It costs a lot of money to be poor.

I'm a white guy who was born right to the lap of luxury. Even though I'm fairly middleclass now, I still apologize for my privilege. Which is good, because I can imagine how infuriating this post would be from a poor white person.<br><br>But a few things I noticed.<br><br>When you're poor, you have to pay for every basic service. A lot of these services you don't have a choice to use, but they have a monopoly because they benefits the rich. And when you're poor, you have to pay a premium for it. And this is often buried in other fees and higher costs, but its a lot. <br><br>And most of these costs you can't avoid. The only way to escape these costs is to be rich enough to not have them, but you need to be rich to get to that point.<br><br>If you want to save money, you need to time and effort, but it does pay off.<br><br>If you want to save money AND you're poor, you need time and effort, AND you need a lot of skill and knowledge, plus a bit of luck, PLUS you have to pay more to do basic things, AND you have to pay a premium for a lot of services.<br><br>And even then, you might not save money in the short run.<br><br>If you're poor, you might need to pay more for food because you have to travel further, or pay a premium cost for convenience food. If you want to save money, you have to invest a lot of time to learn about food, shop around for the best prices, travel to the best place, and plan your meals to save money. And even then you might have to pay more than someone richer, because the store knows that you don't have a choice. You don't even have the luxury to go for a cheaper brand, because even though it might be a better bargain, it still costs more than the rich mans brand.<br><br>That's not the only thing. Poor people have to pay a premium for lot of services. They have to pay a premium on their electricity bill because they can't afford to pay a lump sum for their bill, which is actually cheaper. They have to pay a premium on their phone bill because they can't afford a prepaid plan, even if they are a responsible user. They have to pay a premium for EVERYTHING because they can't afford to pay for a lumpsum for a bulk discount.<br><br>And it's not just that. They need to pay a premium for a lot of things because their situation makes them vulnerable. They can't afford to move, so they have to pay a premium on their rent. They can't apologize, so they have to pay a premium for insurance. They can't afford to travel, so they have to pay a premium for their groceries. Which actually costs more than just buying them cheaper somewhere else. <br><br>Which brings me to my next point. Poor people don't have a choice.<br><br>It doesn't matter how much you want to save money, it doesn't matter how much you want to be frugal, if you don't have a choice, you can't save. And poor people don't have a choice in a lot of things.<br><br>They don't have a choice to buy cheaper groceries. They don't have a choice to use cheaper services. They don't have a choice but to use a lot of these services. They don't even have a choice to move to a cheaper place to live, for example.<br><br>They might have to stay because their job is there, and they need to pay their bills. Which they can't afford to do if they move somewhere else. Which means they can't afford to move.<br><br>They might have to stay because their family is there, or their friends are, or a lot of other things. And without these support systems, they can't afford to live.<br><br>Poor people don't have a choice. They can't afford to be frugal.<br><br>So, even if they want to be frugal, they can't afford to be.<br><br>I'm not saying that poor people are stupid because they're poor. I'm not saying that they don't have a choice because they're stupid. I'm saying that poor people don't have a choice because they're poor, and that's stupid.<br><br>It costs a lot of money to be poor.<br><br>So the next time you see someone being "poor" because they're spending a lot on something, don't judge them. They might be poor because they need to.<br><br>And if you want to help someone because you want to, do a little research first. Don't just give your spare change and expect things to change.<br><br>If you want to help, help the whole system, for example.<br><br>Break up the monopolies. Create laws that benefits poor people, not rich people. Remove premiums on basic services. Make it easier for poor people to save money. Give them a choice.<br><br>Or if you want to help someone, be their friend, be their family, help them move, help them travel. Don't just give them money.<br><br>Because money is a luxury that's not everyone's cup of tea.<br><br>It costs a lot of money to be poor.