On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
woodfromeden.substack.com
On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
1–10 of 89 posts
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#2I strongly disagree with the premise. This isn't proper poverty, this is a borderline agrarian lifestyle utilizing various allowances as well as support structures intended for the poor. The author has a personal safety net, as well as a social one supporting them, and took advantage of lax property enforcement to build a house on state land. If you have means and options like they do, you aren't dirt poor. This isn't poverty, this is conscientious objection. Many small farmers live this way. At any point they could stop and have a normal life if they chose. That's not poverty, merely poverty tourism.
As such I don't think documenting this lifestyle serves as useful as advice for other poor people.
This isn't a commentary on the ethics or merits of their life either. Good for them.
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#3I strongly disagree with the premise. This isn't proper poverty, this is a borderline agrarian lifestyle utilizing various allowances as well as support structures intended for the poor. The author has a personal safety net, as well as a social one supporting them, and took advantage of lax property enforcement to build a house on state land. If you have means and options like they do, you aren't dirt poor. This isn'…
Completely agree, the author is describing frugality, not the experience of being dirt poor.
> Each month the very generous Swedish government gives us no less than 600 dollars in child allowance. We also have some other incomes from book sales and irregular jobs. And we do have savings, larger than we like to admit, which in good years give capital income and in less good years give a cushion to take from. All in all our seven-person family has around 1400-1500 dollars in monthly expenditure
Author does not get it whatsoever. Being dirt poor means having no savings, or being in debt in which case you have negative savings. You have no or barely any money coming in from the government, not $600 a month just in child benefits. You don't have passive income in book sales or investments. If anything is broken, you cannot afford to fix it, including things like your utilities and appliances. You are one wrong decision from ending up homeless, which in turn is one wrong decision away from death. Subsequently, every decision you make is run through a lens of extreme anxiety. Your entire life is a fight for survival and you have no-one to turn to. That is dirt poor.
"Still you'll never get it right
Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the walls
You can call your Dad and he'll stop it all, yeah."
This author has multiple safety nets. Until they're stripped away, he has no idea what dirt poor looks like.
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#4I strongly disagree with the premise. This isn't proper poverty, this is a borderline agrarian lifestyle utilizing various allowances as well as support structures intended for the poor. The author has a personal safety net, as well as a social one supporting them, and took advantage of lax property enforcement to build a house on state land. If you have means and options like they do, you aren't dirt poor. This isn'…
i think the "poverty" definition is suspect. i recall 20k annual being declared the poverty line, and i would be able to live way beyond my needs if i had that much revenue.
unfortunately we train most kids to be dependent on government conventions, and dont provide the tools, and opportunity, to live independently of this regime. this is a dependency trap.
considering your comment, i identify as tech-agrarian.
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#5[flagged]
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#6I strongly disagree with the premise. This isn't proper poverty, this is a borderline agrarian lifestyle utilizing various allowances as well as support structures intended for the poor. The author has a personal safety net, as well as a social one supporting them, and took advantage of lax property enforcement to build a house on state land. If you have means and options like they do, you aren't dirt poor. This isn'…
Completely agree, the author is describing frugality, not the experience of being dirt poor. > Each month the very generous Swedish government gives us no less than 600 dollars in child allowance. We also have some other incomes from book sales and irregular jobs. And we do have savings, larger than we like to admit, which in good years give capital income and in less good years give a cushion to take from. All in al…
> All in all our seven-person family has around 1400-1500 dollars in monthly expenditure
Yeah, I doubt that takes into account external things like school lunches and neighbors giving things to the “poor” children. With “poor” meaning unfortunate and not poverty stricken.
Every time I hear of a school closing for whatever reason they always state that the food program will remain open because truly poor people rely on it out of absolute necessity. Nobody wants their kids to go hungry and that goes double for the collective “we”.
Now that I think about it my sister’s husband grew up dirt poor, and not because his grandparents(?) chose that lifestyle, and spent his entire youth working as hard as he could to not be poor. Like commuting 3 hours every day to attend a “good” university and never looking back. Dude absolutely hates poverty.
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#7[flagged]
> …and ignore their own environmental impacts (wood burning in this instance).
This is what you’re going with?
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#8he touches on interesting points and I actually appreciate the honesty, but kind of meandering, a bit pointless, and in parts outright massively contradicts itself:
> Living without spending takes some time and effort, just like a job. But at least it is a job I can perform at the time and place of my own choosing
right above that he sounds like he's lamenting being stranded in his location, unable to travel, come anywhere near metro areas or travel like in his childhood. That's, like, the absolute opposite of "place of my own choosing".
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#9[flagged]
Wood is renewable, burning it for heating houses in countryside full of forests is perfectly sustainable.
Not caring about social status is only smart, as long as your choices don't hurt others. It should be up to individual to decide what makes them happy within these limits. Instead of hippies I would be worried of consumerist sheep who think buying products/services makes them happy, and who destroy the planet in the process. Amazon, shopping malls full of people spending money just for fun, those are the real evil of our world. I would much rather live in a hut without electricity than be your average city-dwelling consumerist.
Re: On the experience of being dirt-poorish, for people who want to be
#10The author refers to others being driven by class and status.
There are however also people who work because they want to contribute to society and provide purpose to others and themselves.
I was instilled by my parents with a principle that I should give back more than I take from society.
I am not judging the author, and I believe he and his wife love their kids, which is what matters most.
But as others have pointed out, his path in life is only possible in Europe or similar societies. Most other societies are in desperate need of more “providers” and those that “pull the cart”.