Maintain a scrap yard? Now THERE's an exaggeration.

The going rate for aluminum cans is 50 cents a pound, cacto. Dirty aluminum goes for 19 cents a pound. cashing in scrap metal is not only common sense, it's also good for the planet, or so folks like you keep telling us.

It's not that we need the money, cacto. It's just that little bit of extra is kind of nice. And we're doing something good in the process.

I guess that "reducing, reusing and recycling" is supposed to be taking place in a remote location so that people don't have to see it (meanwhile, fossil fuels are being used to truck things in and out). Go figure.

I'm sorry the idea of making a few extra bucks so that we can buy a roast instead of just hamburger is offensive to you, cacto. But I would think you would be right on board with that sort of idea!

I ....have been poor....am poor....and will probably always be poor.  I like it that way. 

Money makes me unhappy.  I realize that's no actually what this thread is about (although the title is misleading) so I will say this:

It makes me happy to see someones yard look a little different than all the little cookie cutter houses.  I hate people who spend hours on their lawns and pretty green grass when they could be spending time doing something WORTH A DAMN (like ranting on a random blog).  I admire and respect folks who's priorities lie in people and relationships, not in what they want the world around them to look like. 

I think people who complain simply have too much time on their hands.  Go get a coffee from starbucks or go to Barns and Noble and feign literacy.  Leave us alone.

Bravo Gideon.  I hope Lefors treats you well. 

Trinitie

 

 

Yep! I've been that poor. Had one in the garage and one in the yard. Call me trash but both those cars ended up helping the family get by. A broke down car in my yard is with two in the junk yard.

All the cars in our family have always been regarded as female...which remindes me of what my dad used to say - can't get anywhere with her, can't get anywhere without her.

I live with one of those 'lovely' HOAs now. A feisty neighbor and I are thinking of getting that ornate 1800s commode from the antique market and setting it out as a planter .... oh the outrage ... oh the fun

I think you'll find I have little patience for recycling or the environment, but I'll ignore that attempted jibe of yours for the moment.

In any case I don't begrudge you doing it (although from what you've said before I hadn't thought you had more than a car and a washing machine which is hardly a scrapyard like you can see out front of lots of poor houses), I'm just saying I've never needed to have a lawn full of broken appliances and vehicles, so therefore by any visual measure I've never been poor.



And I am. Don't take my comments as demeaning. I've never needed to run a small business outside of working hours. That doesn't mean I wouldn't if I had no choice.

I'll admit, I've never been poor. I've never gone without a meal (even if someone else brought it), I've always had a roof over my head (even if someone else provided it), I've never had to go without clothing (even though...well, hopefully you get the idea.) I'll agree that there is genuine poverty in America, but not what I would call hopeless poverty; poverty with no hope of help. We have it easy. Even you, Gid, have it easy when compared to countless millions who have hopeless poverty. I thank the Lord for the ability to work and earn a living. It makes me sick when I see people who can work, but don't. I am eternally thankful to people who have helped me when I was in need. But, there again, God provided those people and sheared some of my pride off so I would accept what they had for me.

Now, Gid, I know that you have been through tough times. But what I would suggest is, since God has allowed you to see some of these things in ways that others cannot/will not, suggest to the city, churches, neighbors, etc to do exactly what you have said: take care of each other, help others take care of themselves, love each other. I believe the last things you would want to do is to turn a town against you by your own actions...instead, prove their opinions wrong by how you live.

I don't make minimum wage, LW (I actually make well above that), I was just making the illustration to show how something CAN happen.

Our car's off the lot. It's gone. We were able to absorb the loss of over $1000 (it had a full set of new tires on it) for exactly that reason. But that doesn't mean I like it, LW, and it DOESN'T mean it's right.



OK, get this guys...just because I write about these things doesn't mean I currently live them. I HAVE lived this poor, though, so I understand how these things can happen.

My point was, and is, that there are better ways of dealing with these situations than fining people out of existence. And those ways should ALWAYS be explored first.

You failed to mention, LW, how I was supposed to haul the stuff from the garbage pit off without a truck (note: we did not CREATE the pit).

Your point on the food stamps is well taken. But I will tell you for a FACT that a lot of people who qualify for food stamps in our community do not get them because of who the supervisor is. She nicely cancelled the medical assistance we had applied for two days before our son was born. I realize I could appeal it, but I'm tired of this town and just want to live in my little corner of it. If I appeal it, if I get this woman disciplined, it just means more trouble for me when I get home. I'm letting sleeping dragons lie, because ultimately, the money doesn't mean that much to me.

And besides that, if we did receive any form of assistance, we'd be virtually guaranteed weekly CPS reports from the inbred freaks in this community.

In any case I don't begrudge you doing it (although from what you've said before I hadn't thought you had more than a car and a washing machine which is hardly a scrapyard like you can see out front of lots of poor houses), I'm just saying I've never needed to have a lawn full of broken appliances and vehicles, so therefore by any visual measure I've never been poor.

For the record, we have never kept ANY of our recycling goods in the front yard. I just don't do that. They are kept in the back yard.

What created the issue with the city was a pit that had been dug and filled with garbage by the previous tenants. Now, before writing them off, you must realize this has long been common practice in this area. It's hardly unusual. There were items in the pit (metal bedframes, an old microwave, etc) that our city garbage collector will not take and therefore, we had been heretofore unable to move the garbage. Also in the back yard is a 37 year old car that, again, was not left there by us. Because we live on a sand hill, the tow truck cannot get to it (I got a note from the tow company acknowledging the fact), and we would need to put a full set of tires on it to have it moved. The size tire needed for this vehicle is not available among the used tire vendors in this area, meaning it would cost me over $200 for a set of tires, mounted, just to haul this vehicle to the dump. Now, we're not poor, but $200 is still a hit to the wallet, because I need to pay for certification exams, which do not come cheap. The net result of those certification exams will be greatly increased income, but I have to GET them to obtain the benefit.

I would not have a problem with the city's actions if:

1) the standard were universally applied. It is not. My yard does not have very many high weeds on it, never has had very high weeds on it, and in fact, there are literally dozens of houses in this city whose yards have not been mowed for ten years or more. Dozens may not seem like a lot in a big city, but in a city of 500, it is definitely a lot. The city has not been cracking down on ANY of these houses; they have chosen a select group of citizens to target and ALL of those citizens have the common denominator of being from somewhere other than this community. One block away from our house, where the Dodge sits in the BACK yard, a CITY COUNCIL MEMBER has a mid 80's compact car sitting in his front yard, with weeds as high as mine ever were and junk strewn through the yard. I have no problem with laws that are equally applied; these laws are certainly NOT.

2) The city actually offered constructive solutions. My problem is not, and has never been, with those who want to improve the community. My problem is with communities that use the poor as ATM machines by creating laws that hit the hardest those who can least afford it. If I had not had the money to purchase a truck with taxes, I would have had a hard time figuring out how to remove the garbage from my yard. I believe very firmly that a city that wants its community improved should actually be helping to remove the vehicles rather than complaining about them. In MOST cities, if you have a junk car, for instance, the city hauls it and you pay for it. I have no problem with that, actually. Here, however, the city fines you and if you can't get it hauled because, I dunno, you have to pay the FINE, you get fined again and again as long as the city wants to do it. HUGE difference.

Incidentally, I have been keeping my eye on things. The $2500 bail I had to post for misdemeanor infractions is equivalent with what class C felons are paying. I literally had to post as much as someone caught recently with 2 grams of cocaine.

It really depends on your definition of poor. I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood where my Dad worked hard as a fulltime firefighter in our largest city always working a second job. He worked those days off from the firehouse doing carpentry or fencing. We had everything we NEEDED but didn't have those extras that my friends may have had. We ate lots of hamburger type meals which translated into alot of spaghetti. While us kids were in scouting we didn't have swim lessons, piano lessons or horseback riding lessons. While my parents scraped by, we didn't feel poor.

My mom who stayed home with us was a meticulous housekeeper inside and out. We had the nicest looking home on the block, not due to extra money but due to her diligence and pride of keeping a nice home. My Dad being handy came in to play in this as well. So you can be poor but keep up appearences quite well so that should never be an excuse. He always had lots of tools and extra fencing laying around, but it was always neat and tidy either in the garage or out back somewhere.

When I first started out on my own, we had money struggles with my not being able to work opting instead to stay home with the babies. That translated into one income with a husband trying to go to school nights to earn his degree while he worked in a grocery store during the day. It was tough at times but we always had a roof over our heads and I did what I was taught. I kept a nice comfortable home and cooked many hamburger and chicken meals. Sometimes I only had $30-50 a week to scrape by for the grocery bill. I managed it quite well, somehow.

Now, we have no money struggles but I still have some of my old habits. I still clip coupons. I still watch what I spend banking most of my earnings watching it grow. The best thing I'm able to do tho is help others now that I can financially do so. I realize it's just money and to take it out for someone in need gives me great satisfaction and I know how grateful the recipiant is having been there myself not that long ago. Many times I do this without them even knowing it's me.

I realize God has blessed us and I take great joy in blessing others. I don't ever look back on our lean years as being "poor." We just had less money for the fancy stuff. We still always had enough to pay our bills even if it was a little bit every month. I look back on those years now as happy times, not poor times. It all comes down to your interpretation of being poor.

I realize God has blessed us and I take great joy in blessing others. I don't ever look back on our lean years as being "poor."

Oh, there's a difference between lean times and being poor. Fortunately, most of my adult life has been no worse than "lean times", with most of it being better than that (outside of second jobs, I haven't worked for NEAR minimum wage in 15 years). My point was, and is, that there are some dynamics about being poor that you don't think about. Our yard, for instance, is not the best tended (although it is FAR from bad) because, somehow in the 80+ hours a week I put in, there's very little time for it. Hopefully once I get the degree I will either have time for my yard or money to hire me an illegal to do it for me (just kidding, folks!) But we live on a sandhill, so it will take several truckloads (literally) of soil enhancements to get anything consistently resembling a lawn. It is a VERY expensive proposition to actually have a lawn here.

I realize several readers have taken this to mean that I am saying I'm destitute. I'm not, and, in fact, not even close to it. But I have been. I understand. For two and a half years we kept the wreck of an '86 Chrysler in our drive "just in case" -- because living without a car is not an option out here and because the Chrysler could be fixed for $200-300 if needed (it was just a pretty bad gas guzzler, that's all). The Chrysler was actually not the car people were complaining about (THAT one came with the property), it's just that, honestly, after two years of struggling to keep a good car on the road (over $10,000 spent in that stretch on vehicles, tires and repairs!) we were so glad to get a reliable vehicle again that we wanted the Chrysler GONE! Not the best economic choice, mind you, but a good psychological one. We did the same for old washers, since we now have a brand new one with the accompanying warranty.

We're very blessed, actually...the problem lies with the community on this one (again, I reiterate--if I am the problem as so many assert without knowing the situation, why are the problems not following me to town? I'm kicking A** and taaking down names here!)

i've had more than i can spend and i've lived in my truck in my soon to 40 years on the planet. i've "picked myself up by my bootstraps" when i have fallen in my life, and i have accepted help from others and the government.