[mc32]

Being poor doesn’t mean you can’t get a bus ticket. All it means is you are deliberate in your shopping and planning.

You plan your trip to take advantage of transfer tickets and such. Sometimes you walk a mile or two or you bike or you bum a ride from someone.

Being poor doesn’t mean you can’t plan and are helpless.

Sure it’s not ideal and I prefer being able to shop ad hoc at my leisure, no doubt. But when I had to I made do.

[PhasmaFelis]

> Being poor doesn’t mean you can’t plan

Chronic stress (such as from financial stress and working multiple jobs) actually does severely impact your executive function and decision-making ability. It's hard to make dispassionate decisions when you're exhausted and scared. There's been studies about it.

Obviously it's possible to overcome that, and some people are better at it than others. But the burden is real. When you're coming off a double shift, it's really hard to make the decision to spend an extra 45 minutes walking round-trip, or two hours hopping on and off buses, when you could just hit the Walgreen's near your apartment and get home to your family.

[samayylmao]

> Being poor doesn’t mean you can’t plan and are helpless.

obviously not. But anecdotally what I see where I live is that it is a large enough inconvenience that it makes an impact. If you work 8 hours, then have to spend 2-3 hours getting groceries you already have a 10-11 hour day not counting any other commuting you need to do. What if you have kids you need to get off a bus from school?

trying to blanket say anyone not willing to make that trip just isn't trying isn't fair.

It is well documented that low-income areas have less access to good education, healthcare, and other facilities. blaming the residents doesn't help them improve their quality of life. Not everyone will make it out of that.

[mc32]

Unless you don’t have a fridge, when you have to make a two hour trip for food, you’re gonna make sure you got just about everything for the whole week. There might be some milk or egg runs, but in those cases one might pay a premium once in a while.

We’re not making two hour trips every day after work for food. No poor person I knew did that when I was poor. I did it mostly on weekends when there was lots of time.

[dev_dull]

There’s a weird misconception about poor people here. I’m willing to bet the vast amount of people on SNAP have a car and a job. Being poor doesn’t require an abject state.

[throwayEngineer]

Plan for the worst of poverty. Not the best.

[plausibilities]

No it doesn't.

But being poor DOES mean lowered efficiency with respect to an astonishing number of steps involved to achieve the desired outcome.

And when you have enough of these lowered efficiencies at one time and they begin to compound like interest...

Not always a pretty picture.

[ionised]

> Being poor doesn’t mean you can’t

it kinda does though.

The effects of financial stress on your mental wellbeing are pretty well documented and can manifest in ways such as inability to focus/concentrate, chronic fatigue, spotty memory from stress etc.