Difference Between Middle Class and Poverty
The middle class has financial problems, but if you’ve never been truly poor, there are some things you might not understand about how this affects your life. So let people who have experienced this tell you.
We live in a strange time when everyone wants to be rich, but no one wants to admit it. Middle-class people aren’t actually rich either, but they experience a level of comfort and accessibility in the world that doesn’t exist for the poor. I write this as someone who is now pretty close to the middle class and who was poor as a child and I was in my twenties. When it comes to money that used to torment me, I no longer think about many things. And if I had never been through it, I would not even have known.
We all need to know because knowledge promotes compassion. Holly Wood, or @girlziplocked, is a writer with a large following on both Medium and Twitter; she tweeted asking, “What’s so special about poverty that middle-class people don’t understand?”
The whole thread is worth reading, but here are great responses.
Budgeting has its limits
It is easy to blame people for being terrible budget workers, but the lack of income cannot be resolved through financial planning. If you are underpaid or still only receive the minimum wage, which does not reflect the real cost of living, there is a lot of extra work you can do to make up for this disparity.
Budgeting is a useful tool, but only when you have a budget. And lack of money can make it difficult to get another job due to the fact that you cannot afford a uniform, spend time training, or look good in an interview. I used to be forced to pay to print my resume because I didn’t have my own printer.
It’s expensive to be poor
Many people shared the opinion that being poor was expensive. There are so many ways to avoid additional costs – for example, you cannot afford the regular maintenance of your home and health that will prevent larger and more costly disasters.
An example is that my mother receives SSI as a person with a disability and is charged a fee every time she uses her benefit card. For those who receive very little money each month, these costs add up quickly and can make a huge difference. Another option is the savings you are missing out on by not being able to invest in things like bulk buying:
Having very little money means living from moment to moment, which is not profitable. But you have no choice.
Everything you do is judged
Was it a tough week? Do you want to relax, have a beer or smoke? How about casual sex? Quite normal human behavior, but when you are poor, it is considered a sign of your moral failure. Of course you are poor! You went to Burger King on Saturday!
The urge to control the poor in ways that we don’t track people with money probably comes from fear; By arguing that other people make the wrong choice, we distance ourselves from the injustice of poverty – and from the possibility of experiencing it one day.
It isolates
Let’s say you are behaving “well” and are not going to a party or spending money on something remotely enjoyable. This means that you cannot spend time with your friends. And I know you think you can still hang out in someone’s house and bring something. But what if you can’t afford the trip? Or even gourmet food? Some are really worried about this; Plus, most social interactions can’t be so carefully tailored to your needs.
It takes time
Take public transportation, keep up with welfare bureaucracy, rig millions of jobs, and do side jobs. It takes your time and effort. You cannot drop off your laundry, buy a cooked dinner for the whole family, or take a day off to relax. Your time is one of your few assets, and the world forces you to pay and pay off with it.
Psychological loss
As I said, I’m in pretty good shape right now, but there are still some habits that I haven’t gotten rid of. Checking my bank account makes me panic even when I know I have money in it; I expect my debit card to be declined every time I use it. The daily stress of living without money is hard to explain, but it destroys relationships, raises levels of anxiety, and causes all sorts of mental and physical health problems:
Everyone has their own problems, and many of them are invisible to people who have not experienced them. Take what you take for granted, not just to feel grateful, but to appreciate where other people are coming from before judging them.