This would be more a more convincing exercise if it didn't force me to make a choice between paying either the gas or electric bill when I could afford to pay both (and then forcing me to incur an even larger fee to get it turned back on), and made me pay to fix the leak in my rental apartment's sink. It would also have been nice to know that I've got a sick mom, a kid, and a pet at the beginning of the month, rather than springing them on me at seemingly random points. I found out on day 17 that I had a dog -- that's one hungry dog. I also held a yardsale with the explicit purpose of getting rid of stuff since I didn't have enough room for it all in my rental, and rather than feel good about that, it made me feel bad for only making $150 from the yard sale.

I mean, it was rough, and I had to tell my kid no a bunch of times and we aren't eating all that great (and I had to avoid playing the lottery and miss a friend's wedding). It was interesting, and reminded me of Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" show.

I hear you. I feel like they could've avoided some of those situations and still conveyed the situations poorer people might find themselves in regardless of which choices they made in life.