Why do lower income people spend so much on expensive things?

I've never lived in poverty. So, this is speculation. But I've heard sociologists talk about similar ideas.

When you're poor, unless you have an astoundingly good turn of events, it's basically impossible to get out of poverty just by saving money. You can't properly prepare for emergencies, so those on top of normal bills tend to drain your savings. This creates financial insecurity and the feeling that whatever money you have tends to go away. And the only way you will ever have something nice is if you just go ahead and spend that money on it, because if you wait until after your bills are paid or after you have put some away in savings, there won't be any left for anything nice. And more well-off people like to say that poor people should just never have anything nice in their lives, but I bet they would change their tune if they experienced it themselves.

tl;dr basically poverty is emotionally exhausting

/r/NoStupidQuestions Thread