I know what you’re thinking. You really DON’T make enough money to live, once you factor in all the expenses that seem increasingly necessary. It’s true, to an extent. This all depends on SO many variables, but let’s look at something called the Low Income Cut Off, or LICO. From Statistics Canada:

The low income cut-offs (LICOs) are by far Statistics Canada’s most established and widely recognized approach to estimating low income cut-offs. In short, a LICO is an income threshold below which a family will likely devote a larger share of its income on the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family.

The amount for one adult living in a Halifax-sized city (before taxes) is $18,260.

Divide by 52 weeks per year, and then 40 hours per week and we get an hourly wage of: $8.78. Hmmm…minimum wage here is $8.10/hr. So it appears that someone working full-time at minimum wage ends up being $1414.40 short of the LICO. Ouch.

“Oh, I’m so poor this week”.
“I can’t go out. I’m totally broke”.
“There’s no way I’ll be able to afford that”.

How many times have you uttered sentences like these, or heard others around you bemoaning their financial situations? Quite a few times, I’d be willing to bet. Most of us have been there, right? Feeling so poor and depressed that it feels like the weight of debt and poverty will never lift? Well, guess what. You’re richer than you think you are. Stephanie over at PoorerThanYou has written a blog entry that includes (among some other very useful information) a link to a website that I recommend you check out.

If you want to see just how poor you are, this is the site for you! In fact, what you’ll find is quite the opposite, I bet: that you are really quite rich compared to SO many other people in the world. Intuitively we all know that, don’t we? That millions of people across the world have far less than we do in the way of money, food, shelter, etc. It’s pretty pathetic how much money we waste, and the completely nonsensical ways in which we do so. We’ve developed such terrible savings (and consequently spending) habits that despite making enough money to live quite comfortably, we end up feeling like we’re the symbol of abject poverty.

The truth is, that many people across this planet of ours are, in fact, living in excruciating poverty. I know it’s not easy to choose an organization to donate to, and we like to say we can’t afford it, but it’s better to give to ONE charity than NONE. Isn’t it? If I took $30 from you every month without telling you, would you notice? I don’t know that you would. A dollar a day can make a HUGE difference in the life of someone who doesn’t have the necessities of life – and I’m not talking about a PSP, those new boots, or that new DVD coming out on Tuesday. Always make sure to research any organization you may consider donating to, but if you don’t have time to search the Internet for charities or information related to poverty, just click one link. Just one. Consider this message from that one website:

At the start of the 21st century 1.2 billion people live in abject poverty, most of them women. More than 800 million people go to bed hungry and 50,000 people die every day from poverty-related causes. It doesn't have to be this way. If we choose - if we have the will to act - we can make poverty history.