I've gotten into this conversation with a friend of mine who makes considerably less than I do. Over the years when I would go visit she would ask me to help her organize her house. At first I would try but everytime I suggested she get rid of something she would say "I can't because I can't afford to replace it." Even though she had a lot of clothes I knew she would never wear again (hot pink, puffy sleeve jacket) she refused always with the same response.
In her defense she doesn't want to be a minimalist, she loves having all her little knicknacks all over the place, every surface covered, etc, whereas I like to see clean, uncluttered spaces.
As I've gotten more in minimalism and purging I can see that she is partly right. One of the things about tossing something out, is I know that if I ever need it again I can go out and buy another. For example I toss out a widget that cost me $30. I haven't used this widget in years, but 6 months later I find I actually need this widget, I can go out and buy it again for $30 because $30 equates to less than 1 hour of work for me. My friend on the other hand would need to work 3 full days in order to be able to afford to replace the $30 widget.
Im some case junk is still just junk like that puffy hot pink jacket.