I know this from twenty years of reader letters. In fact, one of the least understood facets of our society is that you can take an enormous economic fall and still be in good shape, lacking few of the goods and conveniences that we consider necessary. You can have a nice life, even by material standards. You will only be poor if you measure yourself against the bizarre but well publicized habits of sports figures and top executives. Let me spell this out as concretely as possible.
Many families spend as much on car payments.
Indeed, it you consider access to telephones, clothes washers, clothes dryers, microwaves, etc. Indeed, recent figures indicate that the affluent are shopping at discount stores, having adopted some of the shopping habits of those with less income. A 1995 study from the National Center for Policy Analysis found that more Americans at the poverty level owned dishwashers than families in the Netherlands, Italy, or the United Kingdom. It will allow you to eat regularly, to go to dollar movies or rent videos at the grocery store, to have a margarita at Taco Cabana, to buy clothes at countless outlet stores, and to do any number of things that are part of the American experience. This level of income may also allow you to experience more of life, not less.