Basic Trope: A family claims to be poor, but their surroundings and possessions suggest they're at least middle-class.
- Straight: The Tropers are struggling to make ends meet, even though they live in Standardized Sitcom Housing in Suburbia.
- Exaggerated:
- The Tropers are struggling to make ends meet, even though they live in a Big Fancy House in a gated community.
- Alice is a young, up-and-coming intern at Trope Co. yet, she can afford a really nice penthouse apartment in Manhattan. She's only concerned about not having enough for a designer dress that she wants.
- Downplayed: The Tropers are struggling to make ends meet, they rent but their property is acutely quite nice and at least their car's paid off.
- Justified:
- The primary breadwinner(s) of the household got laid off or fired.
- The Tropers bought their “expensive” items at a thrift store for cheaper prices
- The Tropers spend all their money on the mortgage for the Big Fancy House and have little left over when it comes to other expenses or luxuries.
- The Tropers' house is now worth less than they owe (upside-down mortgage).
- While the Tropers didn't quite lose everything, they did still lose quite a bit of money when stock values took a nosedive.
- The Tropers recently inherited a bunch of nice stuff from a recently-deceased relative.
- Alice and Bob are retired now, and living on a fixed income, but they have a lot of nice things they bought back in the day.
- The Tropers have a large debt, such as a big medical bill that insurance doesn't fully cover, the cost of sending the kids to college, all the fees (legal fees, alimony payments, etc.) associated with a Toilet Seat Divorce, etc.
- The Tropers bought everything on credit, rather than using their own money.
- The Tropers are poor...at least compared to most people in their community.
- The Tropers are squatting on property they don't actually own.
- The Tropers always want what others have, which keeps them from appreciating what they have.
- The Tropers have unrealistic ideals, so reality can never measure up.
- The Tropers are the sort of people who are never satisfied.
- The Tropers aren't poor, but they used to be much richer. By comparasion, they're nowhere near as rich.
- The Tropers are servants to the Rijkaards, who actually own the block.
- Inverted:
- The Tropers are wealthy, and not struggling to make ends meet.
- The Tropers are not wealthy, but not necessarily dirt-poor either, and are managing well.
- The Tropers claim to be rich, but are in fact poor.
- The Tropers are said to be rich, but seem only middle-class judging by their surroundings.
- Subverted:
- The Tropers are managing the household well enough on Bob's salary.
- Alice lives in a really nice apartment despite being only an intern, but it's shown that her parents pay a significant portion (if not the entirety) of her rent and/or bills.
- The Tropers are rich, they're just really, really stingy.
- Double Subverted: But then Bob loses his job at XYZ Inc. and the Tropers have to really scrimp and make sacrifices until he and/or Alice are employed again.
- Parodied:
- The Tropers live in a mansion (and they have 6 vacation homes and two yachts), with Pooled Funds, and still whine about how "poor" they are.
- After The Tropers are finished discussing their financial situation, Alice walks out of their massive house to walk along the private beach behind it, Bob retires to his multistory car garage and polishes his classic Shelby Mustang.
- Zig Zagged: Yes they have a very big house, but it's a foreclosed house that's falling apart, but it's sitting on valuable property and they bought it to try and "flip" it, but they spent all their money on the project and are stuck with the house being in terrible shape.
- In a futuristic setting the furniture all looks equally nice between supposed 'poor' and 'rich' but it turns out that automation ended up breaking that as an indicator. The real indication of wealth is in the size of lodgings and how central they are. Although they would still be considered the equivalent of at least upper middle class like a dual lawyer household judging by real estate, it is just that the middle class and upper end has gone even higher.
- Averted:
- The Tropers (whether rich or poor) are managing well.
- The Tropers really are poor and really are struggling.
- Enforced: "We need our sitcom family to have problems every middle-class and working-class family can relate to."
- Lampshaded: "We're going to have to make a few sacrifices to keep the house afloat..."
- Invoked: A job loss, a Toilet Seat Divorce, medical bills...
- Exploited: The Troper's use their impressive house to make them seem richer then they really are.
- Defied: Alice and Bob don't live beyond their means, and they have enough money to take care of bills.
- Discussed: "You know, our living situation isn't really as bad as we make it out to be."
- Conversed: Alice and Bob are watching a tv sitcom where this trope comes up. Alice: "I wish I had their problems"
- Deconstructed: Alice and Bob are having trouble making ends meet, which could spell disaster for the household.
- Reconstructed: Alice and Bob cut back on luxuries (i.e. dining out, fancy clothes, the cable package, etc.) and soon find they have more money to use for important things (like the mortgage), or save for things like vacations, college funds for the kids, retirement funds for themselves, etc.
- Played For Laughs: A segway into a stock sitcom plot revolving around a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme or A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted.
- Played For Drama: Alice and Bob are always fighting over the bills.
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