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Child Item

Can't afford a night out? You're poor!

lazygal

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/a-quarter-of-population-cant-afford-winter-coat-or-night-out-with-friends-29068735.html

Is not being able to afford a night out really 'deprivation'?

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dub_skav

Jesus, some people are so touchy. The point of the article seems fairly obvious to me.
If you cannot afford a roast dinner or a night out once in a while then you are poor. There is nobody whinging or complaining about it, it is a conclusion drawn form a study.

Just because there are cheaper alternatives is irrelevant, those are the measures chosen for the study.
So, if you can't afford one nice dinner a week, or afford to go out and spend some discretionary income, be it to the cinema, theatre or god forbid the pub, then you are poor.

This is a useful measure for 2 reasons:
1: Most people in this country can do these things, so if you cannot you have significantly less money than others which may lead to feelings of social exclusion
2: If you cannot afford a roast or night out then you are obviously strapped for cash, so if your boiler breaks, or if a wall falls down in your house then you cannot cut back on the roast / night out to pay for it.

The article discusses a measure of poverty and how many are below it. There is no need to get angry because it's possible to survive perfectly well on scrounged turnips and walks in the park

Duggys Housemate

7 7 12 wrote: »

Had to book an early-morning flight to Abu Dhabi for my holidays in June, as the evening flights with Etihad were slightly over my budget. Disgusting what is happening to this country.

How is that related to people who can't go out for one night? Clearly you can go on holiday, and therefore go out for a week, a fortnight. Or more.

mark renton

Cupcake_Crisis wrote: »

I have no kids, no major bills bar rent, no real outgoings and i still can't afford a night out. Least of my worries tbh.

Get a job...

Duggys Housemate

dub_skav wrote: »

Jesus, some people are so touchy. The point of the article seems fairly obvious to me.
If you cannot afford a roast dinner or a night out once in a while then you are poor. There is nobody whinging or complaining about it, it is a conclusion drawn form a study.

Just because there are cheaper alternatives is irrelevant, those are the measures chosen for the study.
So, if you can't afford one nice dinner a week, or afford to go out and spend some discretionary income, be it to the cinema, theatre or god forbid the pub, then you are poor.

This is a useful measure for 2 reasons:
1: Most people in this country can do these things, so if you cannot you have significantly less money than others which may lead to feelings of social exclusion
2: If you cannot afford a roast or night out then you are obviously strapped for cash, so if your boiler breaks, or if a wall falls down in your house then you cannot cut back on the roast / night out to pay for it.

The article discusses a measure of poverty and how many are below it. There is no need to get angry because it's possible to survive perfectly well on scrounged turnips and walks in the park

Yeah. By definition if 80% of people can do something the 20% who can't are poor.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Orim wrote: »

My local butcher does a kilo of mince, 5 pork chops, 5 chicken fillets, and a couple of steaks of my choice for 20 quid. I'm sure it's not the butcher in the country doing similar.

With no effort on my part and huge portions, this lasts 4-5 weeks for me. With more reasonable portions I'd estimate this meat would last for 3 weeks for a family of four.

Are we talking about a family of 4 people of 4 mice here?

dark crystal wrote: »

I work part time, my partner works full time for €9.50 an hour. We have 4 kids and can't afford to eat out or go out to socialize in the pub more than once or twice a year.

I couldn't afford a winter coat this year, nor can I afford to get my hair cut at the hairdressers. As a busty lady, I can't afford a new bra (Penneys don't do bigger sizes!), so have to buy second hand off ebay.

However, I do a good shop every week so we eat well. We pay our bills every month (most of the time!), manage to run a car and have the internet.

I wouldn't say we're living in poverty, but we are definitely existing on a shoestring. Luxuries are out - we certainly can't afford holidays, for instance.

Sometimes I feel pretty depressed over it, but I suppose we could be worse off. When the youngest is a bit older, I'll be able to work full time and my partner is looking for a better job at the moment, so hopefully things will get better in the future.

Wish you and your other half the best of luck with everything. It's sad to hear

[Deleted User]

What's odd is that all my relatives on the dole seem to think I have it really great because I'm middle class and have a degree.

Let's see. I was forced to emigrate because I was made redundant from my sh*tty, low-paid job. Will have to stop working full-time because of my poor health, so I'm now trying to set myself up as a freelance translator. My income for the next few months is going to be close to nothing but because I'm self-employed, I can't claim the dole. We'll be living on what I managed to save last year and on my boyfriend's very low salary. We have drinks at home/at friends' houses rather than going out, we buy almost everything second-hand or get it on Freecycle, we go hiking/walking most weekends, which is free. In my spare time, I read (free - library), practise piano (keyboard was second-hand, bargain), cook (cheap veg from Aldi/Lidl, meat a few times a week) and work on finding clients for what will hopefully be my business. We don't have a TV because we can't afford one and we don't have a kettle because the old one broke and we can't afford to replace it. We want kids but no chance of that happening anytime soon because we can't afford it, so we do spend money on condoms. We're treating ourselves to a trip away in March (cheap flights, staying with friends) and we do eat out quite a bit, which is our luxury. If things get worse, we'll cut that out as well.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like my life. But because I'm middle class, all this is bohemian and frugal and great, in some people's eyes. Some sort of lifestyle choice. I'm pretty sure that my relatives back home would be pleading poverty if they lived like this. One of them went mental at the thought of having to live without Sky.

donegal.

Orim wrote: »

My local butcher does a kilo of mince, 5 pork chops, 5 chicken fillets, and a couple of steaks of my choice for 20 quid. I'm sure it's not the butcher in the country doing similar.

With no effort on my part and huge portions, this lasts 4-5 weeks for me. With more reasonable portions I'd estimate this meat would last for 3 weeks for a family of four.

how?
chops 2 nights ,chicken 2 nights ,steak 1 night, thats 5 nights max ... how could this feed 4 people for 3 weeks ?

summerskin

Orim wrote: »

My local butcher does a kilo of mince, 5 pork chops, 5 chicken fillets, and a couple of steaks of my choice for 20 quid. I'm sure it's not the butcher in the country doing similar.

With no effort on my part and huge portions, this lasts 4-5 weeks for me. With more reasonable portions I'd estimate this meat would last for 3 weeks for a family of four.

1kg mince= 2meals
5 chicken breasts = 1meal
5 chops = 1meal
2 steaks = half a meal.

so, 4.5 days worth of meat. how the feck do you think that could last for weeks? do you just look at it instead of eating it?

bedrock#1

dub_skav wrote: »

Jesus, some people are so touchy. The point of the article seems fairly obvious to me.
If you cannot afford a roast dinner or a night out once in a while then you are poor. There is nobody whinging or complaining about it, it is a conclusion drawn form a study.

Just because there are cheaper alternatives is irrelevant, those are the measures chosen for the study.
So, if you can't afford one nice dinner a week, or afford to go out and spend some discretionary income, be it to the cinema, theatre or god forbid the pub, then you are poor.

This is a useful measure for 2 reasons:
1: Most people in this country can do these things, so if you cannot you have significantly less money than others which may lead to feelings of social exclusion
2: If you cannot afford a roast or night out then you are obviously strapped for cash, so if your boiler breaks, or if a wall falls down in your house then you cannot cut back on the roast / night out to pay for it.

The article discusses a measure of poverty and how many are below it. There is no need to get angry because it's possible to survive perfectly well on scrounged turnips and walks in the park

Don't try to explain variables and how they work in research, it upsets the natives.

mark renton

Orim wrote: »

My local butcher does a kilo of mince, 5 pork chops, 5 chicken fillets, and a couple of steaks of my choice for 20 quid. I'm sure it's not the butcher in the country doing similar.

With no effort on my part and huge portions, this lasts 4-5 weeks for me. With more reasonable portions I'd estimate this meat would last for 3 weeks for a family of four.

This will all change now that the butcher can no longer pass this horsemeat off as mince and pork chops.

[Deleted User]

Duggys Housemate wrote: »

Yeah landlords love that.

Does it really matter? If you're the designated driver, then you should be provided with a certain amount of free minerals. However, this country and most of the pub landlords don't see it that way.

But this is completely not the point - how much do people need to spend on a night out? I could have a perfectly nice night with 4 cans, costing €5, that I'd drink before leaving for the pub, then maybe 1 or 2 drinks (generally I'd go for the cheapest they have), which could cost less than a tenner, then setting a tenner aside for a cab home, just in case. So, without the cab fare, a night out could potentially be under €20 and I'd still have a good time.

awec

dub_skav wrote: »

Jesus, some people are so touchy. The point of the article seems fairly obvious to me.
If you cannot afford a roast dinner or a night out once in a while then you are poor. There is nobody whinging or complaining about it, it is a conclusion drawn form a study.

Just because there are cheaper alternatives is irrelevant, those are the measures chosen for the study.
So, if you can't afford one nice dinner a week, or afford to go out and spend some discretionary income, be it to the cinema, theatre or god forbid the pub, then you are poor.

This is a useful measure for 2 reasons:
1: Most people in this country can do these things, so if you cannot you have significantly less money than others which may lead to feelings of social exclusion
2: If you cannot afford a roast or night out then you are obviously strapped for cash, so if your boiler breaks, or if a wall falls down in your house then you cannot cut back on the roast / night out to pay for it.

The article discusses a measure of poverty and how many are below it. There is no need to get angry because it's possible to survive perfectly well on scrounged turnips and walks in the park

here we go again.

If you can't afford a roast dinner you are surviving on "scrounged turnips".

Exaggerated post is just that, exaggerated.

awec

I can't afford a weekly roast dinner.

I live in a nice apartment in a nice area of Dublin, I own a pretty new car. I eat a nutritious meal every night of the week.

Am I living in poverty?

gimmick

jaffacakesyum wrote: »

Water is free in most pubs/clubs.

I hate people who go out drinking tap water. It is just stingey beyond belief.

HondaSami

Orim wrote: »

My local butcher does a kilo of mince, 5 pork chops, 5 chicken fillets, and a couple of steaks of my choice for 20 quid. I'm sure it's not the butcher in the country doing similar.

With no effort on my part and huge portions, this lasts 4-5 weeks for me. With more reasonable portions I'd estimate this meat would last for 3 weeks for a family of four.

Three weeks for a family of four? I admire people who can make food last this long and still have a happy well fed family.

Kinski

dark crystal wrote: »

I work part time, my partner works full time for €9.50 an hour. We have 4 kids and can't afford to eat out or go out to socialize in the pub more than once or twice a year.

I couldn't afford a winter coat this year, nor can I afford to get my hair cut at the hairdressers. As a busty lady, I can't afford a new bra (Penneys don't do bigger sizes!), so have to buy second hand off ebay.

However, I do a good shop every week so we eat well. We pay our bills every month (most of the time!), manage to run a car and have the internet.

I wouldn't say we're living in poverty, but we are definitely existing on a shoestring. Luxuries are out - we certainly can't afford holidays, for instance.

You're wearing second-hand underwear. I'm sorry, you may not want to call it poverty, but...:(

mark renton

summerskin wrote: »

1kg mince= 2meals
?

I think you have calculated this in old money.

summerskin

mark renton wrote: »

I think you have calculated this in old money.

nope. 500g of mince for a spag bol, or lasagne, or meat and potato pie.

therefore 2 meals from 1kg.

Solair

I think they stretch some of these things a little too far, but being unable to heat, cloth or feed yourself properly or access necessary healthcare and education is definitely poverty in any situation and there are definitely people in that situation in Ireland, especially when it comes to heat and healthcare.

In Ireland, you're at most risk if you've in the lower-middle of income levels as you won't have enough money to live properly and you also won't qualify for social welfare in many instances. There are a lot of freelancers / self-employed types on sporadic incomes that can't get support and there are also a lot of people on low incomes who can barely scrap enough together to make ends meet, yet are denied access to things like medical cards. I know freelance journalists and marketing people who are not going to the dentist / doctor or only heating one room.

If you're in the system i.e. have lost a PAYE job or you've never worked, you're in a far better situation in Ireland than someone who's been self-employed.

There's also a huge attitude that self-employed people are somehow loaded. Yeah, some of them are, but most of them are barely making ends meet and were never particularly loaded in the first place.

On the other side of it, I am getting a bit sick and tired of people quoting things like being unable to pay 'school fees'. You don't have to send your kids as a fee paying school. We have excellent non-fee paying schools (often better than the fee paying ones in many cases!)

I also think we've a lot of people who will service debts before feeding themselves / their families. That kind of thing's nuts. You let the credit card / bank etc swing for it if you can't feed your family.

People need to proritise things:

1) Food
2) Heat
3) Light (basic)
4) Healthcare costs.
5) Mortgage/Rent
6) Other stuff (including credit cards etc, no matter how often they ring)

This is why we need personal insolvency legislation a.s.a.p.

ashers22

mark renton wrote: »

I think you have calculated this in old money.

kilo of mice is 2.2lbs, shepherds pie or bolognese for a family of four would require a pound of mince multiply by two meals = 2lbs of meat. feel free to make a meat ball with the extra .2lb of leftover.

frank reynolds

has anyone realised yet that this country is run by the publicans (still is!) they have their hands in all the politicians pockets, so this is yet just another way for them to make people THINK that socialising in the local is a necessity and by discussing the issue, we're playing right into their hands. they want our money, they charge through the nose for a pint of p!ss, and expect people to feel bad when they turn their backs on the pub? i definitely dont. in fact it's the opposite - if i go out to the pub and spend 5 or 6 euro on a pint, i'll feel worse than if i had spent that money on cans and gone to a friends or stayed at home with friends.

pubs are dead and gone, and why this was in the papers today is because it's just the publicans crawling back and trying to make us feel like we SHOULD be in the pub.

the pub is dead. (unless they meet off-licence prices)

i give it ten years

dub_skav

awec wrote: »

here we go again.

If you can't afford a roast dinner you are surviving on "scrounged turnips".

Exaggerated post is just that, exaggerated.

As you are perfectly aware, that was not the point.
The point is that if you cannot afford 1 roast dinner a week, then you are poor.

Intentionally snotty post is just that

awec

Solair wrote: »

I think they stretch some of these things a little too far, but being unable to heat, cloth or feed yourself properly is definitely poverty in any situation.

Absolutely.

Being able to afford a roast dinner and go to the pub are luxuries.

The implication on this thread has been that a roast dinner is the low end of feeding yourself properly and anything less than a roast dinner is not proper food. Which is laughable.

fishy fishy

Orim wrote: »

My local butcher does a kilo of mince, 5 pork chops, 5 chicken fillets, and a couple of steaks of my choice for 20 quid. I'm sure it's not the butcher in the country doing similar.

With no effort on my part and huge portions, this lasts 4-5 weeks for me. With more reasonable portions I'd estimate this meat would last for 3 weeks for a family of four.

don't make me laugh.

kilo of mince divided by four would be quarter lb mince each
5 pork shops divided by four would be 1 and a quarter chop each
5 chicken portions divided by four would be 1 and a quarter chicken
2 steaks of your choice "fillet steaks" (LOL) divided by four is a quarter of a steak

so, lemme see -
quarter lb mince
1 1/4 pork chop
1 1/4 chicken portion
1/4 steak

21 days.

that would be about 1/8 of a chicken portion or equivalent every day. a bite size.

lap of luxury I'd say LOL

bedrock#1

awec wrote: »

I can't afford a weekly roast dinner.

I live in a nice apartment in a nice area of Dublin, I own a pretty new car. I eat a nutritious meal every night of the week.

Am I living in poverty?

here you go - from a free internet dictionary anyone can access

concept, conception, construct - an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances

From Wikipedia -

conceptualization (plural conceptualizations)
The process of forming a conceptual form of a phenomenon; the act of conceptualizing
The concept so formed; something conceptualized

awec

dub_skav wrote: »

The point is that if you cannot afford 1 roast dinner a week, then you are poor.

So I'll say it again.

I have a nice apartment and a nice, pretty new car. I eat 3 meals a day 7 days a week but I can't afford a weekly roast dinner.

Am I poor?

dark crystal

Kinski wrote: »

You're wearing second-hand underwear. I'm sorry, you may not want to call it poverty, but...:(

I'm an FF-G cup, so the only places that sell bras that size are high end department stores at around €40 a pop. You can get them for a fraction of that price on ebay. There's no way I could afford 40 bloomin' euros on a bra!

I wish Penneys, Tesco and Dunnes would cop on that women's boobs don't stop at an E cup - but that's a whole other thread!!

awec

bedrock#1 wrote: »

here you go - from a free internet dictionary anyone can access

concept, conception, construct - an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances

From Wikipedia -

conceptualization (plural conceptualizations)
The process of forming a conceptual form of a phenomenon; the act of conceptualizing
The concept so formed; something conceptualized

You're brilliant at replying to my posts but totally ignoring what they say and not answering the questions.

You'd make a great politician.

dub_skav

awec wrote: »

Absolutely.

Being able to afford a roast dinner and go to the pub are luxuries.

The implication on this thread has been that a roast dinner is the low end of feeding yourself properly and anything less than a roast dinner is not proper food. Which is laughable.

What's laughable is that you still think that's the implication

bedrock#1

awec wrote: »

You're brilliant at replying to my posts but totally ignoring what they say and not answering the questions.

You'd make a great politician.

How can I answer a terrible question that doesn't make any sense within the context of the discussion?