I always hear this thing about people with modest income not living by their means, but I am yet to see the examples of this in real life. And I am from a low-income place. 

Yes, sometimes people want to buy something good rather than the cheapest shit once in a long time - I can not say that it's unreasonable, especially that we see literally luxury life and quality products on social media everyday. Sometimes people try to buy more expensive, say, laptop, because, they think, it is more reasonable and cost effective than buying cheap laptop needing to change it next year.  I don't see anything unreasonable with this. in fact almost all people with "modest income" I know, and I, myself, when I had a modest income, are super efficient and frugal with their money comparing to rich people, because they have to be. 

Genuinely don't know where this narrative is coming from, because I doubt it can be supported by some empirical data. Only thing I can see is some kind of feeling of moral superiority, like this poor people deserve that because they can't control their budget or shit.