Describing Poverty in 2010

No matter how you describe poverty it still looks unappealing to everyone. Unfortunately it has spread like a bad infectious disease to thousands of people including myself. Is something that I have struggle with all my of life. It is like a genetic disorder that could have been cure years ago; if I had only ...been born a rich poor person.

Here is how it has been described in the dictionary

noun
1. the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence.
2. deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities, etc.: poverty of the soil.
3. scantiness; insufficiency: Their efforts to stamp out disease were hampered by a poverty of medical supplies.
—Synonyms
1. penury. Poverty, destitution, need, want imply a state of privation and lack of necessities. Poverty denotes serious lack of the means for proper existence: living in a state of extreme poverty. Destitution, a somewhat more literary word, implies a state of having absolutely none of the necessities of life: widespread destitution in countries at war. Need emphasizes the fact that help or relief is necessary: Most of the people were in great need. Want emphasizes privations, esp. lack of food and clothing: Families were suffering from want. 3. meagerness.

Here is how I measure and see it everyday:

I cost me about $23.00 a day for food and shelter for two adults ( have then sell at least 20 Street newz papers daily)
out of the $23.00 I have to put away $10.00 towards rent
$13.00 a day for two adults to eat at least once a day

That is just my portion for rent and food.

Then there is the cost of Laundry $30.00 every two weeks
-I have to go to laundry mat twice a week/ That is 30 Street Street Newz

Transportation ( good thing walking is free)
-Bus Tickets ( 1 book is $21.00 approximately ) or 21 Street newz papers
- Have a few friends who provide me with bus tickets

With my latest forced move ($1245.00) - Just for Rent and damage deposit
Transportation & utility hook up ( to scary to even write or think about)

So I was $20.00 short for my first months rent and now am having to pay an additional $30.00 (for extra Paper I have caused the caretaker) - 50 Street newz papers.

On a good day I can sell about one paper every fifteen minutes which is equivalent to eight dollars an hour. On a bad day I will make zero after trying to sell for about 2 hours.

So my partner signs over 100% of his pay cheque every month to pay for rent, medical bills and some food.

So for us living in poverty is costly on out health both mentally and physical. The amount of time we spend trying to survive is in credible exhausting.

In between sell the street newz, and moving, my partner lost several hours of paid work, I continued to educate people about poverty and homelessness and am still looking for paid work.

I am usually down on Government St near the Bay Centre sell the Street Newz between 2 until about 430 pm daily. The rest of the time I am out looking for paid work, editing or talking to people about poverty.