There’s a whole book about this: # Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich.
Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered. Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, she worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing-home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She lived in trailer parks and crumbling residential motels. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly “unskilled,” that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.
Stayed at a complex with a laundry room that cost 1.75 for each wash or dry cycle. An apartment with a washer/dryer hookup (appliances not included, but could be rented for $120ish) costed an extra $50 each month. I’d have to go through more than 14 wash and dry cycles both each month for the hookups alone to be worth it.
I do think we should have a dedicated SovCit community, rather than this being the defacto one.
I also think the Australian government should be proactive about this, and put out adverts debunking the most common SovCit claims, rather than waiting for them to learn the hard way through the courts.
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