recent research<\/a>, you can determine whether someone is middle class on the basis of their wealth.<\/p>\nIf you have net assets of between $300,000 and $900,000, you are middle class. If you have between $900,000 and $1.6 million, you\u2019re upper class. And if, by freakish circumstance, you have assets of over $1.6 million, then you are part of \u201cthe elite\u201d.<\/p>\n
Well, not so fast. I think being middle class is more a matter of attitude than simple cash. Let me count the ways.<\/p>\n
![\"Do](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/601c6c44a42e38910d88bbd9ba2945ec27a318fc.jpeg\")
Do you believe \u201cuse by\u201d dates are a myth? Congratulations, you are middle class.Getty Images<\/p>\n
1: When leaving a motel I take three teabags and all the soap, but leave one teabag and a sachet of sugar just so the housekeeper doesn\u2019t think I\u2019m cheap.<\/p>\n
2: I have never joined a queue. I\u2019ll try the place down the road.<\/p>\n
3: I have never bought a new piece of technology on the day of its release. (See above, I have never joined a queue.)<\/p>\n
4: I\u2019d rather eat a burnt steak than complain to the waiter.<\/p>\n
5: I\u2019d rather eat raw risotto than complain to the waiter.<\/p>\n
6: My main fear about dying is being the centre of attention at my own funeral.<\/p>\n
7: I\u2019m wealthy enough to study the share tips in the Australian Financial Review, but so cheap I visit the local caf\u00e9 to read their copy.<\/p>\n
8: I check my self-managed super fund, but only on days when I know the market has gone up.<\/p>\n
9: When choosing an item in the supermarket, I pick the second cheapest, knowing this is the definition of being middle class.<\/p>\n
10: I have plates \u201cfor best\u201d and cutlery \u201cfor best\u201d and hope my friends realise I\u2019ve brought out the special stuff.<\/p>\n
11: I am sufficiently wealthy to pay for the buffet breakfast in the fancy hotel, but sufficiently stingy to try and pocket a bread roll for lunch.<\/p>\n
12: I save old bits of string, placing the smaller ones in a container marked \u201cbits of string too short to ever use\u201d.<\/p>\n
13: If a woollen jumper develops a hole, I find a jumper of the same colour with a hole in a different place and wear both so no-one will notice.<\/p>\n
14: I never drink cask wine, as I\u2019m far too posh \u2013 instead, I drink bottled wine of such appalling quality they\u2019d never dare put it in a cask.<\/p>\n
15: I never throw anything out because \u201cyou never know\u201d.<\/p>\n
16: I would never buy a personalised number plate and would change my name if, by chance, I was supplied a number plate that looked like I had.<\/p>\n
17: I\u2019m sufficiently well-organised to possess a box full of screwdrivers of every possible kind, all contained in a box marked \u201cscrewdrivers of every possible kind\u201d.<\/p>\n
18: Ditto: \u201cassorted screws and nails\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Check](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9047d4b5b06123bde97c3a6772dbd03a17e2a697.jpeg\")
Check the price per unit and then pick the second-cheapest option \u2013 it\u2019s the middle-class way.Getty Images<\/p>\n
19: I define \u201cluxury\u201d as having two Stanley knives, in a plastic box marked \u201cStanley knives\u201d.<\/p>\n
20: I have never thrown out a bath towel, allowing them the dignity of the final life stages of \u201cgym towel\u201d, \u201cdog towel\u201d and finally \u201ccleaning rag\u201d.<\/p>\n
21: My preferred means of travel is a bus and, if not, my own car, and never a limousine.<\/p>\n
22: I was once offered one of those fancy credit cards that suggests wealth and prestige but declined.<\/p>\n
23: I\u2019d sooner sit on the floor than buy a couch on credit.<\/p>\n
24: I judge people who drive ridiculously expensive cars.<\/p>\n
25: I judge people who have ridiculously expensive handbags.<\/p>\n
26: I judge people who buy ridiculously expensive watches.<\/p>\n
27: We eat dinner at 7.30pm, which we define as occurring at 6.15pm.<\/p>\n
28: I never drink before 6pm, which I define as occurring at 5.05pm.<\/p>\n
29: I scrape the mould off jam and cheese rather than throwing it out.<\/p>\n
30: I believe \u201cuse by\u201d dates are a fiction invented by manufacturers to drive up sales.<\/p>\n
31: My partner and I only eat in front of the television when it\u2019s a special occasion, such as a weeknight or the weekend, and then quickly cover up the evidence if anyone should arrive.<\/p>\n
32: My main reason for not dabbling in the world of illegal drugs is not the immorality of encouraging organised crime, but the risible street slang involved in their purchase.<\/p>\n
33: I jiggle the nozzle once I\u2019ve filled up the car, just to capture those last few drops.<\/p>\n
34: I don\u2019t throw out books even when they\u2019ve gone all mouldy, even the ones I wish I\u2019d never bought.<\/p>\n
35: I claim to be an environmentalist when I save leftovers, but really I\u2019m too cheap to buy lunch.<\/p>\n
36: I check the \u201cprice per unit\u201d before selecting a brand of dishwasher tablets.<\/p>\n
37: I have a black-tie suit, but have it dry-cleaned so rarely it could attend functions on its own.<\/p>\n
38: I apologise when someone bumps into me.<\/p>\n
39: I apologise when my friend can\u2019t remember my name.<\/p>\n
40: I apologise whenever offered the chance.<\/p>\n
Money? You may have less than the survey says, or maybe much more, but being truly middle class is a rather different matter.<\/p>\n
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