View Full Version : Can you help me remember a resource?
I'm sure I found it here. It was a website and it gave scenarios for how a person could manang on a very low income. It gave choices to the player and as the game went on, gave you feedback on whether you choices were good or not. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I'd love to show it someone. If you know, if you can help, thanks in advance.
Tiam, is this what you're talking about? It's a simulation of the choices people have to make when they have a minimum wage job.
http://www.playspent.org
The Spent game was a great idea on someone's part. Very smart.
Some seriously tough decisions to make in that game. And all the more terrifying to me since many of them are real in my life. This would be a great game for high school kids to play. Might lead them to decisions that result in a higher income. Minimum wage probably looks like a lot of money to a school kid living at home. This is a great reality check.
Gardenarian
7-23-13, 11:09am
Cool - forwarding to my teen. :thankyou:
Cool - forwarding to my teen. :thankyou:
Me too.
I just played a round...is this set up to be no-win on purpose? This might be a good game to play WITH the kids, to point out alternatives that aren't offered in the game. For example, I'd take the temp job AND the waitress job. I'd rent a place WITH a roommate. The grocery list leaves a lot to be desired...I wouldn't pay $1/can for beans, but a large bag of dried beans. I wouldn't choose a $75/month cell phone, but one that you can load as you go and use for emergencies only. So this would be a good jumping-off place to start a discussion on better choices.
I just played a round...is this set up to be no-win on purpose?
I think this game is meant to bring some reality to people who otherwise don't believe in the "working poor." If you read Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickle and Dimed (http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681) you would see the same story played out.
It is not easy to get by on minimum wage, and it forces tough choices that people who earn a "living wage" don't have to make. We're "simple livers" and we make voluntary choices that might allow us to live on very little, and we might have the wherewithal to work two jobs and get roommates, but in reality, life is not easy for most people with limited funds, especially if there are children involved.
I like this game because when I was living my "in the crapper" days raising 4 kids, I had to make some of those tough choices, including going without car insurance, telling my kids they couldn't go on school trips because we couldn't afford it (which tore my heart out), and letting a tooth rot in my head.
This game is not a set-up, I assure you.
Life is not easy, period, and limited funds makes life even more difficult. But I read Nickel and Dimed and I believe in the working poor. There were alternatives that Ehrenreich didn't take during her experiment, and there are alternatives that aren't addressed in this game. Very good and useful alternatives that warrant discussion and thought, if you approach it as a teaching tool for teens, which was how it was presented in the above discussion and how I took it.
I played it and wound up $287 ahead...except rent is due tomorrow and about 2.5 times what I had.
Someone mentioned the game's grocery options were off -- they would buy a bag of beans, not a $1.00 can, which is the smart thing of course...but a lot of poor people face such limited access to good grocery stores..they either buy the nearby more expensive stuff or more processed stuff, or drive or organize their public transit trips to get to a store with more variety. Takes a lot more time and energy than you think when you've gotten used to just hopping in the car and driving to the store.
A sobering little game....
I think this game is meant to bring some reality to people who otherwise don't believe in the "working poor." If you read Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickle and Dimed (http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681) you would see the same story played out.
It is not easy to get by on minimum wage, and it forces tough choices that people who earn a "living wage" don't have to make. We're "simple livers" and we make voluntary choices that might allow us to live on very little, and we might have the wherewithal to work two jobs and get roommates, but in reality, life is not easy for most people with limited funds, especially if there are children involved.
I like this game because when I was living my "in the crapper" days raising 4 kids, I had to make some of those tough choices, including going without car insurance, telling my kids they couldn't go on school trips because we couldn't afford it (which tore my heart out), and letting a tooth rot in my head.
This game is not a set-up, I assure you.
I agree. The options one has as a single healty person who can work 2 or even three jobs, ride a bike or walk and be car-less, live in shared housing with several roommates or even for free in exchange for doing a service, go without healthcare, cell phones, quality food in large quantities , or clothes is a huge difference from a single wage earning parent with kids. I could easily live on minimum wage and get by, but throw a kid or two into the picture and it's a whole new ball game.
I played it and wound up $287 ahead...except rent is due tomorrow and about 2.5 times what I had.
Someone mentioned the game's grocery options were off -- they would buy a bag of beans, not a $1.00 can, which is the smart thing of course...but a lot of poor people face such limited access to good grocery stores..they either buy the nearby more expensive stuff or more processed stuff, or drive or organize their public transit trips to get to a store with more variety. Takes a lot more time and energy than you think when you've gotten used to just hopping in the car and driving to the store.
A sobering little game....
It's true about the food options. They are awful and not really accurate nor give many choices. But the truth of the matter is, many low income parents have no real cooking, nutrition or budgeting skills.
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