PlaySpent.org: Can You Survive As The Working Poor?

New website that seeks to simulate the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle of the "working poor" (not my phrase). Other sites are encouraging users to ask people to have their Congressman / Senator play and post their results. Don't hold your breath.

But you can play, too. And feel free to post your best end-of-the-month bottom line, and let's see who does best, preferably, with some explanation of the choices you made to get it.

Can you survive for a month on $8-$9/hr - and how will you structure your monthly budget to do so?

Link: SPENT

 

Someone siphoned gas from my car. The game also tried to defend playing the lottery when I declined to do so. Got a speeding ticket that somehow wasn't my fault. Also just had a wreck. This month is evidently worse, automobile-wise, than the entire rest of my life. Landlord refuses to fix my plumbing? Pretty ridiculous.

 

Made it through the month with $465. Grandfather died and I didn't make the funeral. Stupid car was about to be repossessed, but it was tore up anyway.

 

Seriously, who has a wreck, speeding ticket, gas stolen via siphon, grandfather dying a few hundred miles away, car not starting, kid joining like 18 different extracurricular activities that all cost money, mother getting ill and not being able to afford medication, and chest pains in one freaking month? This man has a disaster every single day. Pretty sweet that a dude with that kind of luck is wanting to play the lottery.

 

To answer your question, folks that vote for hope and change.

 

With all the crap that came up in the scenerios, this person should just go ahead and end it imo.

 

I was told that I was having chest pains. I decided to work through it because basically, I wanted to die.

 

I was displeased that taking Tums was not an option.

 

why wasn't "apply for welfare" an option?

 

am i really supposed to feel bad for people who can't afford baby sitters?

 

Ended up with $42, but the rent was due the next day so I was pretty much bankrupt. That was even with skipping the funeral, declining health insurance, letting a tooth ache fester into a root canal that I ignored, driving off from an accident, and hiding the evidence from something else. I did however save my pet's life and gave my kid everything heshe wanted except a visit to their probably rich friend's birthday party.

 

i ended up with $1,000. not sure why the idiot didn't apply for food stamps or govt housing.

 

stable or unstable angina? I want to play this game now, but I feel like I know how it ends...

 

Reminds me of a humorous joke. These two old folks meet at a retirement home and decide they want to have sex one last time. So, they agree to get it on and head to the bedroom. The old lady is in her bathroom and looks at the medicine cabinet, deciding she better tell him about her medications in case she has issues during the sex. She walks out of the bathroom and tells the man "I have acute angina." "Well I hope so," he says, "because your [breasts] are awful".

 

Haha.

Ok. Seriously. Went to repair my sink, and it cost me $50? WTF did I do? Tear out the tile, remove the drywall/plaster, cut, flange and repair the line, put up green drywall, and re-tile with epoxy based grout?

Me thinks this game hyperbole much.

Apparently my college degree was worthless, even though I had to spend $250 on the loan, because I was only "lucky" enough to answer an elementary level math class question.

 

Someone should make a send-up version. A new Xbox system came out today. Do you buy it or buy the chrome-plated collector's edition that costs $150 more? You leave your pack of cigarettes at the bar after consuming two pitchers of beer. Do you buy a carton for value or buy a single pack? Iphone 4 or the newest Droid? Grocery choices should force you to buy either a slightly more expensive 2 liter of Mountain Dew or the cheaper Mello Yello.

 

Laughed that my car got repo'd and I got fired because I couldn't make it to work. [itch bay], I've got MATA.

 

This is easy decision-wise, as most of my adult life I have been independent and living on 9 dollar an hour jobs.

1) turn down health insurance. It's a risk, but no way you can afford it on that salary. The trick is to not make silly unhealthy decisions, and minimize your periods of being uninsured by working towards a job with benefits or attending school with a built-in student health plan. If you are just working your 9 bucks an hour job and have no future plans, you are [uck fay]ing yourself.

2) The game charged me 742 bucks in rent a month. No way in hell I would ever pay that for rent, in either Knoxville or Denver. I payed 450 bucks in Knoxville, I currently have 3 roommates and am paying 380 bucks a month. If you are spending over 600 bucks and you are doing WRONG.

3) I am being charged 72 bucks for transportation a month. I spent about 40 bucks on transportation a month in Knoxville, by bicycling to school or work whenever possible and minimizing distance between home and work/school. In Denver, I spend about 15 to 20 bucks a month, using similar strategies and utilizing public transportation. If you are spending 72 bucks a month on transportation at that salary level ,you should carefully re-evaluate your daily routine and work to streamline things.

4) My apartment is "too small for my stuff?" WTF! Sell that shit.

5) I couldn't "hold on to my home?" Why the hell did I buy one when I am working 9 bucks an hour jobs and apparently have no degree?

6) Why the [uck fay] did I have a child when I have not set up any kind of future or possibility of security? I would have considered adoption or abortion at the time. I sent the brat on the field trip, but child services will be getting a call while little Billy is gone.

7) Unionizing will only leave me temporarily (at the least) unemployed, so I keep walking. I am in no position to negotiate.

8) I helped my friend move. I am pretty sure that kid ain't mine.

9)Pitched in 20 bucks to my sick coworker. What goes around comes around, plus I had that unexpected 50 dollar windfall from helping my friend move.

(Why can't I work another part-time job? Or take classes? )

10) I have received a call about overdue bills on the vehicle in my possession. I have NEVER IN MY LIFE made payments on a vehicle. If I couldn't pay cash for it, I didn't get it. Saving up a few thousand dollars takes time but is a lot easier to do on the front then on the back end. Anyway, in the game I payed it.

11) My "child" is apparently gifted, but materials cost 50 dollars. This question is a blatant lie. I was a "gifted" child growing up when my mother and us were living in a trailer park. The Gifted program is funded by state and federal dollars and doesn't cost parents a dime out of their pocket. This whole game is pushing falsehoods and untruthful stereotypes. I payed the money, though.

(Why do I get a kid but not a spouse? I would not have a child on my own, period. If I did, I would be getting child support)

12) I skipped the Memorial. My grandfather would understand my situation, and me being there wouldn't make him less dead.

13) Asked a friend to do laundry. Duh. If that desperate, I could have washed some clothes by hand in the sink and hung them up to dry. I know that sounds outrageous, but I'd do that before spending 30 dollars at a laundry mat. Which is about 20 dollars above reality, btw.

14) I spent 39 bucks on groceries. I know from personal experience that what I bought can last about 2 weeks.

15) Asked a friend to look at my car. I would strongly consider moving to be in a location with cheaper rent and less of a need to drive, but the game doesn't let me consider that.

16) Put off dealing with the tooth pain. I haven't had dental insurance ever in my life. I floss and brush, and hope to get into the dentist in about 2 years. Haven't been in 8.

17) I give the 10 dollars to the person who dropped it.

18) I am not paying for my mother's 100 dollar surgery. She must have been a terrible parent. Besides, she is likely to qualify for Medicare.

19) My landlord found out I had a pet? Why the [uck fay] do I have a pet? I'm giving it to a friend.

20) I have a college degree? What in? Why am I not pursuing a relevant job? Why haven't I heard about this degree earlier in the game? I guess I'll pay the loan.

21) It says I have the choice of getting food stamps, or going hungry. Didn't I just buy groceries less than a week ago? And since when does 9 bucks an hour qualify you for food stamps? And why not the choice to not apply and continue on? I guess I'll "go hungry."

22) I was able to answer the math question no problem, so I didn't have to pay for a tutor. The game says less than half of parents can help out their child with math and science. Of course, I have degrees in science so maybe that part is skewed in my favor. Regardless, I allegedly have a degree in the game, so it could be science or math-related.

23) I went to work sick. Folks are [ussies pay] sometimes. The only time I've ever missed work for being sick since I was 17, was because I couldn't stop vomiting and they insisted I go home.

24) I "miss 3 days of work" because things are slow. I would have spent that time looking for a better job and/or doing odd jobs, but am not given the option.

25) Now I am experiencing chest pains? Bullshit. I've been "starving" and didn't buy any junk food. This game is just trying to sink me because I have 400 bucks on the 25th. I ignore it.

26) I'm not paying for a gym membership. I never have. That's stupid.

27) I payed my bills

28) Wait, now I'm working for a retail store? I thought I was an office temp? Do I have a second job but am not getting paid for it? Regardless, I hide the evidence of the broken vase.

29) I let my kid join the sports team.


200 bucks and a tooth ache was my final tally. But rent is due tomorrow and I pay a ridiculously high amount, so. It is hard to live on 9 dollars an hour, but this game had me pay 2 times as much for rent as I should, be a single parent, need a root canal, have chest pains, student loans, credit card debt from a foreclosed house, a car that I owed money on, and was broken down. That isn't realistic and filled with obvious bad choices made previously.

14)

 

I won the lottery and was on easy street, after the second week.

 

Did you really win the lottery?