Author: Megan Senseney

Whether it’s paying to get their own money in their hands or choosing between fixing the car or having food for the week, the poor in America face endless struggles when it comes to making ends meet. Have you ever wondered how they truly make it through each day?

To put it simply, it’s not easy to be poor in America. As of 2015, it’s estimated that approximately 43.1 million Americans live in poverty, and living their lives day to day only continues to get harder as time goes on.

Not only do the poor pay more for things that we all use on a daily basis, but they often don’t have the money to take the deals that’ll cost them less in the long run. In fact, it makes it incredibly easy to feel like the world is working against them, only setting them up to become poorer and poorer.

If you have enough money to buy not only what you need but also what you want, consider yourself lucky. A group of Reddit users shared the tips and tricks they had to use to make it while poor, and these will give you a glimpse of what it’s really like to be poor in America.

On Everyday Life

Have you ever wondered how the poor get by when it comes to their day-to-day lives? It often comes down to making sacrifices and spending more than you can afford when it’s absolutely necessary.

“I know a really poor family that buys loads of candles to light their home at night so that they don’t have to pay for electricity. It makes me sad.”—whysodoubtful

“A buddy of mine went through a tough time a few years back, and I didn’t know about it until he told me about a year ago. One thing that stuck with me was that he made just enough money to survive. By survive, he meant literally enough money to pay rent, utilities and the cheapest, worst food he could buy. He couldn’t afford transportation. Not even the bus.”—FFalldayerryday

“Extended stay housing or motels/hotels. When you can’t qualify to get an apartment because you don’t have proof of income, you end up wasting more money to stay for a week at extended day housing or a cheap motel.”—notmaurypovich

On Shopping

People who don’t have a lot of money are just like anyone else in the sense that they have to go shopping, whether it’s for food, clothing, or other necessities. The difference is that for them, it takes far more planning and a lot of hard decision making.

“When you are broke, you can’t plan ahead or shop sales or buy in bulk. Poor people wait to buy something until they absolutely need it, so they have to pay whatever the going price is at that moment. If ten-packs of paper towels are on sale for half price, that’s great, but you can only afford one roll anyway. In this way, poor people actually pay more than others for common staple goods.”—Meepshesaid

“My mom used to take me to the shopping mall to look for new school clothes. I’d point out 5 outfits I like (one for each school day), and then we’d leave to go to the fabric store where she’d buy remnants in similar colors/styles and then sew outfits that looked just like the things I pointed out in the store.”—aCause4Concern

“I’m making $150-$200 a week and I need new shoes. So I can buy $60 shoes that will last or $15 Walmart shoes. So I buy the Walmart shoes and some groceries instead of just the $60 shoes and no groceries. Three months later I’ll need new shoes again. But I’ll also have to pay rent and my light bill is due. So I’ll pay the light bill and buy some ‘shoe glue’ for $4 to fix my shoes for another few weeks until I can buy the $15 ones again.”—DrStephenFalken

On Food

It’s an absolute necessity to keep food on the table, and it’s something we often hear about the poor struggling with the most. They commonly have to choose between food quality and food quantity, and it’s the latter that usually wins.

“When I was child, Burger King ran a special kids meal where it was two mini Burgers that were attached to each other like a weird conjoined burger experiment. Sometimes we would go. My dinner was 1.5 of the mini burgers, my mom’s dinner was the half I didn’t eat and she would fill up on the free refills of soda.”—Honzo427

“I was so poor once that I would go to Long John Silvers and order a water and crunchies (which used to be free) then sit there and watch the people that would dine in. It was amazing how little they ate. And then they would leave without dumping their tray off in the trash. Fries, hushpuppies, chicken, fish… all untouched. No I didn’t eat a piece that was bitten off of. I once saw a woman order a 2 piece fish and more for her kid, that ate 1 hushpuppy and a few fries, and then left the rest of it there. It was the best I had eaten in weeks.”—ToddTheOdd

“After selling plasma i would walk to wendys and eat the crackers and ketchup for dinner.”—onehunglow58

On Transportation

We all have to get around somehow, and when our primary mode of transportation fails, most of us can quickly figure out a way around it. But for someone without any money to spare, loss of transportation could mean intense stress and reducing their already low budget to get where they need to be.

“Growing up my family had its moments of struggle. Our public transport system at the time had tickets which were simply hole-punched with the date and month, not the year. So we’d save them and store them neatly in envelopes marked by month and concession or full fare. After a few years of saving tickets we pretty much had free train and bus travel for the next 10 years…until they changed the ticketing system to electronically stamped tickets with bar codes.”—SardonicNihilist

“You can get new car parts from the junk yard for virtually nothing, with added discounts if you remove them from the junkers yourself. I had a 12-yr-old car in college and when it blew a tire, I went to the junk yard and found a decent set of tires. Bought all 4 for $70, which reduced my food budget to $16 for the next two weeks.”—IAlbatross

On Personal Care

The average person can stop by the store to pick up something when they need it—tampons, toilet paper, a bar of soap. Even though they’re necessities, the poor have to take shortcuts wherever they can, and that includes personal care items.

“My office only has a unisex bathroom so it has the facilities for men and women. Naturally there’s a tampon machine, and tampons are only 5 cents. Once a month I’ll work late, get a roll of nickels and fill up a grocery sack with tampons for my wife.”—permitbyrule

“Not buying but…stealing rolls of toilet paper from public restrooms. And stocking up on paper towels from the same place. This was all in undergrad. My roommate and I would also shower at the gym (university gym, so free memberships) to keep our water bill down.”—TourmalineTart

On Health Care

Health care is obviously a heavily debated topic these days, and the poor bear the brunt of almost every single decision that is made regarding our health care system. When they’re unable to pay for the care they need, they often end up taking matters into their own hands.

“I knew a guy that would go to a livestock feed store and buy antibiotics and some other meds there that were meant for farm animals when he got sick. There was another med he’d get at pet stores too. He’d just cut the pills into smaller pieces to try to guess what the proper [milligram] amount was. It’s apparently crazy cheap for certain meds and doesn’t require a prescription or govt. oversight like it would at a normal pharmacy.”—[deleted]

“At home surgery. Used a pair of needle nose pliers, a razor blade and some anti septic super glue to remove a cyst on my forehead. The secret is to cut it in a ‘cat’s eye’ shape, quickly push the skin back after you pull the cyst out (don’t let it pop) and get the glue on fast.”—[deleted]

“Going without meds, living in constant pain because you can’t afford a prescription. I remember laying in my bed at night, and my mom would be sobbing in her bed from pain, because she couldn’t afford the meds that would treat her rheumatoid arthritis or anything but generic tylenol for her pain.”—squeakygreenmom

We all have our go-to remedies that we reach for when we need them, but did you know that certain home treatments could be hurting more than helping? 

Obviously we can’t run to the doctor’s office for each and every little thing that happens to us, and it’s usually these small afflictions that have us searching for a quick and effective home remedy. But don’t assume that natural always means best—or that it works, either. We may not be doctors (and you should consult yours for personal medical advice) but there’s good reason to believe that these home remedies might be making your ailments worse.

Breast Milk

Let’s make one thing clear—we’re in no way saying that breast milk isn’t the magical, milky powerhouse for your kids that everyone says it is. What we are saying, however, is that it’s not a great idea to use it for everything else that could be going on, such as putting breast milk on your child’s pinkeye, skin rash, or open cut.

According to Dr. Sarah Yamaguchi, an OB/GYN at Los Angeles’ Good Samaritan Hospital, breast milk could take things from bad to worse in the right situations. “Breast milk can transmit infectious diseases such as HIV, and pumped breast milk, if not stored properly, can be contaminated and can actually introduce bacteria into an already infected area,” Yamaguchi says. Instead, make sure you keep any infected areas clean and dry, and just save the breast milk for babies’ stomachs.

Activated Charcoal

Most health enthusiasts have probably heard about the benefits of using activated charcoal as part of a health routine, and maybe some of you have even tried it yourself. People are taking it in pill form as part of detox regimens, adding it to mud masks, and even using it in its powder form to naturally whiten their teeth.

Although any of these things may not be harmful every now and then, too much charcoal isn’t good for you. Some of its most common side effects after ingestion include constipation, nausea or vomiting, and black discoloration of the stool—that last one may not be dangerous in its own right, but it would definitely be alarming, to say the least.

It is plain dangerous because it can cause life-threatening intestinal obstructions and severe dehydration,” says Svetlana Kogan, MD, a physician and author. For a similar detoxing effect, just drink plain ol’ water and try to eat a more nutritious diet.

Vitamins

Most people take some sort of daily vitamin, and doing so isn’t inherently harmful. But vitamin supplments are definitely not an ideal solution for giving your body everything it needs. You should be doing that with your diet.

Assuming that you eat a pretty balanced diet with plenty of protein, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, you’re already getting in everything that you should. Taking a daily multivitamin can become dangerous when you’re giving your body too much of any one particular supplement because you’ve already gotten enough of it naturally.

Yes, too many vitamins really can be a bad thing—for example, consume too much vitamin D and you could be causing issues with your heart and liver, whereas an excess of vitamin B6 can cause nerve toxicity. Believe it or not, too much vitamin A could actually cause an overdose that could kill you.

If you think you might be lacking in any particular vitamin or mineral, consult your doctor before you supplement on your own.

Licking Wounds

It’s just a natural reaction—you get a quick paper cut, and your finger goes straight in your mouth as if it were pulled by a magnet. Mothers might even use their own spit to wipe something off their child’s face or clean off a scrape, because what’s the problem? You gave birth to them!

Well, the problem comes down to bacteria, which can be introduced in an open wound through saliva, and it can take a simple cut and turn it into something much worse. “Our breath and saliva have tons of bacteria which can contaminate the wound and lead to an infection,” says Dr. Kogan.

So, what are you supposed to do in a pinch? The best option for anyone who doesn’t have access to a medical kit is to just find some fresh water. Whether you’re in an office building or in the park, there’s bound to be a water fountain or bathroom nearby that you can use to rinse out a cut in a hurry.

Burn Remedies

Whether you’ve burned yourself on a hot pot or accidentally touched your ear with a flat iron, getting burned is never fun, and the healing is usually painful. We’ve all been there—the burn seems like it’s only going to hurt initially, and then the searing pain starts to sink in.

There’s not much you can do to treat it other than putting the area under running water, so many people turn to things they have on hand, particularly what’s in their kitchen. This goes for a lot of other small ailments, too.

Sure, avocados can be good for softening hair and, yes, manuka honey can be used for a variety of different things, but food items shouldn’t be used to treat bodily injuries.

One common burn treatment that Dr. Kogan often has to dismiss is using raw egg whites to treat burns—even when organic, raw eggs contain tons of bacteria that should never be introduced to damaged skin. Instead, stick to water and over-the-counter pain relievers.

Mouthwash Gargling

Although it’s come to light that mouthwash might not be as great as many of us believe it to be, plenty of people still use it in their daily oral hygiene routine. Some people even step up their usage when they’re sick and gargle with it in the hopes that it’ll help speed their recovery along.

We get the logic: Mouthwash often contains alcohol, and alcohol kills bacteria and viruses, so it’ll kill your cold, right? Wrong. If your throat is already inflamed from a cold or flu virus, adding mouthwash to the mix is the last thing you should do.

“Gargling inflamed tonsils with mouthwash is actually very irritating to the area and does not have any effect on potential strep throat,” says Dr. Kogan.

The simplest and most effective solution is to drink plenty of warm liquids to soothe inflammation in the throat and try to get as much rest as possible.

Kava

Kava is a root that’s usually found on various South Pacific islands. Often the root is powdered and taken as a tea, but it can also be found as an extract that can be added to other things. It has been recommended that kava can be taken to soothe anxiety, and some even compare the effects of the herb to those of popular prescription anxiety medications.

One study even showed that taking the herb could, in fact, moderately decrease anxiety levels. Still, though, the study advised that taking kava should be a short-term solution, as it’s one that could cause side effects that aren’t worth only moderate anxiety improvement.

One of the biggest risks of long-term kava use is liver damage, although it’s not known whether kava itself causes liver damage or if it’s the use of kava in conjunction with other medications.

Still, it’s worth noting that 30 cases of kava-related liver damage have been reported in Europe, and consumer advisory for the supplement was issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002 because of its risk for potential liver failure.

Castor Oil

Castor oil has many uses; it’s most commonly used as a natural laxative. Not only that, but many pregnant women use it as a way to speed up the birthing process when they’re desperate to bring their babies into the world.

While doctors are fine with using castor oil for constipation, just say no when it comes to delivering a baby. “Castor oil may help if you are
constipated and need to pass a bowel movement, but it’s not going to help you go into labor and tastes awful,” says Dr. Yamaguchi.

So, are there any safe ways to start the labor at home? Sure, there are plenty of things people swear have worked for them—being intimate, eating fast food, walking around a lot—but the truth is that there isn’t one thing that’s guaranteed to work for everyone.

Oh, and for constipation? Castor oil is fine, but you can also try drinking prune juice or just increasing your overall fiber intake.