Not the same person but where I am there are shelters and community centers that offer these things for free. The facilities are not in as good condition as a gym membership though.
We have tons of shelters in the US too. Talk to any homeless person though and they’ll tell you they don’t use the shelter because it either: forces them to not use drugs, splits up a family, has lots of sexual assaults going on, or has more health related problems than it’s worth.
last time i took a shower at a homeless shelter:
you have to hand all your stuff to a guy at a window, he puts it in a bag, then you go to a medium sized room with several shower heads spraying towards the middle…
so you don’t just get your shower, you get the water bouncing off a dozen naked homeless guys…
the water is a tepid, narrow, painful jet…
i caught scabies and athletes foot…
…
i’ve taken one other one at a shelter in another city and state and it was identical…
…
gym is way better, otherwise i’d rather take a bird bath in a random bathroom sink…
To add to @garbagebagel’s point I am not sure that a homeless person with a car is very common in Eurasia.
But come to think of it, this depends on how much people are willing to move around and at what point are they considered homeless, e.g. if they can’t afford to sleep anywhere except for the car but have a room in a next town etc.
Also, I am now not sure what is the statistics of ownership of things like cars in a group of homeless people in different places. Could be wrong about the idea that most homeless own close to nothing but don’t know if such a statistic exists.
Not American. BasicFit and similar chains allow you access to all their gyms across Europe. Obviously, the car will be a problem here. If you can afford it, something like the citroen berlingo will do. They're everywhere, relatively affordable, and not super noticeable. If that's not an option, there's the library or public transport, combined with the occasional hostel. Not ideal, but better than sleeping on the street and not being able to wash at all.
A lot of those countries are just tax havens where companies like to “headquarter” their businesses and where rich people hide their money. Some have a low official population, and rely on exploiting foreign workers for much of the labor done (non-citizens don’t count towards “capita”).
Don’t take on debt if at all possible. If you use a credit card, try to pay it off each month. Don’t get one with annual fees. Get one that has cash back not miles or points.
Learn to make your own coffee instead of buying Starbucks or whatever. A decent hand grind will last for a decade and cost around $50. A no name pour over dripper and filters are a cheap way to make coffee at home. Buy beans and keep them in an air tight container and they will be good for a month.
This is a recipe that my grandma taught my while she was still alive and I’ll pass it on to my nonexistent children when they are old enough to drink coffee.
A no name pour over dripper and filters are a cheap way to make coffee at home.
Moka, French, and Turkish give you better results, don’t require disposable filters, are usually cheaper, and aside from Turkish don’t require experience to make good coffee.
Get a chest freezer. It’s much more efficient for long-term storage than an upright fridge with a freezer because the cold air doesn’t spill out when you open it.
Toss your incandescent and fluorescent lights. Get LED bulbs (not smart lights, just white LEDs). Where applicable, install timer switches.
Fuck cars, get a bike. A simple, sturdy one, like an onafiets. They run on toast and determination.
Understand the difference between having enough money to buy something and being able to afford something.
Unsubscribe from music/video streaming services. Return to the seven seas.
I don't have an omafiets, but a single gear bike. The only gear it does have is quite tough to start, but my God is it so much better than something with 8 gears or whatever. So much less effort once you get going. I never realised this, but apparently you lose a lot of power through the gearing.
The derailleur transmission design introduces a LOT of friction because the chain is forced to bend and twist between gears that are out of alignment, and it hates doing that. It also leads to increased wear.
I’m not an avid cyclist, and I found the inability to make inclines easier a no-go. I’m into electric assist though, but that increases bike price. I see quite a few used ones for sale tho.
The efficiency trade off of a chest freezer is often broken by people’s inability to remember what’s in it. If you can’t reach the stuff at the bottom then it all goes bad. This is why an upright most likely makes more sense, even though it’s less efficient. You end up wasting as much food simply from forgetting what’s in there.
Toss your incandescent and fluorescent lights. Get LED bulbs (not smart lights, just white LEDs). Where applicable, install timer switches.
It’s crazy how efficient LEDs are. They are a little bit more expensive but you’ll save it on your energy bill over time and you’ll have to replace them less.
People also don’t realize how much of their energy bill is heat & air conditioning. If you don’t have pets, turn your heat off or way down while you’re at work. Just make sure it stays above freezing and above the dewpoint. If you can get any smart thermostat for cheap, they’ll save you a ton of money over the long run if you’re like me and constantly forget to set the temperature before you leave for work.
Also, thick drapes work wonders at keeping the cold out of cheap windows. You can get them and the hardware to hang them pretty cheap from goodwill. You can also wrap them in Saran wrap if you really want to keep the cold out. They sell kits, but painters tape and a cling film are way cheaper if you can hide them behind some drapes.
I’d be careful about the HVAC thing. I read somewhere a while back that it can cost more to change temperature than to just leave it slightly lower/higher and just wear a sweater or just shorts and a T shirt. Changing temperature is especially expensive if you’re drawing more electricity during peak times to make that change, like getting home from work at 6pm or so, when rates are higher. If you have a small apartment it may not be so bad to change the temp in a smaller volume of space.
YMMV, check your rates and times you’d be changing temp. Wear a sweater or strip as much as is feasible.
Excluding variable energy pricing, it’s much more energy efficient to only heat and cool your home while you’re actually at home.
Think of it like a tea kettle. It’s definitely not energy efficient to keep the water boiling for the hours when you’re not home just because you might want a cuppa when you get home. The only benefit keeping the water hot is to brew your next cup quicker. The water is cooling off at the same rate it would if the heater was off, but energy is being pumped into it to keep it hot and therefore it is constantly losing energy.
This is also assuming your HVAC’s coefficient of performance is constant, which it’s not, but it still generally is way better to avoid heating and cooling while you’re away from home, especially if you live in an older less insulated home.
If you do have variable energy pricing, that can change things, and that’s when a smart thermostat can really save you money. Instead of heating and cooling around your schedule, you do it around the pricing treating your house like a battery. See: youtu.be/0f9GpMWdvWI?si=LjiAjNf6t8cU8OZ2
This video really only really works if your home is relatively well insulated (as he points out). If it’s not well insulated, you’ll be uncomfortable basically all the time.
Generally if you’re on a variable rate it’s better to set the thermostat closer to the outside temperature when you’re gone for more than 5 hours. If you’re not on a variable rate, that break even point is like 30 minutes.
Holy crap pets. Both of my dogs passed, but it was about $1,000/yr each for normal stuff, when you add it all up. Food, vet, boarding, toys, beds, etc. you aren’t kidding.
I also know that people will skip better food and the vet, meaning they end up with unhealthy pets too.
All of the foods suck, just use your dog as a food disposal for healthy stuff that is starting to get sketchy. There stomach can handle it, and honestly my dog will pull it out of the trash or compost bin completely wrotten and eat it anyway.
Also don’t buy a dog if you live in an apartment, or don’t have land and refuse to walk, it’s just mean. They are meant to expend a crazy amount of energy, and the blame only falls at your own shoes when they inevitably destroy your apartment or have health issues.
I’m not poor but this always helps everyone. Wait for a while before you buy the thing off your shopping list. Wait for a week and reconsider whether you indeed need it.
If the answer is still yes, buy it. It is a must do for expensive things. Never break this rule for any massive purchase like a car or something!
To add a light structure to this approach I always liked the “wait $100 a day” approach. Want to buy something that costs $300. Wait three days after you have decided you want it. Want to buy something over $1000, think about it for a couple weeks. A $50 impulsive purchase, maybe think about it over lunch.
Yea for me every extra hundred is at least a couple days, even a $20 item usually sits in the cart until i make a decision on if i actually need/want it enough to warrant it
You are not wrong. I’ve been pretty fortunate in my adult life and I’ve adjusted the threshold as I go. Really the point is to slow down your decision making and reduce impulsive purchases.
…also, thank you for calling me out. I grew up pretty poor, and didn’t ever make much more than minimum wage until I was over 30. I think I internalized the frugal lifestyle as part of my identity during that time, and I often forget that is not my situation anymore. I appreciate the occasional reminder to be more grateful of my current privilege.
Interesting I guess this is why my partner does this. Kind of drives me nuts though because then we’ll have something on the list for months and he keeps putting it off until I finally just go on my own to buy it because I actually need it. Obviously not for big purchases but for stuff we don’t use often like flour or jam or something.
Growing up my parents sheltered me a lot more from the financial instability we faced, his did not and he’s still stuck in survival mode even though we are past it, so we have very different spending habits.
I try to never buy something the same day I learn of it. I’ll take someone’s business card, look it up online, comeback later, etc. that way it’s only if I really care about it and not just feeling pressured or spending money for fun (buying stuff feels like an accomplishment, but the feeling never lasts).
I’m not sure what you mean here. I can only think the confusion is on business cards, where I am from it common for little shops and individual vendors to have business cards to look them up later. Sales people for big things too like cars, and houses.
I was looking for a new car (leasing) and kept checking different for some weeks until I stumbled upon one offer that was 100€ less than any other while being essentially the same (power, space, etc). That was nice and I don’t really care about brands as long as they are somewhat reliable.
Black beans and Tapatio will keep you full and is pretty tasty for less than a dollar a meal. Also you can eat it out of the can. That how I lived when I was homeless.
I know credit cards can be a slippery slope for some, so learn how to practice financial discipline before getting one.
That said, if you’re not paying with a credit card, you’re paying at least 2 percent too much for everything you buy except the things that can’t easily be paid for with a credit card.
Any place to get a proper gist of what financially literate means in this context? I know maybe a few basics but always wondered about the best way to utilize credit to a long term benefit.
Basically use any credit card as you would any debit card. That means never spend any money you don’t already have in your account. And always pay the full statement balance every month on time to avoid paying interest.
That way you will get all the rewards and none of the drawbacks.
And what happens when a big purchase comes along that I really need, like my car breaking down or just a new mattress? I always figure that’s where the utilization starts going up and there’s only so much that can be paid off before the next billing cycle.
Credit cards should be avoided at all times, unless you have the money to pay them off each month. Or if you’re getting zero-interest financing and you are able to stick to the plan of paying it off before interest gets added.
Getting into credit card debt is one of the most common and worst poverty traps. Getting behind on credit card bills can ruin your credit and take years to repair, which impacts your financial stability when it comes time to make a purchase with Real Credit such as a home or car.
My best poverty tip is to not buy expensive things that are unnecessary. Also cook your own food at home, and learn to repair anything that you value. I’ve saved thousands of dollars over the years by doing my own car repairs, and driving old cars long past having them paid off.
My neighbors living in a slumlord’s two bedroom apartment Rent to Own everything. The got a TV from Rent to Own so big it had to be delivered cause it didnt fit in their car … i got the cheapest roku pos tv at walmart for $50.
Their daughter when she comes over to play with my kids has told me about so many frivolous things from Rent to Own they probably pay more to Rent to Own per month than in actual rent for their appartment.
When I started out my limit was less than I made in a month and I paid for everything with it. That was hard to fuck up and helped me build good spending habits. Currently I have one that is about 2x my monthly salary that I use for larger purchases but still the concept remains similar.
This kiosk at my work doesn’t have anyone working on it. There’s cameras but I doubt anybody checks those. I don’t steal much, but I make sure to grab an extra item to buy to make it more convincing.
Friend, if there’s cameras, there’s a record, and that means that if someone notices they’ll have video proof of theft. That would cost your job.
And if you’re working for a small business, please don’t steal from the owner. Small businesses are not big faceless money-extraction machines like corporations are.
That’s a weird argument. Most people don’t want to spend their whole lives in prison. If you’d ever been in one, maybe you’d realize incarceration is not an experience most people enjoy… at all. It’s sort of the point. Suicide is even cheaper, should we recommend that?
It’s not an argument for going to prison, it’s a commentary on the deplorable state of American society.
Suicide is even cheaper, should we recommend that?
You think people haven’t considered and even exercised that option for that very reason?
incarceration is not an experience most people enjoy…
If the point of prison is to remove joy, then why not just have convicts play No Man’s Sky?
But seriously, should that even be the point? Isn’t the point of having a justice system a bit more nuanced than that? Shouldn’t our aim be to create a better society in general? Not simply through mere incarceration, but also education and mental health care?
Don’t we owe it to the members of society who have been failed by society to lift them up when possible to a place where they no longer need to subvert and disrupt society’s rules for the sake of their own survival? Don’t we owe it to the rest of society to provide a path to a productive life for so of its citizens, regardless of our previous unwillingness or inability to do so?
get so depressed you get into calisthenics then you can do full body workouts with minimal equipment alone in your room and get shredded for super cheap. given u diet but healthy foods can be cheap in bulk/cans
Nope, as per my username I live in a place where infrastructure was developed before the car.
Update: you don’t need to purchase groceries daily. That would be more expensive, you put the money aside for later. The trick is that you don’t spend money that should cover expenses next week, that way you can more closely monitor your spending.
I didn’t mean it as a critique of what you were saying, and certainly not as an insult to you, but rather as a disappointed critique of American city layouts.
Buy expensive shoes. Well, let me rephrase that. Buy GOOD shoes. A good pair of QUALITY shoes will save you money in the long term as they will last a lot longer than buying many pairs of cheap shoes.
I would also argue that many pairs of shoes can also have the same effect. If you can rotate shoes, you’re not wearing out any one pair excessively. I have shoes that are in still good condition but are a discontinued Adidas line that’s not available anymore. Although I do have shoes I still haven’t worn so there’s definitely a point of having too many pairs lol
Realized the 80 dollar slip resistant work shoes I got at Shoe Carnival were like 20 bucks at target. Same shoes, just didn’t have a football player’s name on the tag.
Put em side by side they look identical and I wear them interchangably not even noticing a difference
Decide on a monthly, weekly, or daily dudget and use cash only.
So back in the day, I had a 10$ daily budget. So every month I would withdrawal 310$, and take 10 every morning. All plastic cards stay at home. If I wanted to buy something for more than 10$, I would have to save up.
This way there are no surprises.
Also, it led me to DIY most of the non tech things in my life.
Better yet, get a credit card that earns rewards and treat it like a bill that must be paid each month. I have a Citi double cash card that’s 2% rewards for all purchases that I use to pay for almost everything. I also have a citi custom cash card that we use for food exclusively, which is like 5% rewards for the most spent category. I keep upping the limit of both at every opportunity to try and keep spending below 10% monthly. Combined they generate at least 2k a year and I have a near 800 credit score and it’s no different than using cash if you are responsible. Free money.
I like the smell of the softener. Tbh I never even considered that fabric softener… Softened fabric… In my head fabric softener = good smelly conditioner.
One day my SO and I were bickering and I was asked what is the point of fabric softener. I said for it to smell good. And they said it was to soften the fabric. Oops.
If you just eat egg fried rice using ingredients from Aldi you’re able to bring your weekly food costs down to about £2-£3 a week, I lived that way for about 3 months during the cost of living crisis. Sure it was only 1000 calories a day but I was able to get all the nutrients I needed from the ingredients.
And if you're truly worried about making sure that you have minimal nutrition to survive on, that is literally the thing that multivitamins were invented to address.
Sure, you won't be living your absolute maximum healthiest lifestyle by doing this but if you've got to get through a couple of tight months this is the way to do it. The Dollar tree sells multivitamins. $1.25 for a month supply is not hopefully going to break the bank.
I think eggs have pretty much all the nutrients you need. They are high in cholesterol though. Same thing with milk. They are the sole nutrition for animals for a period of time, so they have everything needed in it (at least everything the animal needs).
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