We fall into the category of high earners who choose to be frugal. We live in So. Cal., and when asked how we afford our hefty several thou-a month mortgage, the answer is: we’re frugal (AND we have high incomes. It’s both.)

That said, there are a lot of poor people in my town. And I do see issues with frugality in the poor.

Some are very good at making ends meet. These people tend to be the new immigrants. These are the people I see picking up cans for money, growing food, and shopping at yard sales. These are the people cutting lawns and cleaning houses.

And I think that’s one of the problems with the “urban” or “Suburban” poor these days – they are a generation (or two or three) removed from old-school frugality of gardening, canning, mending. I know that I have a single full-time job and I barely have the energy to water my tomatoes and carrots (really, garden is TINY). But my mom was tired too, but she just did it. Because that’s what you did.

Now we have whole generations of people who don’t know how to cook. They are used to eating meat. They don’t know how to replace a button or fix a hem. They don’t know how to knit. Their only entertainment is TV. They grew up eating out. And how do you retrain whole generations of people? Because many of the rural poor in my home town are much better off – they tend to have land, or family with land, where they can garden.

I do know some folks working 2 jobs, but they are the folks with the I-phones and the Blackberries, and the vacations.

As far as healthy eating goes, there are serious issues with many poor and the “food deserts” where they just can’t get healthy food without a car. Locally, Backyard Harvest goes around and will pick your fruit from your tree (if you invite them to), and redistribute to the food bank.

My own long-term plan is to turn the patch of dirt next to my street to a garden, with things like hard squashes (things that peel. People walk their dogs out there). And if the neighbors want to “help themselves”, have at it!

I guess part of the issue is the expectations. I’ve found with some of my younger relatives, they “expect” central air conditioning, nice clothing, and cable TV, because they had it growing up (though they didn’t when they were first born). They want to live as their parents did after much work.

And with coworkers and the medical care thing…there must have been a period of time where there was a lot of union work, government work, and the like, with “free” medical. I didn’t experience it (except in the military). But the attitude that I see is that medical should be “free”. I hear complaints about copays, about premiums, about this and that. I grew up with very little medical insurance, so we paid many things out of pocket. And it was EXPECTED that you would pay for your medical care, and that it was more important than having nice “stuff”.

I am a “poor college student” so I can literally be considered “poor.” Unlike my classmates, however, I still drive a dependable car, live in a decent apartment in a safe neighborhood, and have a savings account.
When I pack a lunch I am a “health nut,” when I ride the bus I am a “granola girl,” and when I wear thrifted clothes I am a “hipster.” I usually just go along with everyone’s labels instead of talking about my deliberate choices to live frugally.

Poverty is a very complicated issue because it is easy to be on the outside looking in. We think that if people are on food assistance they should not buy soda. If they are on welfare we think they should not have cable, for example. My coworkers will go out for drinks after work but then scramble to make rent at the end of the month.

I read a great book on this topic, “The Working Poor.” It made me realize how much “cultural capital” can make a difference for people. I may not have much money, but I am college-educated, I grew up with great role models of work ethic, and I have an extensive support system. That book was a great eye-opener and I try not to be too harsh on “poor” people anymore.

What matters is that we collectively share our tips and experiences to help teach others. That way, more people can put the ideas to use and also share in the benefits.

Dan
Casual Kitchen

For every family, what is important to them is personal and unique. In my case, my husband has family in Europe and Australia. Family is very important to us and we would like to maintain close ties with his relatives. But travel is expensive. So we reevaluated what was important to us.

Cable TV – boring. But we do like movies so we use Netflix. My husband likes to cook, so we make more food at home and can and freeze seasonal produce. I feel silly spending $30 on a steak my husband can replicate to better results at home. We make our own laundry soap.

All these things allow us to be able to travel and keep in touch with family.

I don’t think it’s traditional frugality we are seeing but re-evaluation of what we value and trying to achieve those goals.

One thing seems to be an issue in poverty is expectations. What your neighbors do and have sets the bar. It’s that and TV. It’s fairly subtle. “What’s your cell phone number?”, “There’s this great show on cable you should watch,” “Let’s go to McDonald’s after work.” And if you say, I don’t have, or I don’t do… you’re looked at as weird. So to say we are frugal by choice is fine and good, and shows the value we put on educated and reasoned choices, but in many cases, where it would really make an impact, it involves a totally alien mentality and bucking the mini-society you live in.

If I were an immigrant from a rural agrarian society and came to the US and lived among others from my country, I’d try to have a garden. (Like many of our ancestors did.) But if I always lived in a city where gardens were considered odd, I wouldn’t. The kind of change spoken about in the comments has to come from within the microsociety by someone “like one of us”. Government programs don’t really help people get out from under. Neighbor to neighbor things do. There’s hope, ideas, encouragement and accountability there.

Another aspect someone touched on is the idea of patience. So saving, sacrificing, or working your buns off towards a big goal is “not worth the trouble”. A girl once told me, “all my friend had babies by 15.” It goes without saying, she never considered abstinence, let alone college or living in a different place. Why postpone the inevitable?

Someone already said, poverty is a complicated issue.

The other thing is that a lot of people are inherently lazy. It takes effort to be frugal. More effort than just going out and buying whatever you want. It’s more effort to remodel stuff yourself, more effort to seek out the best prices, more effort to cook for yourself than just order a pizza.

I don’t know the solution to this problem, but agree that it seems the poorest groups are the least aware of how they can help themselves.