People who say money can’t buy happiness have never really been poor.

A thread.

I grew up poor. Like really poor. So much, that there was frequently not enough food. Not asking for steak dinners every night, but when your primary lunch was “week old white bread with margarine” while all the other kids got Doritos, I think money could have improved that.

Money can also buy security. My dad had a stroke when I was in 3rd grade, and we lost our home and moved to a really rough neighborhood with a lot of burned out houses and gangs. I didn’t feel safe for an entire year in my own house as an 8 year old.

Money can pay for a gym membership. One of the things about growing up poor is you frequently don’t eat well and rely on a lot of unhealthy foods. Exercise improves mental, emotional, and physical states.

Another thing that money can buy is a reliable car. Does’t have to be a sports car or a big SUV, but having to call into work because your $200 car broke down doesn’t help you earn money to pay for other things on this list.

Money also pays for electricity and gas. I grew up in Colorado. If you’ve never experienced a frozen toilet bowl because your family couldn’t pay for heat, you don’t know what it’s like to be poor.

While new and fashionable clothes aren’t the most important thing, kids are cruel. My mom made all my clothes until I was in middle school. I didn’t have jeans with pockets until 6th grade when I got a pair from Goodwill. I wore them every day for a year. They were girls’ jeans.

Money can buy toys. This is obvious and also not important, but playing with sticks and dirt gets old. I remember one year a Pamida was going out of business—all the toys were clearances. I got Star Wars toys in 1985–6 years after they came out. My brother and I were ecstatic.

Money means sometimes you can go out to eat. We went out to eat maybe a dozen times in the 18 years I lived at home. Those times were so exciting to me.

Money means you can go to school without debt. I dropped out of college—primarily because I needed to work to help support my family.

People who propagate that “money can’t buy happiness” bullshit have never had to go without.