“I think a lot of people that think they are in the middle-class, actually are in the lower-class. They just don’t want to admit it.”
Class is mainly a social measure.
Your lot are actually not lower class, but working poor.
I think it is actually lower class when one can't get ahead of their debts and can't enjoy the nicer things in life. I am middle-class, debt-free, retired and comfortable while living in my home that is better than my parents' home. My adult kids are having a tougher go at life, having to work hard and trying not to get into debt while raising their kids - I consider them to be middle-class. Others that are working poor with a huge debt-load that can't be surmounted, I would call lower class. I have relatives in that situation who have lost their homes during the Obama reign. They have certainly fallen into the lower class.