History Main / InformedPoverty

* Despite being described as dirt poor, the family of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' very rarely suffers serious consequences from the debt they accrue due to their nearly constant destructive antics. Also, the cost of sending Francis to military school (typically at least $25,000 a year) is rarely addressed. Season 6 did have the family fall deeply in debt due to Hal nearly being incarcerated on false accusations and Lois quitting her job due to the aforementioned event destroying her sanity, but for the most part, their living standards didn't change that much.

** Ron does enjoy getting presents at Christmas time like every kid (not counting the maroon Christmas sweaters/socks as he hates that color). He also got a new broom for becoming a Prefect, as well as a lot of nice gifts on his 17th birthday… By then it’s likely Justified as his father has been promoted and they only have two kids at school, so they likely have more money to spend. (Also 17 is when a wizard comes of age and considering Ron was at school during his birthday his parents likely wanted to make it a special day for him).

** Granted Ron’s best friends Harry and Hermione can afford to buy new books and new robes every year and have some extra pocket money to spend on some luxuries. (Hermione also has loving parents who took her to Paris for half of her summer vacation.) All of that can make a kid like Ron feel poorer than he already feels.
*** A famous example was when he got an ugly pair of dress robes, that he confused for Ginny’s dress, while Harry got a simple yet modern set of dress robes in green. While Molly (Ron’s mom) used Harry’s own money to buy him the green robes she used her own money to buy Ron’s robes second hand which by itself is fine (it was the 90s). But the robes were decades out of fashion by that point, and Molly gave Ron no sympathy.
** Ron does enjoy getting presents at Christmas time (not counting the maroon Christmas sweaters/socks as he hates that color). He also got a new broom for becoming a Prefect, as well as a lot of nice gifts on his 17th birthday… By then it’s likely Justified as his father has been promoted and they only have two kids at school, so they likely have more money to spend. (Also 17 is when a wizard comes of age and considering Ron was at school during his birthday his parents likely wanted to make it a special day for him.

** Granted his best friends Harry and Hermione can afford to buy new books and robes every year and can spend some money on some luxuries. Hermione also has loving parents who took her to Paris for half of her summer vacation. Which can make a kid like Ron feel poorer than he already feels… A famous example was when he got an ugly pair of dress robes, that he confused for Ginny’s dress, while Harry got a simple yet modern set of dress robes in green.
*** While Molly (Ron’s mom) used Harry’s own money to buy him the green robes she used her own money to buy Ron’s robes second hand which by itself is fine (it was the 90s). But the robes were decades out of fashion by that point, and Molly gave Ron no sympathy.

** Granted being best friends with people like Harry and Hermione who can afford to buy new books and robes and spend money on luxuries (Hermione also has loving parents who took her to Paris for half of her summer vacation a summer) can make a kid like Ron feel even poorer then he likely already feels. He does enjoy getting some nice presents at Christmas time (not counting maroon Christmas sweaters/socks as he hates that color) and got a new broom for becoming a Prefect as well as nice gifts on his 17th birthday.

** Granted being friends with people who can afford to buy new books and robes and spend money on luxuries can make one feel poorer then they are.
* In ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', Mia Rinaldi's parents are servants of the Drozdov family. Yet Mia wears fashionable clothes, and at least good enough at faking it to get in with the royals..

* ''Film/{{Bratz}}'': We're told that Cloe's poor, yet she has a computer in her bedroom, a moped, and a ''ton'' of likely expensive clothes. She might just be poor compared to the other characters, but we're not told for sure.

* Katniss Everdeen in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' says that both she and her district are on the brink of starvation, but she herself is incredibly wasteful with food -- she throws cookies Peeta's father gave her out of the window in a fit of pique, needlessly strips down rabbits both in her District and the Games instead of just eating the whole thing, she doesn't shoot wild dogs even though she claims nobody in her District would turn their nose up at a good bit of dog meat, and the District has things like dandelions and tree bark in abundance, which you'd think would have been stripped bare by starving people who could eat them or boil them down to make tea.

* Maddie from ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' constantly complains about being poor as dirt, but when you actually get to see the apartment that her family lives in, it's not bad at all. Likely supposed to be seen as poor, because she's being compared to her crazy-rich friend who constantly goes on shopping sprees, while Maddie (gasps) has to work to get luxuries. It is mentioned her father has been unemployed for five years, and her grandmother lives with them however.

* Maddie from ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' constantly complains about being poor as dirt, but when you actually get to see the apartment that her family lives in, it's not bad at all. Likely supposed to be seen as poor, because she's being compared to her crazy-rich friend who constantly goes on shopping sprees, while Maddie (gasps) has to work to get luxuries.

* ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'': Danny and his mechanic father live in an ancient gipsy caravan, cannot afford a car, and a BathOfPoverty is described. They are not stated to be "poor", but are sometimes perceived as such by others, notably by a keeper who says "you live in that filthy old caravan, right?", and by Mr Hazell who sends inspectors round to try to get them off their land. Danny never invites anybody from school to where he lives, saying in the narrative that he has such a good time being alone with his father; although it is possible (and not explicitly stated) that he would rather they did not see his home setting.

* ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'': While not explicitly stated, it is likely that Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are poor, with their lazy lifestyles, their ramshackle house in a very remote location, with a bare garden, resentment at James being there, and the way that Aunt Spiker jumps at the chance to make money from inviting people to see the giant peach.

* ''Literature/{{Matilda}}'': When Matilda is invited to her teacher Miss Honey's cottage, it is clear that Miss Honey is very poor indeed: the tiny house has no running water, and only a camping stove; and the "sitting room" is completely bare apart from three boxes to serve as furniture. Miss Honey mentions having no bed or bath. Matilda, with her brilliant mind, realises at once that something is wrong, and asks if she is paid very badly, which Miss Honey denies. Matilda then suggests that Miss Honey prefers a very simple and basic lifestyle; Miss Honey then tells her the sad story of why she is so poor.

* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'': Scrooge sneers at his nephew Fred for being poor, even though Fred seems to be doing reasonably well for himself (definitely better than Bob Crachit and his family). Then again, Scrooge has a rather skewed idea of what constitutes "poor".

* ''Film/DeckTheHalls'' has Buddy Hall and his family. Buddy is an incredibly talented man who's AllergicToRoutine and regularly gets bored with his life, uproots his family, and moves them somewhere else so that he can start a new life. According to his wife, they've racked up "monumental" debt after repeating this cycle so many times. In spite of this, they're able to buy a large two-story house and buddy is able to afford a beyond-opulent amount of Christmas decorations. The only time he's shown to be hurting for money is when he needs to purchase an absurdly expensive piece of equipment and pawns the priceless family heirloom vase to purchase it, and even then he's able to buy it back at the end of the film will no apparent issues.

* A 2012 British survey revealed that the population thought a family of four needed £37,000 (about £44,000 or $55,350 in 2020) per year just for necessities. If you were to classify people living below that line as "poor", then some poor families are able to have two cars, a flatscreen TV,[[note]]in fact old cathode ray TVs are hard to come by these days so flatscreen TVs are standard[[/note]] a house with the mortgage paid off, a mobile phone for everyone in the family, and so on.

* A 2012 British survey revealed that the population thought a family of four needed £37,000 (about £44,000 or $55,350 in 2020) per year just for necessities. If you were to classify people living below that line as "poor", then some poor families are able to have two cars, a flatscreen TV, a house with the mortgage paid off, a mobile phone for everyone in the family, and so on.

* ''Film/NightSchool2018'' actually [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] this with regards to the main character, Teddie. He's not as wealthy as he appears to be, but he's painstakingly put together a system of finances that allows him to appear to have much more money than he actually does.

* Mostly averted in ''Manga/MyLovelyGhostKana''. The apartment Kana and Daikichi live in looks like a one-room, with the shower (and probably also the toilets and laundry) on the landing. They own neither a phone nor a cellphone, much less a computer or anything fancy. Daikichi does get his hands on an old discarded TV set at the beginning of the story, and later on a water-logged cellphone that he can [[SupernaturalPhone use to communicate with Kana]], but those are about the only luxuries they get, and only because they got them for free. On the other hand, Daikichi gets a job that keeps him paid well enough that they can stay decently fed and afford non-vital commodities like their daily six-pack.

* Scrooge in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' sneers at his nephew Fred for being poor, even though Fred seems to be doing reasonably well for himself (definitely better than Bob Crachit and his family). Then again, Scrooge has a rather skewed idea of what constitutes "poor".

** Maddie seems to have a large family, and attends Catholic school. These factors combined mean that her family probably makes a good amount of money, but feeding multiple kids and putting them through private schooling would mean that they'd need to work hard to keep up with payments and would have little money left over for luxuries.

* On the original version of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', the Muppet Theater doesn't make much -- if any -- income. Tickets to the show are free, and the annual payroll (which Kermit can't even afford the episode it's mentioned) is $24.14, with at least a few of the cast not salaried at all, including Fozzie. Despite this, they can somehow afford some rather elaborate sets, props, and music, along with enough pull to get [[SesameStreetCred some of the biggest names in show business]] to appear. (At the time.)

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' where Chris goes to an expensive, private boarding school, he tells his roommates that he's poor. While one could make the argument that he's poor compared to the other students there, it's a little jarring that he's so quick to call himself "poor" when his family has two cars and a nice, large two-story house. One episode had them mention that they got the house as part of a settlement with a condom company, so their ability to have such a large house may stem from that. Although in a more recent episode Peter flat-out admits that Lois’s rich parents pay for the home entirely.
** This is lampshaded in one episode when Joe wonders how Peter can afford things like a helicopter.

* In Real Life, a 2012 British survey revealed that the population thought a family of four needed £37,000 (about £44,000 or $55,350 in 2020) per year just for necessities. If you were to classify people living below that line as "poor", then some poor families are able to have two cars, a flatscreen TV, a house with the mortgage paid off, a mobile phone for everyone in the family, and so on.

* ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'': We're told that the family is living on a tight budget and doesn't have enough money to buy the teenage protagonist a car. This is in spite of living in a [[FriendsRentControl nicely furnished three-bedroom house near the beach in the notoriously expensive San Francisco Bay Area]]. Part of this may be to the husband's current unemployment, so it might just be a rough patch.

* InformedPoverty: While not explicitly stated, it is likely that Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are poor, with their lazy lifestyles, their ramshackle house in a very remote location, with a bare garden, resentment at James being there, and the way that Aunt Spiker jumps at the chance to make money from inviting people to see the giant peach.

* ''Film/NightSchool'' actually [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] this with regards to the main character, Teddie. He's not as wealthy as he appears to be, but he's painstakingly put together a system of finances that allows him to appear to have much more money than he actually does.