This is what happened when I drove my Mercedes to pick up food stamps

[Ikonoklast]

41. And then...what? Walk everywhere?

You didn't read the article, did you?

They sold the house.

As for the car, why sell something you need that would help in an employment search, being able to go to a place of employment public transportation doesn't reach?

That’s the funny thing about being poor. Everyone has an opinion on it, and everyone feels entitled to share. That was especially true about my husband’s Mercedes. Over and over again, people asked why we kept that car, offering to sell it in their yards or on the Internet for us.

-snip-

But it wasn’t a toy — it was paid off. My husband bought that car in full long before we met. Were we supposed to trade it in for a crappier car we’d have to make payments on? Only to have that less reliable car break down on us?

And even if we had wanted to do that, here’s what people don’t understand: The reality of poverty can spring quickly while the psychological effects take longer to surface. When you lose a job, your first thought isn’t, “Oh my God, I’m poor. I’d better sell all my nice stuff!” It’s “I need another job. Now.” When you’re scrambling, you hang on to the things that work, that bring you some comfort. That Mercedes was the one reliable, trustworthy thing in our lives.

And her husband got a good paying job, and the author is now going to grad school. She is no longer poor, and they still own the Mercedes.