REALLY don't want any insulting and judgemental posts on this thread about how some people are just irresponsible. Am interested in attributes of upbringings and personal traits, that sort of thing. Couldn't decide whether to ask on AskPsychology or here.
There seem to be two broad groups of people on this count: 1) People who have never had much money, tend to spend most of it as they get it, don't save except maybe for specific items, and who feel better not getting the item that isn't the cheapest, not buying second-hand etc, so they feel less poor. They may say they can't afford something which seems more essential to an outsider, whereas they prioritised a more expensive item that they value but the outsider doesn't.
2) Those who have also usually been poor and say that of course they know how to manage with very little because that's all they've been used to/they grew up with it, and although they may have a handful of specific more expensive items they like and have thought about for a long time before purchasing, they often go for cheapest options or simply not buying things.
Wondering if a lot of this group perhaps had more socially and psychologically secure upbringings, or parents who were also very frugal.
Basically 1's outlook is "I'm poor, of course I don't save", 2's "I'm poor /grew up poor, of course I save money wherever I can". Silos, basically.
(I am a middle class person who fell on hard times due to ill-health, used to be an overspender but learned to be frugal about inessentials after cutting contact with a family member whom I didn't get on with and was shielding myself from with "stuff". Frugality is however a strong trait on one side of my family whom I've never known very well, and I feel I have become more like them. I have friends mostly in group (1) above whom I've known since before I became frugal. They are generally too stressed to make different decisions much of the time. Group 2 people I mostly see posting online. The one or two I've known personally simply seemed uninterested in most stuff that can be bought - they didn't have to try hard not to spend.)
November 26, 2017 at 10:24AM
