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Comment by rabbite | Hacker News Reader

I'd tend to agree, many of the critical decisions highlighted make her life much harder than it has to be.

"Organic" labeled food is much more expensive than beans, rice, and basic chicken. She even decides to buy a $21 prime rib dinner from a restaurant! the article mentions that it would be good for 3 meals. $7 per meal is much larger than what it would cost to make that meal yourself from groceries.

I feel for her situation, but it's hard to ignore a lot of the bad decisions she makes.

Another place in the article mentions she got a $300 speeding ticket for driving 43 in a 35. That's a pretty bad mistake to make when you are living on fumes.

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On the one hand, the "organic" fetish is crazy -- you can eat pretty well at 300 cal/$, but not if you're buying premium vegetables. On the other hand, $300 for 8 over in a 35 is probably the evil result of her city not being able to raise taxes, and being forced to get revenue from more politically-appealing sources that usually shaft poor people. Parking fines, court fees, civil asset forfeiture, tickets for minor traffic violations, etc.

I'd say even driving at all is a mistake if one is trying to save money. Insurance is costly, gas is costly, and so are speeding tickets. I recommend to struggling friends to buy a used bicycle (some non-profits will give bicycles away for free) or to ride public transportation.

What do you imagine the public transportation options truly are in Darien Lake, New York?

She appears to have to park her camper at camp sites, bicycle use might or might not be practical (I suspect bringing groceries back from the store is functionally impossible on a bicycle).

Are you suggesting someone her age should bike dozens of miles per day to and from her job? And it's not like spending an extra hour a day on a bus is a great solution, either, possibly 2 hours on days someone needs to go somewhere other than work.

Maybe a recumbent bike. Maybe it's electric to help out. $2k vs $20k.

My first thought about that was, at 80, a simple fall could kill her.

Housing within bike distance of many jobs is also costly.

According to the article her friend died, leaving her a $20,000 windfall to buy a car.

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