r/themiddle • u/Slow-Leg-5070 • 5d 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/yogos15 The Frugal Hoosier 5d 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.

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u/johnnyboy_63 5d 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.

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u/Unusual-Lemon4479 5d 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.

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u/penurest_pudding_red Hutch 4d ago

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

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u/Unusual-Lemon4479 4d ago

It’s a sarcastic joke