Getting a job nowadays can be challenging. It’s hard to get everything you need right away without the right amount of money, whether it be groceries, paying your bills, etc.

There are some things that cost way more money than they should, and it’s frustrating. Inflation has made many things worse by basically making people pay more money for things.. But what about the basic necessities? Why should everything cost money? 

That being said, I’ve made a list of things that ideally should be free but aren’t.

1) Public Transportation

It shouldn’t be too much to ask for when people who are struggling just want to get from one place to another. Houses are definitely hard to come by, so why should a simple car or bus ride be any similar? It’s just adding more weight because you’re making people walk all the way to their destinations in the extreme cold or heat, or even when they have a lot of people with them or luggage on their shoulders.

2) Feminine Products

This one should be obvious. Unfortunately for women, we have to go through a tough week every single month because of biology. The cramps are bad enough, but what if someone with a heavy flow doesn’t have much in their pockets for products? What if you forgot to bring a tampon with you and you didn’t bring any money? It’s good to come prepared, but sometimes we are genuinely not able to get what we need immediately. Free tampons won’t hurt as much as the cramps.

3) Emergency Medical Care

Being poor and getting into a life-threatening accident can be one of the scariest things in the world. You need help but you aren’t able to get it easily simply because you don’t have enough money. Why should money matter in this situation? The injured person could get a fatal infection and you want them to pay up? What if their family isn’t able to help them? There’s no way it has to be a “sucks to suck” situation when a human life is on the line. Even when the injury looks small, it could fuel the fire and make things worse.

4) Proper Education

For some jobs, you need a good education. But if money isn’t on your side, then oops, I guess jobs will be harder to find. You can’t get much money from working at a fast food restaurant for the rest of your life. Having a good education will allow you to have more opportunities to not only strengthen your interests but also help you find a good career to be able to live comfortably. There’s no reason to make school harder for everyone by making it cost a bunch of unnecessary money. People need to pay their bills and feed themselves, so school shouldn’t have to take up most of those costs.

Life shouldn’t be without working hard to achieve your goals. But some of these goals mean flushing money down the toilet that could’ve been next month’s groceries or your electricity bill. We need to lessen the amount of money that’s being pulled away from people and try to give the less fortunate the help they need to survive.