It’s hard for people that have never had money to understand sometimes. I grew up lower middle class and still struggled with money management when I left home. I had friends who had much less than me and still get themselves stuck in cycles of poverty. Over extending themselves, getting cars on loan, getting payday loans for Christmas, getting sudden a windfall and blowing it all immediately on new TVs, concerts, etc. And constantly being unable to make ends meet. I get it completely. Living in poverty sucks and sometimes you need to feel like you aren’t broke. It is hard to convince some people that it isn’t the sticker price or the monthly payments. It’s the ongoing and compounding costs, and the unexpected costs you didn’t save for that will bite you and leave you even more broke than you started.

After I couldn’t afford to pay for tuitiom, books, and living expenses my first attempt at college, I had to move back in with my mom for a bit (Like I said, I struggled with money). While there, I had a friend who was… well he was very sweet, but dumb as hell. (The stories I could tell). He had grown up poor, and he was a particularly egregious example of this misunderstanding. He once told me that he was saving up to move out of his parent’s house. Not saving up for the security deposit, or starter furniture and dishes. For rent. He was trying to save a year’s worth of rent to coast on while he saved up for the next year’s rent. He did not make enough money in a month to cover said rent. I really tried to make him understand that that is not how this works. I moved away before he had “saved enough” so I don’t know whatever happened with that. I hope he’s doing alright now.