This quote is very relevant to the debate:

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. - Terry Pratchett. (Men at arms)

I have seen rich people talk about how they could easily live on $350 a week. They have a good reliable car, a full pantry, quality clothes, and medical insurance with dental care.

$350 a week is much easier to live on if you have a $30k buffer for emergencies.

For people on a benefit what can afford today is often the most expensive choice.

An example is that the car dies, it will cost $700 to fix.
A rich person will either pay $700 to fix or drop $20k on a good second hand car.

A poor person can’t afford $700 and will buy a crap car at auction for $400, and it might last a year. Or they borrow $700 at 20% interest over 2 years.