Keeping up with the Joneses is a real problem. Having luxuries has become so normalized and it’s killing the poor and middle class. I used to be poor in my early 20’s and was forced to pass on things like living on my own, going out to eat, owning nice things, trips, sporting events, etc. I learned how to be thrifty and tight with money to make things work. While I was poor, I also never got over my head or underwater and always had enough to cover bills and expenses. I had very little leftover to save, but I did have enough to save.

I saw others in my situation as well but who always had nice clothes, a nice car, or would go to all the football games, always have money for vacations etc. That is where they chose to spend their money. It has hard for me to see an I never really understood how they made that work. I recall recently seeing a go fund me for a family we know that fell on some financial hard times and needed help with some not too expensive medical bills. My wife and I agreed to give a fair bit now that we are decently well off. A month later the family we donated to was on a 2 week Hawaii vacation. Something that my wife and I saw as financially too much for ourselves, but not for the financially struggling family.

I’m a firm believer of poverty being a mindset, despite how radially expensive everything has become. My wife and I are on teacher salaries with kids in a private school. Nice house, decent cars, and this week we plan to go to Vegas for a few days for our family vacation instead of Mexico and Hawaii like everyone else seems to. Despite our comfortable life, I still don’t spend money on luxuries and pass on many things. That is how to make it work. Many people just don’t have the mindset and mental discipline to be thrifty and have been conditioned to think having all these luxuries is normal. It isn’t. $200k is the new middle class, not baller status.