5 Reasons You Are Not Poor In 2007
I got a call today from someone I had lent a few thousand dollars in 2003. That person had not contacted me for a while, so it was interesting for her to call me today and say something along the lines of “I’m sorry we haven’t talked for a while. I wanted to say thank you so much for helping me in the past, and I wanted to start paying you back starting from next year in small payments, if that’s ok.” Of course, that was ok for me since I know her a little bit, and I know she has good intentions. I think that is a nice thing to do: to call me and update me out of the blue.
Her phone call got me thinking today: How many people consider themselves poor overall? The person above was not poor but had a real emergency where she needed to borrow money to pay her ex-husband for her child’s custody. But, how can you realize whether or not you really are poor, even if you do not want to ask someone else for money?
In order to help people realize whether or not they are poor, I have created here a list of 5 reasons, or things, that probably hint that you are not a poor person in the year 2007. Some points are very specific, while others are general.
To make sure this list is fair for everyone, I will also list at least one exception to the rule, where the reason listed may not apply to some specific person.
5 Reasons You Are Not Poor In 2007
- You own an iPod, or something similar.
Think of the iPod as a luxury. Majority of the world cannot afford to buy food once a day, yet you have an iPod. You could have gotten the iPod as a gift from someone, or you could have bought it yourself. Now, how does this make sure that you are not poor? If you ask someone to lend you $100, while your iPod can be sold for $70, it means you want someone else to be inconvenienced by them giving you their money, while you do not want to give up listening to your iPod. Similarly, if you have something along the same lines, like a new laptop, and cannot part with it, you may not be poor. You can easily sell a laptop and get some money for it.
Exceptions: Your job may depend on the laptop, or in some very rare cases, the iPod. Someone close to you may have given you the iPod and thus you cannot sell it, or else they will be greatly offended. Your iPod may probably be so old that you can only get $5 from it while you do not have money to pay the rent, which costs a couple of thousand dollars, etc. Of course, I can also say that if you can get $5 from your iPod, it means you are doing your best to make sure you utilize every resource possible before feeling that you are helpless and poor.
- You can afford to buy a home or pay rent
Home is another important factor that people and society have worked together to create. If you can afford to buy a home or pay rent for your current place of living, you are most probably not poor. Some ways to save money could be to cut off on living expenses: using less electricity, finding a cheaper place, selling off the home, renting a room to someone, etc.
Exceptions: Even if you find a cheaper place, you may still not have the money you need. You may also already have the cheapest place anyone could get, unless you had a gun to force the landlord into lowering your rent. However, a gun usually costs money, so a really poor person may not be able to afford that. Unless, however, you use a knife to get a gun, but a knife costs too. Unless you use…..ok, never mind.
- You can buy large combo meals from fast food places every day
Food prices are a good way to measure the performance of an economy, and food is also a good way to measure the strength of your bank account, if you have one. If you can buy at least 2 large combo meals at McDonald’s or Carls. Jr.s every day, you are probably not poor. Why? You can buy cheaper stuff at grocery stores and cook things yourself for weeks, saving more than half the money you spend in a month on fast food.
Exceptions: You don’t know how to cook, you do not have a kitchen, you get gift cards or coupons for the fast food purchase, etc.
- You can buy the things you want
The things you need are usually different than the things you want. Wanting to eat food daily is something you need. Wanting to buy coffee and chocolate everyday, in addition to other kinds of food, can be something you want. If you can afford to buy things that can be avoided on a regular basis, chances are you are not poor. Paying for a blog, host, design and extra features for your site just for a hobby also means that you are probably not poor since you can afford such a thing.
I knew this guy once who would drink coffee 3 times a day, finish a pack of premium cigarettes every day, buy food supplies and also eat at fast food places multiple times a day. On top of that, he would ask from time to time to lend him something so he could pay his rent. I calculated his expenses with him and in front of him, and figured that he was spending around $250 for the things I just listed above. How much did he want me to lend him? Around $100 or so. I told him about this, and he stopped being friendly after that.
Exceptions: You are addicted to smoking. By addicted, I do not mean that if you do not smoke you feel weird. No, feeling weird for not smoking is an excuse for people who want a lame excuse to keep spending money. By addicted, I mean if you stop smoking or drinking you feel extreme depression, or you get seizures and have to go to the hospital, etc. Also, without things like coffee, you may actually get literal headaches throughout the day resulting in you getting admitted to the hospital. Also, things like blog may maintain your sanity by allowing you to express yourself, and without that, you would be poor and insane, though some can say that such a reason is simply an excuse to spend on your blog while you do not have enough money for offline things.
Another important exception to this rule is if you are Bes: Bes needs and wants chocolate every single day; no exception to this rule. Period. Bes used to give packs of chocolate to homeless people before someone threw it back at Bes and yelled “I want some change! What the HELL am I gonna do with that?” Bes apologized and moved on, and ever since, Bes has been thinking of never giving away any chocolate, but keeping it in the fridge to devour while writing posts at night.
- You can buy things for others
If you can buy things for others, you are most probably the opposite of poor. You may be rich. There is nothing wrong with buying a $500 watch for your boy/girlfriend, but there is something wrong with buying a $500 watch to impress someone and asking someone else to lend you $200 for your car payment at the same time.
Exceptions: You feel your job or some relationship depends on you buying something for others so much, that you do not even have enough money for some personal things, like your own rent, enough food, etc. Sure, such an exception means you do not know how to have a good relationship and are in touch with the wrong people, but it also means that you may be poor and cannot help it. Another exception may be that you are raising a child or someone, and you want that child or anyone depending on your financially to be really happy, and thus you are sacrificing your own financial happiness.
I hope this list helps you realize whether or not you are really poor. Also, if you want to borrow money from someone, you may think twice before asking someone to part with their money, while you do not part with yours.
Can you think of more things to add to this list?
A good next topic could be “5 situations in which you wish you were poor.” 
Thanks for reading.
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( June 20th, 2007 at 3:26 am )
Ooo I have a great comment-reply if you write “5 reasons you wish you were poor”.
I agree with most of your points, well all of them actually. I think it’s a matter of being satisfied… my family is far from rich but we’re satisfied and don’t have too many wants, so we don’t need all that extra money.
I’ve always been called rich, but other people just don’t understand… the money I have is money I save. I don’t have any more than others, they don’t understand that they are rich in materialistic items, whereas I haven’t bought any of those and so I still have the money… if that makes sense. Lol.
As for “You can afford housing/rent”, I think that’s becoming a big problem where I live. While the average family earns enough income to survive in the hypothetical world (housing, food, education, medical etc)… the real situation right now is that no-one can afford houses. I can easily say 1/3 of the houses have renovated their house or cleaned out their garages and spare rooms to lease. Everyone’s leasing to provide their own children enough money for tertiary education or to pay off the house.
So in that case… are they poor or not? Or the people renting homes? They aren’t -truly- poor because they have enough to eat and have shelter, but year by year it’s more of a struggle as commodity prices keep increasing at a high rate than wages.
Eeee well. I think people need to appreciate the things they have and not what they do not have. I think that’s a very big reason why people think they are poor when they really are not.
( June 20th, 2007 at 3:35 am )
You can buy large combo meals from fast food places every day — I’m so guilty of this…
You can afford to buy a home or pay rent — we already own one. =)
yey, I can now say that I’m not poor!
( June 20th, 2007 at 8:57 am )
Hmm… I think I may know where you got this idea from… Hahah…
Well, from the way you put it, I guess I’m not poor???
( June 20th, 2007 at 2:20 pm )
Jess, thanks for the wonderful comment.
I am going to write that post soon, hopefully. 
That is a good thing to consider: “being satisfied.” Many people think that being poor is an evil thing to be, or that being poor beings someone is less important than someone who is rich. Of course, such mentalities around from rich folks who wish to maintain a kind of an order, even if they are only a little bit richer than someone else, to probably feel superior to others.
Yes, it is very important to realize that some people only have enough and cannot afford more, or that they sacrifice a lot in order to save.
“You have an iPod, you must be rich.” Sure, that is easy to say and probably easy to argue too, but such an argument should also consider, if it intends to be based on reason and be logical, fair and considerate to others, things like other responsibilities of a person, other expenditure, the different related and unrelated financial circumstances, etc.
Yes, true, many people who already have houses cannot afford a new one, and people who do not have one probably cannot either, most of them, because of the real state prices, whether or not they are rich or poor in other areas. Again, I think you bring up an important point where other things, like where some money could be going, should be considered. For example, a person may have a house, car, daily food, ticket passes to go see whales regularly at the sea aquarium, things they need and still be in debt for thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars because of children’s education, house payments, insurance, etc.
So you bring up the main point that should and must be kept in mind, probably, when wondering whether or not one is poor: other financial and non-financial obligations. There are, realistically, poor people, people who can afford the most basic needs but as time passes they are losing more and more, people who have enough and can maintain it, and so on and so on. Very interesting Jess! I was thinking of a few things, but I didn’t guess someone would point out the very complexity of having any kind of a scale to determine who’s poor and who’s not poor.
Casablanca Travel, heh, I also bought pizzas yesterday, and Jack in the Box before that.
Congrats on owning a home, by the way. Heh, yes, chances are you are not poor.
A question though: do you think one should look at the “poor factor” by comparing with others, by comparing it with the society, or by comparing it with no one and the individual person in question themself and their needs/wants?
SP, hmmm, where do you think I got this idea from?
Hmmm, it depends. By the poor scale in this article, I meant the real, realistic poor where one has to do a lot of things, or things like borrow money, in order to pay for the most basic stuff. What do you think? :O
( June 20th, 2007 at 9:13 pm )
Yes, you’re right. I know we have debt and that is a very distressing thing but on the other hand we also have food to eat and a roof over our heads, etc. The thing that gets me is the government’s (US) description of the “poverty line.” If I remember correctly, a few years ago it was around $30k a year for the US. But it’s amazing what you can do with $30k in most areas of the US if you really try.
While we do spend money on a lot of unneeded things, we also realize that bills come before all that. It irks me to no end with some people that I know that are having collections after them for some things like school loans and credit cards yet the first thing done with paychecks is to buy new DVDs or clothes, etc., rather than pay on bills… or even to buy groceries!
But you are right about the whole gift thing. I mean, just because you have something like an iPod doesn’t mean you can afford one. I have plenty of DVDs I could sell. I don’t really enjoy them and never watch them, so that’s the logical solution, right? Unfortunately for my pocketbook, however, they are gifts from family who would be incredibly hurt if they found out I’d sold their Christmas present.
And now I’m rambling…
( June 21st, 2007 at 7:28 pm )
Valerie, thanks for sharing. Yes, you’re also right that even when someone has one of these things, there can be other circumstances that may result in someone not being in a “filthy rich” or even “wow so rich” state.
The bills do indeed take away most for many people, and even if someone can afford in iPod, home and other things, there may not be enough for other necessary things, or for even other bills.
No, you’re not rambling; this is really good, as it shows the exceptions and other things in detail.
( June 28th, 2007 at 10:39 pm )
Maybe I’m the opposite of rich coz i’ve had a pager, 5 cellphones, and 2 palm that are “gifts” from friends. And really poor coz someone is offering me a Dupod next week ;D
( June 29th, 2007 at 6:32 pm )
Thanks for the comment aaa, I really appreciate it. Wow, is there something you are doing to get all those gifts from friends, besides being a good friend probably? Are you keeping everything, or having a business selling everything off?
Hmmm, so if one has something that is a gift, we have to wonder if that person is rich or not; good hint in the beginning part of your comment.
( April 24th, 2008 at 9:54 pm )
[...] to know a bit more as to what does and does not qualify as being poor, my article titled “5 Reasons You Are Not Poor In 2007” may help. I will be updating my poor guide to a 2008 definition very [...]
( July 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm )
I initially felt I didn’t need to look at the list - I’m broke because I know I am.
However, I did run through the list and though only two applied, it did make me reconsider how I view my position, my options and how fortunate I am to be in a position to do something about it. I might be broke, but I have a roof over my head and something to eat tomorrow. I can get up now and make myself a cup of coffee if I choose because I have the electricity and the kettle to do so.
Thank you for helping me look at the things I have rather than what I do not have,
take care…