Totally Illogical Things Poor People Do That Keep Them in Poverty

I’ve been “poor” all my life. Honestly, when I got a job with a salary that was over $30K a year (this was fifteen years ago), I thought I hit the jackpot. And I was the breadwinner in a family of four!

I’ve always pinched pennies. I’ve always struggled to make ends meet. I’ve always been “on a budget.”

The thing is, I know it is some of the ingrained illogical habits I have that keep me there. It’s ridiculous stuff that makes no sense at all and I’ve worked really hard (with some success) to break these habits. Yes, I’m going to call them crazy habits, because they are. We do them simply because that’s probably the habits we learned from our parents.

It’s not that we don’t try to break these habits. Generations of poor practices are hard to break away from though.

If you’re poor, or grew up in poverty, you’ll nod your head when I tell you about these illogical habits that keep poor people in poverty.

#1 We buy shit we don’t need and can’t afford because being poor is embarrassing

Poor people have pride. We don’t like being poor. And many of us are a lot smarter than other people think, so being broke all the time is embarrassing. So, to try to avoid people thinking we are just dumb asses, we buy shit that we really don’t need to avoid looking poor.

It can be anything. Purses, shoes, electronics and so on.

How many poor people do you see wondering around with the latest iPhone? Ya, a lot. It’s because no matter how you’re dressed or how much food you’ve got in your belly, you feel a little less like a leper in society with an iPhone in your hand.

Sure, it’s illogical. I know that. Every other poor person with a nice phone knows that. But our egos don’t know that. All our egos know is that you don’t look like a loser and you don’t feel like as much of a loser if you have that one thing.

#2 Get the money, spend the money

Sadly, it is true. The faster we get the money, the faster we spend it. And it’s not always spent on bills or food.

I remember when I was growing up, and it was tax refund time (because poor people get refunds), it always meant that we could get something that we never could have asked for before. It might be new clothes (instead of hand-me-downs from a kind family friend or relative) or a toy.

Mom and Dad would get something, too. Usually something awesome that the whole family could enjoy. One year, they put the money towards a deck. Another year, we got a really nice television and a Betamax (yes, I am that old; if you don’t know what that is look it up!).

Why didn’t Mom and Dad put that money into savings? Well, we couldn’t enjoy savings could we? Not the way we would enjoy that TV! So, my family stayed poor.

I find myself doing the same thing. I got Medium bonuses this year. Did I put it on my credit cards or put it into a savings account? Nope. I bought a Macbook Air. SMH. I know it was dumb. I didn’t need it. Don’t get me wrong…I love this thing. But there were much smarter things I could have done with that money. And now it’s gone.

“Quick, let’s spend it before it’s all gone on food and bills!”

Walking down the street, I see this gorgeous ovenware set in a window. Red, my favorite color. And it’s on sale!

Do I need it? No. Absolutely not.

Do I find myself mentally figuring out if I have enough money in my accounts to buy it? Yes, I do.

Half an hour later, I’m loading it into the back seat of my car.

Why? Why did I buy it? Is it to impress my family when I cook for them? Oh, wait — I’m single and my kids don’t live with me. Is it for entertaining? Ya! Wait — I only have guests come over a couple times a year.

I just wanted it and buying it made me happy. For a short time.

When you’re poor, you take every opportunity to find happiness, even when it is short-lived, and it means that you can’t add to savings, you’re going to struggle to pay the bills before they are due, or you don’t have enough gas money for the rest of the month. It’s completely emotion based.

I KNOW this. Yet, only about a third of the time am I actually able to make myself NOT buy the shiny new thing.

#3 There’s no emergency fund

What if there is an emergency? What if someone has a toothache so bad that we absolutely have to go to the dentist? What if the car breaks down? What if the roof needs to be replaced? What if we get kicked out of our rental home?

We just don’t think about it. Really. The second a thought like that comes into our head, we push it away with a television show, food, or…buying something we don’t need.

It doesn’t make sense. We’re not stupid. We know we should have an emergency fund. But knowing that we don’t and thinking about creating one builds up shame and embarrassment and anxiety — and society teaches us to avoid all those things. Poor or not. Just bury it. Deep.

So, we do. If there is an emergency, we’ll figure it out somehow.

#4 Where did all the money go?

We really have no idea where the bulk of our income goes. If we have money to pay a bill, we pay it. If there’s no one demanding money at that moment, we spend the money on something else. What? Who knows — coffee, birthday presents, helping out a friend or a family member…it could be anything. We don’t know!

When you live in poverty, you don’t think about what you spent your money on because then you’d have to admit that you were spending foolishly. When you’re poor, you only focus on the moment, not the past.

I’m not saying that it’s a good idea. It’s not. It’s completely illogical. If you don’t have much money, you’d think that you would want to know where you spent every single cent. But to know that would be embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for myself most of the time.

#5 We don’t ask for help

The smart thing to do would be to ask for help managing our money. We’d enlist in the aid of a financially savvy friend or talk to someone that would be able to help us.

But to do that would mean to admit that we’re not doing a good job.

When you’re poor, life is about not letting anyone else know exactly how poor you are. When you’re poor, you hide your bad money decisions. When you live in poverty, you spend most of your money acting like you don’t live in poverty.

Now, a person who was thinking logically would think, “Ok, I know why I never have any money — I just need to create new habits.”

Unfortunately, admitting this is shameful. And hard. It means being honest with yourself and as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, being honest with is hard under the simplest circumstances.

These illogical habits are often passed down from generation to generation. We learn these money habits from a young age. They are hard to break away from. Really hard. Even when you’re smart.