What "poverty" looks like in the U.S.

According to Wikipedia the poverty level in the United States in 2011 was $22,350. 
I live so below that limit that you wouldn't believe me even if I gave you a number. 

Why is it that I can live so far below poverty level, yet I am able to have everything I need and much, much more?
We live in the U.S., that's why.  I am not living in poverty.  I was lucky enough to be born in the United States instead of a country where when you hear the word "poverty", you know that it means not having running water or even so much as a pair of shoes without holes. 

We have program after program to help people that are low income.  We have cash aid, foodstamps, the foodbank, WIC, HUD, other low income housing, the CARE program for PG&E, Medi-cal, SSI if you have any sort of disability, programs that will help with security deposits on rentals, the Mission for homeless to stay, free meal where you can sit down and eat something hot, the free store where you can get clothing, we even have Freecycle where you can get basically anything you could imagine..for free.

Our own little U.S. version of "poverty" is laughable. 
The fact that our society is all about having more, wanting better, trading in and up, having multiple, having extra and complaining about what we DO have is outrageous.

Shame on us.

My mom was watching a special with Sean Penn on Haiti and though I do not know the exact quote, he said something like 'seek out situations that humble you'.

That is exactly what minimalism is.  It is seeking out a living situation that humbles you.

For me, my idea on what I 'need' has changed greatly since I started this journey. 
I think about everything I touch in my home.  Last night I picked up a small pot and thought 'I do not need this, I can make do with the other one I have'. 

When you stop comparing yourself to people who have more (everyone in the U.S.!) and start focusing in on what you actually need, you realize how amazing you actually have it.   If more people would embrace the "I have too much" way of thinking rather than the "I need more and better" way of thinking, maybe we wouldn't have people starving while we are throwing away 25% or more of the food we buy. 

My goal, just as it was a year ago, is to only keep what I really need.  The thing is, my idea about what I need is ever-changing.  As I see more and more what real poverty looks like, I NEED a less.  My urge to purge things from my home has become almost obsessive.  The less I have, the more I feel like I am closer.  Closer to everything.  Life, I am present.  Closer to finding my calling in life.  Closer to my kids.  Closer to nature. 

My appreciation for life is 10x what it used to be.  I look at pretty much everything I have as a luxury which makes life so much more full. 

Looking around and seeing bare spots is success to me.  It is a visual reminder of the freedom I feel inside.  And the few things that I do have are a visual reminder of how lucky I am to have ANYTHING. 

I live in "poverty" and I am content. 

Oh, what a nice bag of expensive stuff!

Ugh.

I saw THIS link today on Perezhilton.  This sort of post is the reason why I look at sites like these.  My favorite posts are of celebrities buying groceries.  Its totally a guilty pleasure, but I love how you can spot the authentic people really fast when you see what they buy.  I saw a picture of Kim Kardashian buying about 700 bottles of Gatoraid.  She needed two carts.  Then I saw Jessica Alba looking at some iffy green beans to see if she was going to buy them.  Posts where you see an intimate part of someones life really shows you that we all have very basic needs.  We've all got to grocery shop.  Seeing people who are real and true to themselves makes the divide a lot less great. 

I like Jessica Alba.  It isn't like she is an annoying, obnoxious, skinny, mouthy celebrity who has an opinion on everything and tries to be smart (I'm talking about you, Megan Fox!).  I don't know her, obviously, but this post just made me sigh.  

I am not here to judge her, because in all honestly I don't even know what is in that bag.  It looks like there is food in there to me!  What really gets me is the comment below it.  'Now that's a good mom!'.  WHAT?

How does it make you a good mom to bring a large amount of toys to an office so your kids wont be bored?  When I saw this I thought about what my dad always says about having only a couple of toys when he was little.  Kids do not need 500 toys to be happy.  In my experience, if I were a small child going to my mother's office, I would much rather mimic what my mother was doing.  A few pieces of paper and a random object to use as a phone would suffice.  

It is so frustrating how everywhere you look you're told that things = happiness, things = love and things = good parenting.  Its all bullshit!  I bet her kids would rather go to a park or take a walk over playing with a bag of toys ANY DAY!   How can you possibly label a person as a good parent based on a bag of expensive shit?  We don't know, she could beat her children at home.  I obviously don't think this is the case, but expensive crap doesn't = good parenting and I wish more people would use more care when throwing statements like this out. 

I am far enough along in this process to be frightened by that bag of stuff, but just months ago I would have definitely felt inferior and like I wasn't giving my children all that they needed.  Even if only subconsciously.  That crap would still be in my head.  Now I can spot it and call bullshit.

Spending time with your children, telling them you love them, hugging them, letting them ruin a pair of pants out in mud puddles...'now that's a good mom!'.