LIVING PAY CHECK TO PAY CHECK

I have a very good friend that I told I was going to get a payday loan. She was appalled because the interest rate is extremely high. I told her I didn’t know anything about interest loans. I was only concerned that I don’t lose my phone. I also didn’t want to be taxed by my phone company because I didn’t have the money to make the second payment. She asked me if I could afford the house. I explained to her that I did I just pay my rent out of one check and the bills out of the second check or vice versa.
I think a lot of middle class people like my friend think the poor are just irresponsible but that isn’t the truth. The fact is that most poor people do not have credit at all rather than bad credit. We tend to purchase what we need and entertainment are often luxuries we cannot afford.  We do not have credit because its an extra bill.
Our pay check must cover the necessities and we have very much room for anything else. If you rely on Food Stamps or Medicaid you can not have a Savings Account because you have to declare it and they check your balance. So there is no way for anyone to save any sort of money especially if you have health care needs and must have Medicaid.
Living Pay Check to Pay Check can be difficult when you are facing a Housing Emergency like I had this past Christmas when I was homeless for 30 days. I was hit earlier that year with a health care emergency and lost my income for several months. I went back to work but can only work as a causal due to my health concerns.
My friend stated that middle class kids are taught things like budgeting and interest rates and most can calculate what any given interest rate is.  In the Hood and in poor families there is no money to budget because most of what you need for the month is the basics. We don’t have money for the movies, or to go out because that may mean a bill doesn’t get paid. We often have to forgo a bill at Christmas time or to take our kids to the Amusement Park.  We have to take our kids to the park and to the Museum.
Living Pay Check to Pay Check is not always a negative thing. It can lead to disaster but you don’t have a lot of debt. My friend thinks that credit is a way to keep people slaves to debt. Ask a poor person who will tell you that they pay the necessary bills like the Utilities and the rent but the Credit card bills get ignored. Having bad credit is not the same sort of threat that having no Utilities cut off or being evicted. Most of us make $20,000 a year or less working very difficult jobs usually caring for people.