Do you live in "healthy poverty" as defined by founder of John Birch society?

[hollysmom]

3. I believe you don't need everything perfect and can survive on a little, but that little get pretty

big when you add a kid. Yes, we had a roach infested apartment and learned how to not attract them, but kids can develop asthma from roaches and need more medical care. We ate a lot of liver to save money, I became a liver expert, but organ meats eaten for a long time can kill you with cholesterol. We did not have a phone (phone companies demanded more than I earned in a week for a deposit for women, they asked no deposit from men., It was hard to get a job without a phone, I actually got one through a telegram. When I ran into money problems, I borrowed it from my parents - not every can do that, then end up with interest payments. When I needed expensive dental work my father cosigned, other wise I would have had to live with painful TMJ.

There is a pattern here, I could get out of poverty after one year because I had education, friends with money and parents to back me. Also the market for women improved, I would hate to see it go backwards.

Being poor is like being in a big trap, So yes you can live frugally, but when there is an emergency, you can't.