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Growing up in a poor or low-income family? Never asking parents for a new toy because you knew there was no money? Wearing older siblings` clothes? If that`s the case, then it`s very likely that without realizing it, you`ve acquired habits that today prevent you from improving your financial situation.
Poverty is not a vice, but rather a school of life. When a person has experienced it, they remain "infected," because the habits acquired in poverty stay with them for life. They remain even when the person improves their financial situation in adulthood. They continue to fray our nerves and drain our money.
Today, we`ll try to deal with the mindset of a poor person and improve our financial situation. After all, it`s no secret that the initial thought determines the action, which in turn creates success.
"Not long ago, I was very poor. The first 18 years of my life were childhood years, so I couldn`t change anything. Then another 17 years passed when I continued to live in childhood and didn`t plan to change anything. I don`t complain or regret, because I chose my path myself."
That`s how John Cheese starts his story, a man who lived in poverty for 35 years. He drifted along the current of his life until he got a good job. That radically changed his life. The fridge was always full, all bills were paid on time.
However, John still couldn`t escape the thoughts and habits of a poor person, because this "infection" is too deeply embedded in his brain. So, John, based on his experience, talks about habits characteristic of poor people.
Continuation of the article
Poverty mindset
1. Cheap food
People living on minimum wage choose food products based on two factors: price and expiration date, which should be the lowest and longest respectively.
Manufacturer? Taste? Quality? Let the food connoisseurs think about that. A poor person buys products once a week, of which 90 percent are canned. Vegetables? Fresh fruits? That`s very expensive! Meat? Sometimes offal.
However, a person gets used to everything. They get so used to it that even when they have the opportunity to buy good products, they have to rediscover the taste of food.
Moreover, fresh apples and tomatoes seem tasteless, wrong, because the person is accustomed to canned ones. Even if you train yourself to breakfast on particularly exquisite cheeses and tartlets, you`ll still occasionally miss boiled sausage and cheap processed cheese.
2. Extra money
A lot of money in a poor person`s wallet is pure nonsense. A gift, bonus, unexpected earnings – if extra money suddenly appears, it needs to be spent as quickly as possible. This is a simple reflex caused by poverty.
You won`t be able to save anything for hard times, because every day is hard. The poor person`s mindset makes one live for today. By inertia, the person heads to the store or market and spends all their money there, without worrying about how they`ll pay for utilities next month.
The habit of quickly spending extra money is so strong that social media often discusses quite curious cases, such as ”plumber Petrov won a million in the lottery and spent it in a month.”
Life`s paradox: a person who really needs money doesn`t know how to save it, while a rich person, on the contrary, knows what economy is.
When a person starts earning steadily well, they learn to handle money properly. They need to realize that there is no extra money, but in case of unexpected expenses, there should always be a financial safety cushion.
Poverty mindset
3. Gifts
When a person has no money, they`re not interested in gifts. The maximum they can afford for various holidays is the cheapest souvenirs. An adult understands this and doesn`t pay attention to this fact. But children...
”We bought you new shoes, but that`s your birthday gift!”
If you grew up in a family with a low level of prosperity, you often heard this phrase. It`s unlikely the child will be upset that in six months they won`t have a birthday gift because they have new shoes now.
Mostly, children understand that the family has financial difficulties and don`t whine, even if they really want something. However, children still live with a sense of guilt.
For this reason, if the family solves financial problems, parents start showering their child with many gifts. Every trip to the store ends with buying a new toy. ”Because I couldn`t afford to spoil my darling for so long!”
4. Bookkeeping
The habit of regularly counting your money is another characteristic of a poor person. You always know exactly how much money you have right now in your wallet, how much is in your bank account. Down to the cent. You automatically add up the value of products in the store in your head to get the final result.
You always check the receipt in the supermarket, you know all the tariffs for utilities and are well aware of the formulas by which they are calculated.
This habit will stay with you even after there`s no need to know it anymore. ”Do I have enough money to pay the bill?” – such fears will follow those who grew up in poverty for a long time.
This topic really touched us, sparked debates and discussions. Unfortunately, it`s close or was close to many of us.
5. Essential goods
When a person lives from paycheck to paycheck, they acquire what is necessary at that particular moment. For example, winter jacket sales start in summer. The price is very attractive. But a person with a poor person`s mindset won`t buy it, even if they suddenly have extra money. They still have to live until winter, why do they need a winter jacket now?
The one who continued to wear their older siblings` clothes and shoes knows well that you buy a new sweater only when the old one is worn out, not when you want it.
This habit lives in people for a very long time. Why buy new boots if you can repair the old ones? Another paradox: a person with a poor person`s mindset can`t get positive emotions from shopping. They have money, but it`s a pity to spend it, especially on their own needs.
”It`s bad to be poor, especially because it takes all your time.” Willem de Kooning.
Poverty shapes our thinking. But to change it, you need to change habits. If you get rid of what we talked about in this article, then soon you might notice that you`ve become more confident and successful. Because you`ll develop immunity to the poverty virus.
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