Being poor is expensive

Lately I read something on Reddit which, I must be honest, was a bit triggering to me. I sometimes get triggered when it comes to people discussing poverty, wether that's in real or online. I must say, I've really improved in the past few years and have managed to deal with it better, but sometimes suddenly there's this small thing that can really be triggering. So someone said that being poor is expensive. And of course there were many people disagreeing with that person, claiming that poor people actually are expensive themselves 🙄 (for society). Even though they're just random people online and I should really care about what such people have to say, it did make me angry. Because this is what I've been hearing for years now and it's so wrong. 

Whenever someone becomes poor it's almost like they've become society's property- you're poor so everyone must have an opinion about you. And you bet they're going to mention every single thing you're doing wrong. Even if you're being a "good poor person", you'll get criticized anyway because why being poor in the first place? (As if that's our own fault...) Fortunately, we've been able to work ourselves out of poverty, living very different lives now- not just our financial situation but also having emigrated to another country. It's still nice and valuable to reminisce every so often. 

And I fully agree with the statement of it being expensive to be poor. Having been there and done that, there's so many things that cost a lot more money to us than it did to rich/middle class people. 

- You can't afford to get a driver's license, so you rely on public transportation. Not only is public transportation not very reliable, it's also much more expensive than it is to drive a car. Fortunately, we were able to cycle, even though we only could afford a crappy bike instead of a nice one, which also cost us more money as it needed repair more often. 

- You're living in social housing (similar to council estate in the UK), which usually aren't of great quality- it's usually old houses, not insulated that good, etc. So you end up having a higher gas/electricity bill than those people that can afford to live in nicer, better houses. 

- Because you don't have a car, you can't always just go to the cheapest grocery store (such as Aldi or Lidl). We were fortunate to live in a smaller town so we could get everywhere with our bicycle, but for people living in bigger cities with only the more expensive grocery store nearby, there are less options. Fortunately, at least there isn't really such a thing like food deserts in the Netherlands. However, where we lived there was no such thing as food delivery at the time, we lived in a kind of remote area and supermarkets back then only delivered in bigger cities. Doing groceries by bicycle wasn't necessarily easy but we did figure out the best way to do it. We bought a bicycle carrier (which officially is meant to transport small children) so we could carry a bit more at a time, and at least take advantage if there were items being sold at a good price. Fortunately, we were able to buy ours second hand, which saved a lot of money. 

- When you're poor/low income, you can only afford to pay the basic, mandatory health insurance. There's no room financially to pay for additional health insurance that covers things like dental care, glasses, physical therapy, dietitians etc. We ended up paying for them ourselves- I did have to quit going to the dietitian as it became more expensive. I never really told her the real reason because I was a bit ashamed. 

- Which brings me to another point: social stigma. This doesn't necessarily always cost money, but ultimately, you're paying the price when it comes to mental health. For me personally, I didn't find it very difficult to discuss our situation with people I knew (and trusted); most of my relatives and friends knew we didn't have a lot of money. But I did find it more difficult when it came to other people that I didn't really know that well. What if they'd think I was a bad mum and call CPS? I think those thought are on almost every poor parents minds in a lot of countries. Fortunately, here in Tunisia, being poor isn't considered a failure or a crime, and poor people aren't treated like they've done something wrong or that they're bad parents, but in most of Europe, that really is the attitude towards poor people.                        In some cases, though, being poor and especially being ashamed of it can actually cost money. People are ashamed and because they don't want their poverty to be apparent, they'll end up buying things with money they don't have, adding more debts and ending up in even more problems. Being poor is mostly perceived as being dumb, lazy and just taking advantage of more well to do people. And that's really hard for low income people that try to do the best they can. Eventually that really backfires on ones health, both mentally and physically. Stress can cause a lot of health issues. 

- Speaking of debts: a relatively "small" debt (unpaid phone bill for example) can end up in outrageously high amounts of money. While poor people definitely aren't always in debt, there are a lot of poor people that are. And all those debts add up. Until you're just drowning in debts... It's really scary, but unfortunately the reality for many people. 

- Poor people usually can't afford to eat as well as richer people. Unfortunately, in many countries at least, ultra processed foods are more expensive than produce, healthy fats and whole grain products. While it might seem a cheaper option to buy cheap processed foods, it usually comes at a price for one's health. Yes, I know there are ways to still eat healthy on a very restricted budget, but generally speaking, not everyone has the time/energy/ability to stick to such a diet, think outside the box (due to bring chronically stressed out in long term poverty, etc). Buying in bulk is another thing not every poor/low income family can afford. Buying in bulk can save money, but initially, you'll need a larger amount of money than your weekly budget allows. 

All in all, those are some reasons why being poor costs a lot of money. Which is actually very wrong from many sides- it's as if poor people are being punished (by society) for being in the situation they are in. It's hard to wrap my head around that. Having been in most of those situations myself, I really can't imagine someone disagreeing with it- let's just think those people come from a very privileged pplace. The situation we were in wasn't exactly fun, but least it's something I've learned a lot from. I've learned not to judge, not to think thar just because someone doesn't look poor they aren't (we certainly didn't look poor). And that low income families certainly aren't lazy or dumb. I think that's the most stupid prejudice about poor people out there, to be honest.