Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month • Hacker News Board

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#41

Post by nandemo » Thu, Jun 17, 2010, 7:49 AM UTC

thefool wrote: post #35

ggruschow wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same story. He worked for his groceries rather than working for money to spend on groceries.

yeah but in working for his groceries, it doesn't seem as though he created any value to anyone in the process. I guess he was brand loyal, but it seems like the work didn't benifit anyone else in society, which is in contrast with actual work.

> it doesn't seem as though he created any value to anyone in the process.

Sure he did. He created value for himself by working. After all, in a pure economic sense coupon cutting is as valid work as log cutting.

Perhaps you are confused by the fact that he was working for himself? Say my current food expenses are $15 a day, so I hire that guy to shop and cook for me for $10 a day. Clearly he would be creating value for me.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#42

Post by philwelch » Thu, Jun 17, 2010, 8:45 AM UTC

paulgerhardt wrote: post #19

kscaldef wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not some anti-carb fanatic by any means, but the near complete lack of fruits and vegetables in this diet can't be healthy.

I forgot to mention loads of apples, clementines, oranges, PB&J sandwiches and the occasional salad. IANAD, but it did get me through a summer of bootstrapping. It certainly isn't the healthiest diet, but we were hard pressed to do any better without resorting to coupon scavanging or food co-ops. Also if you don't exercise already, but decide to take it up - the health benefits will probably more then compensate for…

That doesn't make much sense. Exercising makes you need proper nutrition even more, it doesn't make up for poor nutrition. The only way exercising "makes up for a poor diet" is if you have tons of extra calories on top of a full set of nutrients.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#43

Post by access_denied » Thu, Jun 17, 2010, 10:14 AM UTC

Here in Germany it is becoming a new sport: how to cook within the means of "Harz 4" which is the minimum financial aid you get from the state while unemployed.

http://www.google.de/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=h...

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#44

Post by noodle » Thu, Jun 17, 2010, 3:17 PM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #29

noodle wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

false dichotomy. it is not necessarily going to the be the case that you'll be busy making money if you weren't busy clipping coupons.

You don't have to be making money for your time to be worth something. I'm home from work right now. If an hour spent clipping coupons takes away from "recreational" time spent coding for fun or in my machine shop puttering around, it's not worth it. The leisure time is worth more to me than the money the coupons would save.

again, i feel this is a false dichotomy. it doesn't always come down to making the choice of spending an hour clipping coupons or doing something you enjoy.

sometimes you have idle time and have the choice between spending 10 minutes to clip some coupons while watching tv, or doing nothing.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#45

Post by chc » Thu, Jun 17, 2010, 6:53 PM UTC

mkramlich wrote: post #27

JacobAldridge wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that assumes you are willing to work in that hour and had the work available, but chose not to do it because your were implementing the system. If you do this instead of watching mindless TV, factoring in the opportunity cost is inaccurate.

Good point! But for folks who already don't watch mindless TV, or who have other opportunity projects or investments that monetize better, the argument still holds. For example, instead of putting an extra hour into one's day job, you could put an hour into making some new product or service which will in turn make you back more money than you would have saved if you did his extreme food cost reduction scheme. Or lea…

That assumes a new product I was able to make or new skill I was able to learn in the time this takes would make me back more money than I would have saved. Not sure this is a given. Time doesn't tend to slice up so neatly.

Re: Things I Learned Eating On $1 A Day For A Month

#46

Post by thefool » Sat, Jun 19, 2010, 5:11 AM UTC

nandemo wrote: post #41

thefool wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah but in working for his groceries, it doesn't seem as though he created any value to anyone in the process. I guess he was brand loyal, but it seems like the work didn't benifit anyone else in society, which is in contrast with actual work.

> it doesn't seem as though he created any value to anyone in the process. Sure he did. He created value for himself by working. After all, in a pure economic sense coupon cutting is as valid work as log cutting. Perhaps you are confused by the fact that he was working for himself? Say my current food expenses are $15 a day, so I hire that guy to shop and cook for me for $10 a day. Clearly he would be creating value…

Sure, but generally money is given to people when they do some sort of service for other people.

If you have a cook, you pay them to cook you food, and you got the money from some other place cause you performed some other service for someone else.

If you paid him to go shopping, thats because he was creating value for you (in saving you time) and you were paying him for it.

But this is different. Sure he is benefiting himself, but he isn't creating value for anyone else. The whole point of society to a certain extent to create a system which encourages people to help one another. This man is essentially getting food in exchange for shuffling papers around. What I don't understand is who else in society is benefiting from his paper shuffling.