[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by JohnPBailey

Actually closer to $1,500 miles from Boise, ID.

I figured any place that I can afford an apartment to myself roommate-free can't be any worse than Oklahoma already is.

Oklahoma also meets the requirement that I live at low altitude for my asthma and that it have at least a VA clinic in town. Lawton is about 1,100 feet above mean sea level. Bosie was too high at about 2,750. So, I have to live low but cheap but not so low I drown in a flood.

The poor have few options.

I don't know if I would not think Wichita, Kansas so crappy if I were to move there. Wichita has the nation's lowest median rent according to Google.
Kansas seems much more tornado-prone than Lawton, OK. OKC metro is a bad tornado trap too. Lawton, for all its ghetto-ness, does have a good record for deadly tornadoes' which are thankfully rather rare here.

I think the way people look, dress, talk and act nowadays makes America as a whole look slummish. It's not that Lawton is naturally horrible, the governments and the class of people that affect it is what mostly makes it a bum place to live.

The trouble with me is that I'm much too fancy a person for my own bank account. I was raised in white middle-class California communities around San Francisco from 1965 through the early 1980's. I was raised in NorCal counties what are now opulent Marin and San Mateo. Things in the SF bay weren't' so opponent in 1974, however. Children could get admitted to the Exploratorium in San Francisco's for just one dollar in 1974. This was before the Asian bankers came in and ran a monopoly on the state and its real estate. I'm old enough to know when CA was not sky-high for cost of living at all. Age 55.

Aside from the astronomical cost of living these days, horrible traffic jams and the Communistic anti-gun politics, the San Francisco metro area has the nicest natural qualities for living. It's what I know and grew up in. Deadly earthquakes are still quite rare in SF. Deadly tornadoes are much more common around Oklahoma City.

I love the SF area weather and the Climate Best By Government Test of the Peninsula.

Yeah compared to Marin and San Mateo, Lawton is a pretty slummish area. I agree it's bad to be poor, can't you change that? I was poor and drammatically changed my circumstance through hard work and educating myself.

[JohnPBailey]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

Yeah compared to Marin and San Mateo, Lawton is a pretty slummish area. I agree it's bad to be poor, can't you change that? I was poor and drammatically changed my circumstance through hard work and educating myself.

I'm totally and permanently disabled and can't work. No, I can't change that.

I'm old too:age 55.

[ck77]

I don't know if it's something you looked into, but you might find your budget would stretch more if you owned. Because you are a disabled veteran , many places allow for a property tax exemption, plus you can get a VA loan that will give you good interest rates and not require you to put anything down. Since you do not have to be close to a big city for work, you could find an small, inexpensive property in a more rural area probably in any southern state excluding Florida. You might like Texas although it is hot. We love out veterans here. Thank you for your service, and best of luck to you.

[swake]

Originally Posted by JohnPBailey

I'm totally and permanently disabled and can't work. No, I can't change that.

I'm old too:age 55.

What is your total disability? 55 isn't that old.

[ringwise]

Originally Posted by JohnPBailey

I just spent over $2,000 in my bank account just to move here.
I moved in from Boise, ID where "roommate-free" apartment rent is getting too damn expensive. I'm age 55, an American veteran, and get a little VA Pension for disabilities to to live on at $1,127/mo. I get $15 in SNAP also.

It was my anticipation that I would get a decent apartment cheap on account of this state's being a crappy place on the map weather-wise and most Americans don't want to live here in the Heartland States and that since apartments here are cheap, electricity and everything else on the local economy should also be cheap. My last PSO bill was over $94!! My fuel consumption for just 733 kwh WAS UNDER $27!! The bastards at PSO (Piece of Sh_t Operations) hit me for over $58 just for the lousy "SERVICE" charge.

I thought the whole Oklahoma cost of living would be on a sliding scale, cheap housing must mean cheap everything else. Housing is the single greatest monthly expense for renters.

I thought Mother Nature with the horrible weather of Tornado Alley would drive the price of everything down into the ground. I thought my only consolation to live in Oklahoma would be putting up with sh_tty weather.

I've had no trouble at all getting a driver license in a number of other states but the bastards at Public Safety in Comanche County won't issue me an Oakie license because I have a name different on my out-of-state license that what is on my birth certificate. I have notarized document attached to my BC that every other state will accept except Sooner. Oklahoma is Sooner State because the sooner people can afford to get out of here the better.

I can't afford to keep moving forever.

Yes, I totally underestimated OK before trucking my rented moving van in here.

Now, it's true that gasoline is quite "cheap" here now at only $2.15 a gallon.
But being a poor man not working, I don't have to drive much anyway and I get travel pay from the VA for medical appointments.

So, here's my compromise to get to be roommate-free as a poor American in Lawton, OK:

1. a slum-lord apartment complex, LaneStone at 4733 NW Motif Manor, in such a slummish neighborhood
2. crappy weather
3. crabby local taxi companies
4. fat-ass electric bills
5. rotten weather.... the threat of tornadoes, flash floods and nasty summer humidity
6. local streets and infrastructure that's totally broke-dick
7. a bunch of bible-thumping buffoons who vote Republican
8. crappy grocery shopping choices: an utter lack of a warehouse supermarket like WinCo

If you can think of a NICER place on the map of the United States of America for a poor person, age 55+, to get a clean-and-well-maintained 1-br apartment in a decent neighborhood for $420/month, please let me know.

A poor person is going to have it crappy everywhere.

The conspiracy for POOR Americans is not to find the "nicest place" he/she can afford, but the "least crappy" place he/she can afford.

I'm not living in Hooverville but a Trumpville.

Caviar taste on a McDonald's budget. Got it.

[Nik4me]

Originally Posted by JohnPBailey

I'm totally and permanently disabled and can't work. No, I can't change that.

I'm old too:age 55.

Try not to despair- have a goal and keep looking. Consider renting in a convenient trailer park in a town with VA clinic.
Check with authorities if you could qualify for section 8 housing and which state has more chances for you to get 1 bedroom sooner ( there are waiting lists for those) . They only charge 1/3 of your income and could be decent places.
Why not look somewhere - West Virginia, VA, Carolinas?
The map of VA clinics
https://www.va.gov/directory/guide/s...TE=WV&dnum=ALL
One sample of apartment in the town with VA center.
https://www.trulia.com/p/wv/beckley/...01--1134248389

Good luck, stay positive, plan your next move.
Meantime, call OK health services department or something like that and ask if you can qualify for an energy assistance- or call your electric company and ask them directly if they can waive some fees.
763 kWt is a lot for 1 person- do you have an electric heat? There are ways to save money on bills- if we know more details.
Your situation does not depend on who is a President: I would lay off a political and emotional language like “ crappy”, etc- you have not experienced any tornadoes yet, right?
You push people around you away with the language like that: some around you can’t even come up with $2000 to be able to move at all.
So not everything is horrible in your life- at least you have some money reliably coming in and a healthcare.
Again, try to stay positive- and see if YOU can help someone who is even in the worst shape. Makes one feel better and not bitter.
Thank you for your service.

[LeaveWI]

Originally Posted by grampaTom

Cry me a river.

Geritol making you edgy there, Gramps??

[LeaveWI]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

Yeah compared to Marin and San Mateo, Lawton is a pretty slummish area. I agree it's bad to be poor, can't you change that? I was poor and drammatically changed my circumstance [through hard work and educating myself.

Sage advice- If Captain Obvious needed a sidekick- you're just the man to see!!

Captain Obvious and Pfc Platitudes at your service!!

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

Yeah compared to Marin and San Mateo, Lawton is a pretty slummish area. I agree it's bad to be poor, can't you change that? I was poor and drammatically changed my circumstance through hard work and educating myself.

Disabled people fear losing their disability benefits, if they get a job. So they won't work unless they are paid in cash. That way it stays off any government record.

[bawac34618]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

The skyrocketing cost of car and home insurance cancels out some of the low cost of living in Oklahoma.


At least the poster isn't in an earthquake prone part of Oklahoma.

My own car insurance more than doubled when I moved back to Oklahoma. Rents are higher here as well than my previous city (which is a MUCH nicer, higher quality of life place to live than OKC). The low cost of living in OKC mostly applies to buying a home. You can buy a lot more house here for a lot less than in most places. If you aren't going to be a homeowner, the low cost of living doesn't really apply.