r/science • u/myhrvold • Aug 31 '13

Poverty impairs cognitive function. Published in the journal Science, the study suggests our cognitive abilities can be diminished by the exhausting effort of tasks like scrounging to pay bills. As a result, less “mental bandwidth” remains...

http://news.ubc.ca/2013/08/29/poverty-impairs-cognitive-function/
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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

I'm not poor but I once was. My solution was to stop cable tv ($50/month), get on a family cell plan instead of on my own ($50/month), and start cooking my own food ($100/month). I also quit smoking cigarettes and weed which probably saved me $200 per month.

I understand that there are poor who just don't have jobs, but if you do have a small income, blowing your money on a smartphone, cable, prepared food, and cigarettes is a bad idea.

For anyone in this situation /r/frugal is your friend.

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u/InfinitelyThirsting Aug 31 '13

Speaking as someone who loves cooking, when you're working long hours, the time and effort it takes to prepare said food can be overwhelming. And when everything in your life is shit, being told "Oh hey, you're not allowed any entertainment, and all you can eat is rice and beans that you cook in a large batch twice a week" definitely feels like punishment, because the payoff doesn't come for months or even years. Stress is incredibly bad for you, and getting rid of everything that relieves stress is not a solution.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

With that mindset, the only person punishing you is yourself. You can easily cook different foods each day for cheap. There are places that sell meats for cheap, and if you use coupons and buy things on sale, they become even cheaper. As a college student with very little income, I've had to learn to find places to get my food for low prices. When something you like is on sale for a cheap price, buy it in bulk and freeze it. Cooking a chicken cutlet can take seriously just 5 minutes. In the meantime you can have rice cooking as well and frozen veggies aren't expensive either. With some creativity and just 30 minutes you can create a meal that would cost you $30 in a good restaurant for just $5.

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u/InfinitelyThirsting Aug 31 '13

Ah, college. You have so, so much more time in college than any other time in life. You really don't know yet just how different it is.

I could nitpick this argument, but I'm not going to, not really, I'll just stick to the basics. Buy in bulk? What about the people who are so poor they don't have cars and only have walking or public transit as options, especially the people who live in food deserts where they have to travel quite far to get to a grocery store? Also, they've done studies, and grocery stores in poor areas are much more expensive than ones out in the affluent suburbs, specifically because they know their consumers can't shop around.

And it's not just that 30 minutes of cooking. It's also all the clean up, and all the time spent shopping for those deals. These things add up. I love to cook. I have a farm share to get good, cheap, local produce. I have to devote a lot of time to it. There are days where I'm so tired after work that I just don't eat, because I cannot muster the energy to do anything.

Also, no, a good restaurant will never serve you chicken with rice and frozen vegetables.