How to be poor.

I hate being poor. I hate not being able to buy whatever I need or want whenever I want it, but such is life and now I must move on and learn to deal with my plight. My mission of being poor is to not appear poor, and make people think I have loads of money... not that it's necessarily working, but below are some of my tips for living if you're poor. These aren't going to be your "make a budget, buy used clothes and sale items, do free activities, meal plan and clip coupons", types of tips. We've all heard those before and are likely doing them. These are the above and beyond tips. Things I've learned along the way that I didn't know or hadn't thought of before.
Now some people will disguise their poorness by saying they're "living simply" or that they're "going green" but lets face it people, if you're washing your ziplock bags, you. are. poor. So if you're one of those poor, or "simple/green" living people see if you can use any of my tips, and please leave tips of your own!

Know what your budget actually is.
This one's obvious, but instead of going into the details of how to budget, my tips in this area are more about keeping track of your money and how to make it feel equal within a partnership. Dan and I do this later part by each getting an allowance of equal amount from our entertainment budge to spend on whatever we want for that month, clothes, beauty products, slurpees, coffee, etc. That way we can't get mad at the other person for spending all the money when the other was planning on using it for something else. We also put all our variable budgeted amounts on a white board on our fridge (three categories: grocery, gas, and entertainment) and as we spend we erase the total amount and write in the new amount. That way we always have a convenient place to find out how much we actually have left for groceries or date nights.

Purge and get organized.

Under my sink.
We have no drawers in our
bathrooms

Having stuff everywhere that you don't use and that you can't find just makes a person feel cramped and out of control. So get rid of the things you don't use. (If you haven't used an item or worn an item in a year it might be time to let it go). Then organize what's left, that way you won't be wasting money on buying duplicates AND you'll be able to find things easier, being less likely to say things like "this house is too small, we need to move to a bigger place!" I LOVE the cloth boxes you can find at dollar stores! They are everywhere in my house.


Keep things clean, tidy and in good repair.
Dirty things make us want new and shiny things, so keep your things clean so you won't be tempted to run out and replace something simply because it needed a bath or a small tune up.

Stock Pile.
But only a little. We shop at Costco, so we've got a mini stock pile in our ensuite shower, but I don't recommend going over board and hoarding. Just buy in bulk when it's convenient and cheap and when you find an awesome sale that you can't pass up and YOU HAVE THE MONEY FOR. (Buying cheap/on sale things if you don't have the money for it is not actually a deal!!!)

Go to the Library.
You can rent movies, tv shows, books, CD's etc all for free. You can also check out passes to museums and exibits if you live in certain places in America. I've seen several new release movies all from the library and have gotten hooked on some great TV shows... I mean really, who doesn't want to watch all 6 seasons of the Cosby show again?!

Make things yourself.
It's amazing the things you can make yourself! I had no idea that I could make my own yogurt until a few months ago and now we do it all the time! It's a big money saver. Here is just a sample of all the things you can make yourself:

• yogurt
• bread
• detergent
• cleaning solutions
• clothes (skirts, maternity pants, cloth diapers)
• Holiday decorations
• Toys

Ok, this list doesn't look that long, but if you have something that you NEED or really WANT try googling how to make it, I'll bet you find a whole slew of websites that will show you how. Or check out youtube for an instructional video. That's where I learned to crochet, how to install a spray hose onto my toilet, how to fix a garbage disposal, how to grow plants on my porch... I could go on.

Modify and get crafty.

Ghetto Sweeper

Two things that always bugged me when cleaning was using my Swiffer Wet Jet and paper towels. Both are disposable cleaning products and once used I'd have to buy more and they're pricey! So I decided I was gonna figure out a way to make my Swiffer work without paying for the refills. I took an old terry cloth washcloth and cut it in half and stuck in onto the Swiffer. I then bought a spray bottle at a dollar store and put water and Pine-sol that I had on hand in it and used that as the spray! Spray, wipe, spray, wipe! Just the same as the disposable except I just throw the washcloth in the wash to re-use! I recently saw a product that Rubbermaid has come out with that is this basic concept, but remember, I'm poor people! I'll stick with my ghetto Swiffer.
I also love the idea of the paper towels that can be ripped into smaller sections, but the cheapest cost friendly towels around here is the Costco brand, so that's what we buy and they are monster sheets. One day I decided, I was tired of wasting a HUGE sheet for a small job, so I took a knife and sliced the roll right down the middle,stopping short of the cardboard tube. Ta da! Half sheets! Now our paper towels will last twice as long!

Entertain at home instead of going out.
Have people bring things too, that way you don't have to foot the bill.

Eat at other peoples homes as often as you can.
This works great with family :)

Get poor friends.
Poor friends are just like you and don't want to spend money. The only problem is they might come to your place for a free dinner... or make you bring food to their place when they entertain :) This sounds like another blog post waiting to happen "What to bring to other peoples homes if they ask you to bring food and you're poor"... I'll include recipes for deviled eggs, popcorn, hummus, pea dip etc...

When getting take out make what you can and buy what you can't.
Dan and I love Indian food, but it adds up when you have to buy the sauce and the rice and the naan. We know how to make rice, but we don't know how to make the sauce as good as the place we love, so that is the part we buy. Dan's example is buying a bag of burgers from McDonald's and coming home using pop/soda that is much cheaper by the half gallon than paying for it in the restaurant.

Tips for saving with kids:
Cloth diaper. You don't have to pay an arm and a leg to cloth diaper. This is a whole nother blog post though. Soon to come.
Look for church SWAP meets to buy all child related items. This is where 90% of my baby girls clothes come from!
Make things like felt food, balls, blankets, blocks, burp cloths, play mats, books, room decor, etc. Again, more blog posts on this to come.


There really are so many ways to save money, sometimes it just takes a little time to get the idea and to incorporate it into our lifestyles. We also have to ask ourselves "is this worth the money it will save me?" and sometimes the answer is "no". In the end my discovery is that being poor is a lot of work. What some people can buy or pay to get done, we have to do ourselves, but when you read books like Little House on the Prairie, you realize how easy you really have it. I'll take making some homemade bread and yogurt any day over having to milk a cow in a blizzard, shovel animal poop every day, build my house and make everything I ever need from scratch! Those poor people didn't even have ziplock bags!