Thanks. I asked because I used to think people I knew were buying stupid shit, and at the same time a lot of my friends made fun of me for being a cheapskate.

Thanks. I asked because I used to think people I knew were buying stupid shit, and at the same time a lot of my friends made fun of me for being a cheapskate. When I was younger I managed to have a very low income for a while, but perhaps still (kind of) middle class sensibilities. I had college educated hippie parents, and was generally expected to succeed in some loose sense. While I was wondering around on my own for several years getting fired from minimum wage jobs and such, I was sometimes surprised by how the people around me had different expectations and priorities then I did, and I think they were surprised by mine. (Actually, the interest in even talking about shit like this was one of those things that most people I knew mostly didn’t expect or share.) I was surprised when people I knew would settle for what I thought were bad deals they couldn’t afford like rentals, convenience food, pawn, or getting out of a jam with other expensive credit services. So my friends made fun of me, and my girlfriend resented me because I wouldn’t buy a reasonable car, or a TV or cable, or a phone, for repairing things other people cast off, digging stuff out of the trash, and so on. I felt like there was a real stigma attached to living within my pathetic means. Meanwhile, people seemed more worried about feeling or looking poor then actually being poor. It seemed like people with kids didn’t want them experience deprivation or stigma, and they especially tended to over-reach. In retrospect, I think I expected upward mobility, at least eventually, but the people around me didn’t.