It's easy to imagine that being poor just means you have to forgo luxury. If you have $100/month after rent, saving up doesn't mean forgoing luxury, it means fo

It's easy to imagine that being poor just means you have to forgo luxury. If you have $100/month after rent, saving up doesn't mean forgoing luxury, it means forgoing food. If you provide for a family, it means forgoing food for your children. And then what are you saving for? Not to rent a car or buy one with a loan, because you can't afford the payments. So you save up until you have enough to buy a car outright. Maybe the cost of fuel won't outweigh the savings you can now make in getting to cheaper out-of-town stores[1]. And how long does that take? A $1k second-hand car will require 10 months without food, and something that cheap is probably expensive to run. Maybe you're saving to move house. Of course you could move somewhere out-of-town. Now you have cheap shopping. But can you find work there? Or, if you keep your old job, how are you getting there? And, again, how long do you survive on air before you've saved enough to move house? [1] Cheaper because out-of-town stores have to compete for middle-class shoppers who can afford to travel further to shop.