Writer : Muzilana
It’s expensive to be poor because we have to compromise quality for something subpar. It’s expensive to be poor because we have to compromise quantity for something less. Being poor does not simply mean having less money. It often means having fewer choices, fewer opportunities, and fewer ways to avoid the costs that come with being unable to afford better options.
You think you are saving money by buying cheap products. You tell yourself that you are being frugal, that you are making the responsible choice by spending less. And sometimes, you have no other choice. But you cannot cheat your body out of what it needs.
Vegetables and nutritious food can be expensive. It is tempting to replace them with instant meals and cheaper alternatives because they cost less and are easier to prepare. But the body keeps its own accounting. Nutritional deficiencies, poor health, and illness eventually have to be paid for. The money saved on food can disappear quickly when a doctor's visit, medication, or treatment becomes necessary.
The same thing happens with the things we use every day.
It is cheaper to buy low-quality kitchenware, home appliances, clothing, tools, and other necessities. A cheaper product may seem like the better deal when you are standing at the checkout, especially when you are already struggling to make ends meet. But cheap products often break down more easily. A cheap appliance stops working. A cheap pair of shoes wears out. A cheap tool becomes unusable.
Then you have to pay again.
Sometimes you pay for repairs. Sometimes you have to replace the entire thing. The money you thought you were saving slowly disappears. You are forced to keep repairing things because buying something better was never an option in the first place. Instead of spending a larger amount once on something durable, you spend smaller amounts over and over again on something that keeps breaking.
And in the end, you stay poor.
The little money you managed to save can disappear the moment something goes wrong. A broken appliance, an unexpected medical bill, a necessary repair, any one of these can wipe out months of savings. Poverty leaves very little room for mistakes because there is rarely enough money left over to absorb an emergency.
You are also punished for buying less.
Buying in bulk is often cheaper, but you need enough money to buy in bulk in the first place. A larger package may cost less per item, but if you only have enough money for today's groceries, you cannot afford to buy enough for the next several weeks. The person with more money can spend more now to save money later. The person with less money is forced to keep buying smaller quantities at a higher cost.
So even saving money requires money.
And this is where poverty becomes more than simply a lack of income. It can become a cycle.
The world as a whole has become enormously wealthier over time. Technology has advanced, productivity has increased, and people today have access to goods and services that previous generations could hardly imagine. Yet the benefits of that wealth are not distributed equally. The gap between those who own the most and those who own the least remains enormous.
Wealth gives people advantages that allow them to accumulate even more wealth. If you have enough money, you can buy something durable instead of repeatedly replacing something cheap. You can buy groceries in bulk. You can afford preventative healthcare. You can survive an emergency without emptying your savings. You can invest money and earn returns from it. You can even take risks that might improve your life because failure does not immediately threaten your ability to pay rent or put food on the table.
But when you have little money, almost all of it is already spoken for.
Your income goes toward food, rent, transportation, bills, repairs, and other necessities. There is little left over to save, and even less to invest. Then, when something inevitably goes wrong, the small amount you managed to save disappears.
Wealth compounds, so does poverty.
The person who already has money can use that money to make more money. The person who has none can spend years simply trying to avoid falling further behind. One person can afford to think about the future; the other is forced to think about surviving the present.
But do we have a choice?
Do we have the luxury of options?
Options are a luxury on their own. Having enough money means being able to choose the product that lasts longer, the food that is healthier, the larger package that costs less per unit, or the service that prevents a bigger problem later. When you are poor, those choices are often taken away from you. You are forced to focus on what you can afford today, even if it costs you more tomorrow.
That is what makes poverty so cruel. You are expected to make financially responsible decisions while being denied the resources necessary to make those decisions. You are told to save money, but you cannot afford the things that would actually save you money in the long run.
The world may be getting richer, but that does not necessarily mean that being poor is becoming easier.
You are not simply paying for being poor with the money you do not have. You pay with time, health, convenience, opportunities, and sometimes the possibility of escaping poverty altogether.
It is expensive to be poor because poverty does not only take away your money. It takes away your choices.
