Yes, Walk. There's always public transportation if you want to get extravagant. Pay as you go phone? Budget for it. Family of four fed on $200 a month... Hmm... seems tricky doesn't it? Lets not take into account that kids eat free lunch & breakfast at school on your dime already because we still have the summers and we're talking about food stamps - not free food in schools. Today, for example, I ate 1/5th of a monster turkey sandwich I bought from the deli at dillons for $5. That's 1 meal for $1. It's enough for me because I'm not a disgusting blob. Did you eat lunch for a $1 today? No? I did. A sack of potatoes for $4 (Think of all the stuff you can do with potatoes - mashed/fried/baked) Throw in a whole chicken every now & then for another $4. Did you know you can buy a whole chicken for $4? You can. But anway, our goal is $50 a week or $7 a day to feed 4 people.
Sack of potatoes can easily last you a week, even using them every day - let's put a dollar amount on it shall we? What is it, 25 potatoes in a bag? $.16? M'kay. Take your whole chicken - again - if you're not a disgusting blob - that's roughly 8 servings when you suppliment with some potatoes. (my kids don't eat that much - really... a chicken leg is all I can force them to eat) So for each serving we're spending about $.66 Hashbrowns is really all I usually need - if I even eat breakfast but since we're still under budget we'll say I eat a piece of chicken & a baked potato for 3 meals a day. I'm @ $7.92. Being off $5 ain't bad. Not a lot of food, but it's possible. Those were just two examples - and there is cheaper food out there. Ramen noodles anyone?
I'm also not the monster you're making me out to be, I said I favor soup kitchens as long as they also served as an educational center showing people ways to get ahead in life. You know, ways for people that "weren't afforded all the same opportunities" as a guy like me... And by a guy like me, I mean someone that grew up in the ghetto of Wichita (plainview) eating chicken & potatoes and sometimes more because BOTH of my parents worked. Going to school every day until I graduated, took out student loans to get a college degree & later got a job that puts me in an income bracket equal to what my parents combined income was when they were my current age. I don't feel sorry for welfare babies because I grew up in the same neighborhood & went to the same grade school as them. They're still on welfare and I'm a productive member of society. I didn't receive any grants to go to college - I looked for opportunity because my parents taught me to only rely on myself to get ahead.
It's not just the idea that being dependent prevents you from looking for opportunity - it's the idea that when you're not dependent on someone else YOU will succeed because YOU have to. There's no other option.
