Hmm. I'll be honest; I considered myself lower-middle class instead of lower-class because, all things considered, we had a decent enough lifestyle.

We had a house. We had enough food to eat (yeah; it was subsidized by food stamps and reduced-price lunches, but there was enough of it). We had cable tv. I could sometimes get new clothes (from K-Mart, but I had friends who didn't own anything that didn't come from Goodwill). One summer I went to sleepaway camp. We had two cars.

So... I figured that was middle class. Lower end, yeah, but I didn't want to claim lower-class status; I figured that would be offensive to folks who didn't have the benefits and assets that I did.