Did you grow up quite humbly (poor)?

[jaysonsmom]

For the most part we were comfortable, but there were many times that dad told mum that she was going to have to go back to work when we were small, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She had a stay-at-home mum herself, and it was so, so important to her that she do the same for us. She wanted so badly to do all school drop offs, pickups and be there to ferry us to and from sports and other after school activities.

So for a number of years money was pretty tight - dad was a teacher and earned a good wage, but nothing extraordinary. We rarely ate out, mum made all our clothes and cooked every night, leftovers were a regular thing, and she budgeted hard for Christmas and birthday presents, so despite not having much extra money, we never felt that we missed out. We still played sports, I was a dancer since the age of 4, all went to fantastic private schools, had 2 cars etc...and while other kids at school went on overseas holidays, once or twice a year we'd have a night away somewhere within a few hours drive. We'd have picnics and camp in the back yard, we are close to the beach so visited there a lot. We (my 3 brothers and I) all loved our childhoods, and really have only very fond memories. Sure, there was the odd material thing that we'd pine for that was simply out of reach financially, but we'd get over that pretty quickly!

Mum went back to work part time (which she HATED) when we were all at school, to pay for school fees and the odd treat here and there. Buy the time I was in high school, mum and dad were completely debt free, so she dropped her hours to the minimum needed to cover school expenses, and was much happier for it.

So in a nutshell, we certainly weren't wealthy, and had few extras, but really never wanted for anything. We are all so grateful, but I do wonder sometimes how they did it all!

This is similar to my childhood as well, except my mom never went back to work. My dad was a civil servant (not very paid in the early half of his career) and my mom a homemaker. We also moved from country to country every 3-4 years, making it difficult to establish a career for herself. We were comfortable in the sense that we always had roof over our head, a car shared by my parents and food on the table, but we bought everything used “pre loved”. We used to get furniture and toys from goodwill or garage sales, clothes were hand me downs from our well to do cousins.
All our meals were home-cooked, except once a month my mom would treat us with eating out at McDonalds! It was such a treat, my little bro would get a happy meal, and I would usually choose filet o fish

We didn’t have elaborate vacations, or gifts either. We would do camping trips or take road trips to places where we had friends we could stay with. I don’t recall trips were we could stay at a hotel or motel…As for gifts, we each got to pick 1 gift a year for Christmas, and somehow “Santa” also included this as my birthday gift as well because my birthday falls in December. I also have fond memories of cutting our own Christmas trees and decorating with homemade items such as origami figures and popcorn strung together…..good times!

All in all, I never felt we were deprived, we had enough and I had a happy childhood. My husband thinks I was deprived because I really splurge on holiday decor and food nowadays, he thinks I’m making up for my “deprived childhood”

 

[diamondringlover]

we were middle class, both parents worked, dad (I usually refer to him as sperm donor) was a drunk and a mean one at that, mom finally left him when I was 19. We had plenty of food and decent clothes and we use to take vacations once a year. We never went without anything, my youngest sister went to nursing school in her early 30's, the rest of us never went to college, heck my oldest sister didn't even finish high school.

 

[wildcat03]

Comfortable with some extras. I would say in between "comfortable" and "rich." I am grateful to my parents for the good start in life. They also impressed the importance of good money management upon me and my sister.

 

[telephone89]

I grew up quite quite poor. My mom was a single parent (no child support), she worked and put herself through school when I was young. We didn't have a car for a long time and it's COLD up here, so I definitely remember walking or taking the bus often in -30C. I dont remember not having food, but I do remember that often it would be a $0.50 box of KD with water and a tsp of margarine that we'd split for dinner. I respect her so so much, and I am so proud of her for raising a kid, working, going to school and really pushing herself. This is one of the reasons why I was so taken aback on a previous thread where people said a SAHP wasn't a privilege - people like my mom would kill to have someone else support them so she could have done some of those things.

She is in a fantastic financial situation now, but still lives relatively frugally, and never acquired any fancy tastes. In fact she wants to sell her house and travel around in her RV lol. She taught me so much, and I feel so blessed to be raised by such a bad ass <3

 

[diamondyes]

I grew up quite quite poor. My mom was a single parent (no child support), she worked and put herself through school when I was young. We didn't have a car for a long time and it's COLD up here, so I definitely remember walking or taking the bus often in -30C. I dont remember not having food, but I do remember that often it would be a $0.50 box of KD with water and a tsp of margarine that we'd split for dinner. I respect her so so much, and I am so proud of her for raising a kid, working, going to school and really pushing herself. This is one of the reasons why I was so taken aback on a previous thread where people said a SAHP wasn't a privilege - people like my mom would kill to have someone else support them so she could have done some of those things.

She is in a fantastic financial situation now, but still lives relatively frugally, and never acquired any fancy tastes. In fact she wants to sell her house and travel around in her RV lol. She taught me so much, and I feel so blessed to be raised by such a bad ass <3

That is SO badass.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

My life changed a lot, I would have called it "in between - comfortable" until my father died when I was 12. After that it went from my mom working nearly 80 hours a week to try and hold onto our house to me nearly going into foster care. Life is wild.

 

[diamondyes]

My life changed a lot, I would have called it "in between - comfortable" until my father died when I was 12. After that it went from my mom working nearly 80 hours a week to try and hold onto our house to me nearly going into foster care. Life is wild.

Wow. That sounds like it would’ve been an incredibly difficult time, for so many reasons.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Wow. That sounds like it would’ve been an incredibly difficult time, for so many reasons.

There's a lot more to it and it certainly was but hey, I'm lucky enough to have made it through! I also take NOTHING for granted, that's for sure!

 

[DiaLuv]

I grew up between lower middle class and upper poor. Didn’t realize the poor part until I was a grown woman. Most everyone in Southeast Texas was in the same economic bracket in 1950 - 1970’s. Us kids, a brother and two sisters always had enough food to eat, and clothes to wear even if they were passed down.

What made my childhood special to me was the love of my mom and dad. We had their love unconditionally.

Old pics of mother and dad.

 

[lilmosun]

While not wealthy, my parents were comfortably middle class. But as 1st/2nd generation Americans, they were determined that their children would not miss out on any of the comforts/opportunities they lacked growing up - wanting to ensure we fit in and had every advantage.

As a result, my upbringing was pretty idyllic and I didn't really want for anything. While I had a handful of friends with bigger fancier houses and newer cars, I had more than most. So while my family wasn't monetarily "rich", my upbringing was.

 

[qubitasaurus]

I was going to say comfortable, but reading these responses I think we might have been well off. We didn't want for anything growing up, and we're lucky enough to have college paid for. My parents worked hard though, they were always working.

The one that always amazes me is my grandparents. They were married with nothing, they spent their first paycheck to get a mattress as they were sleeping on a concrete sheet in someone's shed and my grandma was pregnant. After working for a while they decided they wanted to own a hotel so they built one. Then sold it and built a few more (my grandad could build or fix anything and spent most of his life tearing cars appart for fun). They were never rich but made all their daughters go to college. My mother did a PhD in maths, her sisters all became teachers. My grandparents could barely read and write, but were always super proud of their daughters. Come to think of it my husband's family was a bit similar, incredible hardship and they just kind of rose up out of it.

 

[LilAlex]

I grew up solidly middle-class with a smart, educated SAHM and a smart, educated dad with a good job/career. Spouse had a rough early life with a start much closer to @kenny's and I'll leave it at that. She has a much more interesting and inspiring "origin story" than I do. I was expected to succeed; she had to really find and make her own way and self-pay every inch of it. We ended up at the same place. My own parents were way more impressed by her journey than mine (and their own early paths were closer to hers).

 

[LLJsmom]

We had what we needed but nothing extra. No vacations. Gifts were practical. I rewrapped my own toys so I could have stuff to open for Christmas. I never asked for anything cause I didn’t want my parents to have to figure out how to get it for me. No traveling. My mom could sew and make her own clothes. We seldom ate out but my dad is an awesome cook and filled the fridge with the best grocery deals you could find and he would cook a feast. So I never really felt a lack cause I didn’t want much growing up. But I did always worry about my parents not be able to pay the mortgage and the taxes and we would not have a roof over our heads.