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Original post by way2lazy2care because I needed a job fast so I could start saving money to relocate instead of sitting at home making no money and counting on hopes and prayers. My plan was to relocate around august/september of 2011 to the austin area, but I got a job offer here and took that instead.

You're still conveniently ignoring the fact that you have no expenses and no dependents.

Yes, it's easy and cheap to relocate out of your parent's house at 22. Especially if working in IT-related jobs.

Majority of first world population does not fit into that.

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my mother paid for my plane ticket as an early christmas present. I had a job offer before moving though, so that's something that certainly makes things easier.

Yes, preach it. Teach the lazy slobs how they should pick up their life and save up.

And you could make extra money by consulting in Rust Belt. Plenty of people who need to be taught about saving and adjusting life plan and similar. Maybe you could advise them to take up some classes to switch from their current skills to those more in demand. Heck, move to Detroit, I hear they are looking for new ideas. Or just about anywhere, plenty of people who need advice on how to improve their "Life plan".


Bit I digress - I wish you never truly understood what the problems are. Because regardless of whose fault it is, nobody really deserves to fall below poverty line. Especially given things will not be improving much over the next decade.

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Original post by way2lazy2care Quote: Original post by Alpha_ProgDes And you were completely independent (living on your own, paying all your bills on your own, etc) with no assistance (parents, gov't, charities, etc)?! If that's the case, and I'm making the correct assumption, then that's impressive! Bravo! I was on federal assistance (loans and pell grants), working through the federal workstudy, and lived with my family before I moved to OK. I am on my families phone plan and my mother paid for my plane ticket as an early christmas present. I had a job offer before moving though, so that's something that certainly makes things easier. In general though I think people greatly overestimate the cost of relocating. If you're making minimum wage you could easily relocate for less than a thousand bucks and end up with many times that in expendable income post move. My move only cost me around $1500 and I had to pay for a work permit and I chose an apartment in a higher priced area because it's a lot closer to work.

What did you spend that $1500 on? How long did you take to save it? I take it you were renting your own place, not living at home/with family/friends/etc to greatly lower living costs.

Now lets switch a few things around here.

1. Your mother didn't buy you a plane ticket. How long would it have taken you to save for the plane ticket? How much money would you have missed out on?

2. You didn't have family/friends to help pay for school, and you were a mediocre student at best in high school, netting you a lovely zero in scholarships to go to school. So now not only are you on minimum wage out of university, but you have a lovely set of student loan payments to make every month. How long would you take to save up the money to move?

3. How about if you were a child of a single parent. Just out of high school your parent becomes ill and needs hospitalization, and leaves you trying to care for a younger sibling. You work 2 or 3 minimum wage jobs trying to pay off medical bills, and support a family. How do you find the time and money for the education you need for something more than a minimum wage job?

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Original post by Talroth Quote: Original post by way2lazy2care Quote: Original post by Alpha_ProgDes And you were completely independent (living on your own, paying all your bills on your own, etc) with no assistance (parents, gov't, charities, etc)?! If that's the case, and I'm making the correct assumption, then that's impressive! Bravo! I was on federal assistance (loans and pell grants), working through the federal workstudy, and lived with my family before I moved to OK. I am on my families phone plan and my mother paid for my plane ticket as an early christmas present. I had a job offer before moving though, so that's something that certainly makes things easier. In general though I think people greatly overestimate the cost of relocating. If you're making minimum wage you could easily relocate for less than a thousand bucks and end up with many times that in expendable income post move. My move only cost me around $1500 and I had to pay for a work permit and I chose an apartment in a higher priced area because it's a lot closer to work. What did you spend that $1500 on? How long did you take to save it? I take it you were renting your own place, not living at home/with family/friends/etc to greatly lower living costs.

I was under the understanding he was living with his parents. Was I wrong?

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Original post by Alpha_ProgDes Quote: Original post by Talroth What did you spend that $1500 on? How long did you take to save it? I take it you were renting your own place, not living at home/with family/friends/etc to greatly lower living costs. I was under the understanding he was living with his parents. Was I wrong?

I was but I was paying roughly what I was paying for rent through college while I was (depending on the month as it went up and down). I mean I had the benefit of living in a cheaper area so it wasn't as hard for me to save money, and I've always been pretty responsible with my cash, so I had spare shit-hitting-the-fan money.

But I'm curious why other people earning minimum wage wouldn't be able to move in with their parents for a month for at least really low rent. I know when I was a kid we moved in with my grandparents for a few years while the income was less than predictable.

as for the breakdown it was $900 for rent/security deposit (would be a LOT lower if you moved somewhere cheap. For example first rent and security deposit was $400 when I rented my first room). The plane ticket would have been $400 I think, but it would be a lot cheaper to hop on a greyhound bus than trying to fly internationally to relocate. Then it was about $200 for a hotel for 3 days while I found an apartment. It was $150 to get a work permit, and I spent about $100 on food through my first paycheck. The rest was on random stuff like transportation or christmas presents before I left.

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Original post by way2lazy2care Quote: Original post by Alpha_ProgDes Quote: Original post by Talroth What did you spend that $1500 on? How long did you take to save it? I take it you were renting your own place, not living at home/with family/friends/etc to greatly lower living costs. I was under the understanding he was living with his parents. Was I wrong? I was but I was paying roughly what I was paying for rent through college while I was (depending on the month as it went up and down). I mean I had the benefit of living in a cheaper area so it wasn't as hard for me to save money, and I've always been pretty responsible with my cash, so I had spare shit-hitting-the-fan money. But I'm curious why other people earning minimum wage wouldn't be able to move in with their parents for a month for at least really low rent. I know when I was a kid we moved in with my grandparents for a few years while the income was less than predictable. as for the breakdown it was $900 for rent/security deposit (would be a LOT lower if you moved somewhere cheap. For example first rent and security deposit was $400 when I rented my first room). The plane ticket would have been $400 I think, but it would be a lot cheaper to hop on a greyhound bus than trying to fly internationally to relocate. Then it was about $200 for a hotel for 3 days while I found an apartment. It was $150 to get a work permit, and I spent about $100 on food through my first paycheck. The rest was on random stuff like transportation or christmas presents before I left.

Congrats. You were raised in an apparently functional family who cared about you.

Not everyone HAS parents that they can move in with. Not everyone has an easy life where everything goes well for you. Not everyone has friends and family who can help them out.

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Original post by Talroth Quote: Original post by way2lazy2care But I'm curious why other people earning minimum wage wouldn't be able to move in with their parents for a month for at least really low rent. I know when I was a kid we moved in with my grandparents for a few years while the income was less than predictable. Not everyone HAS parents that they can move in with. Not everyone has an easy life where everything goes well for you. Not everyone has friends and family who can help them out.

QFT.

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Original post by Talroth Not everyone HAS parents that they can move in with. Not everyone has an easy life where everything goes well for you. Not everyone has friends and family who can help them out.

then they should help themselves. I'm sorry someone might have to work 2 jobs for a month so they can relocate or that they might have to declare bankruptcy to get out of debt.

It sucks no lie. That is not a license to fall into a poor me everyone else should work to make my life better attitude.

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Original post by way2lazy2care Quote: Original post by Talroth Not everyone HAS parents that they can move in with. Not everyone has an easy life where everything goes well for you. Not everyone has friends and family who can help them out. then they should help themselves. I'm sorry someone might have to work 2 jobs for a month so they can relocate or that they might have to declare bankruptcy to get out of debt. It sucks no lie. That is not a license to fall into a poor me everyone else should work to make my life better attitude.

The poor work damn hard, if you don't already know that. And as other people have said, there are more circumstances that are going on then, "oh let me relocate and everything will be magically better". You can't easily do that when you have kids. You can't easily do that when you're already working two jobs. You can't easily do that when you're already living paycheck to paycheck. Some of us are fortunate in that we had a good base to start from. Others have no idea what a good base even looks like. The world isn't black and white.

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Original post by Alpha_ProgDes The poor work damn hard, if you don't already know that. And as other people have said, there are more circumstances that are going on then, "oh let me relocate and everything will be magically better". You can't easily do that when you have kids. You can't easily do that when you're already working two jobs. You can't easily do that when you're already living paycheck to paycheck. Some of us are fortunate in that we had a good base to start from. Others have no idea what a good base even looks like. The world isn't black and white.

Am I the only one that got the memo that life isn't always easy?

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Original post by way2lazy2care Am I the only one that got the memo that life isn't always easy?

You're acknowledging the fact that some people are born into better situations than others through no action of their own, but you claim that the government should do less to equalize this. That's a fairly radical position to take in the first place particularly since you seem to be grossly underestimating how difficult it really is for the poorest people. But then the way you present your ideas is hardly appealing, either, because even though you're acknowledging that you're relatively well-off compared to the most unfortunate people, you still say "they should help themselves."

I'm sure you have internalized that "life isn't always easy" -- as long as it's only hard for other people.