You know you’re lower-middle class when your garage doubles as storage for these 7 forgotten items – VegOut

Let’s be honest—there are two kinds of garages in the world.

The ones that house Teslas, tool chests arranged like an art installation, and Peloton bikes that actually get used.

And then there’s the other kind. The kind many of us know all too well.

Where the car lives on the driveway (if it lives at all) and the garage has quietly morphed into a dusty museum of wishful thinking, half-finished projects, and items you swear you’ll get to “once things calm down.”

This post isn’t about judgment. It’s about recognition. Because if your garage looks more like a liminal space between dreams and duty, chances are, you’re not alone.

Here are seven things that tend to show up in garages when money’s tight, space is precious, and emotional real estate is even more cluttered.

1. Unused fitness equipment

Treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bikes. They’re not broken. They’re just…waiting.

At some point, there was an intention. Maybe a new year. Maybe a health scare. Maybe a Groupon.

But somewhere between the resolve and the reality, life intervened. And now the elliptical is wedged between a box of Halloween decorations and a broken fan.

As noted by socio-economist Randall Bell, “Those who exercised, even for 15 minutes a day, dominated statistically in every single measure of success”.

The message is clear: movement matters. But for many lower-middle class families, it’s not lack of desire. It’s lack of bandwidth.

2. Boxes of unopened kitchen gadgets

This one hits a little too close to home.

In my own garage, there’s a pristine air fryer, still in its box. Bought during a hopeful stretch when I convinced myself that healthy eating could be solved with countertop tech.

The truth? We didn’t have counter space. Or time. Or the mental energy to figure out a new routine.

So it joined the storage section, next to the barely-used bread maker and the set of mason jars still waiting to be filled with bulk-bin grains.

It’s a small but telling pattern—investing in potential instead of practicality.

3. Half-used paint cans and renovation leftovers

You know the ones. The paint you meant to touch up the hallway with. The bag of grout from that ambitious-but-abandoned bathroom update. The sample tiles that didn’t make the cut.

All of it whispers, “You were trying to improve things. You just ran out of steam.”

And honestly? There’s no shame in that.

As the book Laughing in the Face of Chaos by Rudá Iandê reminds us, “When we let go of the need to be perfect, we free ourselves to live fully—embracing the mess, complexity, and richness of a life that’s delightfully real.”

I’ve mentioned this book before, but the insights hit especially hard when you’re standing in your garage, staring at the evidence of all the ways you tried.

4. Old furniture that might be useful “one day”

Chairs with one leg shorter than the rest. Dressers missing handles. Coffee tables too big for your current place.

We keep them because they might be useful later. Or because we don’t want to add to the landfill. Or because we can’t quite afford to replace them if we change our minds.

But often, the real reason is emotional.

They represent an earlier version of us. The young couple starting out. The hand-me-downs from family. The hopeful “new place” we thought we’d upgrade to by now.

This is where being lower-middle class hits you sideways. It’s not just about money. It’s about momentum. Or the lack of it.

5. Broken things you intend to fix

A vacuum that needs a part. A toaster that stopped working. Toys with missing wheels. Electronics that might just need a new cord.

Fixing them would cost less than replacing them—but time and mental energy are scarce resources.

The result? A pile of purgatory items. Not useful, not worthless, just waiting.

And here’s where the science comes in: financial stress doesn’t just affect your budget. It affects your brain.

As noted by research on cognitive load, financial pressure can impair decision-making just as much as sleep deprivation—dropping your cognitive function by the equivalent of 13 IQ points.

It’s not laziness. It’s overload.

6. Sentimental stuff with nowhere else to go

Kids’ artwork. Old trophies. Boxes of photos. The wedding dress. Grandma’s quilt.

When you’re lower-middle class, you often don’t have an attic or a storage unit or a climate-controlled basement.

So the garage becomes the default memory vault.

And even if the space isn’t ideal, we keep these things because we’re trying to hold on to something more valuable than stuff: identity, history, meaning.

I’ve learned this the hard way, after losing a few water-damaged boxes that held early family photos. I kept telling myself I’d scan them “soon.” I never did.

Now, I’m a little more intentional about where and how I store the things that matter.

7. Stuff you were going to sell

Ah yes. The classic “we’ll sell this on Craigslist” pile.

It starts with good intentions. A baby swing, an unused TV, maybe some speakers from your college days.

But life moves fast. And listing, photographing, replying to flaky buyers—it becomes another thing on the endless to-do list.

So the pile stays. And grows.

Meanwhile, the middle class keeps shrinking. In fact, as research shows, the middle class’s share of national income has dropped from 62% in 1970 to just 43% today.

This isn’t just about garages. It’s about the quiet erosion of upward mobility.

The bottom line

If your garage is cluttered with the ghosts of intention, you’re not lazy. You’re likely just navigating the everyday tension between hope and survival.

Lower-middle class life isn’t about lack of ambition. It’s about limited capacity.

But here’s the good news: recognizing the pattern is a first step toward rewriting it.

And sometimes, clarity starts in the most unexpected places.

Like a garage full of forgotten items—each one telling a story you’re finally ready to hear.