Some observations about poverty and frugality

I was raised moderately middle class, but have been very close to the poverty line for most of my adult life. When I married my husband, he was also very poor. He is 100% disabled and has been since he was a teenager, and in the US you have to wait 2 years for SSDI to kick in after you apply.<br><br>We have no children. <br><br>When I worked a part time job I made about $1200 monthly. After that I became disabled as well, with chronic pain and migraines that prevented me from going to work most days. When my SSDI kicked in a little over a year ago, I began making $1100 monthly. After taxes we make $1700 monthly together. <br><br>I have noticed several key differences as you go from being on welfare, to being very very poor, to maybe making enough to cover all your basic expenses. <br><br>When I was extremely poor, I never had enough to eat. When you don't have enough to eat, you are very focused on food. I could barely keep my job because I was so hungry all the time and I was constantly preoccupied with getting food. <br><br>When my disability kicked in, we started receiving food stamps. But having some money also made a big difference for me. I'm not sure why, but it felt like I had more access to food. I had more energy to cook and I was able to grocery shop more regularly. I started cooking meals and taking leftovers for lunch instead of going hungry. I started spending more on fruits and veggies, even though they were a bit more expensive. <br><br>When you are broke you don't have the energy to do anything else but work and sleep. I have been doing yoga for many years but I went from doing it a few times a week to daily. It's a big difference. <br><br>You also don't have enough to take care of your basic needs. I was spending a lot of money on teeth whitening strips because I didn't have enough money to go to the dentist. I went to the dentist for the first time in over a year last week. <br><br>You do a lot of "buying things because you think you don't have enough money." I bought more fast food because it was cheaper than buying ingredients, but I thought that was what I had to do to survive. I bought a lot of unhealthy convenience foods. I now have a lot more time to prepare meals, and I enjoy eating leftover rice and lentil soup for lunch. <br><br>For me, I feel like I'm constantly growing out of my old behaviors and coping strategies now that I have enough money to live. It's funny, I didn't realize how much money I had until I didn't have it. One of the hardest things for me to grow out of was the feeling of scarcity. I thought that life was hard and nobody had enough. I think a lot of people in my situation have a hard time feeling that things are abundant. <br><br>I'm frugal because I lived without money for so long. I still save money, but I'm not as hard core as some people on here. Most of my tactical decisions about money are based on finding the cheapest option, but overall I don't want to live a super frugal lifestyle. <br><br>I also think a lot about how growing out of scarcity is a continuous process. I'm frugal because I lived without money, but I'm not as hard core as some people here. I think a lot about how I don't have time to cook 3 meals a day. I have other priorities and I don't want to spend all my time worrying about money. I think it's hard to find the right balance between frugality and adaptability. It's hard to know when it's time to grow out of a behavior, or when the behavior itself isn't serving you. <br><br>I don't know, maybe I'm just rambling. I've been thinking a lot about the way that poverty shapes your perspective. It feels like a lot of the things that I used to do or think I had to do were not very effective, and for me, having more resources has made life a lot better. I also don't know how common my situation is. I feel very lucky to have a partner and to not have to raise kids. <br><br>I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this or your experiences.