Growing up outside Manchester, I watched my dad come home from the factory every evening, hands still grimy despite washing them three times. He’d sit at our kitchen table, carefully going through receipts and bills, making every pound stretch further than it had any right to. While other kids got pocket money, I learned to fix my bike with parts from the scrapyard.
Years later, running my own business in London, I’ve met plenty of people earning six figures who are one bad month away from disaster. Meanwhile, my dad retired comfortably at 60, owns his house outright, and takes two holidays a year. How? He mastered what most people have forgotten: the art of being truly frugal.
The difference between my father’s generation and today’s high earners isn’t about the amount coming in. It’s about understanding that real security comes from behaviors, not bank balances. The working class has always known this secret, passing down survival strategies that build genuine wealth while others chase lifestyle inflation.
1. They repair instead of replace
When my laptop started acting up last month, my first instinct was to check repair tutorials on YouTube. This reaction comes straight from watching my dad fix our washing machine with a part that cost twelve quid instead of buying a new one for five hundred.
The lower-middle class has turned repair into an art form. They know which local guy can fix phones, where to get shoes resoled, and how to troubleshoot a temperamental boiler. This isn’t just about saving money today. It’s about building knowledge and relationships that compound over time.
Think about it. Every time you fix something instead of replacing it, you’re not just saving the replacement cost. You’re avoiding the depreciation hit on the new item, keeping something out of landfill, and often learning a skill that saves you money repeatedly. My neighbor, a retired electrician, probably saves three thousand pounds a year just by knowing how to fix things properly.
2. They cook from scratch religiously
I’ve noticed something interesting at the supermarket. The people buying whole chickens and bags of potatoes often look more financially secure than those with trolleys full of ready meals and branded products. There’s a reason for this.
Cooking from scratch isn’t just cheaper. It’s exponentially cheaper. A whole chicken costs about four pounds and makes three meals plus stock for soup. The ready-made equivalent would cost twenty pounds minimum. But here’s what the working class understands that others miss: cooking is a transferable skill that pays dividends forever.
When you know how to cook, you’re never held hostage by food prices. You can adapt to whatever’s cheap and in season. You waste less because you know how to use leftovers creatively. You eat better, which means fewer health problems down the line. The compound effect is staggering.
3. They maintain deep community networks
Remember when everyone knew their neighbors? The lower-middle class still does, and it’s their secret financial weapon.
These networks operate like informal insurance systems. Someone always knows a guy who can help with plumbing, another has a van for moving day, and there’s always someone willing to watch the kids in an emergency. This social capital translates directly into thousands of pounds saved annually.
I learned this running my business. The contacts who’ve saved me the most money over the years aren’t business consultants or financial advisors. They’re the people I’ve built genuine reciprocal relationships with. The printer who gives me mates rates because I helped his daughter with her CV. The accountant who answers quick questions for free because I sent him three referrals.
Middle-class professionals often try to buy these services at full price, missing the entire point. Security isn’t just what’s in your account. It’s who you can call when things go sideways.
4. They buy quality once instead of cheap repeatedly
Here’s something counterintuitive: the working class often owns better boots than investment bankers. Not fancier, but better.
There’s an old saying about buying boots that Terry Pratchett made famous. A poor man buys ten-pound boots that last a season. A rich man buys fifty-pound boots that last five years. The poor man ends up spending more. But here’s what Pratchett missed: the truly savvy working-class person saves up for the fifty-pound boots and then makes them last ten years with proper care.
This philosophy extends beyond footwear. Tools, appliances, furniture – the lower-middle class researches obsessively, saves deliberately, and then maintains religiously. They understand that the most expensive thing you can buy is something cheap that breaks.
5. They track every penny without apps or subscriptions
My dad’s notebook system would make modern budgeting apps weep with envy. Every expense, every bit of income, tracked in simple columns with a pencil.
No subscription fees. No data breaches. No forgetting to categorize transactions. Just brutal, simple awareness of where every penny goes.
This isn’t about being miserly. It’s about having complete situational awareness of your finances. When you manually write down every purchase, you feel it differently. You notice patterns. You catch problems early. You make adjustments before things spiral.
The psychology here is crucial. Automated tracking creates distance between you and your money. Manual tracking creates intimacy with it. Guess which one leads to better decisions?
6. They prioritize assets over appearances
Walk through any working-class neighborhood and you’ll see older cars parked outside owned homes. Drive through wealthy suburbs and you’ll find leased BMWs outside rented flats. This tells you everything about different approaches to security.
The lower-middle class gets something that escapes many high earners: wealth is what you own minus what you owe, not what you earn or what others think you have.
They’ll drive a fifteen-year-old Honda while putting money into their pension. They’ll skip the designer clothes to overpay their mortgage. They understand that every pound spent on appearance is a pound not building actual security.
7. They share and borrow instead of buying
Why does every house need its own lawnmower when you use it once a fortnight? The working class figured this out generations ago.
Tool sharing, carpooling, bulk buying groups – these aren’t just money savers. They’re force multipliers. When five families share a pressure washer, everyone gets the benefit at a fifth of the cost. When neighbors coordinate grocery runs, everyone saves on petrol and time.
This requires something that modern life has tried to eliminate: trust and coordination with others. But those who maintain these systems save thousands annually while building the community bonds that provide security beyond money.
8. They teach financial reality to their children
The greatest gift my working-class upbringing gave me wasn’t money. It was understanding how money actually works.
We knew what things cost. We understood trade-offs. We learned that wanting something and affording something were different conversations. This education started early and happened constantly.
Children who grow up understanding financial reality make better decisions as adults. They’re less susceptible to lifestyle inflation, less likely to confuse credit with wealth, and more likely to build genuine security regardless of income level.
The bottom line
Real financial security isn’t about earning six figures. It’s about mastering the fundamentals that the working class has always known. These behaviors compound over time, creating resilience that no salary alone can provide.
The irony is striking. Those who’ve never had much have developed systems for security that those with plenty desperately need. Perhaps it’s time we stopped looking up the income ladder for financial wisdom and started looking across at those who’ve mastered the art of building more with less.
The next time you meet someone who seems financially secure despite a modest income, pay attention. They might just teach you something that no financial advisor ever will.