My brother-in-law and his squeeze routinely buy several Tim Hortons X-Large Triple-Triples (that's three sugars, three creams) each day. Sometimes they'll do this on the way to the food bank. He's on disability for some vague psychiatric reason, she works one and sometimes two low wage jobs. I tried explaining to them that they might be pleasantly surprised at how much money they'd save by just making their own coffee at home. "IT'S NOT THE SAME!!" they both shouted at me almost in unison. Any Canadians on this board will know how substandard Timmy's coffee is. But apparently it's an essential nutrient for these two. Almost as essential as her cigarettes.
Same couple: Their oven or fridge had just given out (I forget which). Well-off neighbours were selling a slightly used (one year old) high end fridge & stove. Couple oooohed and ahhhed over said appliances, but said they couldn't afford them. Neighbour felt bad for them, and offered to drop the price from $1000 to $600 for both. Now they really wanted them, but still couldn't pay for them. Said neighbour took even more pity on them, and offered to let them pay $100 per month. SOLD! At the same time, the Ontario government was harmonizing its provincial sales tax with the federal sales tax, and because this meant the Ontario portion now applied to more goods and services than before, they were offering a one time tax credit of anywhere from $300 to more than $1000, depending on income. Said couple got a nice cheque for over $1000. So of course they ran straight over to the neighbour and paid him the $500 they still owed. Right? WRONG! "He said we can pay $100 per month." Instead they installed a big above ground swimming pool in their yard, and some nice lawn furniture to go with it. I have no idea what the neighbour thought when he drove by and saw that pool, but I can pretty much guarantee that he'll never waste his generosity on them again.
Same couple: The BiL's squeeze has an 18 year old daughter living at home. Said daughter had a chance to go to college for FREE (low income students can do that here in Ontario now). Mom talked her out of it, and convinced her to get a job at the low wage place she works instead. With her first cheque, daughter got herself a dog (dogs are cheap right?). Then, to seal the deal (i.e. to make sure daughter can never afford to leave home, so needy insecure mother never has to spend a day without her), mother convinced her daughter to buy a brand new car. I found out about the car because she posted it on Facebook, and thanked her uncle profusely for "making this happen". At first I thought the uncle (who is the mother's brother, and apparently wealthy) had bought it for her, but turns out he just cosigned. So, mother has basically ensured that her daughter remains a poor, uneducated, indebted bumpkin her entire life, unable to afford even to move out of the house. And this task has been wrapped up before the daughter's 19th birthday. Quite brilliant really. I suppose there is some practicality in the car. It's a little hatchback, so they'll have room to load more stuff from the food bank.