[samd]

How much do you have to save on your phone bill before you can buy a house?

The difference between a cheap Android and an old iPhone isn't going to be enough to buy a home, or provide food for the family every day, or pay for (or off) an education, or pay for medical expenses, or buy a reliable car, or any of the other truly expensive things that those with wealth take for granted.

Judging the spending habits of the poor on small luxuries is a common way we shift the blame of poverty onto the poor. It allows the rich to feel better about themselves and about the society they've built.

[umvi]

I understand that poor people aren't to blame for being poor (the vast majority, at least). But this mindset only serves to keep them going in the same rut. "Poor people deserve small luxuries", "Can't you just allow them to have a few rays of sunshine in their bleak lives?", etc.

In order to escape poverty, at some point you need to stop thinking and acting like a poor person and start thinking and acting like a middle class person. When and how do you propose that happens? Frugal middle class don't smoke and drink their money away, nor buy top shelf electronics and food products if money is tight. They cut coupons, buy off-brand, save, and invest. At some point, poor people need to be somehow taught these things that we intrinsically know.

Poor people need money, but they need (perhaps even more) education and role models to emulate which is something the government can't easily provide.

It's probably the oldest and most difficult problem to solve in the history of humanity because it requires a large amount of people to be empathetic and charitable with not just their money, but their time.

[DoreenMichele]

You implicitly seem to assume that poverty is mostly about poor money management. In reality, it's substantially more complicated than that.

For some people, whose larger problems are likely unresolvable, small bright spots are the only thing making life somewhat worthwhile.