Despite stretching over a spectrum, the Middle Class has specific shared attributes many can relate to. This article examines 24 things that scream “middle-class,” as mentioned on an online forum.
1. Tuition Torture
You know you’re middle class when you qualify for financial aid but are not rich enough to afford tuition or textbooks. Another user highlights that this experience is so “widespread” and “stupid” that it feels like it is meant to drive people out of the middle class “by design.”
2. College Debt Depression
Speaking of which, debt is then an inevitable experience, according to most. One person shares how they’re chained down with a $65,000 debt; they are forced to keep moving up or have a parent pass away to leave them a lump sum.
3. Bracing Your Budget
A member highlights an absurdly specific middle-class experience of making monthly payments on your kid's braces. One user shares how they currently pay for their braces as an adult. Growing up, their parents could only afford either a new computer or braces but not both. Of course, the computer won.
4. A Blurry Line: Financial Instability
Many members find the middle-class lifestyle to be particularly distressing due to instability. A member shares how they shifted between lower-middle and upper-middle status their whole life and now struggle mentally as a result of experiencing multiple sudden upheavals.
5. Vacation Woes
While the rich don't budget for holidays and low-income folks don’t afford holidays, the middle class has to budget both the money and the time for a vacation. A member shares that their wealthy in-laws are always shocked when they “can’t just drop everything and go” for a holiday.
6. Mortgage Morbidity
Many mention stressing about home ownership and mortgages as uniquely middle-class. The rich probably already have multiple homes, and it's already beyond attainment for the poor. With increasing rent, many members said they struggle to afford rent but make “too much” to receive Section 8 housing benefits.
7. The Redundant Rut
Even with a 100-120k annual income, a member describes their social mobility as a “middle-class rut.” Despite their income, they’ll never be able to save up for a big purchase like a house in their area because most of the payment goes to rent, grocery, bills, and taxes. This leaves behind about 30k, nowhere near enough to buy a house…if you don't have hobbies, children, or loans.
8. Garage Galore
It is standard middle-class practice to own a two-car garage so full of random objects you can only get one vehicle in. Some also have a “garage fridge,” which is “the old one your parents didn't want to throw away because it still kinda works but not good enough to be the one for daily use.”
9. Difficult Decision: Scholastic Book Fair
Almost all middle-class users faced the hard choice of what to get at the infamous Scholastic Book Fair. While every child's dream was to buy everything, most users had to hear their parents say they couldn't afford it.
10. Fruity FOMO
The middle-class experience impacts fruit selection. One person shares how their family couldn't afford grapes and strawberries, so apples, bananas, and oranges were their “staple” fruits.
11. House Fixing Frustration
Several users confess to debating and stress over significant house repairs and upgrades. One argues that this is a uniquely middle-class experience since the “rich just pay for it” while “the poor have little to no chance of encountering that obstacle.”
12. The Tool Trouble
A member citing Ruby Payne mentions that “owning and using a lot of tools is primarily a middle-class phenomenon.” While lower-income people can't afford many tools and thus can't repair many household features, rich folks buy a new item.
13. DIY Debacles
Similarly, owning tools and being unable to hire technicians for repairs meant many middle-income folks grew up learning to fix things themselves. The middle-class lifestyle trains one to channel their inner crafty wizard.
14. The Ultimate Room of Rooms
According to a user, most middle-class households have that one extra bedroom for multiple purposes: an office/gym/guest room/den. In their experience, these things had their own room in wealthy households, while financially unstable families were unlikely to have an extra bedroom.
15. The Taxation Tremor
Paying taxes is one of the top-mentioned experiences. One person says being middle-income means “paying proportionally the most taxes while also receiving the least benefits and subsidies.” A lose-lose situation, indeed.
16. Lawn Mowing Melancholy
Being middle-class means you’re well-off enough to have a home in a neighborhood where a decent yard is expected of you or even mandated by the homeowners association. However, you’re not rich enough to pay someone else to do it.
17. Home Food on The Go
One sad member recalls family road trips where they'd pull over into the Burger King parking lot only to eat the soggy sandwiches from their cooler. However, many mention that expensive fast food seems wasteful to them, and regardless of their spending power, they'd always pack their own snacks.
18. Costco Runs
There’s something thrilling about middle-class folks finding a good bargain. A member finds Costco runs with samples, a full cart, and the food court experience to be a middle-class phenomenon. However, others say the joy of finding a bargain is pretty universal, regardless of social class. Even the rich give in to a good deal.
19. Delayed Gratification
People experiencing poverty don't delay gratification because any money they get has a place to go. The rich don't delay it because they don't need to. Low income means thinking that money is there to be spent since it’s too little to save anyway. Money is to be invested for the rich, and there’s always promise for more. The middle class is stuck with saving.
20. Road Trip Rodeo
Speaking of road trips, a member thinks the road trip is a middle-class institution.
Some also mention that middle-class folks can afford to fly, but they tend to fly coach or opt for a flight only when traveling long distances.
21. Wellbeing Woes
Middle-class folks often have to save for retirement and health insurance to a certain extent.
Not being born with inheritance means savings are needed. Similarly, this income bracket doesn’t qualify for welfare benefits.
22. The Midwestern Vehicle Venture
A user from the Midwest shares how it was the norm in their area to get a job at 14 to start saving for their first car at 16. “I had friends that had to work at 14 and give their parents the money for bills. I had other friends who knew they were getting a car for their 16th birthday and were too busy with travel sports and competitions and ‘didn't have time to work.'”
23. The Longevity of Leftovers
A member believes eating leftovers the next day is a middle-class thing. When they were in the low-income bracket, they had nothing to eat the next day. They also mention how more significant income has given them access to recipes and multiple food combinations.
24. Fashion Fiasco
Fashion choices communicate more than you realize. A commenter recalls how, during middle school, they decided to be happy with the discounted Adidas because the next level down wasn't any recognizable brand. While the rich kids got dressed in whatever was in style, poor kids got whatever they could get their hands on.
Source: (Reddit).
