On another article, the definition of poor came into question. One person asserted that, to be "middle class" you had to be in the $80K range.

First off, let me say, that MAY be true where they live. I can't say for certain. But where I live, $80K would put me in the price range to finance the best homes in our area. And I could buy a home in MOST neighborhoods outright for less than a year's total salary, or a "fixer upper" that would set me back maybe a month's wages.

But in Southern California? Forget it; I couldn't touch property there for that price.

The most I ever made in one year in my life was just over $42,000. That was a three year span that saw me take in nearly $120,000 over that span. And believe me, we were EASILY in the "middle class" range (if I'd had the budgeting skills I've HAD to learn since, we wouldn't be scraping by now). During that time, I turned down a job in Southern California that would have started me at $35K, no nights, no weekends. The reason why is that, relocation costs notwithstanding, our rent would easily have consumed over half our GROSS pay. Not prudent, if you ask me.

Where we live now, though, my monthly utility bills exceed my house payment. And the utilities aren't that high. I can actually make it on a salary that would actually have been starvation wages, even in Wisconsin.

But you know what? Even scraping by as we are, I don't consider us "poor". I've come to believe that you're only as poor as you believe yourself to be.

Besides, if I wanted to fix things, I know how to do it.