We can't think of their relative poverty by considering ourselves, as the notion of having 3 servants while being on a limited income is beyond our modern comprehension. While I agree with posts below that talk about servants then being like domestic appliances now, it doesn't help me much to look at it that way because the majority of people in our society have those appliances whereas the majority of people then couldn't afford 3 servants.

I like your point about thinking about it as an 80% reduction in income - that helps to put their plight in perspective.

I always struggle in S&S to think of the Dashwood ladies as poor because they were very far from poor. They had £500 a year when the average labourer had to raise a family on £30 per year and many farm labourers in rural areas had even less than that. If you look at them from a £5000 per year perspective then they are poor but looked at from the wages of many at the time, they would be considered comfortably affluent.