Why do lower income families sometimes have numerous cars and junk around their homes?

Answer 1

well, living beyond their means and seeking to fit with a reference group are all very true. meanwhile, i think the real answer to your specific question, is that those cars are relatively cheap and they drive them until they break down beyond easy repair, then they buy a new one. meanwhile, they don't do anything with the junkers, perhaps thinking they might fix them later or something...they build up junk b/c that is the main way Americans have been taught to comfort themselves: they go shopping. they accumulate prob as bad as everyone except they have a harder time hiding it (b/c they don't care) or getting rid of it (b/c they think it will be worth something some day)

Answer 2

There are many answers to your question. Some of them have been offered by other answerers of this question. Another reason is that lower income people may not have the means to haul away junk--no cars, no trucks, no friends with trucks. A second reason is because they may not be able to afford the fees some junk yards charge for disposal. Or they may not know the procedure needed to dispose. Still another reason is they may not be physically able to dispose of the junk.

Answer 3

Lower income families have junk cars and junk homes because they don't know the financial keys to success:

Avoid investment in cars; they depreciate very quickly in value. Never buy new, never buy junk, and stay within a balanced budget (most poor people haven't a clue what a budget is, which is half of the problem). Major car work is best done by professionals, unless one is good enough to work as a professional car mechanic. Especially for old cars, the time and money consumed can never match any increase in value (especially for an already really cheap car) and you are fighting time which steadly works against the value of the car (especially for a newer car).

Feel like a million bucks in order to earn a million bucks. Be clean and organized and confident. Junk, mess, and choas sets your subconscious mind into the rut of failure. Poor people need to release the victim role and take charge of their own success in order to escape their poverty, and the first step of this process is cleaning up. They are poor because they don't value cleanliness, self-value, and complete responsibility for their own financial success.

Buy nice things with an eye to increase your financial worth as you can afford it. Realize the true value and refuse to pay any more for it. Be weary of paying much less for it, lest you fall into a trap and get stuck with something which hurts your financial worth by tying up your valuable time and resources; you get what you pay for. I know many poor people who are easy victims of sales people and sales/"great deals." They buy something for really cheap only to find it breaks shortly thereafter. Realize that reliability has substantial worth, which always translates into added cost.

One must work hard to create and maintain an atmosphere of failure, because failure requires action and impedes success. It seems that lower income families do not understand how to both assess and create financial value. Teach them more effective financial strategies to spend their time on, and they will "lose" the cars, clean-up themselves and their property, be happy, and create real wealth with every action.

Answer 4

Why does it have to be "lower income families?" we are by no means a lower income family and we have 4 vehicles that are on our property that do not run, plus the 2 that are working that we drive everyday. My husband loves to work on vehicles, that is why they are on our land!

Answer 5

Good question and all so true! Perhaps it justifies their lower income aspect and reflects who these people are. Their attitudes and outlook on life reflect from the way they keep their home, automobiles, personal appearance, etc. Perhaps they keep so many automobiles around their home in hopes that one of them will run. Who knows.

Answer 6

Quite often (not always, but often) poor people are poor for a reason. They don't want to work. That includes around their house. They don't want to remove trash and junk.

Raven'sgirl is right too. Poorer people tend to be very "brand conscious." Those living in subsidized housing here are driving Lexuses and BMWs and wearing all the designer names. I live in a house valued slightly under 2 Million, that's paid for and drive a prius (my husband a jeep), both also paid for and are a levis family. That's pretty much common here.

Answer 7

I think it is because they fix the cars for extra money and the trash they collect is so they can sell that too, or turn in scrap money for cash too. I think they are just trying to support themselves better.

Answer 8

That proves their self worth and it makes them feel imp[ortant and I agree there should be a law about all that junk around the house but out in the country there is no laws about this problem.

Answer 9

Believe it or not it was how they were raised themselves. Pack-ratting or collecting/saving everything is an actual disease. Didn't you know they have a disease for everything nowadays?

Answer 10

because people love to live beyond their means. if you notice most of the people that complain about having no money have nicer cars then they can afford or a nicer home. it's all about status and having what you want.