With jobs still few and far between—full-time jobs, that is, with decent salaries and benefits, as opposed to part-time jobs that lack either—people are struggling to save enough for retirement and keep up with their bills while still managing to find enough work to pay their bills.

Spent will give you a taste of what it's like to try to get by "on about $300 per week—the weekly income of those earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour but at the low-end in many states," the blog says.

The blog continued, "The game conveys the very real, sometimes impossible, financial choices faced by working men and women who use the organization's food pantry and clothing closet," adding that the game was updated "to incorporate both the monthly premiums and more reasonably priced health care offered by the Affordable Care Act."

But that doesn't mean it's easy to be a member of the working poor.

Players begin the game unemployed (one of the 14,000,000 Americans in that position, the game points out), having lost their house and run through their savings with just a $1,000 balance left—and the need to find a job. "Can you make it through the month?" the game asks, and the countdown begins.

They're given three job choices—second shift at a warehouse at $9/hour, able to lift 20 pounds and having reliable transportation; server at a casual restaurant at $2.13/hour plus tips, "hours vary"; and office temp at $9/hour, "hours vary."

The warehouse and temp jobs pay an average weekly pay of only $306 (assuming hours don't vary) and the server job $262. For that last, however, players must buy their own uniforms, which take a $40 chunk out of the $1,000 savings immediately.

But no matter which job a player picks, the deck is stacked against him or her, with every click of the mouse bringing a dilemma (your kid is asked to a birthday party but must bring a gift; do you keep him home, buy the gift, or send him without one?) or a problem (your car slides off the road and into another car, damaging it to the tune of $550; do you pay for the damage or drive away?).

And that's after you have to find a place to live (which takes nearly all of that last $1,000).

The first time through, this player lasted 9 days before the money ran out, and that was without any real catastrophes, except for the landlord who raised the rent $150 with no notice—a catastrophe indeed.

The second time there was a car accident, necessitating expensive repairs, and dental problems that Just Didn't Get Fixed, as well as a "friend who needs a place to stay" and offers to pay $200 to crash on the couch. Because the "friend" turns out to cause problems, the player has the option to ask the landlord to evict him. But the landlord refuses—then raises the rent $100 because the player has a roommate.

The third time, approached by a union organizer, the player gets fired for talking to them.

It's truly depressing to play this game, trying to buy enough food at the grocery store to last till the next paycheck and dealing with all the catastrophes it throws the player's way (just as life does) while seeing how no matter which choice is made, things just don't work out well.

But it's something everyone should try, particularly in an uncertain economy; it will make you think twice about every expenditure and every choice, particularly with retirement in mind—especially since so many studies warn that in retirement we'll likely have to cut back our standard of living.

Might as well start now, or else change how we save for retirement.