I'm w/rebwa. It sucks, but I think minimum wage is the problem.

Also - I posted something about living out of your car in around the campfire in the last couple weeks, check it out, it tackles the cost of housing and internet access head on.

Re phones and communication - Google Voice. If you had two hundreds bucks to spend on an Ipod Touch or you already own a laptop you could have a phone with unlimited calls and text messages to any number in the united states for free WHEREVER THERE IS WIFI. That stuff in caps is the catch. So yeah, you have to park your car outside a macdonals, library, or other place to use your free phone, but it is free.

If you don't have the money to invest in a laptop, post an add on craiglist, I bet you get get a free old one quickly. Put Ubuntu on it, it has everything you need in terms of software to get google voice up and running. Set it all up from a free computer at a library.

I'm at a library using free internet as I type by the way! Being poor is definitely hard, but one might leverage the free time of having limited employment to overcome some of the difficulties.