Not the Onion: Self-important dink goes 24 hours without spending money. And lives to tell about it.

[charlie]

What would be it like to go a day without spending any money? I've thought about this before but I've never considered actually trying it. I couldn't imagine going a day without spending a single penny -- is that even possible? How would I get from A to B? What about food? Turns out, a day of living expense free is possible and you'd be surprised by the overwhelming sense of satisfaction and feeling of elation that comes from it.

On Tuesday night I had just returned home after a long day of work and I decided to order in from my favorite restaurant. Forty minutes later, the deliveryman arrived with my pasta primavera and a Greek salad and I handed him $32.50, including tip. Pretty steep for a dinner for one, I thought. I returned to my kitchen counter, brown bag in hand, and it was then that I had a moment: I reviewed my spending for the day and I realized that I had spent well over $80 over the course of the day on menial expenses. I hadn't gone shopping, I hadn't dined out at Cafeteria for lunch, and I hadn't joined my friends for drinks. It dawned on me that the taxicab rides, stops at CVS, the Starbucks lattes, the mid-morning or mid-afternoon snacks, my take-out from the fabulous Italian restaurant, and other trivial expenses really added up; realizing the total cost of it all was a painful but eye-opening experience.

That night, I decided to go on a mission to live a full 24-hour day without spending a penny. A self-proclaimed female A.J. Jacobs, I pledged to wake up Wednesday morning and eliminate all expenses from my daily routine. It would be a feat but I was determined to test my discipline and my creativity. I would prove to myself and to those around me that a day of living expense free is possible - and a worthwhile experiment.
...

I arrived at my kitchen a bit fearful (let's just say I prefer eating over-cooking) yet I was excited for the challenge. I rummaged through my cupboard and fridge and sure enough, I had a box of unopened penne and an unopened can of tomato vodka sauce hidden behind some cans of soup. Penne vodka -- perfect. I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to use up those unopened cans or boxes that have been sitting in my cupboards. I discovered some frozen peas in my freezer and added those to the mix. Within minutes, I had donned my apron and found my inner Julia Child (Who knew I had one?), whipping up a delicious pasta dish at the stove and singing along to my Billy Joel favorites. My friends arrived, adding a salad, a bottle of wine and some baked Brie to the potluck dinner. We sat in my living room and laughed for an hour. Fun night...

Follow the rest of the chirpy Alexa von Tobel's inspiring journey at HuffPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexa-von-tobel/financial-challenge-go-a_b_566492.html

(This is the AJ Jacobs she likened herself to, BTW)

[RoyGBiv]

1. Sometimes, I just want to hit people ...

The infliction of pain is the only thing certain people would understand. She has a raging case of "needs boot in ass" syndrom.

It's quite annoying that Huffposts "Reaction" buttons have "hot" but not "SHUT UP!"

[hobbit709]

4. She needs a severe whomping with the reality stick.

Reading that is enough to make me puke.

[charlie]

6. Heh. Really.

Her next project should be "24 hours without a boot in the ass". That one should be a real nail-biter.

She's the CEO of a startup that's snagged $1.1 million in funding... a website to teach financial empowerment. Her venture angels should've given their money to Paris Hilton. Their investment would be in the hands of someone with a smidge more self-awareness.

[Dr Morbius]

2. Welcome to Monday thru Thursday on Payday week for the rest of us. (nt)

[bluestateguy]

3. I could do that

But I would have to plan for it very carefully for many days beforehand.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. That's from the CEO of a website claiming to help women "make the best financial decisions possible"

If anyone has ever written an article showing how unqualified for their job they are, this woman has done so. She thinks it's unusual to use food in your cupboards for an entire day? Clearly, she has so much money, and has always done so, that she doesn't actually understand how an average person lives.

There aren't enough facepalm pictures in the world for this. Her site even say it's for women "trying to become a better ‘budgeter’", but she (and Huffington Post - is it even in its business plan to develop some journalistic standards?) thinks it's worth a whole article about one day like that.

The only good bit came from your excellent editing - I read it, and at first thought she was going to use the vodka sauce for breakfast. Now that could have been an article worth reading - she has nothing non-alcoholic in the house, and she gets more and more sozzled through the day, trying to stick to her plan. But sadly, that turned out to be an evening meal.

[hobbit709]

7. Why does the image of "upper class twit" run through my mind?

[tavalon]

16. Self absorbed twit is what went through my mind

I want this to be parody. Barring that, I want this to not be on Huffington.

I am so glad she found her coffee machine. Bleah.:eyes:

[charlie]

10. Haw!

I'll bet she wishes she'd gotten soused. Then she'd have an excuse. Sorry, sorry, I was pissed out of my mind, won't happen again. Sorry.

I wonder when HuffPo's earth-based writers will ask themselves what they're doing in the middle of that demented carnival? That place gets loopier with every passing day.

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. Pascal the French philosopher said

The problem with western man is that do not know
how to be content
in an empty room


What an empty person she is

[Blue_Tires]

48. great quote...

[ima_sinnic]

9. just another useless, self-indulgent, vapid shallow-lifer with whom I am forced to share oxygen

some people sicken me to the core. her empty-headed twittering (not "Twittering") indicates total lack of substance--she is preoccupied with "stuff," brand names, "things," and would die in a heartbeat if left to her own in Nature, which actually provides anyone's needs quite adequately. Just a typical selfish, rich, helpless American a-hole who does things to impress other people, not to enrich herself or the world to help anybody else in the world.

[tavalon]

22. True

She really ought to have kept it to herself though. It brings to mind a quote by Abraham Lincoln (though I think he might have been paraphrasing the bible) "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

[Silent3]

23. "Nature, which actually provides anyone's needs quite adequately"

The woman talked about in the OP may well be far out of touch with what day-to-day reality is like for ordinary people, but your view of "Nature" (with a capital N) goes a bit too far the other direction.

What "Nature" will provide a human being, stripped of all of the tools and materials and clothing and knowledge we have at hand in our technological civilization, adding back all of the knowledge and skills you'd have if you'd been raised since birth to survive in the wild, is just enough sustenance to get beyond the edge of starvation most of the time, little relief from injury and disease and parasites when they strike, and an average expected life span somewhere between 20 to 40 years.

I suppose that's "adequate" for perpetuation of the species, but far from "quite adequate" for what I'd call a good life.

[Number23]

81. Really, really excellent point. Thanks for a bit of perspective.

[Crystal Clarity]

11. I didn't bother with the link

but just the one paragraph description of this woman's 'day without spending' was already inconsistent.

For example, at some point she had spent more then a penny on the food she ate, no matter how humble she may have thought it to be. Singing along with Billy Joel implies that she must have, at some point spent money on a radio or CD player even if it didn't happen to be that day. What about the electricity or batteries she was using to run it? Where was she living? At some point she must have paid a mortgage or rent to be there. What about the clothes she was wearing?

Some experiment. :eyes:

[ima_sinnic]

13. I guess all it meant was that the poor little thing didn't spend any discretionary income

as if everybody can relate to that ...

[tavalon]

19. Poor she ain't. Stupid, she might be.

If she can figure out how to scrub this stupidity from the net, then maybe she's not so stupid.

[tavalon]

18. Yeah, that occurred to me as well

I read the whole thing. I'm not real sure why, other than to find the place that showed she knew she was doing a parody. But no, she is the parody, the unfortunate, walking, breathing parody.

[TheWatcher]

12. Vapid, Privileged, Clueless, Entitled, and Completely Out Of Touch with Reality.

That poor thing.

She had to.....

Oh I almost can't bear to type the words.....

Must be Strong....

MAKE HER OWN CEREAL

Oh I can't BEAR to go on.....

It's Too Horrifying.

The Suffering this girl must have endured.

The BRAVE SACRIFICE

They should give her a Reality Show on Bravo.

The Real Vapid Dimwits Of New York City

[DaveinJapan]

14. Empty her cupboards of anything pre-prepared (but fully stocked otherwise)

and then ask her to "accomplish" the same assignment.

ANY ordinary person could do so, could this Princess?

[tavalon]

15. That was on Huffington Post? OMFG

I guess Buy Nothing Day (day after Thanksgiving) would just make her apoplectic. Does she understand that this is on the web now for time eternal? Does she realize just how fucking stupid and self centered she sounds for all eternity? Do I know why I'm preaching to the choir?

[slampoet]

54. The huffington Post still publishes a regular column by Russel Simmons who is a union buster.

This person running a vapid column about not spending for 24 hours is a prime example of the kind of person and writing the Huffington post has half the time.

They actually allowed Russel Simmons to go on and on about how the banks have failed the people when Russel Simmons at the same time is involved in a bank card scheme that markets high fee debit cards to the ghetto.

[bettyellen]

17. a couple i know who twitter about minding their crbon footprint drove six hours most weekends

back and forth to their their country house (in a Cadillac van no less) which has in part 18 foot ceiling and needs to be heated all winter long. He blogs about buying American and she tweets about fresh and buying local. Well that long drive greatly extends what's local, that I give her!b

[tavalon]

20. Okay, people let's get this on the greatest page

It deserves wider mockage.

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. I tend to agree it needs to be seen

I didn't nominate at first but now I am because it is such a macabre reflection on American society and needs to be morally and ethically 'consumed' and 'digested'.

[KittyWampus]

21. a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

[geckosfeet]

24. A day without spending money is a hardship? What a joke. What kind of pampered wuss

would even think this is newsworthy?

How about traveling to places where people don't have food or clean drinking water and reporting on how those people have learned to survive - because sooner or later those are going to be important life skills for the successful businessman.

[rucky]

25. Unreal.

But it did make me interested in looking up some AJ Jacobs articles.

[mucifer]

26. It says a lot about Arianna Huffington that she put this on her web page.

[w8liftinglady]

30. maybe she did it to mock this twit

[William Z. Foster]

67. yes

I thought that it had to be a parody when I first read it.

[county worker]

28. Where does the hate and vitriol for this person come from?

I don't understand it. I guess most people here would like everyone to be on the same rung of the income ladder.

Some people have initiative and combined with luck, talent and opportunity they find ways to earn more money than most. Having wealth is not evil but hate and vitriol is. What does she do to earn here wealth? She teaches others how to handle their money better. Nothing wrong with that.

Now I know I am going to get viciously attacked here but I would rather live in a world with people like her than the people that post such hate and contempt in this thread.

Instead of hating people that have it better than you, why not learn some ways of making your life better. Nobody is coming to rescue you. That's your job.

You can't just vote for a liberal government and have it take all the misery out of your life. Now I wasn't born into a wealthy family and I was homeless on the streets of San Diego for a time. I'm probably living more comfortably than the posters in this thread but the change in my life came from things I did. The first thing I learned was this. When you are in a world of shit you have to try different things to get out of it. There is no guarantee that what you are doing is going to work, so you try something different if it doesn't. But there is some guarantee that things won't get better if you don't try.

So if you don't like your current situation, do something to improve it. Don't curse people who have it better than you. That is just wasting energy and spending the current moment in negativity.

You might not want to accept this, but you are responsible in many ways for where you are and you are the one who is going to have to make it better. The right didn't put you there and the left will not make it better. People are off making their lives better and they aren't going to spend a lot of time on people who aren't willing to do the same.

There will always be people better off than you no matter what income level you are at and that doesn't make them evil so get over it and do something for yourself.

OK I'm ready to read the replies to this. They are very telling.

[mdmc]

29. I don't mind when a person buys a new BMW

I mind when they journal on a liberal blog (instead of perhaps a BMW website) about how hard it is to refrain from buying a new BMW..

Imagine getting financial advice from someone that is shocked to find you can save $80.oo per day by grocery shopping. I would take that as a sign - you have to try different things

No hate.. I thought she was joking. Satire. Then I read the whole thing and her biz. website (which she linked to from her 'thrifty' article). Mercy! Perhaps others like her will try to reduce their spending? Perhaps those that spend nothing for days at a time will realize that others can't fathom such a lifestyle..

peace and low stress ..

[pipi_k]

32. Maybe it's not "hatred" as much as

total disgust.

Nowhere in that person's inane babbling do I get the sense that she knows the real value of money, or that she gives some of it to people less fortunate than herself.

Self-centered, self-absorbed little twit.


I've seen plenty of people of more modest means give to the less fortunate. Because, in this country, for the most part, there is always someone less fortunate than ourselves.

[county worker]

35. I feel if you got more you have a responcibility to give more.

I don't know if she does or doesn't give. I really don't want to waste time in negativity. I am busy being grateful for what I have, helping who I can, and making life better for me and mine.

[pipi_k]

40. that's what I think, too...

In fact, I know that if I had way more money than I do now (like millions), I would probably be very ashamed if I didn't give more.

Mr P and I have agreed that if we ever came into a substantial amount of money (lottery) we would give some of it away to our respective kids.

[county worker]

42. If ever I was extremely rich, I would help people get a good education and to

help those who are down and out get back on their feet so they can take care of themselves and they can be of help to others. I don't need to be really wealthy. I'd have to do things I really wouldn't want to do and I'd have to give up some of the things I like doing. I'm OK with being me right now.

[w8liftinglady]

33. I wouldn't call it hate-Did you ever see the Movie "Trading Places"?

It was a comedy,but did a lot to reveal this type of elitist thinking and disconnect with reality.
I am a nurse,and work with a lot of single mothers who simply have more week than paycheck.I think it is unfair to say thet caused their problems.Here's and example-a CNA I work with...
Take home pay-with overtime
2000
rent 800
electric 200
car/insurance 500(This is Texas-no public Transportation)
gas 80
phone 50
food 200

that leaves 270 for everything else-kids' shoes,clothes,doctor/dentist,repair bills,oil changes,etc etc etc.And,Yes-the last week of the month sucks.A lot of times the nurses will slip them 10 or 20 bucks when a school trip or kid's birthday comes up,or they get a flat tire.That's reality.Spending 32 dollars on a meal,then marveling how you can do without it does seem like they're rubbing it in.Let the blogger live the above life for a month or two,and then offer advice-real advice on how to get by.

[county worker]

38. I was a controller of a medical clinic and I worked with a lot of nurses.

I supervised a lot of single mothers. I was amazed at the desire of the nurses to give the best possible care they could even though they made not enough to pay the bills.

I can not begin to understand what single mothers go through on the little they earn and the father is off living well somewhere. I was homeless for a while due mostly with drug and alcohol addition. I know what it is to not have enough money each week. I'm grateful I have it better now and know it could all vanish over night.

When I could I fought for raises for the nurses and the single mothers I supervised. I tried to make the doctors understand the lives these people lived. I tried to get better benefits for them.

Yes life really sucks for most of us but still it gets you nowhere cursing people who have it better than you. One year we were losing our house because I was unemployed and we had no money to celebrate Christmas. We spent Christmas eve walking down the street looking in to windows to see how other people were celebrating. I don't know why we did. When we got home my wife cried herself to sleep. It's experiences like that that make me understand how life works.

[ima_sinnic]

36. it's called contempt for shallowness--she's just an overgrown mall rat

"buying things" is sooo fulfilling.

while the majority of people in the world are struggling, many, many starving and suffering in ways we can't imagine, all she cares about is herself. isn't she precious? her writing just reveals a self-centered attitude, an attitude of superficiality, that I find totally disgusting.

now, if she were to write about her experience of going without so that others could have more, I'd be impressed. but since all she cares about are the "things" in her life (as evidenced by the monumental "challenge" of not spending any money--like big whoop), I consider her boorish and without class.

[county worker]

41. I understand but what is it doing to you to spend time feeling about her as you do?

To me it is a waste of time and spending energy in negativity. There will always be people like her and there will always be people in poverty. Spend time thinking about those who need help and what you can do. Be grateful for what you have.

[dionysus]

86. all she did was point out that daily expenses pile up and that they can be avoided. even poor

people waste money. we have a guy here who is always complaining about being broke. but every morning he buys breakfast and coffee at the takeout next to the office, and spends 6-8 dollars on a sub for lunch, maybe a couple sodas throughout the day. five days every week. it really adds up. he blows a significant chunk of his pay on those things. i used to buy lunch at work all the time until i decided to save money by bringing my own lunch.

now the theme of article should be common sense; you fritter away money, it adds up. but i can't understand the level of hate in so many of these responses. what if she had dropped $40 on drinks at a bar? the horrors....

[hobbit709]

39. It's the clueless part.

I've known many people with much more money than I have, a couple of them would fall into that top 1%. But NONE of them were as clueless as this twit.

[Arkansas Granny]

45. I don't hate this person, but I do consider her to be completely clueless.

Her experiment for one day is what many people in our society do everyday out of necessity, not choice. Incomes are decreasing, expenses are rising and benefits are fading away. Many people who have worked hard to get to the point that they had financial stability are seeing it being eroded more and more every day.

[GoCubsGo]

49. It comes from everyone missing the point of the article.

Granted, the author did a shitty job of getting it across, I think her point was that people waste tons of money on crap that really does not improve their lives or make them feel all that better. And, doing for one's self can actually make one's life more fulfilling. I know lots of not-at-all-well-off people who live like this woman did in her "pre-frugal" days. These are people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. They have a "got to have it now" mentality, and it's easier to run to the local fast food joint, or shell out big bucks for a ready-made salad than it is to fix a meal for one's self. They can't be bothered to clip coupons or skim the weekly sale ads. Too much effort. Like you said, they're just not willing to do the work to make things better for themselves. I'm not saying everyone is like that, but I just know way too many that are. This woman is at least trying. I wish some of my friends and relatives would take after her example. I'm sick of having to hear them whine about how broke they are, only to have them turn around and tell me about some new piece of crap they just spent a ton of money to buy.

[bullwinkle428]

56. But the thing is, SHE IS RUNNING A BUSINESS telling women

in particular how to better manage their money!! It's pretty damned apparent that she hadn't a clue on the very subject that allows her to earn a very comfortable living.

Irony alert?

I know I do a far better job of handling my day-to-day financial affairs than this woman ever has; I'm certainly not expecting anyone to hold any fucking ticker tape parades for me!

[Raineyb]

88. I am sure a good number of us did NOT need to read this bit of mental masturbation passing itself

off as an article to understand that some people spend their money on crap they don't really need. This woman runs a business giving financial advice and this bit of obvious just now occurred to her? Why should anyone take her seriously? Trying? I don't think that's how I'd characterize this bit of "look how clever I am" writing.

[rrneck]

51. A good point.

The piece reads a bit like a confessional. Unfortunately, she seems to be confessing that living like the rest of us isn't so bad. She's almost certainly a member of the lucky sperm club, making a very good living in the industry that has caused so much pain for so many. It would be very difficult to write about her "experiment" without annoying a lot of people because it was an experiment. She can just end it any time she wants and resume her lifestyle - after gaining profitable exposure by writing about how she lived for a week like everyone else.

Sanctimony from anyone so privileged is always annoying. The implied message here is "see, your life's not so bad. Anybody can do it".

[Crystal Clarity]

52. Where in my (#11), or most of these posts do you see "hate"?

You're making alot of assumptions here:

For example, you say {"instead of hating people who have it better then you"}. So to that comment, I ask, how do you know that the woman mentioned in the OP 'has it better then me'... or anyone else here for that matter? Furthermore, how can you presume to know whether I 'hate' someone of not? Neither I, nor most folks posting on this thread said, or even implied, that we 'hate' the woman.

It doesn't appear that you getting the point that most posters of this thread are trying to make. You may want to read what people have to say more closely before you jump to conclusions.

[RoyGBiv]

63. "Let them eat cake"

Why did people hate the Queen when all she was trying to do was offer a sincere expression of commiseration with those who had nothing to eat?

Or, put another way and as others have already said, it's how clueless (and self-important) she is. Am I supposed to be impressed that she went 24 hours without spending money? Am I supposed to take as genuinely sage advice the idea of avoiding spending money for a day by having a party and inviting over all my friends who bring wine and Brie? Am I supposed to feel she has accomplished something by her not having spent any money and instead relied on what she *already had purchased*?

Self-proclaimed A.J. Jacobs ... I hereby declare myself the American Ghandi and will prove it by going on a hunger strike ... this afternoon ... until the roast is done.

[William Z. Foster]

68. WTF?

First - in regards to your preemptive whining and playing the victim, I am not going to "viciously attack" you, but I am going to go after the ideas you posted with a vengeance.

How dare you malign people who are pointing out the problems with that article? What "hate and vitriol?" What are you talking about?

Who said there was anything wrong with how she makes her money?

Who is "hating people" because they "have it better than you?"

How dare you lecture people to "learn some ways of making your life better?"

How dare you say that people are hoping for someone "coming to rescue you?"

How dare you claim that people are hoping to "vote for a liberal government and have it take all the misery out of your life?"

How dare you suggest that people speaking about injustice and inequality is in lieu of taking care of themselves or being responsible?

Now - please explain to me how my comments here are "very telling." Go ahead. Let's hear it.

[fishwax]

72. you're really reaching on a lot of those assumptions

I don't know why you're assuming that people responding negatively to her article hate her because she's got more money than they do, that people who take exception to her tone do so because they're jealous, that everyone who objects to the article hates their life and where they're at, that they think they need rescuing or that they're just waiting for someone to rescue them, or that they all wish that everyone were on the same rung of the income ladder.

:shrug:

[Electric Monk]

73. "What does she do to earn here (sic) wealth?" She teaches others how to give their money to her.

[Better Today]

31. What an idiot!

[reggie the dog]

34. wow, i do that most days

or if i do spend money on food it is 2 euros on a cake..... if I spend 80 dollars a day, that would add up to 2400 a month, twice my monthly income...... some people live so much better than I do I guess....

[SixString]

37. They just scrubbed the "negative comments"...

...the readers left for this twit. Way to cover up Huff.

Edit to add,
And it looks like the pasta primavera went down by 10 bucks.

[hobbit709]

43. They must have had a shitload of negative comments.

Editing after the fact is out there wasn't too bright either.
The original was $32.50 and it's out there on the web.

[Ichingcarpenter]

44. She wrote it then noticed the negative reaction

Geez, you would think she would have asked some her rich friends what they thought about her op before she put it on one the top web site, which she did.

LOL ...... I bet she didn't ask some of her servants or caterers what they thought

[SixString]

46. Over 4 pages of comments now down to 2

And her 80 dollar daily expense went down to 60.
And they no longer allow comments for this article.

[bettyellen]

50. they closed it to comments and deleted haldf of them- and i thought they were civil considering

how fucking stupid the article was. i can't belive they let her edit the prices to seem like less of an ass.

[RoyGBiv]

64. Dangit ...

I knew I should have done screenshot.

The negative comments were fast and furious. She was blindsided by the reaction, showing even more clearly how clueless she is.

[Arkansas Granny]

47. And that $80 a day for menial expenses has changed to $60.

[JVS]

84. They changed numbers! That's it. Their journalistic integrity is nothing!

[rucky]

53. This is a shark-jumping moment for the HuffPo

[fishwax]

62. wow, you're right -- the price of the pasta went down and the $80 incidentals became $60

Pretty cheap trick.

[-..__...]

55. Just wait until "Sex In the City" makes it's final run...

and her whole world will comes crashing down around her.

[madinmaryland]

57. I guess this is the outrage of the day here, today.

:eyes:

[Blue_Tires]

58. I can give her a little credit for at least trying to make a

token effort to become more aware of her spending, but her column reads like a DABA girl ("My Wall Street boyfriend got downsized/traded me in for a younger model so no more first-class shopping trips to Monaco"):

http://dabagirls.wordpress.com/

[RedRocco]

59. $32.50 is close to our food budget for the WEEK

[donco6]

60. However did she make do with baked Brie?

:eyes:

[TheWatcher]

61. And now all the negative comments have been scrubbed, and she has edited it to make herself seem

like less of a clueless ass.

What a pretentious little twit.

But then again, that's par for the course for people like her.

Gutless Coward trying to revise and backtrack from the reality that she's a vapid, materialistic moron who has no clue how the "commoners" live.

[RoyGBiv]

78. You should read her Twitter ...

It's full of glowing praise, much of it from well-wishers who just adored meeting her and felt the need to comment on how easy she is to talk to.

She mentioned how much attention her article was getting ... seemed really excited about it.

Oddly, she didn't mention what *kind* of attention, and for some strange reason, my post asking why she'd changed the dollar amounts she said she spent on things seems to have disappeared rather quickly.

[TheWatcher]

89. Oh, I have.

She's such a sniveling, cowardly little twit.

If that stupid little moron wants to impress me, she should live a year being HOMELESS.

Then I might take her seriously.

Or perhaps, as an even greater service to humanity, attempt to live a week without oxygen.

And fail.

She seems to be very fearful of "the commoners" and what they think.

My dear little debutante, YOU SHOULD BE.

ALL of your ilk should be.

[Odin2005]

65. I hate these romanticizing twats.

[RB TexLa]

66. We are DINKs and we go many days without spending money, because other people do not deserve to have

our money.

[William Z. Foster]

69. kick

K and R.

[charlie]

70. Okay, that was just a snack

This Liz Jones classic from last year is the Full Meal Deal. Being refused hotel accomodations for a few hours gives her a terrible intimacy with homelessness that sears her soul:

There I stood, homeless with my Prada case

The other night, I found myself homeless. It wasn't the sort of homelessness that meant I was fleeing an abusive home, or had found myself unable to cope with normal life due to drugs or drink. But I was still cold, stranded, ostracised. It was the Monday before Christmas and I'd caught the train to London for work.

Knowing I had to be in town the following day, I turned up at the fairly cheap hotel in Shepherd's Bush I always stay in for work. They know me here: they valet-park and clean my BMW and understand I require soya milk with my cornflakes.
...

So I sat in the bar but everything I had taken for granted - waving at the waiter to order a drink, phoning for a cab, looking forward to a hot bath and a warm pillow - seemed terribly far away.
...

The wind whipped around my legs and it was suddenly very dark. I had been tossed on to life's rubbish tip. For the first time, I felt what it must be like to be homeless, to have no money, no one to turn to.

I realised that this was about the worst thing that can happen to you. Your humanity is stripped away and you become something to be moved along, stepped over, ignored...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1238565/LIZ-JONES.html

[readmoreoften]

71. UnFuckingBelievable.

Nah, what am I talking about. TotallyFuckingBelievable. Rich people are funny. :spray:

[charlie]

74. Expensive entertainment

But yeah, they're entertaining nonetheless :)

[Leftist Agitator]

75. I saw that one today too.

Jesus Christ, these people are in for a *RUDE* awakening when the shit hits the fan.

It reminds me of a joke I saw on the Simpsons once. Marge is at a country club, and says, "Sometimes the most satisfying meal is the one you cook yourself." To which one of the rich women says, "You know, you're right. One time, instead of waking Iris up, Steven and I decided to microwave our own soup! Oh, it was a terrible mess, but Iris didn't mind cleaning it up!"

I remember laughing at that, thinking that nobody could possibly be that clueless. Little did I know...

[RoyGBiv]

77. We're gonna need a lot of boots ...

This is neither here nor there, but I knew this couple when I was younger who had more money than most of us will probably ever even think of seeing. They'd both worked for Burlington Northern, back when it was a really good job, had lived frugal, but comfortable lives, and retired from B-N with full pensions. They'd run a side business that also had something to do with the railroad, but I don't know if I ever knew exactly what it was, just that it by itself could have brought them a comfortable income. They kept this going after retirement but handed it off to their two children, both of whom supported their families on the income from that business.

The thing was, I never knew any of this, not in the 20 years or so I'd vaguely known of them, until one day when I was forced to face my own prejudices. I had just started working as a manager for a guy who owned convenience stores. It was my first managing gig, and I was, to be kind to myself, overzealous. This place was a "country store" type of joint that catered to a rural customer base that barely made it into town. Most people were single-family farmers, ranchers, and the like. Many of them had charge accounts and would settle every month or so. Some of the accounts got big before they were paid.

But one account in particular was larger than the rest, I noticed. It belonged to this couple whom I'd always known as the crazy ex-railroad people who apparently sold junk for a living, rarely had clean fingernails, and only owned two sets of clothes each, one consisting of overalls and a plaid shirt for daily wear, the other a Sunday-Morning-go-to-Meeting polyester suit/dress. Seems they'd been buying large quantities of chips, lunch meat, propane bottles, camping gear, bait, and fishing tackle lately and hadn't paid it off for over two months. On one receipt alone they'd charged around $500 worth of fishing gear. I was starting to think the previous manager, who had moved out of town and whom I'd never known well, was a complete moron for letting all this happen.

Wanting to take care of this situation myself, I approached the couple the next time I saw them and, politely I thought, asked them about paying their bill. They informed me they'd get to it. They had "an arrangement." Well, a lot of people claimed to "have arrangements" so I didn't take this at face value and became a little more insistent. They just laughed at me, which pissed me off. Thankfully I didn't escalate things right there. I went to the owner and told him about these "dead beats" that weren't paying their bill, complete with a report on potential losses and other financial garbage, and then *he* started laughing at me. I clearly had no idea who these people were. (And, really, I should have. This was a small town, but I just hadn't paid attention.)

He informed me that on a moments notice, this couple could write a check for a hundred thousand dollars, and it would clear the bank without a sneeze. That's just what they kept in their checking account and didn't even put a dent into what they actually had in terms of land, investments, etc. He then informed me the reason they were running up such a huge bill lately was that they were running something of a camp for kids in the area during the summer, specifically low-income kids and others who lived in town and who never got a chance to go anywhere because their parents worked too much. They owned a lot of prime camping and fishing land. Why not put it to good use? The couple was buying all this stuff for those kids, and in the days before debit cards, it was just easier for them to run up a tab and pay it off all at once with one check.

I felt like an idiot.

These people knew how to live 24 hours without spending a penny. They knew what it was like to be poor since they'd started out that way. And they never, ever would have written articles like these in this thread. They were too busy actually doing something useful.

[charlie]

83. Good heavens!

Using money to live well, but not live LARGE? They must've been victims of a bad education if they never learned money is a commodity unto itself, must be tended to assiduously, protected fiercely, and weeded of high-minded parasites that don't return maxiumum interest. The generations of greenbacks unborn, or throttled in their cradles, or put through the servile humiliation of merely paying bills makes Jim Cramer WEEP, don't they know that? :)

Smart people. Their shrewd investing and management skills aside, I think their biggest asset was probably no fear of being thought of as bumpkins. If most of us had that solid sense of self, turbo-consumer-capitalism could be derailed into the weeds. Which would be lovely.

[Spirochete]

76. Hope she tries

going 24 hours without ozygen next - and succeeds...

[RedCappedBandit]

79. Apparently she thinks groceries are free. wtf?

[nadinbrzezinski]

80. Here is another light to look at this

She is an average American. No, not the income, or the spending. She needs to spend to keep an identity. I mean the Starbucks coffee is part of her persona and self identity... so are a few other things. She is not buying due to the quality of the coffee... trust me, we go there only when there is no choice... she goes there because that is what the cool people do.

She discovered what ails all of us... CONSUMERISM...

By the way, without giving the plot away for Iron Man, you know it's gotten silly when Oracle does product placement in a general release movie... and more than once by the way.

[BuelahWitch]

87. Not to mention the price you have to pay for movies & all the ads they run before

That's why I usually wait for them to come out on DVD. I know I'm still gonna get ads, but at least it won't cost me $8+ (which may be lowballing it; I haven't been to a movie that wasn't a matinee in quite a while). :)
Personally I never got into the "name brand" sort of thing for an identity. How sad when you need to have a designer name glued to yourself somewhere to feel alive.

[nadinbrzezinski]

90. You and I are aware of the tricks

but most people are not. And we stopped teaching media classes a long time ago.

[Dreamer Tatum]

82. Good thing self-righteous indignation is free

...because people seem to spend that rather freely here.

[muriel_volestrangler]

85. It's not so much indignation, more pointing and laughing at the clueless woman

Although the stealth editing of her article (notice that the $80 changed to $60, and she inserted "(I really should go a week). Millions of people do this all across America easily, though living in NYC, the most expensive city in the USA, makes saving highly challenging", after people took the piss a bit) does have people somewhat indignant - it shows the editorial standards and honesty of the writer and Huffington Post are down in the gutter. And they have apparently cleaned out lots of comments on how stupid the piece is (though the few that remain do show that the $60 used to be $80).