J.D, 7-Eleven has their own gift cards, so that’s probably what she was using. And as someone said earlier, most lottery tickets can’t be cancelled once printed. Also to protect the merchant from chargebacks, most don’t accept credit cards for lottery (or money orders). These items have little or no profit margin. And finally, at least go for the Classic Selection water that 7-Eleven sells, it’s about 30 cents cheaper! Or walk across the street to the grocery store!!!

Yes bottled water is pricy, sometimes even more than soft drinks, but still less than pure fruit juice. Buying bottled water may not seem frugal to everyone, but i think frugality is mostly about putting your cash where it is worth more to you. On a health point of view, buying bottled water is better than driving way too fast to get home sooner and drink free water, still the best thing to do would probably be to refill that bottle and keep in the car ‘just in case’ for next trip. I found out i drink much more water when it is free and easily available.

About buying food in a 7-11, i guess it depends on what is important for someone. If you look at calories/$, then a bag of potato chips seems like a good deal. If you think in terms of nutrition, there are affordable meals: bread and canned tuna fish ($2.50 for 2 adults)
for dessert, a ripe banana can cost as little as $0.20 in a grocery store. better yet, no refrigerator or stove is needed. that family might have eaten cheap healty food all week and that meal out was a way to spend good time together, or maybe the habit of eating out too much forces them to eat cheap food for the rest of the month to pay rent for the next one, or they just starve for 3 days before every paycheck. i’d rather spend money on healty food now than on prescription drugs later, regardless of price.

actually, buying stuff that is not needed isn’t that bad as long as you know that it is for temporary pleasure. it gets dangerous when you begin to rationnalise those purchases as necessities, like pretending a treat is a meal… a sports car is just needed fot daily commute… a 3rd bathroom can’t be lived without even when only 2 people live in the house… more money makes for bigger financial mistakes, but i think rich people are not judged as severly as poor people.

[...] the vending machines at Valley is that they take credit cards. I was reminded, several times, of this post on a blog I read. God [...]

My sister-in-law used to flabbergast my mother by getting 20$ at a time from the ATM (No doubt for beer or cigarettes)… with a $2/transaction fee.

This leave $1.65 for the sugary drinks and sugary snacks. They have no real health benefits, but do deliver a quick burst of energy and some liquid, if we stretch our imaginations.

JD spent $1.59 for water and I imagine there was tax and a deposit on top of that. So he probably spent more than $1.59.

JD’s the one who got the short end of the stick.

Shaz, I hear your point. But for someone who stands so firmly against making assumptions about others, you seem to have some pretty strong assumptions about the economic situations and backgrounds of the posters, no? The assumption that she’s poor just because she’s in 7-11 buying a hotdog is just as judgmental.

So why WAS the original poster in the 7-11 when there was a grocery store across the street?

I don’t think anybody has to have walked up to this woman and chastised her to fall into righteousness.

I think that happens any time any of us say “Oh! Look at that bad behavior! *I* certainly would *never* do that!”

And yes, that is different from exercising judgement. My own honest reaction to this woman was to feel sad for her, because my natural instinct is to assume the worst — that she’s poor, down on her luck, and doesn’t really have a clue how to do better for herself and her kids. So yes, I’m judgemental too.

But at least I know better than to rationalize her behavior with a story I make up for her, or assume that I am any better than she is.

DB

I think for many it reminds them of their own temptations and failures, and they’re so eager to separate themselves from their own weaknesses and bad history that they rush to condemn those still struggling.

For what it’s worth, though, JD, your post didn’t come across as nastily judgmental. I second the recommendation above for Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickled and Dimed if you want a further look into this shadow economy.

The comment by mapgirl (#11) was right on point –

“I find the people who mind their money the most are the people who have the least”

This is a VERY true statement, and in terms of the situation with the woman and her 7-11 purchase, she is on the fastrack to nowhere. Trying to budget at 7-11 is not really much of a budget.

It is a strange univere indeed. I’ve been there, and it’s just mainly due to the fact that I honestly didn’t know any better. Maybe she’s in that same boat.

The lives and life choices of the poor and homeless can be confusing to those who live a relatively predictable life. I must say that for them, simple everyday living can be equated to crawling the infiltration course at a military bootcamp: they are often battling medical problems, dodging unemployment, underemployment (thank you Mr. Bush), facing interpersonal struggles, leaping around marital separation, struggling against hunger, etc.

Until recently, I worked for a law group that provides legal assistance to the working poor and to homeless people. (Although with the falling economy, I’ve assisted homeowners too.)

The women described could very well be homeless. We could be seeing more of the scene you described as the acceleration of foreclosures continues.

http://www.secondharvest.org

MG

I recommend Nickel and Dimed as a good read for anyone interested in the financial health of lower wage workers.

Your water for one person was $1.59. The woman and her two daughters (3 people) paid for a drink and candy $7.21 (roughly $2.40 each). In my opinion that is not that bad.

This seems to be a response not on economics, but on classism and healthism. “Oooh, look at the icky poor people suck on their gas-station sugars while I drink healthy fancy water.”

I linked to this one on my blog.

I will be the first to admit that I will buy stuff at a convenience store too, just not even on a semi regualar basis. Why? Because for me, it is a dumb way to spend money, but the times I do go to a C store, I am happy to pay for the convenience.

Take Care,

Trixie

As I wrote before, we’re all directing and starring in our own movies. Hopefully, we’re all confident enough in our life choices to handle a little criticism, especially when it’s anonymous.

My first thought was $7 and change was ridiculously low for a purchase of 3 hot dogs, a slurpee and some candy.

*I* can’t judge this woman because *I* have handed over my credit card knowing that I am bumped up to the limit and *I* have held my breath praying it won’t be declined. Maybe not at a convenience store (but then again maybe so — it’s not like I’ve never stepped foot in one). I found that sometimes it would be declined when I thought it wouldn’t be, and other times it would go through.

I haven’t had my credit (or debit) card declined for a long time now, but I had a serious enough habit of it that it *still* crosses my mind now when I fork over the card (mostly nowadays I just wonder in awe that I don’t have to worry anymore because the bill is paid and the balance is way below the limit).

I also can’t judge this woman for her nutritional choices. Granted, the thought of a meal of hot dog, slurpee and candy doesn’t appeal to me and it’s not good eating. I’d really prefer she feed her kids something better. However without knowing her it does nobody any good to get all righteous about her bad choices.

That’s what really irritates me. It does none of us any good to get judgemental. It could have been you feeding your kids crappy food from a convenience store, with hardly a dime to your name. Don’t think it couldn’t have been.

DB

When I was a kid, my mom took us to McDonalds, and we’d always get the same things there too (cheeseburger, pop and fries). We knew what it costs, cause we’d get the same thing when we’d go out, but that’s not where we ate our daily meals.

Not being able to buy lottery tickets with a CC does annoy me, because I rarely carry cash and use my Visa check card for everything. I see the reason for the law but I still don’t agree with it; I’m of the mindset that if someone wants to ruin their financial situation by charging thousands of dollars in lottery tickets, that’s their choice. They could just go get a cash advance off the same card and pay cash for the tickets, with the same end result.

Living hand to mouth as implied has got to be pretty hard. You’d probably want to treat yourself with whatever it was that they bought.

I applaud your compassion and willingness to take differing situations into consideration, but in the end, we are all directing and starring in our own movies. Of course we don’t know the whole story. We project ourselves into a few seconds of someone else’s movie and make judgments based on our own script. It’s human nature.

Nutrition is important to me, so that is the framework through which I view the interaction J.D. has recounted. Seven dollars seems ridiculous for food that does not nourish effectively, and it inspires me to think about how I feed my family and how I can do better.

Someone else views things through a different but equally egocentric framework and remembers the time he charged a meal at McDonald’s and realizes that he has now paid interest for his long-gone french fries.

J.D. sees his words in print and is horrified that he bought an over-priced bottle of water at a convenience store, when a little forethought would have seen him prepared with a Nalgene bottle of perfectly sufficient tap water from home. (Gotcha!)

Anyway, my point is that I think you’re getting all wound up about something that is a normal part of any public debate.