Bloglander

It can be easy for the well-off to dismiss the daily decisions and dilemmas faced by America's poor. That's why McKinney, an ad agency in Durham, North Carolina built this cool, interactive online game to put you in their shoes. Titled "Spent," the game lets you choose a career (temp, server, warehouse worker), then gives you a monthly budget and makes you decide where and how you're going to manage it. 

I landed a temp job because of my typing skills (the site even tested me) and saved a little money by skipping a flight to a loved one's funeral. I even opted out of health insurance and still made it out OK. But when I was presented with a choice between either paying my cell phone bill or paying for my car insurance, I chose the cell phone (gotta be able to communicate with my work, after all) and promptly got into a car accident, totally sinking my budget.

Try it for yourself. Will you cruise through with ease, or slip in the face of some very difficult choices?