Quote:
Originally Posted by kien
It kinda boggles my mind actually. Excuse me for playing the 'old-man card', but when I was growing up and I didn't have enough money to buy that new G.I. Joe super aircraft carrier, I did one of two things. 1. Accepted that I can't afford it and move on. 2. Asked my buddies if I could do their newspaper routes while they were on vacation so that I could pick up some extra cash. I wonder if part of the problem is that some people are blurring the lines between needs and wants. If you focus on living with what you need, life isn't actually all that uncomfortable.
For the record, I am an immigrant whos parents came to Canada with absolutely nothing but the shirts on their backs and young children in tow. I know all about living at the poverty level while mostly all of my peers lived well above the poverty level.
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I have to agree. I try to be good with my money, which is one reason I love Craigslist, and the main "luxury" expenditures are my tanks and eating out. But I do a lot of transactions with fellow reefers and use Entertainment coupons or Groupon-type vouchers for eating out.
Yet living in Metro Vancouver, with cost of living as high or higher than Calgary, I can see Michika's point about the "working poor".
BTW, I am also an immigrant whose parents borrowed money from relatives to move to Canada with 3 kids in tow and I had to wear hand-me-downs for most of my elementary school years.
I think the schools/parents need to teach their kids/young people about how to spend wisely and not on so much wants as opposed to needs. I have friends/relatives who go on trips all the time and then complain they are always in debt. Paying for vacations with your credit cards is just insane and a good way to dig a debt hole they will find almost impossible to get out of.
A friend of mine just went around the world, 4 months, 28 countries on his credit cards! OUCH!!!
Anthony