"I'm a Diva", an ostentatious woman said as she bragged about her $300 girdle at the bar.
"NO, being a Diva implies that you have reached a level of excellence. That you possess an exceptional skill or talent.", I said.
"Where do you work?", I asked.
"I don't. I just get money from my baby-daddies.", she replied.
"Okay. If you got a job.... you'd probably make minimum wage. After taxes that would end up being about $5 an hour. To make $300, you'd have to work sixty hours. If you worked out one hour a day for sixty days, you would not need to buy a $300 girdle. And you'd probably be comfortable with yourself to the point of not having to worry about impressing others with your purchases.", I said.
Needless to say, the lady was not pleased with my observations and assessment.
As I helped a woman (whose family I mentor) clean the closets of her home, I noticed that she was throwing out thousands of dollars worth of only slightly worn clothing.
The woman makes a good living working at a local refinery (She nets about 140k a year.) and imagines that she has reached the middle class.
As I asked her how much she had spent on these clothes (all purchased within the last year), she estimated that it was around 5-6 thousand dollars.
When I asked why it was that she was throwing these perfectly good garments away, "Because I've gained too much weight.", she replied.
"Look, mow your own lawn - that would save you about $50 a week ($2600 a year).
"The exercise would count as a workout for that day.", I continued.
"Clean your own house. This would save you $70 a week.(about $3600 a year)", I then said.
"The exercise would count as two half workouts a week and you can do about fifteen minutes of push-ups and crunches to complete each workout.", I continued.
"Wash your own cars as well.", I said.
"This would save you $40 a week (about $2000 a year)", I said further.
"Do light lunges and curls on this day to complete your workout.", I said.
"If you'd stop trying to look as though you're middle class - you might actually be (financially) middle-class.", I concluded.
By doing her own work, she'd burn calories not money.
By doing her own work, she'd save more than $8000 a year and be in better shape.
Most poor people never understand that the price of something always has a higher cost.
Most don't understand that by eliminating this cost they are adding value.
If each of these women focused on being better and not just trying to
look as though they were better - each
could spend more time with her problem children.
Each could build real relationships (not just financial relationships) with her children.
The time saved by not having to work so much overtime to pay for goods and services could be spent helping their children with their homework.
By helping their children with their homework or their hobbies, they will prepare their children to perform better in life.
If their children are better able to take care of themselves and to add to their families' pools of resources - each family would become more stable and productive.
If these families focused more on performance than appearance, they would not have to follow every trend in an effort to appear to be middle-class.
By becoming more educated and cultured, these families would be members of the real middle-class - not just members of the financially middle-class but culturally and academically underclass.
