I finally found an article on MSN worth sharing. Click on the link for the whole article. Having made this same journey myself it is amazing to look around at all the people that are better off than you and realize that in a lot of ways thier comfy lives keep them from seeing what is really important. I know I for one am REALLY tired of hearing people with more than enough of everything WHINE and bitch about how awful it is and how this and that and the other thing are so terrible. When in fact they are blessed and just don't see it.
I make $6.50 an hour. Am I poor?
Here's how I slipped from the middle class into near poverty, and what I'm doing about it.
By Karen Datko
As a single professional woman, for years I sat securely among the lower rungs of the middle class.
Now I've fallen off the ladder.
In a matter of months, I went from a comfortable life with decent pay and health insurance to a $6.50-an-hour job with no insurance, no furniture and just enough resources to keep the wolf from the door.
I no longer buy anything unless it's absolutely essential. I spend $40 at the supermarket and make it last for more than two weeks. I never turn down a free meal. I've learned to graciously accept money, furniture, elk meat and encouragement from worried friends.
I am no longer proud.
I have no romantic notions about being poor. I'm not nobler than others, and I'm not a victim. But I am one minor medical emergency away from welfare.
Simply put, I'm in survival mode.
