Comments on: Are You Poor or Broke?

By: rod w rass

rod w rass — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:26:34 +0000

Hello I appreciate the stories but you may or maynot know that most people on disability if they work have to pay back any income they earnedto the disability provider in canada. saying this it is impossible to work with a disability to make more money to get out of poverty. when you are seperated or divorsed and have to pay child support it leaves you with about 175 dollars a month over top of roof over head for transportation food and phone so how do you achieve poverty growth economically in this kind of situation i have no idea and i am a think out outside the box person and i cant think of any solutions Any Advise
Rod

By: moneyguru

moneyguru — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:52:12 +0000

Firstly, I just luvvv your common sense, down-to-earth, straight-up no fuss approach (and blogging style) re financial planning. I was also very touched by your story about Daphne – strength of character will always trump material wealth in my book!!! I, too, am from an immigrant family. As simplistic as it sounds, it is a mind-set. I never knew I couldn’t achieve whaever I wanted (because those ideals were instilled in me by my parents). It is an average life (middle-class) background that I come from – parents who immigrated with 4 small kids (8, 7, 6 and 5) with NO job. I am proud to say my late father and late mother came from strong stock and instilled a strong work ethic in me and my siblings. Times are certainly tough and life can kick you down – successful folks get up one more time than they get knocked down. You really can be successful – it only depends on your definition. Our North American society certainly teaches up that acquiring things shows our ‘neighbours’ how successful we are (yet many a time, it is a credit (or should i say debt)-illusion). I don’t happen to fall into the ‘keep up the with joneses’ philosophy of life. I have decided what is enough for me. Keep up the great columns ~ they bring a smile to my day!
cheers

By: Frugal Trenches

Frugal Trenches — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:07:25 +0000

What a wonderful story about Daphne. I found it incredibly sad though because for every single successful “Daphne” there are hundreds, thousands who never get the “break” to be able to make it, sadly through my work and volunteering I’ve met many.
The dress part brought a tear to my eye!

By: Tracy J

Tracy J — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:20:24 +0000

As a post-script:
I know a man that chose to live in a TINY room at the back of a warehouse for 8 years with no kitchen, no hot water and a shared toilet… he chose to live there instead of going on wellfare because he had a dream! He was building a metal boat from scratch, and he wanted to do it on his own completely — no loans. He was an unusual man, but the most honorable person I ever met. He would do labour in exchange for materials, and contract jobs for pay until he had enough to keep building and enough to pay for his survival. He did it all above board, paying taxes and all. Now that man can teach the world a thing or two about the power of improvising, and the joy of a project done with your whole being!
IHe taught himself to weld and he built all the fittings for his boat, if there was something he could not build (few and far between) then he found a way to negotiate for the best price and then put his excellent welding skills to work for someone else until he could get it.
When people would stare with awe and disbelief at all the physical time and effort he invested in his dream, they always asked him “why don’t you work full time so you can just buy this stuff?”
He would always smile, “I build these things so I don’t HAVE to buy this stuff. I have more time than money, and that’s what I chose”.
To talk to him was always enlightening somehow. I couldn’t chose to live the meager life he has, and I would never pressume to go against the accepted ways and build like that. Most people save their dreams for after they work, he chose to live FOR his dream…. it still amazes me.
His boat took 8 years to build, and it turned out GORGEOUS, every single detail handcrafted by his own hands and designed by the materials that presented themselves to his budget. He taught himself to weld, carpentry, finishing, upolstery, whatever was required… and he did it well.
He is a hero of mine.

By: Tracy J

Tracy J — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:58:36 +0000

I was “broke” most of my childhood too. Like Karen said, it was just money we lacked. It is not just immigrants that have challenges.
Marie brings up some good points, changing your perspective for what is acceptable makes the difference between poor and broke sometimes. I think my family did every one of her points while I was growing up, and by the time I had graduated school, we were not poor nor broke any more!
In the early 80’s when things were very tight around here, my dad used his imagination, he grew swiss chard in window boxes in the shelter of the snow so we had fresh greens, (we got very sick of chard) he took any job available (and made things to sell too), took in boarders, we made-do in every aspect of our life, daycare was way out of dad’s budget so we had to make our own way home from grade 1…. (we had to do our part as well but children are blissfully ignorant of any plights and resiliant — we thought it was normal and fine).
We found ways around the money and had to no room for appearances. But you know what, we were fed and clothed and sheltered and together!Keeping our tiny home was too difficult and it was lost despite all the efforts. Instead of being homeless, my dad found a way, and we moved in with a woman who could give my dad companionship and give me and my sister some feminine direction, bonus was she had a great garden so we would not be without food, no matter how the economy went. As a kid I didn’t realise how serious the sacrifices were, dad kept us informed even as very young girls, but he didn’t do it to scare us, he wanted us to know that no matter what, we could pull it through with creativity and careful thought.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:20:07 +0000

I have very clear memories of complaining to my mother when I was a child that we were “poor” – my dad had been gone on a sales trip for five weeks and we had run out of money. No milk. The first storebought dress I got was for my high school graduation – the rest were all hand me downs or I made them myself. My mother knit all my sweaters. My Amma made my mitts. I was the oldest, so the snowsuit was new, but it sure wasn’t by the time it got to my brother. What I didn’t realize was that my father was buying his father’s business, we had a roof over our heads and an extended farm family – so we were always going to have food. My mother’s response to my complaint was to throw us in the car and take us down to Point Douglas in Winnipeg. I saw children without mitts and boots and and in that one short drive I realized that all we lacked was money. We were a huge cry from being poor.

Keep up the good work – I’ve sent in my vote to Slice for updates – I really am curious to find out if some of the couples have been able to deal with money tough love for more than a month.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:10:04 +0000

Ann, no doubt for many living in Canada life is hard. I know that. And I’m not saying it’s anyone’s fault… well, maybe a few of the people who have promised us things like an end to child poverty… but certainly not for a lack of trying on some people’s part. I will say, however, that if a person does not make enough money to make ends meet I can’t help. I give advice on how to manage money. If there’s no money to manage, all my advice is moot.

There are many countries where life is lived in a very different way: people live in much smaller spaces, people eat much simpler food and dress in much simpler garb. People’s expectations are very different. North Americans — even those who have immigrated here — have a very different set of expectations.

I have friends who have had the “lack of Canadian experience” challenges. I am an immigrant and I watched my family face a lot of challenges as they got used to new ways of life. A very good friend of mine was trained as a doctor and now works in a retail store because she cannot practice here. It is very frustrating, I agree. She works hard, really hard, and does her best to provide for her two girls (she was widowed just before she received her papers to work here). She’s had to deal with a lot.

She has some good friends that have helped when they could. She has strong cultural support. She is a good friend and goes above and beyond to help others. She’s doing fine.

I know it’s not easy for lots of people. Being poor isn’t easy in any country.

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:05:35 +0000

Poverty:
Tough topic and you have to want to get out of it. Why not dedicate one blog to what people can try to do to make ends meet and get out of the situation?

Rent: Do you need to live on your own? It’s cheaper to share or just rent a room.
Food: Alternate between buying your food at the grocery store and going to the food bank.
Daycare: Alternate taking care of someone else children while the other grown up is at work.
Clothing: Thrift store, mending clothes, …
Car: Use public transportation (unless not available in area)
Education: One course at a time.
Research community support groups.

Best of luck to those in difficult situations. Some did get out and it would be great to hear more about those stories.

By: Ann

Ann — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:18:05 +0000

Gail, on the one hand I understand where you are coming from with this story and also, Daphne’s life story is very inspiring.

But on the other hand I wonder … if it were that straightforward to change things when you have nothing (ie work like a dog, be careful with your money and have some good clear goals) why so very many working people these days are living in poverty? I’m thinking of people who work in minimum wage jobs, working long hours, often having several jobs … and yet they still can’t make ends meet.

In today’s society in Canada, are things still attainable if you have nothing and work hard ? Is the disparity between living costs and low wages too great to enable people to step up to some security like Daphne did in her lifetime? (I’ve not even mentioned the changes that have taken place in the job market – the growth in part-time temporary jobs and the decrease in full-time permanent jobs).

And then there’s the whole immigrant employment issue – trying to get work in Canada but not having ‘canadian experience’ or the connections or having your educational qualifications recognised.

I feel in writing this, that I’m making a ‘yes, but’ type of comment and I don’t particularly want to do this (I like your shows a lot and find them very helpful). However, my experience since moving to Canada has been that it’s much much harder than I ever anticipated to figure out how to make a secure living here (and it’s not for lack of trying!).