freezer case today offers steam-in-bag rice, which comes in brown and white, with or without added vegetable pieces.)

To give the meal an Asian flavor choose low mein noodles.

Cook or heat as required.

3. ADD FLAVOR TO THE COOKED BASE IF DESIRED

Cooked onions, mushrooms, celery, or peppers add flavor. Your favorite seasoning or spice combination can make the meal more interesting. Chopped of flaked garlic, garlic salt, onion salt, or celery salt can come in handy. With some combinations, real or artificial bacon bits can add zest.

4. CHOOSE ONE OR MORE VEGETABLES

Vegetables are relatively inexpensive, whether they are fresh, canned, or frozen. Choose one to three vegetables or a bag of frozen, mixed, vegetables. More vegetables per serving of carbohydrate make the meal a healthier one. Fewer vegetables make the meal a blander one.

Good choices include mixing a green vegetable with one or two of others colors. Peas, lima beans, or green beans work well. Carrots go with most other vegetables.

For low mein noodles choose vegetables usually found in Asian dishes (snap peas, water chestnuts, baby corn).

Add mushrooms, cooked celery, or cooked onion if desired.

Cook vegetables or vegetable mixture.

5. CHOOSE A "SAUCE" TO ADD TO ASSEMBLED INGREDIENTS IF DESIRED

Choose one of the following types of sauces. If you have your own way of making these sauces, as well as the ingredients to do that, making sauce from scratch is best. Sauce mixes are inexpensive and can offer variety.

Cream-based

Tomato-based

Cheese-based

Mushroom-based

Olive oil-based

Other options:

Cream of broccoli soup

Cream of celery soup

Cream of chicken soup

Chicken broth

Cream of mushroom soup

Cream of onion soup

French onion soup

Vegetable broth

Mushroom gravy

For the Asian version:

Teriyaki

Sweet and sour

Garlic ginger.

Alternatives to sauce:

Just add a seasoning of your choice (Italian or Bell's onion and herb seasoning work)

Canned stewed tomato chunks, with or without added seasoning.

No sauce at all may be your preference.

6. ADD TOGETHER MIXED-AND-MATCHED PROTEIN, BASE, AND VEGETABLES AND HEAT IF NECESSARY

Assemble ingredient in one of two ways:

Noodles, rice, and pasta can be placed in a large skillet or a casserole dish.

Place mashed potato in a casserole dish.

Mix meat, soy, or fish with vegetables.

For skillet preparation: Add all ingredients to a large skillet, stir in sauce, and heat.

For casserole dish preparation: Add base to dish. Top with the protein/vegetable mixture.

Add sauce. Heat in microwave.

Dishes with cheese-based sauce can be made more interesting by topping with plain or herb-seasoned bread crumbs and butter/margarine, and heated, in an uncovered casserole dish, in the the oven until the crust is browned.

An alternative to the skillet or casserole-dish suggestion is serving the vegetable/protein mixture, with or without sauce or seasoning, separately; with pasta, noodles, potato, or rice on the side.

Eating Out for Next to Nothing

2008-08-19T06:53:00.000-07:00

The most inexpensive way to get a meal at a fast-food restaurant is as follows:

Women and Children: One sandwich from the dollar menu. Sandwiches include such items as hamburgers, cheeseburgers, Whopper Juniors, or sometimes a version of a chicken sandwich.

An alternative to a sandwich would be the side salad, which most fast-food restaurants offer.

Other under-$2 (but sometimes slightly over $1) items are often wraps, some version of chicken tenders, or items such as yogurt parfaits.

Any of the above items makes a meal for most women and children.

Teenage Boys and Men: Buying two of anything from the dollar menu or selecting one of the under-$3 sandwiches (fish sandwiches are often in this price range) may make a more filling meal.

After selecting the main meal item, adults and children may wish to add (for about another $1) apple slices (McDonalds), orange slices (Wendy's) or applesauce (Burger King). If someone prefers french fries or something like Burger King's Cheesy Tots over fruit the price for those are similar to the price of the fruits. Burger King and Wendy's both offer chili at reasonable prices.

Adults can add coffee, tea, water, or a small soda and still eat on very little money. Children can add milk, juice, water, or a child-sized soda.

Fast-food restaurants often often two for $3 breakfast items. McDonalds' breakfast burrito is, I believe, less. There are breakfast items on the dollar menu as well. If two people got two breakfast sandwiches for $3, adding coffee or juice for both people would bring the total bill to (in the area of, but probably less than) $6. In other words, both people spend $3 for breakfast.

Other ways to save money (depending on the ages, appetites, and genders of the people involved) are to split things like french fries, onion rings or (in the case of two women) larger sandwiches.

An inexpensive lunch for two young children could include two hamburgers and a shared side salad with two child-sized drinks. Two women could share one of the larger sized salads.

Finally, senior citizens should remember their senior discount when it applies.

Managing on a Low Income and a Middle-Income Mentality

2008-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

An important part of managing on a low income includes not allowing your income to define you. It's important not to have a preconceived notion of what someone on a low income has or does. Many people make the mistake, for example, of just automatically believing their low income has to mean not eating healthy foods or not being able to allow their daughter to take dancing lessons. Automatically deciding to buy only macaroni for dinner, and automatically believing that a girl from your low income home cannot take the dancing lessons more fortunate girls can take, will put you and your family in a "poor" frame of mind in more ways than one.

People can manage (and manage amazingly well) on a low income. They just need to prioritize and plan.

Good ways to manage on a low income include:

THE LITTLE-OF-EVERYTHING APPROACH:

One approach to managing on a low income is with the "a-little-of-everything" approach. In other words, consider what the average person with an average incomes usually has in life, and then aim to have a scaled down version of an "average" life. There is a reason I suggest doing this, and it has nothing to do with "keeping up with the Joneses". People on a low income often lose perspective on what it takes to have a whole life. It is normal, understandable, and even sensible, to approach spending by focusing on the clearly important matters, such as food, heat, and electricity. I'm not advocating using the money for the gas bill to pay for dancing lessons, but realizing that "man does not live by bread alone" can help keep a low monthly income from removing you and/or your family from normal living. The low-income family that has nothing but macaroni in the cabinets, and children who cannot participate in normal childhood activities will suffer negative effects that don't have to be necessary - even on a low income.

Using what the average family has as a guideline, here are examples of ways to have a scaled down version of the same lifestyle: The average family may have cable television and a high-quality DVD player, and regularly run down to the video rental store for movies. A low-income family may have to forego cable television (there's only so much television children need to watch anyway), buy an inexpensive DVD player, and sign up for the most inexpensive movie plan that will allow only two or three movies a month.

With things like activities for the children, average-income families may have children in several activities. Low-income families may have to limit their child to one. With or without being able to let a child take private lessons, public schools and town recreation departments often offer low-cost or free activities (which can help a child have the benefit of participating without the additional high cost of more private lessons).

The average income family may take all the kids back-to-school shopping at the mall, and buy everything each child needs in one shopping trip. The low-income family may have to start early, make three separate trips weeks apart, and shop at stores where bargains can be found. The average-income family may buy each child ten outfits for back to school. The low-income family may only be able to buy three pairs of pants with five different tops.

Another example is that the average-income family may eat out several times a week. A low-income family may need to eat only only every weekend or every other week, and they may need to eat where prices are lower. Still, they are able to enjoy the treat of eating out together, which is always better than feeling eating out isn't something "people like us" can ever do.

Average-income families generally have a savings cushion. The low-income family should aim to have at least a small savings cushion. Aside from the obvious benefits of having a savings cushion, just knowing you have one can add to sense of being "just like everyone else" (and that it important when it comes to not allowing a low income to define your self image or sense of being capable). While the ideal thing is to leave a savings cushion untouched, low-income living can't always be ideal. A savings cushion may have to be used to help you get to your next paycheck, but if you use some of it to get you through the last week of the month replace what you "borrowed from yourself" as soon as the next check comes. Even if it turns out you repeat this process month after month, you will still be managing better than if you had no cushion to help get you through that last part of the month.

The average-income family uses at least one credit card, which may have thousands of dollars as the limit. Credit cards are convenient, and using one wisely helps build up credit. A low-income family may benefit from having one lower limit card on which they put smaller purchases, which require smaller amounts of money to pay off the balance each month. Without a credit card it is difficult to rent a car, make some purchases, or do any number of things that average-income people take for granted.

ELIMINATE FRILLS:

In addition to scaling down the things that most average-income families have, carefully determining which things can be eliminated comfortably is important. Such things may include something like having someone else take care of the yard, paying to get nails done (you can do them yourself, and if you can't, learn how), or using air conditioning when a fan will do. Doing without frills on purchases can help too. If your toaster breaks (or is a fire hazard) don't live without toast. Buy a cheap but new one. You don't need the fancy one.

If you need the security of a cell phone don't sign up for a two-year/$50 a month plan. Sign up for a $20 refurbished phone that uses $15 prepaid cards. In this case, you would have the basic use of a cell phone without the "frills" of "all the talking you can possibly do".

SHOP WISELY:

When shopping keep sales in mind, learn which stores offer the best prices, and shop clearance and end-of-season if possible. Know which products in discount stores are of equal quality to those sold in better stores. (Hanes underwear or Osh Kosh kids' clothes are the same, regardless of which store sells them. Shop for items like this in discount stores, and save the better stores for special items.) Prioritize clothing items as well. You may want to buy a better quality blazer in a better level store, but you can save if you buy the white shirt to wear under it at a discount store.

Don't forget dollar stores. Look for items you use regularly at dollar stores - wrapping paper, pens, cleaning products, plastic containers, bath products, make-up, etc. Buying what you know you'll be using at the dollar store when you see it can save quite a bit over waiting until you need the item and buying it at full price.

EAT SENSIBLY BUT ALLOW FOR OCCASIONAL TREATS:

Know which stores in your area sell for less and shop there. Fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, are not awfully high in price. Frozen foods tend to be more expensive, but even the frozen case may offer items for under $2.

Frozen juices are less expensive than juices from the dairy case, but buying a small bottle of orange juice may give you just the amount you need for a short time. Allow for occasional treats, but even treats can be found at reasonable prices. Stay away from the store's bakery products unless you only need to buy one or two of these higher-priced treats.

If your family eats meat, rather than serving it with every dinner, consider serving it twice a week and substituting it with a less expensive source of protein at other times. (That may be a healthier thing to do anyway.)

Don't forget the concept of sharing. These days many foods are sold in serving sizes that are too large for young children (and many women). It's not such a bad thing to let two small children share a box of animal crackers, or even to buy a twin pack of Drakes or Hostess cakes and give one each to two older children.

RE-THINK THE RULE ABOUT BUYING IN BULK:

While it is true that buying in bulk will get you a lower price-per-unit on any item, there are times when the low-income person may not want to use $5 to buy a large package of paper towels. Paying a slightly higher unit price for a single roll may serve the purpose better. If you have $10 until the next paycheck and need milk, bread, toothpaste, paper towels, and toilet paper; you may be better off buying the smallest and least expensive package of each, and even a trial size toothpaste. In this example you may spend less than $1 for the toilet tissue, $1 for the inexpensive roll of paper towels, $2 for a quart of milk, and $2 for the bread. You could find a trial size toothpaste in the drug store's trial size department for $1 or less. This approach would get you what you need for the next couple of days, without doing without any of those items. You may even choose to get yourself a cup of coffee and a danish with what you have left (a nice way to top off a trip to the store and have some "me" time).

On the other hand, if you chose to stick with always buying at the lowest unit price, you would have to do without some of the things you needed in order to make the "wisest" price choice.

Making choices that are based on need, rather than on advice from money "experts" helps. In the case of the above shopping example, you may decide you need a half gallon of milk, rather than just the quarter, so adjusting your choices is often necessary.

Another point about buying in bulk is that if you don't use foods fast enough they may go bad, in which case you have wasted money that didn't have to be wasted.

Ask what you absolutely need today and don't try to buy anything you'll be needing two days from now. This approach keeps impulse spending and extra spending down.

DON'T FORGET WHAT'S FREE:

Your public library offers all kinds of reading, as well as CD's, DVD'S, and use of PC's. There are often activities or programs offered there as well. Public parks offer a great place to have outdoor time and fresh air. Bring a book for you, and if you have children pick up some 40-cent bubble stuff, a sponge ball, and a Frisbee.

Most towns and cities have other activities, and rural locales offer their own version of free outdoor activities.

DO YOUR MATH:

As each paycheck arrives take out money allotted for paying monthly bills and savings. If you've used a little of your savings to get through the month pay yourself back immediately. Separate out your allotted, scaled down, amounts for grocery shopping, things children need, some limited treats/activities, other purchases, and gas. Divide that amount by the number of days in the month, and then spend some time figuring out which days and ways you will distribute the spending. If your child needs book fair money on the 15th shift plan to skip a movie rental during that period and instead use the money for the book fair.

If you cannot make it to the end of the month on the available money, plan for the next two weeks or for as long as your money will last. This is where you may need to borrow from yourself (your savings) to get through the last part of the month. Again, dipping into savings is not ideal (and if possible try to leave some untouched savings), but at least you will not be using a credit card or borrowing from family members or friends.

CUT DOWN ON AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE:

Consider absolutely everything you spend on and ask if there are ways you can cut down on those expenses. Pay attention to the amount of gasoline you use, and find ways to reduce driving (or get better mileage). Look into alternative phone services or cutting back on Internet service. (Having a lower cost Internet service allows you to have use of the PC without spending quite as much. This fits into the "scaled down" approach.)

Ask yourself if there are ways to reduce heating or electric bills and whether there are ways to reduce the use of gas or electric dryers and ovens. Blocking off drafts, limiting air conditioner use, or supplementing with solar heating may help. Don't use extra paper products you can do without. Buy all-purpose cleaning products rather than a product for every job.

TRY TO THINK OF WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR INCOME:

Try to think of ways that your income can be increased. Every little bit helps, and picking up as little as an extra $5 a week could turn into $20 in that little savings cushion.

DON'T BE PENNY-WISE BUT POUND-FOOLISH:

Living on a low income is stressful, and the stress is long-term. Low-income parents need to be aware that their stress can affect the mood of the whole household, so it's important for low-income parents to find ways to take a break, enjoy themselves and their children, and not think about money at all. Stress takes it toll on single people and childless people too, but at least children aren't the victims. Long-term stress can destroy health and damage emotional wellbeing for adults and children alike.

It's also important for children to have the chance to do what most other children get to do (even if that means using a borrowed guitar for lessons, or taking only ballet rather than the ballet, tap, and jazz someone else gets to take).

"Managing on a low-income" isn't just about managing to make money last from one end of the week or month to the next. It's about managing to stay whole as an individual and as a family. It's about managing to keep up the mental and physical energy needed to remain positive in a challenging situation, and it's about managing not to always be thinking about money. Most importantly, it's about managing not to feel left behind by the world - or worse, left out of living.

When planning spending, low-income individuals need to keep in mind that the soul needs nourishment as much as the body does; and if that means having a few too many omelets a month in order to see a good movie or put money toward a prom gown, then maybe that's the thing to do. People who live on low incomes but manage money and spending well can live surprisingly comfortably.

Managing to create the feeling that you and your family are living on a modest income but are not poor in any way is not an easy thing to do, but it is something that will pay high dividends over the long term.

Shoestring Dates

2008-08-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

Ideas for Inexpensive Dates

Most people understand that you shouldn't have to spend a lot of money to have a great date. Unless people have lots of money to burn, big-spending is generally reserved for big occasions. The nicest dates are not about money.

Here are some ideas for dating activities that can actually be fairly romantic.

Head to the ocean, a lake, or the local park. Bring a ball, a frisbee, a boomerang (always a challenge to get out of the trees), and/or sit-down games. Stop at the grocery store for the makings of lunch, and store food and drinks in a cooler bag. Stopping for a latte on the way to or from the "picnic", or bringing a couple of coffees and Danishes with you will boost your energy for chasing that boomerang. Have a couple of bottles of bubble stuff or two new kazoos on hand. You'd be surprised at how many laughs kazoos can bring.

Hiking or just planning a long walk to somewhere nice doesn't cost much. Not everyone is the trail type, but many people will enjoy a day out on foot, seeing what there is to see, having a snack here or there, and just being together.

Biking. Whether you look for bike paths in a historic area or just head out to where your heart leads you, riding bikes together can make for really nice time together.

When the season is right, pick apples, blueberries, or pumpkins. Farms that offer apple picking or pumpkin-selecting often have a few other treats, like cider, scones, or pie. It doesn't take a whole day to pick apples, but you can stretch it into a few hours.

When the season and location are right, learn where you can go tobogganning. If you don't own a toboggan you may be able to rent or borrow one.

Find a nice school yard or park, where the tennis or basketball courts don't have a crowd, and practice your tennis or hoop-throwing together.

Spend a day in a city. Find outdoor sites that cost nothing to visit. Learn what museums offer admission free or almost free. Explore particularly nice libraries - always free. If there's a river or lake nearby watch the boats. If there's an airport nearby watch the planes. Find little coffee or sandwich shops where you can eat cheap at outdoor bistro tables.

Find out if there are programs in need of volunteers for a day (or indefinitely if you're in a long-term relationship). Consider spending some time volunteering.

Find out if local high schools or colleges are putting on plays, dance performances, or art exhibits. Tickets to these never cost much, and they can be a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

Offer to rake an elderly neighbor's yard or paint a fence. Again, put together some version of a lunch or snacks from the grocery store, and turn it into a picnic.

When the season is right, go ice skating. Rinks don't charge very much, and well frozen ponds and lakes charge nothing.

Decide which game or two you both like, and make those games a regular thing. Add some tea or hot chocolate and some microwave popcorn, and you've got "Game Night". Don't be shy about splitting an order of fried rice or appetizers, or about cutting a grinder/sub sandwich in half if you want an inexpensive meal.

Wherever you go bring a camera. Not only will the camera inspire picture taking, but it will encourage conversation about particularly interesting subjects. Later you can get together to put the pictures in a shared book (or two identical books).

The zoo is a nice place to spend some time. Zoos don't usually charge very much.

Some towns offer outdoor concerts in good weather. Don't worry about whether the music is the genre of your choice. Enjoy the free music and the fresh air.

Convenience Stores

2008-08-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that there is a price for convenience, but some convenience stores price many products fairly similarly to other stores. Convenience stores today, however, are not the convenience stores of the past. While convenience stores of the past often had relatively little traffic and extremely high prices on products that sometimes had dust on them, today's convenience stores are often high-traffic stores with daily deliveries and, apparently, the understanding that dust doesn't move products.

Convenience stores, often known for the cigarettes and lottery tickets they sell (for the same price as others do) often sell bread (which is often priced by the manufacturer, with that price on the wrapper) for the same price as other stores sell it.

Milk is another product that may have a price very similar to its price at other stores. There may or may not be a slightly higher price at convenience stores, but it is usually not a big price difference.

When convenience stores offer brand name paper products like paper towels, bathroom tissue, facial tissues, or and coffee filters) the price can be close to double the price charged by other stores. Some convenience stores, however, offer inexpensive, lower-quality, paper products at a price more comparable to the price of brand-name items in other stores.

Canned food will almost certainly be priced substantially higher at convenience stores. Based on my unscientific "research", in general, it appears that canned foods that would cost a dollar or less at a larger grocery store generally cost approximately twice as much at convenience stores - sometimes slightly more. Coffee and tea can be substantially higher in convenience stores. The same brand/size can of coffee that would cost about three dollars at a larger store can cost in the area of five dollars (or slightly higher) at a convenience store. With limited shelf space, convenience stores may sell items like tea in the smallest packages but charge as much as three times what a larger store would.

Refrigerated foods and dairy products (other than milk) are generally priced higher than they are in larger stores, but they're also priced to sell - so the price difference isn't as substantial as it is for something like frozen foods, which last a long time in the freezer.

In general, if what you need at a convenience store is something a lot of other people often also need, the price difference will be smaller. That rule does not, however, apply to non-food items. Things like personal products, diapers, medicines, and auto products (oil, brake fluid, windshield-wiper fluid). These items have substantial (and sometimes shocking) price differences, presumably because the person who is looking to buy deodorant or hairspray at a convenience store may be desperate and willing to pay any price. In fairness to convenience stores, their limited shelf space and attempt to have absolutely every product anyone could possibly need means stocking only limited quantities of items like personal care products.

Snack foods like potato chips and bags of pretzels are often priced by the manufacturer, although some may not be. Those that are not may cost somewhat more than they would at a larger store, but convenience stores offer this type of item at prices that aren't too much more than they would be elsewhere.

Quickie snacks (individual portions of crackers, cookies, pastries, chips, etc.) can be as much as two or three times higher than they would be at a large grocery store when they're items for which a grocery store may charge under a dollar. When items are those for which grocery stores may charge about a dollar the price difference at a convenience store can be relatively small. For example, an individually wrapped Danish pastry at a grocery store may cost about a dollar. At a convenience store if may cost the same or, perhaps, fifty cents more. Candy bars can cost substantially more at convenience stores. A large grocery store may sell candy bars at three for a dollar. Convenience store candy bars are closer to a dollar, and sometimes a little over.

Beverages like juices, iced teas, and sodas usually cost more at convenience stores. Full-sized bottles and cartons can run about a dollar more (sometimes not quite that much). Individual-serving bottles and cans are generally between fifty and seventy cents more (which is still less than some pizza or sandwiches may charge).

Whether or not they offer deli sandwiches, convenience stores usually offer lunch items of some sort. Whether they have a deli or sell pre-wrapped sandwiches prices can run from reasonable to competitive with other stores that sell sandwiches. Items like individual donuts, apples, granola bars, and other breakfast or lunch items are usually priced similarly as they would be at any lunch counter or deli, although, of course, one could buy a whole bag of something like apples for not much more at a larger store. A cup of hot coffee or hot tea is often priced the same, or less, as coffee or tea would be anywhere cups of coffee or tea are sold. (Of course, my grocery store offers free coffee at its bakery section, but the coffee is not as good, and the cup is much smaller than it would be at a convenience store.)

Newspapers and magazines come already priced, so there is no difference in the price of those. Some convenience stores also offer a few non-dated publications. Expect to pay top dollar for those and consider waiting until you find a WalMart before buying the publication.

Convenience stores are not the places to go if saving money is what one wants to do (although it is possible to eliminate hunger or low blood sugar for as little two dollars or less). These stores do, however, offer many common "emergency" items at prices not all that much higher than those of larger stores. If trips to the convenience store involve only picking up milk and bread it doesn't have to cost much more, if it costs more at all. Then, if once in a while it seems worth it to pay three dollars for sixteen Lipton teabags or four dollars for a Lady Speedstick, as much as it may hurt, it isn't such a big thing.

Ideas for Saving on Back-to-School Clothes

2008-08-19T05:57:00.000-07:00

Buying back-to-school clothes (especially for more than one child) doesn't have to cost as much as it may seem if parents keep a few tips in mind:

1. Make a list of clothing that can be purchased at a store like WalMart.

While stores like WalMart may not be the place to buy the more important clothing items (especially for older children), parents can save money by buying things like underwear, socks, basic jerseys, and some brand-name items (like some types of jeans for boys or some athletic wear). Discount stores may also have a few items girls like, so if there's a cute skirt or certain top or two a girl finds appealing buy it.

While in the discount store run the kids by the shoe/sneaker department to see if there's anything they can/will wear. You never know.

2. Make a list of clothing that can be purchased at "next-level-up" stores, such as Marshalls, TJ Maxx, or other outlet-type stores. Many back-to-school items can be found at this kind of store, and parents won't pay mall prices for them.

3. Watch for sales at stores like Sears or Kohl's. Some stores have "30% off everything" or "50% off everything" sales.

4. Watch online (or paper) catalogs for sales. Catalogs that sell clothes for

teenage girls often offer substantial savings with sales, and clothes for teenage girls can be the biggest challenge to any budget.

5. Buy only enough clothing to get a child through the first four or five days of the school year (first three days if the budget is extremely limited). More can be purchased later, when the price may be lower.

Most of the back-to-school clothes can be found by following the above suggestions. There may be a few additional "must-haves" for which paying full price is the only option. Paying full price is less painful if, in general, the overall spending has been kept to minimum. Waiting a week or two before buying the "must have" can also ease the burden.

Are Credit Counseling Services Really Helpful?

2008-08-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

Credit counseling services may be of help to people who don't know how to budget their money, don't know that putting too many purchases on credit cards is a problem, and/or are not capable of contacting creditors on their own and requesting to set up a payment plan.

The trouble is most people who get into credit card debt know how to budget, know what is right and wrong when it comes to using credit cards, and haven't run into problems as a result of frivolous and wild spending. For people who have not run into credit debt as a result of stupidity or wild, frivolous, spending credit counseling services are useless.

Sometimes credit card debt snowballs when a person's income is suddenly stopped, and any nest-egg has become depleted. It may not be that the person originally charged more than s/he could have paid, but rather that income stopped unexpectedly. Nest-eggs only go so far, and if they're dipped into over a period of months to pay things like mortgages, rent, and utilities for a family the first thing to go may be the credit card payments.

Large, unexpected, expenses that must be paid often drive people to using credit cards for things like purchasing groceries and other necessities. It may not be what they prefer to do, and it doesn't mean they don't know that they're about to walk on thin ice, but they have no other options (particularly if they have children to feed and keep warm).

Sometimes the person who will eventually end up with snowballing credit card debt would not have found himself/herself in that situation had a creditor been willing to just give that person a few weeks in order to get reorganized or receive a delayed check s/he was expecting. Instead, banks and credit card companies are often unwilling to give people with overdue accounts even two or three weeks "grace time". Instead, its more profitable for them to refuse to give someone a little more time to get everything back in good shape because snowballing fees for late accounts is a lucrative business. Tell the customer with a newly late account, "If you can send $40 today we can work with you, but if you can't then the account will go to collections," is not unusual.

People who have found themselves in credit card debt through reasons other than wild spending and ignorance may call a credit counseling service in the hope that such a service may be able to offer some sort of help with buying a little time, maybe some special short-term loan program that would help them catch up late payments and start anew, or any other kind of help that may actually be useful.

What credit counseling services do, however, is tell people, "The first thing you need to do is cut up your credit cards". Most people who have fallen into credit card debt of the non-frivolous variety would prefer to find a way to catch up and try to restore the good credit they may have had until they ran into what may have been a one-time or short-term crisis. Many people a) prefer to try to restore their accounts to being in good standing and b) find it offensive that a credit counseling agency does not recognize that all credit card debt is not the result of a person's inability to behave once s/he has a credit card.

Credit counseling services offer education, but not everyone with debt needs education. They offer some type of intervention between debtors and creditors, but anyone who can pick up the phone or write a letter can usually set up a payment plan with a creditor. Some credit counseling services may work out a situation where the debtor sends one payment to the service, and the service pays the creditors. Some agencies, however, may charge an individual a fairly good sized fee to do this (sometimes about $200). There are people who would be better off using their $200 to pay down their credit balances than to use the same $200 to pay a debt counseling service. For the individual "at the edge of trouble", with, perhaps, a short-term crisis and newly delinquent accounts, credit counseling services don't bother to try to salvage the person's credit reputation before it gets too tarnished. Once people enter credit counseling and/or debt consolidation all clients are generally treated equally. The truth is not all people with credit card debt are the same.

There may be times when a credit counseling service would advise filing bankruptcy. That isn't necessarily the kind of help people are seeking when they contact a credit counseling service. People generally know when bankruptcy appears to be the only option. When a credit counseling service advises a potential client to file bankruptcy that is essentially telling that client they cannot be helped. So who, then, do credit counseling services really help?

They don't help people who need a temporary boost of money or time in order to get themselves back on track. They don't help people who are in serious enough trouble to consider filing bankruptcy. They don't help people who don't need their so-called "education" about money management and use of credit. They don't help people who contacted them in the hopes of salvaging their damaged credit. They don't help people who knew right from wrong when it comes to credit but who didn't have the luxury of being able to do what was right because they had to feed kids with groceries bought with a credit card.

Credit counseling services may help people who don't know a thing about managing their money and credit, stupid people, and cavalier spenders. The trouble is many people who get into trouble with credit are neither stupid nor cavalier - and credit counseling services don't offer much for them.

The Mortgage Crisis - Are All Those People Really All That Irresponsible?

2008-08-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

Today's mortgage crisis has been blamed on lenders, and it has been blamed in "irresponsible borrowers, who bought houses they couldn't afford." While mortgage lenders and home-buyers have all had a hand in creating the existing crisis, placing the blame on either or both overlooks a deeper problem that, upon first glance at the bigger picture, can remain obscured.

I, personally, would not have been comfortable with an adjustable rate mortgage; and I'm not saying the people who signed on for them are entirely blameless for doing so. Still, young families are faced with living where houses are less expensive and jobs are low paying or hard to find; or else living where the jobs are and where the homes cost more. Where I live (Massachusetts) it would be a very rare house that sold for under $300,000. Rents for decent two-bedroom apartments are, on average, in the area of at $1700 a month. There are people today who are earning a rate of pay that I earned back in the 1970's. Of course, that pay today would be the low end (when it wasn't back then), but a "high-average-end" house back then sold for, perhaps, $85,000 (4 bedroom with two and a half baths, an acre of land, a full attic, a family room). There is no "low-end" house today for $85,000 (to go along with how pays have gone up but not gone up at the same rates that home prices have).

So, today's young families are faced with deciding to have no children (possibly ever - and everyone has a right to a have a family, particularly the hard-working thirty-somethings who got an education and waited to have children), and not need that three-bedroom home (or apartment for however much that would cost them); or try to do the "sensible thing" of at least putting their monthly housing money into equity. Yes, they took a gamble; but in fairness to them, many felt they didn't have a choice (unless, again, they wanted to forego having a family - but that's a little too much to expect of people in their thirties). For people a little older, children may have outgrown the little apartment or small home they had. A whole lot of people felt pressured to buy a home before the prices went up yet farther beyond reach.

Giving a couple of thousand dollars a month away in rent money meant people weren't doing what would make the best use of their money. Twenty-five years ago a $72,000 home would jump up in price about $20,000 in one year. About five years ago, a young couple I know, who had bought a home, discovered a year later the same house has jumped up $100,000. Regardless of how old people are, unless they're doing awfully, awfully, well it is very difficult to save up, say,$ 200,000 in order to get the mortgage on a basic split- level home in Massachusetts down to, say, $220,000.

The average family (and even the above average family who doesn't have an overabundance of money) felt pushed into making that "sound" investment, where, at least, there was the hope of giving their family a home, keeping their equity, and possibly re-financing later. Many, I'm sure, took that gamble because they felt it was the only choice that had. Banks were ready to lend the money to these desperate people, probably partly because so many of them knew there was no way a lot of even high-ish earners could buy a house. There was, quite simply, a demand for "easier" mortgages. Without mortgages $450,000 don't sell, and there are consequences to a widely paralyzed housing market as well.

It is easy for those people who bought their homes for $20,000, $70,000 or even $90,000, to have an opinion about what young families in recent years should have done, when faced with horrendous rents (even in bad neighborhoods) versus trying to buy a home. It's easy for someone who is young and hasn't yet had a family to have an opinion too. People don't get to choose the economy and housing market they'll find themselves in when they're at the age of building their family.

Chances are none of them would have chosen to take out adjustable rate mortgages if they had a choice of finding a place to live with more than one bedroom for a whole family, or a two-bedroom apartment with someone sleeping in the living room. These people were raised to believe that you just grow up, get an education, earn a good living, have your family, and provide a home for that family. They thought they were living life the way their parents had, and the way that is good for families to live.

Anyone who squirms these days when he has to fill his gas tank more than he had hoped he'd have to that week should understand what it's like to live when prices are beyond control, and more than even people with good jobs can comfortably afford. Maybe some people would like to see Americans do what people in some other countries do, which is live ten-people-to-a-small apartment and bike to a job that pays a few dollars an hour. If that happens the country will not be the same one we've come to know. (That would, of course, not bother some people around the globe. In fact, it would please many. The American Dream, however, has never been about sharing a small apartment with another family; so, right or wrong, such a situation would be a serious decline in our quality of life.)

This housing thing isn't necessarily about a bunch of irresponsible people and equally irresponsible banks just "going wild" for the fun of it. It's about a complicated set of issues related to the bigger picture, that should have been addressed over the last couple of decades.

The parents of the Baby Boom generation bought homes in which to raise their children. Many made sure their children could go to college if they chose to. The American Dream of raising children to get a good education and good job in order to provide their own families with a nice standard of living was shared by the Baby Boom generation, as the next generation of families was built. The goal of getting an education, getting married, buying a house, and building a family was considered an "ideal" - and yet millions of couples chose to aim to build that kind of life for themselves and their families. After all, we are a society that often disdains getting little education, having babies as unmarried couples, and bringing those babies into poverty and the neighborhoods that go with that poverty.

The children of the first wave of Baby Boomers, along with others who felt pressured to buy a home before the prices went yet higher, are a generation for whom four-year degrees are common, and for whom those four-year degrees, alone, don't necessarily bring in a very high income. Graduate degrees increase earning potential but cost a lot of money to get. With the idea that getting a good education "at all costs" is well worth it in the end, the generation that followed the Baby Boomers has often been burdoned not just with the usual high cost of living, but with school loans as well. This often hard-working group of people with young families was faced with increasingly high rents. Most would not have wanted government assistance with housing, but even if they did they would not have been eligible.

As they watched houses get farther and farther beyond their reach, and as they saw rents that were already high continue to go up, many of these sensible, hard-working, Americans believed that "throwing their money away on rent" was not financially wise, and that investing in a home was. At least their money would grow. Some could even be said to have panicked. After all,

if they didn't own a home and rents continued to go up, where would they be if rents rose beyond what they could afford?

Can the mortgage crisis be blamed on the people who were simply trying to use their money most sensibly, while providing a home for their families? Were they really being "irresponsible"?

Can it even be blamed on all lenders, who adjusted their practices to meet the needs and demand of a market that believed risky financing was a better gamble than the "sure thing" of throwing rent money "out the window"? Not all foreclosures are tied to predatory lenders. Some of those adjustable rate mortgages have been with reputable banks as well.

As with so many complex problems, the causes of the current mortgage crisis go deeper than just a matter of too many adjustable rate mortgages agreed upon by too many irresponsible and greedy people. There''s no doubt that if one were to look at the problem, greed and lack of responsibility could be found in some places and some cases. Upon closer look, however, one would see that the story of the present mortgage crisis goes a lot deeper.

Is Having A Bank Account Worth It For Low-Income Individuals?

2008-08-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

Having a bank account is always worthwhile. The question for low-income individuals is whether it is worth the financial risk. Many people who live on low and/or fixed incomes find that it is.

Having a personal bank account (which usually consists of a checking account and associated savings account)is the way people do business today. Many banks offer free checking accounts with no minimum-balance requirement. Some of these free accounts are aimed at people who will do their banking through electronic means only (which include the bank's ATM). Free checking is often offered to students, and many banks offer free checking to individuals over 55 years of age. With most bank accounts also comes the convenience of the ATM/debit card, which can be used to make purchases, including online purchases. (Many low-income people do have computers. Those who don't may use one at the local library. Whether someone wants to find bargain prices online or earn a few extra dollars online, a bank account is required in order to set up an account like a PayPal account, which allows money to be transferred online without giving personal bank account information.)

Being able to set up direct deposit can be extremely convenient. Today, many companies, such as car insurance companies and cell phone providers, are willing to offer no-deposit coverage/service when they are authorized to deduct automatic payments from a checking account.

Carrying substantial amounts of cash is never a wise idea, and even low-income people have been known to carry two or three hundred dollars with them because they don't have a bank account.

There are also low-limit credit cards for people with no credit or bad credit. Many of these require payments be automatically taken from a checking account. Even when that isn't required, however, it can be a handy way to make sure a credit card bill is paid regularly.

While the low-income individual's balance may be modest, having a bank account allows that individual to conduct his personal business in the same manner as most people do. Being able to pay bills with a check, cash checks we receive, and say "yes" on applications that ask if you have a checking and savings account, are all things that having a bank account offers. The individual who has held an account with the same bank for a long period of time may have other advantages, as well. For example, in the event circumstances make getting (and paying back) a small, personal, one's own bank is often the best place to apply.

Besides the financial and convenience benefits, there may be psychological benefits to the low-income person's having a bank account. People living on low incomes can often feel removed from "the mainstream". Everyone else may seem to have a bank account, but the low-income person may not. Everyone else may seem to have a credit card, but the low-income person does not. Everyone else seems to have a telephone, the low-income person may not. Other people may have cars, car insurance, and road service plans; the low-income person may not. Even ads aimed at people who may buy products or services seem to be aimed at other people to the very low-income individual. Living on a low income can, indeed, remove some people from "the mainstream". If there are small ways for the low-income person to have those basics in life that most everyone else has it can actually help that individual feel a little less removed from the mainstream of life.

Living on a low or fixed income doesn't necessarily mean not being able to manage money wisely. Many low-income individuals do find a way to save a small amount of their income with each check.

There are, however, potentially devastating risks when a person with a limited income has a bank account. The low-income individual has no margin for error when it comes to his balance. If he forgets that he made a $2.00 debit card purchase at a convenience store, and then makes a purchase that uses up his existing balance, there is the chance that the $2.00 debit purchase could cost him the usual $35.00 fee. If that same person happened to have mailed a check, and if that check came in once the account was already overdrawn, there could be a second $35.00, in addition to any fees charged by the company who had the check returned. If the check returned were a credit card payment the individual's credit card could then run up over-limit fees, late fees, and returned check fees. In other words, that $2.00 convenience store purchase could cost the individual in the area of $200 in fees. If more than one check were returned, of course, the fees would be run up even higher.

The problem for many low-income people is that they live under stress, which can cause them to feel distracted and more prone to being absent-minded. That places even the most careful individual at higher risk of making a mistake with his bank account.

Keeping accurate track of a checking account does, of course, help minimize the possibility of errors; but that isn't always enough for the low-income individual. (People who are not familiar with keeping a check register can usually easily learn. Confirming one's own information against balance-checking over the phone, on the computer, or at the ATM is generally something people of all incomes prefer to do.)

There are, though, ways to eliminate the risk of a disastrous mistake. People with established, good, credit may be able to have some limited overdraft protection. Banks generally require a minimum income to offer this, but some low-income people do have the usual $1,000 a month minimum income. Those who do not can usually put a few dollars into their linked savings account, arrange with the bank that the savings account money will be transferred if an overdraft item appears, and this will eliminate the type of disaster described above.

Another way to eliminate the chances of disastrous mistakes is to be very judicious in the use of both checks and the ATM debit card. Using the debit card for most things and saving checks for bills extends the time the check supply lasts. Many banks offers unlimited use of their own ATM's, as well as unlimited debit-purchase transactions.

There is no doubt that living on a low and/or fixed income poses it's own set of challenges and demands on those who do, but a substantial number of elderly individuals manage to live on Social Security checks and yet maintain a basic level of sound, normal, money management. In fact, it may be a rare elderly person (particularly those who lived through The Great Depression) who runs up unexpected and disastrous bank fees.

The amount of money the low-income person has to manage may be modest, but establishing a normal money-management/money processing foundation can be the first step on the way to a more comfortable financial situation. Low-income people are often quite skilled at shopping with great care. There is no reason they cannot exercise the same great care in managing a bank account.