On visits to see my brother's suburban family, I reveled in their local thrift shops and would come back with great bargains (like hand knit Aran sweaters for $10). But once my nephew made the comment that I did it because I was poor, and he would prefer shopping at the GAP. Well, I had just acquired a t-shirt from Paris, and a lot of other stuff for less than I would have paid for a simple GAP t-shirt & I replied that I was "broke" not poor. I preferred extending my financial means by getting as good or BETTER stuff at thrift shops. If no one knew where I had gotten everything I looked MORE prosperous than the GAP consumer! So, it's all a matter of point of view. I still have a nice lifestyle, but my husband & I do it on a bargain level - and on some levels of acquisition we can do it at 80% discounts against "real" prices.

In my mind REAL poverty is when you are not able to even make those choices. Even in the examples given of eating cabbage soup, and welding door shut - there was ingenuity shown. And most of us don't have to be THAT ingenious in the U.S.

And If you can't afford your own mortgage, then you are living above your means. Even though we were an upper middle class family, we always lived BELOW our means, and my father was proud of having the oldest car on the block. Conspicuous consumption can get you into real trouble.