What’s something that screams ‘I’m broke, but trying to look rich’

[Booyakashaa]

Saw thing on Instagram threads, mostly Americans, would love to see what MN’ers think

Just for fun

I think…anything Michael Kors

Sorry, off topic, but you don’t eat food?!

is that cos you’re a squid?

To those who say people without much money can't buy LV/Dior handbags because they're so expensive... I had a friend ages ago when we were around 16-21 who lived on a council estate with her single mum and another sibling. Mum worked really hard in a not well paying manual job but saved her money so she could buy her daughter real LV and Dior handbags, those with lots of branding on. New too.

These type of items are usually more important to us at that age, she probably wanted to make her daughter happy and may have maybe acted as a little escape too for them at the time.

Going to the Hay-on-Wye Festival?

The first bit could be about me 😂 my dc are obsessed with labels, as many teens are, so they have expensive things. I do not care about fashion at all. Not a jot. I just want to be comfortable and I spend my money on books, eating out and gardening stuff. I probably do look homeless in comparison. But it’s just because I don’t have any interest in clothes and hate clothes shopping…!

I took the soft fabric (£5) Aldi branded bag for life to a polo match. 😁. It's just a bag FGS and very practical!

Around here they’re school uniform. Just about every secondary school kid I see is wearing a black, North Face jacket.

This is all very specific. Dare I suggest the latter ‘sophisticated’ person in these scenarios is you and you’re hoping a MNetter sees you and thinks to herself ‘now there’s a genuinely rich person, I bet she has a spare £20k (I bet you don’t) wish I was like her!’

Probably because she has a medical condition and needs a feeding tube.

Yes, they're very durable and practical.

Oooooh we have a clever clever person who knows how to copy and paste from ChatGPT! Next time, remove the em hyphens first if you don't want it to be so obvious.

My problem with that is that so many posts here start from the assumption that these things would be okay if you had a large house. Or it's okay for old money to have impressive if tastefully shabby possessions, and we should admire them for that.

So sure, you could have a conversation on why people of every class and income bracket overstretch themselves, but that's a different thread from this one. This one's about us and them (and them trying and failing to be us).

Those are n-dashes, not m-dashes.

They appear on my phone keyboard along with the other punctuation. What are you talking about?

That's a fair point.

Yes that's the thread that would be interesting. And yes even as I wrote it I realised it's only "working class" signifiers that are being highlighted hear. Whereas plenty of people also over stretch financially to buy middle class brands as well.

Taking notes. I like to look as impoverished as possible so I don't attract the attention of thieves and muggers. I can see I need to buy some fake designer items 😂

@Oftenaddled You’re absolutely right that there’s no dishonesty in wearing designer if you’re not wealthy, and no rule that says people can/can't wear xyz. But the key difference isn’t about who has more money, it’s about what the spending means.

For the first person, those designer pieces likely took a much bigger share of their income. A £3,000 bracelet might have been a stretch(a reward, a milestone, a statement.)

For the second, £3k is easily spent and easily replaced, on "just another Tuesday" they could buy three and not think twice. They’re not avoiding big logos because they’re better, just because they don’t need to signal value that way.

So it’s not about pretense or taste, it’s about context and cost. The same items can mean completely different things depending on how much they cost you, not just in money, but in effort, trade-offs, and significance.

Yes - houses and postcodes are probably classic middle-class stretches, to take one example.

I would stretch to be able to have days out and holidays with my wealthier siblings. Really I should know they wouldn't judge me and would accommodate me, but it is hard to admit you might struggle with a cost your peer group finds normal. That is food for thought. My keeping up isn't about designer wear or houses or cars or shopping bags, but I'm not immune to it.

This is the most ludicrous comment.

Not one person buying Chanel is objectively “skint” or “poor”.

It’s expensive to buy, ergo it’s purchased by people with money.

Car Bingo!

I previously owned a second hand BMW X1 with 175,000 on the clock when all the niggly repairs kept piling up, I now own a Range Rover Evoque though sadly its not white & I don't use it to go driving through muddy fields and to top it off I also live in a terraced house :)

Just who do I think I am?

I think wanting to enjoy an experience with family is slightly different though.

Agree about houses

Well, once they've bought it they don't have the money any more

Good grief the second person is definitely not me 😂 ..though I do like creative writing, clearly.

I'm not out to make some random anonymous person think anything about this random anonymous person (and indeed why what would be the point??)

Sure, and thank you, but there is an element of (certainly irrational) shame in admitting to the struggle.

It's hard to free yourself from the mindset that having less = being worth less. That's what I find depressing in this thread. It really pushes that message, at some points.

I did not know that about squids! How do they survive??

I don't understand the logic in a lot of these. Like Botox. Okay, so I want to get rid of my crows feet and go to an aesthetician. But it actually is not me wanting to get rid of the wrinkles, it is actually just me trying to look rich?

Goodness. I've obviously touched a sore spot and made a comment you dislike but are struggling to challenge if you're resorting to attacking my posting style. Nothing to say about the content of my post?