Does being poor mean a better life?
By TLChimes
@TLChimes (4822)
United States
January 1, 2010 11:08am CST
I have watched as American rich folks who thought they had it all, fight to survive on lower or no income, losing their homes, and fighting just to stay on an even path.
They thought that going to work each day at a high paying job, having a house on the hill in a good neighbor hood, and driving a brand new car would make them happy and keep them that way.
Then things changed.
As a poor American, I know who to call if I get too hungry, My car is a zillion years old, and my house is paid for even though it's a rough side of town.
While I do have worries.... I still have to pay bills, help my hubby find work, and make sure my kids get what they need to grow into well rounded grown up humans, I am relatively happy.
I don't have as far to fall, I know where resources are, and I can stretch a pound of plain old hamburger around the block twice. Some of those folks don't have those simple skills.... and a lot of them don't want to learn them.
I can find contentment and happiness in the simple pleasures like dinner at a family restaurant because I don't know the tastes at a 5 star resort. Does that make sense?
What do you think? Can it be better never having known the "better life" then enjoying the rich life and falling to a lower class then you have known?
13 people like this
48 responses
@Carolyn63 (1403)
• United States
1 Jan 10
Sweetie, I think it really boils down to the individuals ideals. I've known people whom had money but prefered to live life like a hobo. They were happy. I've known people well to do that were miserable. A large part of it has to do with appreciating the blessings you have. Money is necessary. I struggle myself making ends meet. Where as I would like more money to be able to do things that need done, I have no need to be rich and buy fancy things to collect dust. I'm vastly rich with friends and love, a family, my pets. I've lived on the streets and gone without. I've been place on a pedestal and given the chance to eat at fine places. Without the love, compassion, closeness of people, it has no value.
I'll extend the hamburger. I'll stay home and snuggle with my husband. A better life, that begins within, not with money, your outlook is the best place to start. Sounds like your very rich to me.
@blackbriar (9076)
• United States
1 Jan 10
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy this didn't come to my in inbox. 
TLC..like you..rather be poor and 'have it all' than be rich and 'have nothing'.
I ate in a 5* restaurant once...uh..no thanks..rather eat at the corner diner where the food is down-to-earth in a friendly atmosphere. How bout we combine our resources and head to the lake for a few days? ummmm...when it warmer out, that is.
TLC..like you..rather be poor and 'have it all' than be rich and 'have nothing'.
I ate in a 5* restaurant once...uh..no thanks..rather eat at the corner diner where the food is down-to-earth in a friendly atmosphere. How bout we combine our resources and head to the lake for a few days? ummmm...when it warmer out, that is.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
1 Jan 10
I was raised in a poor household and used to want more than I had. Briefly, when I was in my 20's, I became a sort of spendthrift living for the present and enjoying things that I could not afford. I paid for it dearly, too. It's not that I bought a nice car or expensive clothes, I just lived beyond my limited means and planned poorly for the future. I wasn't real happy, either.
Then I married someone to whom "things" were more important than people and learned another hard lesson about what makes life worth living.
Now I live below my means, save my money and am prepared for emergencies and disasters. I'm happy! My family is my treasure here on earth, I don't dine out or go to the movies, I plan for the future but live in the present and enjoy remembering the past. That brief fling with irresponsibility taught me a valuable lesson.
So yes, I think that being poor or living modestly brings more happiness than striving to be rich. When you focus on things rather than people and enjoy them more than God's gifts, you will never be happy.
1 person likes this
@JAYMAR777 (840)
• Philippines
1 Jan 10
Life is life, It really depends on how you look and approach it. whether from poor to rich, rich to poor, poor to poor, rich to even richer. It just depends on how yu accepted the lot that falls to you on that very moment. but somehow i like to look at things in an optimistic way. i just am not a believer of being poor means a better life. My country is a third world and if being poor is better, try to live here. But my people just know how to be happy and make the most out of what we/they have that is why we are one of the happiest people in the planet. but surely life is wonderful.
Happy new year chimes
@TLChimes (4822)
• United States
1 Jan 10
I have been homeless and a child of the streets, I have known "money" and I live with just under enough.... I know that I can pick myself up and enjoy what I have easier then others who have only known wealth.
It is all on how you look at life....
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
1 Jan 10
hi chimes I don't know never having been rich, but I do not'
really enjoy my situation right now with my son out of work
for a year, thus breaking up our home and getting us evicted,
I do not think being poor is really so damned uplifting, its
a pain in the patootie, and I am stuck here in a retirement center only because we became homeless while my son is in a gov.sponsored apt so he can have a place to live while he searches for work.we were living together, me his mom, and he my adult son. I had retired and he had a good job but then he got laid off, so being poor we got behind on the rent, thus got evicted, not having fun being poor yet, and now we are where we are, being middle class and having an apartment is better than what we have now. poor stinks. You must have some funds in order to just exist chimes,and being treated like a Queen is awful as it saps you of the things you loved to do, I do not have to clean my room, change my bed, or cook meals, or buy gro ceries, all things I enjoyed doing. I may be 83 but I am intelligent and can do all those things for myself yet.oh and they also do mylaundry for me. no I want my freedom again.
1 person likes this
@TLChimes (4822)
• United States
1 Jan 10
Ok, you are in the survival stage of poor which isn't fun.... it is a fight and an adjustment. But because we were functionally poor to start with we were able to make simpler adjustments to our life when my hubby lost his job, and we are still worried but not so much that we are freaking out. Some families fall apart or fight each other when they get to this point.... we pulled together.
1 person likes this
@mc23tlob (37)
• United States
1 Jan 10
I think that being poor, or at least living on a modest income, does make you appreciate what you have. I personally can atest that going out to the olive garden once in a while is almost the equivelent of 5 star dining. Can anyone tell me that they don't go crazy for the salad dressing they have? I mean, it must have some sort of addictive chemical in there or something. Anyway, I think that rich people have less happiness in life because there is nothing they can't have. They don't have to work overtime, save their money, or do without a few luxouries so they can buy a PS3 or a flat screen t.v. If you don't struggle for the things you want or if you don't have to work hard to achieve your goals, you don't appreciate them for what they are. If i was ever to come into a large sum of money i think i would spend the majority of it making sure my loved ones were taken care of (bills paid off, house paid for).
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
9 Jan 10
it's not the money, or lack there of, that makes for a better life, it's the attitude. A lot of people can be rich in wealth and poor in attitude, or rich in attitude or poor in wealth, while there are plenty of people poor in attitude and poor in wealth and rich in attitude and rich in wealth.
@MsTickle (25180)
• Australia
4 Jan 10
Hi TLC...happy new year to you.
It's all relative isn't it? Your life must seem like 5 star to someone who is homeless. Ditto to someone who has a sick hubby or parent to care for and children to feed and raise all while she goes to work. You will always be much, much better off than a lot of folk.
Being poor doesn't mean a better life...it's not about having or not having money...it's your attitude to having or not having money. It's your attitude to making the most of things...it's your attitude to life and those you love.
@BarBaraPrz (47667)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
1 Jan 10
"I can stretch a pound of plain old hamburger around the block twice."
Great metaphor! I love it.
@jezzmay (1845)
• United States
5 Jan 10
I like the the way you say you live. I think this
is a way we all should live. Having a lot of money
can lead to trouble when you loose it. I am living
on a limited income, and I have to live within my
income. This is the first time I have had to do
this, and I am learning to live like you explained.
Have a great New Year.
@animegirl334 (3263)
• United States
4 Jan 10
I think people have worries in life in matter how much money they have. When people don't worry about money, they find something else to worry about. Right now I'm worry about money for college but I don't think that even if I pay off all my loans, I would be happy forever (having that money would be nice though
)
)1 person likes this
@maygodblessu44 (7336)
• India
21 Jan 10
Hello my friend TLChimes Ji,
I would happily name you far better person among many many persons around your house. You are much more satisfied person thatn a Biliionarie. You are owner of the spiritual wealth, 'Peace'. To get same , people pay big bills to many types of Doctors and counsellers. I understand, you always look down and compare with those, who might be still down-trodden and not getting a meal properly. I salute you for your concept of living
May God bless You and have a great time.
@megamatt (14291)
• United States
1 Jan 10
On the surface, people may think that it would be easier to be richer. But let's look at this from a logical stand point. Those people who are way at the top have a longer fall to reach the bottom. It will hurt more when they lose big time. Poor(and even the ever dwindling, almost non existent these days middle class), can recover a lot more. Rich people do not have as much ambition, thus they are set in their ways and when they lose that security, its a much bigger shock to them. Those who do not have it all, will have something to work to achieve for and thus the ambition to thrive and survive. And if they fall down, it will not be as nearly as jarring and it will not be as large of a loss.
@honeyyan (23)
• China
5 Jan 10
Frankly speaking,I cannot draw a absolute conclussion . Being poor may enable a person try his or her best to chang this sistuation,but,once he or she have no finacial support,most things will fall into trable .At that time,how can he or she fell happy?
1 person likes this
@whyaskq (7523)
• Singapore
4 Jan 10
Yes and No to your question. Yes because one has less worries that money bring to the rich. No because one will worry over the lack of money to meet bills. If only one can enjoy life as it is without having to worry what's for the next meal or whether it will rain the next minute without a roof over the head. A poor indeed can have a better life.... if he has the karma to be bestowed with food and lodging when the need arises.
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
4 Jan 10
I do agree with your points Chimes. If you are a person who was born rich and has lived an entire life being spoiled you would have no idea of real appreciation for anything, I think. I know the satisfaction of going to dinner and a movie with my husband because it is a rare treat for us and we look forward to it on those few occasions when we can afford to do it; if you were able to do it every weekend you would not appreciate it as much, I think. I don’t think being poor is necessarily a better life, I think it depends on who you are as a person and how much importance you place on material things versus the things that really matter.
@nrn2003 (661)
• United States
4 Jan 10
I understnad what you are trying to say here, but i dont think living a poor life makes you have a better life. being poor brings alot of struggle to life for everyone involved. your kids get picked on, you have a hard time managing all your bills, and your family tends to suffer. not everyone takes things for granted. i personally, work hard for everything i have, and am proud to own a nice home and a newer car and have a ncie life for myself. it also makes things easier on me because i dont have to stress so much about the money issues. working and making money is essential to this society. its sad but its necessary to survive.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
3 Jan 10
Hiya TLChimes,
I hear ya you do make sense. I have gone to bed hungry many many times as a little girl and whooping cough almost finished me off.
Moneywise still not much better and like you I know how to make things stretch. Have also lived in a Flat with Water that came down the Wall when it Rained and it was owned by a Woman a very rich Woman who always looked at you with disdain from her high pedestal in who knows where. But she sure liked taking our Money from us and it was a lot to pay for that Flat with one very old tap in the Kitchen for the whole of what you might call a Flat. It was very old and now it´s been knocked down.
If I won any money I would really know what to do with it and not become conceited. Through living in rough areas here I have lost Friends whom I thought were Friends but now it´s much better to know that now.
Yes mates there are some infra human living conditions here too and not enough done about it.
@ziyadahinc212 (552)
• United States
4 Jan 10
This is it TLChimes, we so called "working class poor folks" ALL would love to have it better financially. Thats why we tell our children to get 'A's in school so when they graduate from college/university they'll be able get the very same $100,000 dollars starting yearly career we KNOW THEY'LL NEED to KEEP UP with the COST of LVING IN THE USA & ABROAD.[u][/u]
