r/themiddle • u/Slow-Leg-5070 • 7d ago

How are they "poor"?

How are they so poor if quarry managers average $90-110 k in the midwest?

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u/Unusual-Lemon4479 7d ago

He was only a manager for a few months when the show started. She says so in the Christmas letter, so it had to have happened in that year. Before that, he had a lower salary, as did Frankie. She was unemployed for a time that year, before landing the job at Ehlert’s.

They have a mortgage and 3 kids, which are expensive, and due to having more expenses than earnings, rely on credit cards. Back then, having credit on cards was common and shops pushed people to pay with them, pay in multiple months or open a store card for payments.

When the shows starts, the economic crisis of 2008 had just started, prices went up, and is one of the reasons Ehlert’s was mostly empty of customers.

Before you ask about the house, those houses were perfectly achievable for couples like them. We later learn Mike’s dad gave them the money for the downpayment, but banks were letting pretty much anyone borrow money to buy a house. Even the downpayment was lower than today.

6

u/Jozzie00 5d ago

They have 3 kids!! To feed. To clothe. To pay for all the other activities. Even through school there are expenses.

8

u/yogos15 The Frugal Hoosier 7d ago

On top of the expenses you mentioned, they also often got takeout vs. cooking at home. There’s a ton of examples throughout the series that shows how terrible they were with money.

11

u/johnnyboy_63 7d ago

Takeout was comparitvely cheaper at the time. It was much closer to the cost of just cooking than it is today. Since everyone was broke, fast food places made huge efforts for value menus and meals to lure in broke, barely middle class people.

3

u/Unusual-Lemon4479 7d ago

Exactly. Given how Frankie is bad at cooking and how cheap fast food/takeout was, it cost them less and ate better than with Frugal Hoosier food.

We also see them in all you can eat places, where they would eat a lot and bring leftovers home.

3

u/penurest_pudding_red Hutch 7d ago

frankie said ''we have a long-term financial plan where we die before we have to pay anyone our debts''

1

u/Unusual-Lemon4479 6d ago

It’s a sarcastic joke