What are some subtle signs of poverty?

1. In elementary school, a classmate recognized a jacket I was wearing as one they had recently donated to Goodwill.
   — L_O_V_E_U


2. Wearing the same, often mended, clothing for several grades in school. Shoes that are tattered and worn out. Getting overly excited about food, either the quantity or ease of availability. This jogged a memory for me. My mom was a divorced single mom and money was always tight. But we ate 3 meals a day and had a car that mom managed to keep running. But in grade school there was a boy who would walk to school every day and always wore the same jeans, same sneakers and maybe 2 different shirts. I noticed that he always ate lunch with an older boy who seemed a little protective of him. Gave him his coat once when the poor boy was harassed, pushed, and fell down, tearing a big hole in the only coat he ever wore. Anyway, I noticed one day at lunch that the 2 sat down to eat, but only the older boy had a bag lunch. The older boy pulled out 2 complete lunches and shared one with the poor boy. Every day. Sometimes the poor boy had the .45 cents to buy a subsidized school lunch, but mostly not. And when he did, the older boy still had a lunch for him that he would sometimes eat, after finishing the school lunch. And sometimes put in his pocket, I assume to eat later. It was not until much later that it occurred to me that the older boy (and clearly the older boy's parents) understood the situation for the poor boy and always brought food for him. The older boy graduated from our high school in '81 and the poor boy graduated with my class in '82. It was clear that by high school, circumstances had improved for the poor boy, but the 2 of them remained friends all through school.
   — EmilyGreenwood3


3. Grew up poor here, and the one thing I used to do that would give it away was, I would get really upset over little things that most would not. Example, one year I got a new pair of gloves just before winter, I lost one while out playing with some neighborhood kids. I was so upset that I was in tears and looked for the glove for hours....which I eventually found. Another Example: When eating dinner at a friends house I was offered a second helping of food (which had never happened before) This upset me for whatever reason and I was suddenly overcome with inexplicable guilt...dead giveaway to my friends parents.
   — Mr_Drewski






4. Not having been anywhere different. I've noticed that's a trend. I've lived in poverty-stricken areas before, and nobody has ever left town. They basically stay within an hour of home their entire lives, and find things to do around town.
   — SydneyDavisJrJr


5. A small subtle thing I notice about my fiancee. She grew up pretty poor and she had 3 other siblings in her house (she's the oldest). When she moved in with me, we decided to have tacos that night. When she scooped the taco meat into her tortilla, she took this super duper small amount, understandably so. It's what her mom likely taught her so their would be enough for the other kids. Her eyes just about popped out of her head when she saw the amount I put into my tortilla;I grew up in a upper middle class family with 2 brothers, there was always plenty to go around.
   — Br1lliantJim


6. Not me but I remember we had a new girl at school when I was in middle school (I was maybe 13 or 14) and I had her over for a sleepover after a dance. When we got home around 9:30 or 10:00 I was super hungry and my parents, who were probably considered upper middle class, didn't care if I snacked. So anyway, we go to the kitchen and I ask if she's hungry and I just open the fridge to look for something. I remember her being really shocked and a bit confused. She started asking questions and saying stuff like "Don't you need to make sure it's ok first?" and "you can really eat anytime you want?" and "you guys have a lot of food." I realized then that not everyone was as lucky as me. We became very close friends and I stayed over a few times at the tiny apartment she shared with her sister, her three brothers, her mother, and whatever internet boyfriend her mom happened to have over that month. Mom was a drug addict and there was never any substantial food in the house. I remember everyone being SUPER excited the time her mom made fried bologna (which I do like, but they were like REALLY excited for it). She ended up staying with me and my family for a few months one time because her mom had just randomly left. Unfortunately most of the kids ended up in jail or on drugs too. She's really the only one who went to college and did something with her life although she still has emotional struggles to this day. :(
   — PeriwinkleAppleTree






7. We had a lot to look for when I was a teacher, but the one I remember most was sudden, unexplainable behavior issues right before a feild trip or school function that would require money. Basically we had six or seven kids in each grade who would suddenly all but dare teachers to write them up so that they would have an excuse to stay at school during the feild trip. They either couldn't afford the fee (like when we went to the amusement park at the end of the year. Ten bucks per kid.) Or didn't want their friends to see they had no money for snacks or whatever while on the trip. These were kids who were normally well behaved but lashed out right before anything that might cost money in order to avoid being embarassed about it. One of the schools I worked for started a fund to prevent this; asking the school board for a little money to help these kids not only be able to participate in a school activity but also to help them not feel like acting out was their only option. The fund helped decrease the amount of write ups before trips by a buttload. Unless you were tracking it (we tracked all behavior issues) you wouldn't eve nnotice the subtle link between kids in poverty and their behavior before a school trip to the museum.
   — SalemScout


8. When a family friend adopted a girl from a poverty-stricken country when the girl was around 5, she had a hard time getting the girl to eat more than once a day. The girl didn't understand why she had to eat lunch or dinner because she already ate that day, and that one meal was usually all she had for the day.
   — SortedN2Slytherin


9. Waiting for your tax refund to repair or replace something.
   — opkc






10. My family doesn't really make lots of money, but its enough to at least get by. I always find myself asking if it's okay to order a certain meal whenever I go out to eat with my friends/family because I'm worried about it costing too much. I always have to be reassured that it's okay and that I can get whatever I want.
    — Welcome-to-the-Grid


11. Wearing the same clothes often, skipping out on meals shit like that. Edit:. Just so you guys know I am not looking down on anybody that does this, or else I'd be looking down on myself.
    — Subject1928