Can you get through a month?

[frapjap]

http://playspent.org/

Prove you can survive a month with a low wage job.

In the process my kid got made fun of for footweare related issues, I missed their school play for an opportunity to make $50, had my vehicle repo'd, lost my job, missed my mothers funeral services, am dealing with a bad toothache, didn't buy a kid a birthday present for a party I took my kid to, defaulted on my student loans, and am letting my pet suffer through an illness.

Oh, but I won't tell you about the somber ending so as not to blow it for everyone else who tries.

Horay life.

[Dattebayo]

Look, I hate to rain on the parade, but that site is really biased and kinda silly. If we're going to play "choose your own adventure in poverty" there would honestly be way more options then the simple two or three they give you. Or maybe they think all people really are that helpless? Either way, meh.

[frapjap]

Its more of an education and awareness tool. However, while I agree with your observation that there are more solutions, some people don't know how to (or won't) do more to help themselves and only see 1-3 possible solutions.

I've been in almost all of the situations proposed before (obviously not all at once, but you get thepicture). However, the one solution I didn't see offered was "get a second job."

The most jobs I've held at any given time was 3.

[Dattebayo]

The problem with it being an awareness tool is that it paints the "FOX News" version of life for those who get into it.

[MinisterofDOOM]

This thing sure wants you to feel sorry for people. But it just annoys me. Aside from the single parent bit, that's pretty much where I am. I make a little more than that, pay a little less for insurance and rent than it suggested, and I still have enough to afford a payment on a nice car, quite a few luxuries and toys, and still put some money in the bank. Granted I don't have late bills left and right but that's because I didn't let myself get behind. That whole website is an excercise in "dig yourself out" and completely ignores the proper solution: DON'T DIG THE HOLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

That "game" piles the little stuff on as though it matters, and offers select less-than-ideal solutions to make situations seem worse than they are.

I know life is hard. But crap like this just adds to the "poor me" attitude which doesn't help ANYONE. I lost my job a little over a year ago while living paycheck-to-paycheck with a car payment and a stack of bills. I was without a job for about a month, adding yet more bills to the stack. I found a new job and worked hard and eventually came out ahead. I didn't want pity, I took care of myself. I didn't even benefit from unemplyoment insurance to help me out (eligibility for it confuses me and requires an abacus and three networked borg cubes to calculate so I don't remember why).
I didn't have my own washer and drier for a long time. Good thing almost every apartment complex has cheap or free public laundry facilities.
I didn't have health insurance for a long time, either. And even when I did, for much of that time the coverage was so poor it was basically equivalent to throwing the premium down the toilet. That was also the period when I was spending a lot of time at the doctor trying to stop my frequent debilitating migraines so I wouldn't have to miss work. Paid for nearly all of that out of pocket, including $100+ prescriptions.

I guess what I'm getting at is this:

Stop whining.

[Dittoz7]

Ramen noodles for everyone one! Yeeeeeee

[TurboSauce]

I made it up to day 28 where somehow i magically hit another parked car wile traveling down the road.
I'm sorry but I doubt i would EVER turn completely around with both hands off the steering wheel to look at a kid.
If it's that important i'd pull over first.
or at least stop in the road, with my hazards on.

[Jesda]

It needs an option for "Move into mom's basement and play World of Warcraft all day"

[asoomal]

Eh, made it with $554...

[krash]

I got fired for joining a union, an theres no option to get another job? Also, after my car got impounded I somehow got into a car accident. Still finished the month with $394

[frapjap]

I got fired for joining a union, an theres no option to get another job? Also, after my car got impounded I somehow got into a car accident.

[Speedy7_7]

I got left with $697. I wish I had that much left over every month. I made the same decisions I would have in real life, I went to the funeral, I went to the play, i gave the guy his 10 bucks back. I bought good food. WTF? This game was a little contradictory.

[Dattebayo]

I'm sorry but I doubt i would EVER turn completely around with both hands off the steering wheel to look at a kid.

Jay would.

[Encryptshun]

I moved to the suburbs with a 40-mile commute just so I wouldn't have to worry about some douchbag siphoning the gas out of my tank. But it happened anyway.

Better drink my own p*ss.

[numbnuts240]

i got a pad <10 miles from work, yet it STILL took 3 buses and crazy amounts of time to make it. odd.

also, you guys finishing with all this money, did you forget to factor in the fact that rent is due the day after this thing ends? i'm still trying to go through a month without going into the next month in debt.

[p1rat3]

that would be one unlucky month

I made it through the month with 100$ extra (just doing it cheap as possible) and still lost the game.

And pay day would be the following day too for the people that were close to having enough for rent

[alms24sebring]

Eh, ill try being a cheapass this time. Screw all wedding and funerals. Ramen noodles and oragel for dinner.

I made it with $930 and that was after spending unneeded money. I could still pay rent but they Jewed me and I failed. F that game

[AZhitman]

Dave NAILED it.

I had to get REAL resourceful when I was out of a job, in debt, raising 3 kids, and broke as a joke... Guess what? Picking up aluminum cans, mowing a few yards, delivering newspapers, selling my baseball card collection, and working an extra job on weekends didn't kill me.

It made me do 2 things:

1) Appreciate what I have now.
2) Despise whiners.

[Encryptshun]

Eh, ill try being a cheapass this time. Screw all wedding and funerals. Ramen noodles and oragel for dinner.

I made it with $930 and that was after spending unneeded money. I could still pay rent but they Jewed me and I failed. F that game

They made you join a religion? I don't get it.