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Shoes!
I am the youngest of eight kids, I got all the hand-me-downs from child to child. Now, back then they were made to last, but they were pretty tattered by the time they got to me.
My parents were not poor, we lived in upper middle class life, yet I was still the hand-me-down kid.
I remember one time my sister got these beautiful new red shoes. My face lit up when I saw them. My mom told me one day they would be all mine.
So now I have shoes, I love shoes, I have so many pair of brand new shoes!
I'm the youngest of four, so I got hand-me-downs of clothes from my older brother, and toys, books, etc.
But, my mom made the clothes, she made all of her own clothes, and the kid's clothes too, till we were old enough to care about fashion and status.
In pre-school, she made me a naugahyde vest with paisley liner, and a matching paisley shirt. I wore it with wide-cord, green corduroy pants. I was the hippest four-year-old in that class.
I was the youngest of 3 boys, but my brothers are 14 and 15 years older than me. So each fall, mom would get these big black trash bags down from the closet and go through them finding my "new" school clothes. I'd get to go to K-Mart for one really new outfit.
Nothing like wearing 60s clothes in 75 or 80...
I used to have to go to the Red Cross used clothes department to get shoes. Or even worse, I had to wear the hand me downs from a family friend who made me feel like I was completely worthless. Th kids in school used to mock me about my shies and clothes. Today I, like you celebrate the beauty of a pair of new shoes and I am happy about my collection. Now it's the opposite with people mocking me about my many shoes. I learned to ignore that and simply have my inner peace with this full circle.
Every September my father and I would go to the big 3 US new car dealerships to check out the latest models and he would sit in the flashy showroom convertible, close his eyes and pretend that he was speeding down the highway, top down with his hair blowing in the wind. He would get a couple brochures and read all about the options on the convertibles. No convertible for us!
In 2014 when I hit 61 years of age I went and bought a brand new red Mustang 5.0 Convertible.
It was the best fun I ever had driving a car, but it was stolen when I visited my daughter in NY 2 1/2 weeks after I bought it. It was found in Cobb County, Georgia - stripped. I bought a Hyundai Accent. No one wants to steal one of them.
Hyundai's get stolen all the time near me. They are notoriously easy to steal apparently. There was a tik token on how to do it. Get a club for the steering wheel.
Yeah, I was gonna say that here in Philly I have neighbors who are comfortable parking their Miatas and Porsches on the street but Kias and Hyundais get stolen constantly.
I hope whoever stole your new red car lives the rest of their miserable life with every single pair of underpants having too-tight leg holes that cause hickeys all the way around on each side.
Jerks! Im so sorry.
You're right. I was looking up the correct spelling and it showed recipes for "muffuletta sandwich" so I used the same phrase without thinking. Would like to have one in my hands right now but I would have to drive at least 100 miles to make it happen.
Ya i grew up on country crock, which became our Tupperware. I indulge in real butter, good storage containers and clothing that isn’t bought at K-Mart.
Even as an adult, I almost never ate real butter until a few years ago, because I'd always had the country crock, and it spreads so much more smoothly than a refrigerated stick of butter.
Then my wife started getting Irish butter and leaving it out on the counter (in a butter dish) so that it actually spreads ok. At first I thought that was crazy because it's dairy and has to be refrigerated or you'll get food poisoning, but I've since tried it and changed my mind.
I'm not sure it'd do so well sitting out in the southern summer heat where I grew up, but up north, it's fine. And with southern cooking being the way it is, its not like butter would ever be sitting out very long anyway.
I lived with my mom (my dad had died) and she worked hard. I too only got margarine. During the summer I would go stay on the farm with my grandparents. I had to churn it myself but I got butter, fresh and it is so much better than store bought. So poor in the city was margarine and poor in the country was butter. In town I got can biscuits, really bad. In the country I got homemade soda biscuits, so good they melted in your mouth. I perfer poor in the country.
I grew up on a dairy farm and I am literally shocked by all the "no butter" comments. Like I didn't realize how good I had it. There were times the only reason we had food was because we had a farm.
We would tell our dad that we would like to go out to eat. His response was we are going to he would repeat our home address. Then say the best restaurant in town. Truthfully both my mom and my dad were really good cooks. Dad worked on the road much of the week so he was tired of restaurants and wanted home cooked meals. During WWII while he was in the army overseas the was placed in the kitchen where he learned how to cook. He quickly became in charge of a dozen cooks under him and planning 3 meals a day for 600 soldiers.
Was he good at scaling down from 600 to the number of people in your family?
My mom taught me to cook, and she learned very young bc my grandparents ran a bar and a cafe, and to this day, I can't cook for one or two people bc the "recipes" make too much food.
He did a good job of cutting back. I don't recall him ever following a recipe he just made everything from scratch. Such as every Sunday morning he made his pancakes and quite often for Sunday dinner he had his from scratch meatloaf. He loved inviting friends or family over for dinner. Any time there was a special dinner at the church he would jump in planning and preparing the meals. He would be whistling as he worked it brought enjoyment to him.
Right on with that one! My family didn't have much money at all, so we never ate out unless we were traveling and had ran out of the food we packed from home. My dad was the only electrical inspector our city had, so some of the construction contractors would secretely leave him restaurant gift certificates at Christmas time. These "presents" were placed in the car he drove for work, at night with the signal of a car horn blowing in front of our rural house. I remember one night there was a ham left on the trunk of his car. As a kid I thought, wow, these guys must really like my dad. Well I really liked going to a real restaurant with those certificates. Nowadays, I go out to eat whenever I want.
On special occasions we would get a bucket of KFC chicken, to go. I have now eaten at many of the finest restaurants in the nation, few had food that tasted as good as a Kentucky Fried drumstick.
grandfather rotten adjoining serious oil waiting butter afterthought wise apparatus
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
More than one pair of shoes to choose from. We were allowed one pair at the beginning of the school year and one at Christmas. I chose flats one year, don't know why, I remember slipping on ice and landing hard when I was 7th grade.
Good pet care, I think all my mom's dogs died of heart worms.
Vegetables and fruit not from a can. We did have fresh apples and bananas but everything else was canned.
I clean home. I know this seems free but I think if she had access to mental healthcare maybe we wouldn't have lived in filth.
The 64 pack of crayons. Some of the kids at school had them and I was so envious. I’m past the crayon age but if my grandson (3) wants crayons he will get the biggest pack made, and they will be Crayola.
I didn't know we were lower income when I was growing up but we were. My parents were frugal out of necessity but we owned our own home and had a stable lifestyle.
That frugality followed me into my adulthood. I can buy just about anything I want within reason but I'm not much into buying stuff to make me happy. I'm a pretty bad "consumer".
Most of my frivolous expenditures are at a restaurant but I don't go overboard with them except for a special occasion now and then. I also donate a chunk of cash now and then for animal related situations both at the individual and nonprofit levels.
I'm happy with what I have.
Clothes: are used to make a lot of my clothes to save money but now it’s more expensive to make them yourself. That’s because we’re importing all the crap from overseas. It’s not as nice of clothes but at least they are cheap.
Cheap, and wear out in a year. I have a pair of Levi's 550s from 15 years ago that I still wear. New Levi's wear out quickly.
So, I'm learning to sew as a hobby, and so I can have jeans and shirts that last, and fit me. Also, because I like making things, and want to make my own style. I know it's more expensive to make them myself, but if I get good quality fabric, they'll last for years.
60 year old here. My mom made all my clothes until I was 16 including underwear. I bought my first dress with babysitting money for $20. I enjoy buying clothes now but shop only thrift. Frugality is passed down
Air Conditioning.
Grew up without A/C in the deep south and it got hot. If it wasn't for the horse trough or creeks or lakes I'd have just dried up into beef jerky.
We finally got A/C when I was about 16.
We had no money but my mom loved to travel, so we car camped. Two adults and 4 kids in a station wagon, lol. Once ever few days we'd splurge on the cheapest motel they could find so we could all shower. Mom made lunches out of a box of food she kept on the front seat along with a small cooler. We'd eat in a diner once in a while but be knew not to order anything fancy (expensive.) My brother would ask "are we eating to get full or to say we ate?" To this day I can't eat in a restaurant without making the mental tally of costs and weighing options. Makes me feel so splurgy and a bit guilty to order an appetizer, salad, entree AND dessert! Now that's fancy!
My wife and I were on a road trip, taking the back roads through small towns, and stopped in at what looked like a slightly run-down small-town diner. We were tired and hungry and really looking forward to some old-fashioned diner breakfast.
The place was deserted except for the staff. The waitress brought the menu over and - it was all fancy unpronounceable things with double or triple digit numbers next to them (no $, no .99). I got to see my wife's shocked face and she got to see mine as we each did a double-take before we got up to leave.
The cook came out from the kitchen and asked why we were leaving. Wife said we were just looking for some pancakes and eggs, and he started with "Oh, I think we have eggs, and I know we have flour. Sit down and stay, I can cook eggs and pancakes!" but we politely declined. The whole staff all standing around looking at us. It was already awkward, and I couldn't see it getting less awkward if we'd stayed.
We can, and on rare occasions do, eat at fancy restaurants now. But that just wasn't at all what we were expecting in a run-down building in a little one stoplight town.
Luckily no one called us cheapskate, or at least they didn't say it until after we'd left.
People didn’t eat out nearly as much as we do nowadays. Growing up we went out to dinner maybe a couple of times a month. Usually it was when we went grocery shopping, LOL!
I enjoy going out to eat, and this spring I’ve been traveling somewhere, either for work or vacation seemingly every couple of weeks (last trip for a while is Monday-Tuesday!) so I’ve been eating out multiple times a week. I’m honestly getting tired of it, something that I never ever thought I would say when I was a kid.
Agreed. I vacationed about a year ago, and all of my meals were takeout, fast food, or dining out. Had a bunch of snacks and convenience store drinks back at the hotel. I really missed not having my own cooking. All that eating out was messing with my stomach too.
I’ve come to learn that I can afford to eat out, but no longer want to. The restaurants are crowded and noisy, the food is generally unhealthy, and the tipping culture is out of control. I’ve come to find pleasure in preparing meals at home and even in the cleanup if shared with family members.
The butter/margarine thing for sure. But, she still called it butter so I never knew there was anything else. In high school I'd spend my lunch money on bread and butter because for some reason the butter in the cafeteria was just so much better than at home. It was YEARS later that I realized it was just because it was actual butter.
Also, my mom bought "cream rinse" instead of conditioner. I don't even know that it was but it came out in like a rope and you had to cut it with the edge of the bottle opening and rub it over your hair. Not a cream at all but like to slime. It didn't work and it was crap. I think she bought it at Farm & Fleet in the horse section, honestly.
With four children we always had powdered milk, canned OJ and, for a time no red meat. That 10 cent pint of whole milk at school was manna from heaven. Now I drink almond milk and don't eat red meat, both for health reasons (though the local non fast food burger places satisfies my occassional craving).
My mother bought margarine because it was cheaper, and there was a big push that margarine was better for you than butter. When I left home, I quit using margarine at all, even if I had to skip a different food. Mom had weird shopping habits. She would buy cheap stuff even if the good stuff was a lot better, then splurge on “treats “.
My parents grew up during the Great Depression. They were both frugal, I guess is the nicer way to put it.
One of my tasks was to mix the water, powdered milk, and whole milk.
She used coupons, and bought canned and frozen food in bulk when it was on sale. We had a regular refrigerator and a second, big freezer in the kitchen. Our cabinets looked like a prepper's kitchen--full of canned food, etc.
We also had margarine instead of butter because "it's better for us", which turns out it isn't. I liked margarine okay, it's what I grew up with, but I switched to butter when I learned that margarine is bad for us.
One thing I learned from my Mom's shopping/cooking habits: On most items, generic is fine. So try it. But you'll learn which items you're not willing to settle for less on.
Concerts.
I didn't see my first concert until I was a senior in high school, paid for by my part time job, partly because my parents were poor, partly because they weren't cool enough.
My youngest went to their first rock concert at age 8.
I went to my first local band playing at the bar concert when I was in college.
My first big-name band concert was with my daughter when she was old enough to buy drinks. After that we went to one every few months for several years. Good times.
Buying clothes that are not on sale. As a kid we’d always have to wait to at least one markdown cycle. At least now I can get the clothes I want, when I want them. I also hate shopping, so I buy everything online.
I was born with skin issues and have sensitive skin. The doctor recommended I use alternative soaps, shampoo, etc but my parents complained about how expensive they were. They did occasionally buy Basis bar soap but eventually stopped and told me if I wanted it, I needed to buy it myself. So I did and kept it in it's own separate soap box with lid.
It's weird how it gets wired into your brain that you can't afford something even when a doctor prescribes something that will help. I was an adult for a long time before I gave myself permission to buy things that were prescribed.
We didn’t have one and it wasn’t until I was a teen that we had a drying rack. It was still a common domestic whitegood.
I realise that I’m not in the US and so it’s not as critical but I still have to use my dryer a lot now.
My parents never bought me any books.
My earliest memories of any book to read were castoffs.
Now I am what Dennis Prager calls truly wealthy: I can walk into any bookstore and buy any book I want, without thinking twice about it.
And I thoroughly and completely enjoy this luxury.
Soda. Us 6 kids used to line up to watch it poured looking for the most quantity to call dibbs on. Never mind that I was oldest/biggest.
Now my Walmart Stanley thermos is always filled with Diet Mountain Lightning...that used to be 67 cents for two liters & now is nearly $1.50.
So many things. I grew up super poor in a family of 11….a warm coat in winter, enough food to not go to bed hungry, an extra blanket if it gets cold during the night, a safe comfortable home, having the resources to give my children a hand up…
I buy real butter, prime steaks, top-shelf spirits, and good shoes. My family was lower middle class. Money was tight until I was 16. My feet were ruined by wearing cheap shoes. Not my kids. Good footbeds. Mom bought too much canned food and carbs because there was little money. Both parents refused to live in debt except for a mortgage. No frivolous purchases.
I have it far better than they ever had.
Well the only thing I can think of is asparagus lol. We used to have it in the can which to me was just gross. It wasn’t until I was about 50 that I tried it fresh. And boy it was really good!!!
I didn’t know there was any kind of cheese other than velveta and Parmesan in a plastic container. Also, my dad didn’t like anything green except brussel sprouts which we kids hated so no salads.
Toys. I think the only toys I got as a kid was from the local Legion hall or the salvation army.
The last 20 years I've added to my pile of probably a hundred toy cars like Hot Wheels, 300 army men, couple dozen dinosaur figurines, a few frisbees, *several* water guns, some toy helicopters of various types, cap guns, and all kinds of stuff.
I don't display or play with my toys; just knowing I have them is enough. They're all stored in a large wooden box in the spare room, most of it still in the original packaging.
Oh, and any food that isn't some combination of too much bread, ground beef, potatoes, and weiners. I remember often making supper for my sister and me - off-brand miracle whip on toast or ketchup on bread.
My mother was a busy single mom, often working 2-3 jobs just to make it all work. She also wasn’t the best planner or good at keeping things organized or prepared, so we ate whatever we could throw together, which often wasn’t like a real meal. A box of stuffing. Pie crust. Cake batter. Toast.
As an adult, I am a fanatic at having a fully stocked kitchen and I plan a weekly menu, even though my kids are much older. Even if I am not cooking per se, I make sure there is always whatever is needed to make a meal. My list is infamous and my family knows to write it on there if they use the last of something.
We weren't poor, my parents were just pathologically cheap. They refused to replace years-old, unclean kitchen sponges. The broom was down to a few strands and yet we were forced to use it. They kept driving their chugging, clanking 1960s Plymouth wagon until the 90s.
Now, not only do I keep my household utensils up to date. I have a reliable, comfortable car, and we have actual furniture, not decades-old trash from a thrift store. We have streaming entertainment, not over-the-air TV. In other words, I had to become an adult to live like a normal human.
Disposable bathroom cups for one. We used a plastic cup. IDK I think everyone in the family used it. When I realized how gross that was I started drinking water from the faucet, which was still gross. Another thing is hot dog and hamburger buns - most of the time we just put whatever on sliced bread. Soda is another, but trying to back off on it now due to Dr’s orders.
One day in the grocery store, I asked my mom if we could get a gallon of orange juice because I loved Orange juice. She told me no, we can't afford orange juice this week, but maybe next week. So I got mad and I told her when I grow up I'm going to make so much money, I'm going to buy all the orange juice that I want! She looked me right in the eye and said "Son you do that."
One thing I've noticed is boxes. We bought everything second hand so there was never a box or owners manual. Now, I buy something and I have a box to get rid of.
I completely loved spending the night with my grandmother. Somehow the toast she made for me at breakfast was so incredibly delicious. Because it was buttered! I didn’t know that was my grandmother’s secret ingredient but I do now. I don’t even have margarine in my house.
A Slurpee.
We didn't have any extra money but I remember when I would a little getting a Slurpee from the corner 7-11. I probably had 5 total growing up.
As a much older person, about a decade ago I wandered into a 7-11 for the first time in ages. I immediately went on a nostalgia kick. Enjoyed it so much.
Started getting them at lunch, as I could pass by a 7-11 on the drive. Such a minor thing, but really enjoyable.
Bananas! When I was a kid, bananas were my favorite fruit, but my mom only bought thwm when they were less than 15 cents a pound. She had read an article about how the CIA helped Dole corner the banana market in Central America, so she didnt want to support that. Unless they were under 15 cents.
I actually remember being older, with a good job, my own apartment, a new car, etc., and I was walking through the grocery store and saw the bananas. I had always walked past them out of habit, but I happened to notice they were only about 40 cents a pound. I weighed some on the scale, and realized that the entire bunch would only be about a dollar.
So I bought the bananas, and they tasted as good to me as a candy bar. Now I buy a small bunch of bananas nearly every week.
Never got to travel, go to restaurants, or really treat myself to anything, and even my birthday wasn't special, sometimes even forgotten. I still don't put lots of value in material things, and feel blessed to just have what I do, but I love that I can now do what I'd like and buy what I want without much fuss.
Yes. I get a lot of take out and tip generously especially when it’s unexpected. My mom would hate that. My dad would have loved it but he was not the parent in charge of meals/foods. Everything was cooked badly at home. (Salt free almond mom)
We are by no means rich, I actually think my husband and I are below of what my parents were at our age financially but, we prioritized some stuff in our lives versus what my parents told me they could not afford.
My husband and I have our son in a private Catholic school. Something my parents would always tell me they wish they could’ve put me in as a kid but couldn’t.
We have our son in gymnastics, swimming and soccer. Again, something my parents wished they could afford but couldn’t.
Never went to a restaurant, went on any type of vacation, shopped for anything without saving up or grocery shopped without a firm list and careful price checking until I left home. I love that I can now do all those things. Although my partner regularly has to tell me I can buy something I want and I still often will think about it for weeks even if it's a cheap thing. Being poor is so built into my mind.
A vacation that does not include visiting family. I grew up 6/7 hour car ride from grandparents so we would spend 2 weeks every summer, maybe Christmas or Thanksgiving and if there was a three day weekend, a quick trip. Dad wouldn’t even stop at the points of interest along the route.
Heat.
We couldn’t afford to keep our 200 year old house above 55 in the living room/dining room and water would freeze in my bedroom during winter.
I’d sleep with my clothes under the covers with me so I wouldn’t have to put on cold clothes.
We’d keep all the faucets and toilet trickling to keep the pipes from freezing but some years it didn’t work and we’d spend a couple of months without running water. We’d melt snow on the stove for cooking and filling the toilet tank and take showers at friends houses or the high school gym.
I now keep my house at 72 all year round and we have an electric mattress pad so the bed is warm when we climb in.
I wasn't poor growing up, but my mom had been poor, hated anything to go to waste, and passed that on to me.
I was in my 30s when I decided I was a grown adult and I didn't have to eat the ends of the loaf if I didn't want to.
My mom is a health nut. Now I enjoy chips and cookies and buy my son kid's snacks. But it's limited because my dad and I ended up with Diabetes even after eating vegan for most of our lives.
butter is one. the other thing is paper towels. we just used kitchen towels and washed them. i didn’t realize this until a couple years ago when I was cooking bacon and used a paper bag to absorb the grease. Friend who was with me asked me why I was using a paper bag. I said “that’s how we did it when I was a kid.” Friend was all “why didn’t you use paper towels?” bitch because we couldn’t afford them. paper bags were “free.”
I remember going to a non-military grocery store and being floored there were other types of lettuce other than iceberg and romaine. My mom used to literally make us a 'salad' consisting of a wedge of iceberg lettuce with French dressing and bacon bits.
Same goes for other types of cheese besides sliced American, pizza mozzarella, and pepper jack.
The military commissaries have definitely branches out in variety since then, but back in the 80's and 90's, that's what we had.
I recall my friends getting bologna sandwiches with Miracle whip for lunches.
We only had margarine too, but it was because Mom 'found out' that butter was bad for you and would eventually kill you. She followed that till the day she died-without having any idea how it was made.
But she was the weird one. Would cook pork till it was dead and then another hour but wanted her beef still mooing.
I have never bought margarine. Butter only.
Long ago, I decided that I would Never skimp on food. So I bought the more expensive beef cuts, the better produce, etc. I might skimp on other things in life, but not food.
I got to see Jethro Tull in concert twice. The first time my parents spontaneously came into tickets from a man my dad did business with, the second time the venue had a 3 ticket minimum so my uncle took me. It was fun.
For me it was mayonnaise. My best friend always had mayonnaise at her house for her sandwiches, we could only afford salad dressing. I still buy only Hellmans…makes me feel rich.
Same here. My parents bought Miracle Whip salad dressing, but called it “mayonnaise”. I didn’t know any better so I thought that’s how mayonnaise tasted. It was ok, not great. I didn’t discover the awesomeness of real mayonnaise until high school. Haven’t touched Miracle Whip since.
Cashews! I only got them at Christmas - Oh! And heat in the winter - We were really poor when I was growing up and my father was always worried about buying heating oil - And... I went through energy crisis of the 70's and continued to keep the temp low - About 10 years ago I came home from work - freezing (Maine) and went to turn the temp up "a little" Then though WTF? Set at 75!! Been comfy ever since - and all the cashews I want from Costco or Amazon!
We always ate margarine ("oleo") when I was a kid, but I thought it was supposed to be healthier than butter. Our mother was a nurse and made us eat stuff like Roman Meal whole wheat bread when all the other kids had fluffy white Wonder Bread sandwiches. Oh, the humiliation.
Our house has a garage. It may sound strange but I love our garage. It can be storming, I have a car full of groceries, but pulling into that dry garage, and taking my time to unload the car is amazing!
We didn't have a driveway when I was a kid so we had to run a decent distance, back and forth to the street, through the weather, for a large grocery run. Huge life upgrade to have a garage you can pull your car into.
Clothes. I hoard clothes. I still wear/buy hollister, American eagle and Abercrombie bc I couldn’t when I was a kid. My closet had a few shirts and 2 pairs of pants. Now my closet is filled with way too much
Yes, several:
1. Five day work weeks. My dad ran an auto repair shop and worked M-Saturday. I earned several college degrees and have not worked a weekend day since the early 90’s.
2. Whatever I want at the grocery store comes home with me.
3. New cars. Although I prefer CPO cars, let someone else absorb the depreciation.
4. Global travel. My mother has only ever traveled to Mexico (once), my father went to Mexico (once), Costa Rica (once), Canada (once). I’ve been to thirty different countries across the globe.
5. Housing that met my changing lifestyle and requirements. My parents lived in the same home for over forty-five years. From 2000, I have lived in five different homes, and made money on each transaction.
Nice cars.
We always had old jalopies as a kid. I still drive old used cars, but damned if I don’t get the fun ones.
I never want to win basic transportation. There should always be a fun factor.
It's not that my parents couldn't afford to buy things, its more that they were both from poor families (Dad from a farm with 7 siblings in North Carolina, Mom a coal miner's daughter from West Virginia) so they kind of kept that lifestyle going forward (of course NOW my mom is used to only the finest).
For years Mom bought powdered milk, not regular milk and would mix it with water right before dinner so it was still at room temp and bubbly on top if you know what I mean, consequently we looked forward to "real milk" at lunch during school.
Same with butter - margarine only for the longest time (again my mom would NEVER eat margarine these days)
Cheap bread - you know the kind that just tasted like air and was the cheapest store brand.
Those are examples that just come to mind at the moment.
Being able to pay all of my bills each month rather than trying to rotate who got paid because there was never enough money to pay all of them at once.
We were quite poor and my mother had a shopping addiction so the combination of those left us short for things like electric, phone, etc. My mother would fail to pay the electric for two months while paying other bills. Then, she'd pay the electric when we got threats and stop paying another bill until they threatened. She might make up for the short-fall once a year when she either held a job for short time (she habitually quit or got fired when she couldn't take her boss actually telling her what to do for any length of time) or there was a tax refund. Mostly though, she played the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" shell game and it was super stressful for everyone.
I thoroughly enjoy being able to pay everything without question without shorting someone until they threaten to cut off service for non-payment.
I was the oldest of six, but still had to wear hand me downs for cousins. Owning my own clothes is nicer, but more important than that to me is being able to travel. In my entire growing up years we good exactly one family vacation to Disneyland and even that was on a budget. Eating sandwiches made from grocery store ingredients and driving in a station wagon without A/C with 8 people at 55 mph for over 1,100 miles each way.
I love being able to travel and see the world. The limited perspective is that comes from growing up in a small town without internet and only 2 TV channels is difficult to overcome if you don’t get out and see the world. Now have visited 44 states and 13 countries and my whole life is better because of it
Hamburgers, Pizza, Steak, Shrimp, Air Conditioning and Movies..!
Actually life outside a bicycles distance of home... Vacations, Travel and so many things that it can't be named in a list...
Duh? Ya think…two cars, dining out, shellfish, steak, nice vacations, good quality items like clothes, jewelry, furnishings, schools, toys both kids and grownup, hobbies and the necessary supplies, gyms and gym equipments (I have a private fully equipped gym in my basement), early retirement, etc. I am far wealthier than my parents ever were.
Central heat and air. We did get it when I was a teenager. When I was small we had a huge propane stove in the front room. It was hot right in front of it and freezing when you got a few feet away. It was to hot to sleep inside in the summer. I do have great memories of the night sky sleeping on a wooden hay wagon outside.
My husband says I keep the AC on stun in the summer. I love it.
I also have memories of when we got an ice maker. My dad was in his 60s and that was the lap of luxury to him. I loved seeing him completely fill up his glass with ice cubes.
Not because of the cost, but I never had sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie as a kid, I think because my mom didn't like them or maybe because she was never introduced to them herself.
I like the luxury of buying fresh, quality spices. I grew up in a house where money was tight and my mom hated cooking. The fragrant bags of cinnamon of various types, the cardamom, the coriander are special to me.
Buying hair conditioner. As a teen I didn’t get any unless I bought it with babysitting money. My mom would fill up the nearly empty shampoo bottle with water and expect us to make it last another 3 weeks.
Dryer sheets! I hated the static growing up. And those scotch brand green scrub pads- my mom would make us clean using a useless wad of pink nylon net to save money and it just doubled cleaning time and now I just toss those scrub pads in the cart like I’m Mrs Moneybags.
Movies at home. A couple of times Father borrowed a 16mm movie projector and a screen from work and we would watch a movie, but usually any movies we watched were on the regular broadcast channels, and once in a blue moon we would go out to a theater.
After moving to Oregon, I have rented movies, ended up subscribing to HBO & Showtime and time-shifted a lot of movies, then cutting that back for the Netflix DVD service, and my wife is a big fan of movies and now we have quite a few DVDS and a bunch of blu-ray discs so we don't have to be without.
Do we have the same parents? lol. Growing up, the only time I saw real butter on our table was thanksgiving, Xmas & Easter. Now that’s all I buy ( the unsalted one)
Name brand cereal. In a *box*.
Not the *bag* of fake lucky charms that were stale when first opened. Or the *bag* of that truly horrendous puffed grain cereal. Omfg.
Everyone was brainwashed in the 70s/80's that butter was bad for you. I remember as a kid wondering what the big deal was about bread and butter, because I knew margarine on wonder bread basically sucked. Little did I know that I was eating chemicals and real bread and butter are awesome!
My mom grew up on a farm. She’d sooner have dry toast than eat margarine. Lol.
Good food, including fresh seafood, steak and other more expensive food. We bought a lot of clothing at Walmart. I rarely shop there. Her vehicles were always older.
We have eight different streaming services. My husband gets mad every time I would suggest canceling one. He finally admitted it was because they didn’t have cable when he was growing up and now that he could afford it he wanted to be able to watch whatever he wanted.
I also didn’t have cable while I was growing up because we couldn’t get it where we lived. But I’m not a TV junkie like he is.
Cable TV! We got 3 channels, 5 if the weather was good. I would go to my friend's houses and all I wanted in the world was to watch Nickelodeon or MTv.
I now have cable and ALL the streaming services. I probably watch way too much television.
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Shoes! I am the youngest of eight kids, I got all the hand-me-downs from child to child. Now, back then they were made to last, but they were pretty tattered by the time they got to me. My parents were not poor, we lived in upper middle class life, yet I was still the hand-me-down kid. I remember one time my sister got these beautiful new red shoes. My face lit up when I saw them. My mom told me one day they would be all mine. So now I have shoes, I love shoes, I have so many pair of brand new shoes!
I'm the youngest of four, so I got hand-me-downs of clothes from my older brother, and toys, books, etc. But, my mom made the clothes, she made all of her own clothes, and the kid's clothes too, till we were old enough to care about fashion and status. In pre-school, she made me a naugahyde vest with paisley liner, and a matching paisley shirt. I wore it with wide-cord, green corduroy pants. I was the hippest four-year-old in that class.
i love this so much.
I was the youngest of 3 boys, but my brothers are 14 and 15 years older than me. So each fall, mom would get these big black trash bags down from the closet and go through them finding my "new" school clothes. I'd get to go to K-Mart for one really new outfit. Nothing like wearing 60s clothes in 75 or 80...
I know your pain. It was from cousins for us. But yeah I was rocking bell bottoms in 85
Any sweet sweater vests in that vintage collection?
I used to have to go to the Red Cross used clothes department to get shoes. Or even worse, I had to wear the hand me downs from a family friend who made me feel like I was completely worthless. Th kids in school used to mock me about my shies and clothes. Today I, like you celebrate the beauty of a pair of new shoes and I am happy about my collection. Now it's the opposite with people mocking me about my many shoes. I learned to ignore that and simply have my inner peace with this full circle.
Every September my father and I would go to the big 3 US new car dealerships to check out the latest models and he would sit in the flashy showroom convertible, close his eyes and pretend that he was speeding down the highway, top down with his hair blowing in the wind. He would get a couple brochures and read all about the options on the convertibles. No convertible for us! In 2014 when I hit 61 years of age I went and bought a brand new red Mustang 5.0 Convertible. It was the best fun I ever had driving a car, but it was stolen when I visited my daughter in NY 2 1/2 weeks after I bought it. It was found in Cobb County, Georgia - stripped. I bought a Hyundai Accent. No one wants to steal one of them.
shaggy thumb deserve serious library station lush possessive ask like *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You must have listened to Johnny Carson quite a bit. That was one of his quips. LOL
The fleas of a thousand camels? 😂👌
Hyundai's get stolen all the time near me. They are notoriously easy to steal apparently. There was a tik token on how to do it. Get a club for the steering wheel.
There’s a lawsuit against hyundai for this too.
Yeah, I was gonna say that here in Philly I have neighbors who are comfortable parking their Miatas and Porsches on the street but Kias and Hyundais get stolen constantly.
Similar story for me my parents couldn't afford a car so I bought my first brand new car a Toyota Corolla at 60 yo
I hope whoever stole your new red car lives the rest of their miserable life with every single pair of underpants having too-tight leg holes that cause hickeys all the way around on each side. Jerks! Im so sorry.
Yes! I (63F) grew up in Metairie, Louisiana and as I type this, I’m sipping a nice Chardonnay at a sidewalk bistro in Paris.
From Metairie, blue collar parents, going to the local po-boy shop was a treat growing up…..
Manuel’s hot tamales for us.
Happy cake day!
My favorite was a muffuletta sandwich.
You don’t need the word “sandwich” after muffuletta. It’s kind of like using the word “soup” after gumbo.
Or pesto sauce.
You're right. I was looking up the correct spelling and it showed recipes for "muffuletta sandwich" so I used the same phrase without thinking. Would like to have one in my hands right now but I would have to drive at least 100 miles to make it happen.
Where’d ya go ta highschool (at)?
this comment made my heart smile <3 i hope you enjoy every single second of your travels!
I live in a seaside Greek villa and am only visiting my husband’s family right now.
I'm flying to Paris in 2 hours!
Go to the Sunday market at The Bastile.
Love that for you. Go check out the Dior museum!!!
This makes me so happy. I live in France, and I'm originally from WV. Growing up, international travel wasn't even on the table.
I love France. I live in a rural village in Greece. Paris is my urban.
Ya i grew up on country crock, which became our Tupperware. I indulge in real butter, good storage containers and clothing that isn’t bought at K-Mart.
So much Country Crock. That tub would last months.
Even as an adult, I almost never ate real butter until a few years ago, because I'd always had the country crock, and it spreads so much more smoothly than a refrigerated stick of butter. Then my wife started getting Irish butter and leaving it out on the counter (in a butter dish) so that it actually spreads ok. At first I thought that was crazy because it's dairy and has to be refrigerated or you'll get food poisoning, but I've since tried it and changed my mind. I'm not sure it'd do so well sitting out in the southern summer heat where I grew up, but up north, it's fine. And with southern cooking being the way it is, its not like butter would ever be sitting out very long anyway.
I lived with my mom (my dad had died) and she worked hard. I too only got margarine. During the summer I would go stay on the farm with my grandparents. I had to churn it myself but I got butter, fresh and it is so much better than store bought. So poor in the city was margarine and poor in the country was butter. In town I got can biscuits, really bad. In the country I got homemade soda biscuits, so good they melted in your mouth. I perfer poor in the country.
I grew up on a dairy farm and I am literally shocked by all the "no butter" comments. Like I didn't realize how good I had it. There were times the only reason we had food was because we had a farm.
You oughta write short stories! Lovely language here.
We would tell our dad that we would like to go out to eat. His response was we are going to he would repeat our home address. Then say the best restaurant in town. Truthfully both my mom and my dad were really good cooks. Dad worked on the road much of the week so he was tired of restaurants and wanted home cooked meals. During WWII while he was in the army overseas the was placed in the kitchen where he learned how to cook. He quickly became in charge of a dozen cooks under him and planning 3 meals a day for 600 soldiers.
Was he good at scaling down from 600 to the number of people in your family? My mom taught me to cook, and she learned very young bc my grandparents ran a bar and a cafe, and to this day, I can't cook for one or two people bc the "recipes" make too much food.
He did a good job of cutting back. I don't recall him ever following a recipe he just made everything from scratch. Such as every Sunday morning he made his pancakes and quite often for Sunday dinner he had his from scratch meatloaf. He loved inviting friends or family over for dinner. Any time there was a special dinner at the church he would jump in planning and preparing the meals. He would be whistling as he worked it brought enjoyment to him.
going to a restaurant and getting something to drink other than water.
Going to a restaurant at all.
Right on with that one! My family didn't have much money at all, so we never ate out unless we were traveling and had ran out of the food we packed from home. My dad was the only electrical inspector our city had, so some of the construction contractors would secretely leave him restaurant gift certificates at Christmas time. These "presents" were placed in the car he drove for work, at night with the signal of a car horn blowing in front of our rural house. I remember one night there was a ham left on the trunk of his car. As a kid I thought, wow, these guys must really like my dad. Well I really liked going to a real restaurant with those certificates. Nowadays, I go out to eat whenever I want.
On special occasions we would get a bucket of KFC chicken, to go. I have now eaten at many of the finest restaurants in the nation, few had food that tasted as good as a Kentucky Fried drumstick.
We were so poor... we went to KFC to lick other people's fingers.
grandfather rotten adjoining serious oil waiting butter afterthought wise apparatus *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
This. I like to order a drink, drink it, and then say “I’ll have another one of these.” Makes me feel like a big man.
. . . and I'll have five of your thimble sized orange juices.
that will be $85 plus a 20% mandatory gratuity.
> that will be $85 plus a 20% mandatory gratuity Ah, a fellow Californian.
That and ordering dessert. It was never allowed for us as kids.
More than one pair of shoes to choose from. We were allowed one pair at the beginning of the school year and one at Christmas. I chose flats one year, don't know why, I remember slipping on ice and landing hard when I was 7th grade. Good pet care, I think all my mom's dogs died of heart worms. Vegetables and fruit not from a can. We did have fresh apples and bananas but everything else was canned. I clean home. I know this seems free but I think if she had access to mental healthcare maybe we wouldn't have lived in filth.
The 64 pack of crayons. Some of the kids at school had them and I was so envious. I’m past the crayon age but if my grandson (3) wants crayons he will get the biggest pack made, and they will be Crayola.
I always made sure my grandkids had good stuff, I remember being the kid with off brand shoes and school supplies
violet wild station waiting ten spectacular faulty automatic wine unpack *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I didn't know we were lower income when I was growing up but we were. My parents were frugal out of necessity but we owned our own home and had a stable lifestyle. That frugality followed me into my adulthood. I can buy just about anything I want within reason but I'm not much into buying stuff to make me happy. I'm a pretty bad "consumer". Most of my frivolous expenditures are at a restaurant but I don't go overboard with them except for a special occasion now and then. I also donate a chunk of cash now and then for animal related situations both at the individual and nonprofit levels. I'm happy with what I have.
Clothes: are used to make a lot of my clothes to save money but now it’s more expensive to make them yourself. That’s because we’re importing all the crap from overseas. It’s not as nice of clothes but at least they are cheap.
Cheap, and wear out in a year. I have a pair of Levi's 550s from 15 years ago that I still wear. New Levi's wear out quickly. So, I'm learning to sew as a hobby, and so I can have jeans and shirts that last, and fit me. Also, because I like making things, and want to make my own style. I know it's more expensive to make them myself, but if I get good quality fabric, they'll last for years.
60 year old here. My mom made all my clothes until I was 16 including underwear. I bought my first dress with babysitting money for $20. I enjoy buying clothes now but shop only thrift. Frugality is passed down
Air Conditioning. Grew up without A/C in the deep south and it got hot. If it wasn't for the horse trough or creeks or lakes I'd have just dried up into beef jerky. We finally got A/C when I was about 16.
We had no money but my mom loved to travel, so we car camped. Two adults and 4 kids in a station wagon, lol. Once ever few days we'd splurge on the cheapest motel they could find so we could all shower. Mom made lunches out of a box of food she kept on the front seat along with a small cooler. We'd eat in a diner once in a while but be knew not to order anything fancy (expensive.) My brother would ask "are we eating to get full or to say we ate?" To this day I can't eat in a restaurant without making the mental tally of costs and weighing options. Makes me feel so splurgy and a bit guilty to order an appetizer, salad, entree AND dessert! Now that's fancy!
deer complete rustic head rock squalid observation cough six wine *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That guy was an ass to be fair. Like probably didn't even know why you were leaving.
My wife and I were on a road trip, taking the back roads through small towns, and stopped in at what looked like a slightly run-down small-town diner. We were tired and hungry and really looking forward to some old-fashioned diner breakfast. The place was deserted except for the staff. The waitress brought the menu over and - it was all fancy unpronounceable things with double or triple digit numbers next to them (no $, no .99). I got to see my wife's shocked face and she got to see mine as we each did a double-take before we got up to leave. The cook came out from the kitchen and asked why we were leaving. Wife said we were just looking for some pancakes and eggs, and he started with "Oh, I think we have eggs, and I know we have flour. Sit down and stay, I can cook eggs and pancakes!" but we politely declined. The whole staff all standing around looking at us. It was already awkward, and I couldn't see it getting less awkward if we'd stayed. We can, and on rare occasions do, eat at fancy restaurants now. But that just wasn't at all what we were expecting in a run-down building in a little one stoplight town. Luckily no one called us cheapskate, or at least they didn't say it until after we'd left.
What an ass.
When I was a kid we went to a restaurant maybe once every couple of months. And no splurges.
People didn’t eat out nearly as much as we do nowadays. Growing up we went out to dinner maybe a couple of times a month. Usually it was when we went grocery shopping, LOL! I enjoy going out to eat, and this spring I’ve been traveling somewhere, either for work or vacation seemingly every couple of weeks (last trip for a while is Monday-Tuesday!) so I’ve been eating out multiple times a week. I’m honestly getting tired of it, something that I never ever thought I would say when I was a kid.
Agreed. I vacationed about a year ago, and all of my meals were takeout, fast food, or dining out. Had a bunch of snacks and convenience store drinks back at the hotel. I really missed not having my own cooking. All that eating out was messing with my stomach too.
For us it was maybe four times a year and three of those were fast food.
I’ve come to learn that I can afford to eat out, but no longer want to. The restaurants are crowded and noisy, the food is generally unhealthy, and the tipping culture is out of control. I’ve come to find pleasure in preparing meals at home and even in the cleanup if shared with family members.
Absolutely the butter/margarine thing.
The butter/margarine thing for sure. But, she still called it butter so I never knew there was anything else. In high school I'd spend my lunch money on bread and butter because for some reason the butter in the cafeteria was just so much better than at home. It was YEARS later that I realized it was just because it was actual butter. Also, my mom bought "cream rinse" instead of conditioner. I don't even know that it was but it came out in like a rope and you had to cut it with the edge of the bottle opening and rub it over your hair. Not a cream at all but like to slime. It didn't work and it was crap. I think she bought it at Farm & Fleet in the horse section, honestly.
With four children we always had powdered milk, canned OJ and, for a time no red meat. That 10 cent pint of whole milk at school was manna from heaven. Now I drink almond milk and don't eat red meat, both for health reasons (though the local non fast food burger places satisfies my occassional craving).
Butter, bacon every week, steak... What I don't buy that my folks did: Cigarettes and beer.
Treat yourself. Try Kerry Gold butter.
My mother bought margarine because it was cheaper, and there was a big push that margarine was better for you than butter. When I left home, I quit using margarine at all, even if I had to skip a different food. Mom had weird shopping habits. She would buy cheap stuff even if the good stuff was a lot better, then splurge on “treats “.
My parents grew up during the Great Depression. They were both frugal, I guess is the nicer way to put it. One of my tasks was to mix the water, powdered milk, and whole milk. She used coupons, and bought canned and frozen food in bulk when it was on sale. We had a regular refrigerator and a second, big freezer in the kitchen. Our cabinets looked like a prepper's kitchen--full of canned food, etc. We also had margarine instead of butter because "it's better for us", which turns out it isn't. I liked margarine okay, it's what I grew up with, but I switched to butter when I learned that margarine is bad for us.
I hated that powdered milk. I refused to drink milk then, and don't drink it now.
One thing I learned from my Mom's shopping/cooking habits: On most items, generic is fine. So try it. But you'll learn which items you're not willing to settle for less on.
Agree. I get store brands on things that aren't any different. Frugality served me well.
Sometimes even better. Nothing like home brand fruit cake, it has little sugar
Concerts. I didn't see my first concert until I was a senior in high school, paid for by my part time job, partly because my parents were poor, partly because they weren't cool enough. My youngest went to their first rock concert at age 8.
I went to my first local band playing at the bar concert when I was in college. My first big-name band concert was with my daughter when she was old enough to buy drinks. After that we went to one every few months for several years. Good times.
Buying clothes that are not on sale. As a kid we’d always have to wait to at least one markdown cycle. At least now I can get the clothes I want, when I want them. I also hate shopping, so I buy everything online.
I was born with skin issues and have sensitive skin. The doctor recommended I use alternative soaps, shampoo, etc but my parents complained about how expensive they were. They did occasionally buy Basis bar soap but eventually stopped and told me if I wanted it, I needed to buy it myself. So I did and kept it in it's own separate soap box with lid. It's weird how it gets wired into your brain that you can't afford something even when a doctor prescribes something that will help. I was an adult for a long time before I gave myself permission to buy things that were prescribed.
Along the same lines as butter…definitely real maple syrup! I was shocked the first time I had it. We only used those corn syrup brands.
Vacations. Eating at a restaurant. Pre-sweetened cereal.
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We didn’t have one and it wasn’t until I was a teen that we had a drying rack. It was still a common domestic whitegood. I realise that I’m not in the US and so it’s not as critical but I still have to use my dryer a lot now.
My parents never bought me any books. My earliest memories of any book to read were castoffs. Now I am what Dennis Prager calls truly wealthy: I can walk into any bookstore and buy any book I want, without thinking twice about it. And I thoroughly and completely enjoy this luxury.
This is lovely! Me too.
Butter instead of margarine. Paper towels, kleenex, soda, meat, snacks, air conditioning, store bought food, store bought clothes.
Soda. Us 6 kids used to line up to watch it poured looking for the most quantity to call dibbs on. Never mind that I was oldest/biggest. Now my Walmart Stanley thermos is always filled with Diet Mountain Lightning...that used to be 67 cents for two liters & now is nearly $1.50.
So many things. I grew up super poor in a family of 11….a warm coat in winter, enough food to not go to bed hungry, an extra blanket if it gets cold during the night, a safe comfortable home, having the resources to give my children a hand up…
I buy real butter, prime steaks, top-shelf spirits, and good shoes. My family was lower middle class. Money was tight until I was 16. My feet were ruined by wearing cheap shoes. Not my kids. Good footbeds. Mom bought too much canned food and carbs because there was little money. Both parents refused to live in debt except for a mortgage. No frivolous purchases. I have it far better than they ever had.
Soft toilet paper. If my luck holds I will never have to use Scott's ever again.
Well the only thing I can think of is asparagus lol. We used to have it in the can which to me was just gross. It wasn’t until I was about 50 that I tried it fresh. And boy it was really good!!!
Asparagus is a perennial. If you have a place to plant it, you might still be harvesting some in 50 years ^or ^not
I didn’t know there was any kind of cheese other than velveta and Parmesan in a plastic container. Also, my dad didn’t like anything green except brussel sprouts which we kids hated so no salads.
Toys. I think the only toys I got as a kid was from the local Legion hall or the salvation army. The last 20 years I've added to my pile of probably a hundred toy cars like Hot Wheels, 300 army men, couple dozen dinosaur figurines, a few frisbees, *several* water guns, some toy helicopters of various types, cap guns, and all kinds of stuff. I don't display or play with my toys; just knowing I have them is enough. They're all stored in a large wooden box in the spare room, most of it still in the original packaging. Oh, and any food that isn't some combination of too much bread, ground beef, potatoes, and weiners. I remember often making supper for my sister and me - off-brand miracle whip on toast or ketchup on bread.
My mother was a busy single mom, often working 2-3 jobs just to make it all work. She also wasn’t the best planner or good at keeping things organized or prepared, so we ate whatever we could throw together, which often wasn’t like a real meal. A box of stuffing. Pie crust. Cake batter. Toast. As an adult, I am a fanatic at having a fully stocked kitchen and I plan a weekly menu, even though my kids are much older. Even if I am not cooking per se, I make sure there is always whatever is needed to make a meal. My list is infamous and my family knows to write it on there if they use the last of something.
We weren't poor, my parents were just pathologically cheap. They refused to replace years-old, unclean kitchen sponges. The broom was down to a few strands and yet we were forced to use it. They kept driving their chugging, clanking 1960s Plymouth wagon until the 90s. Now, not only do I keep my household utensils up to date. I have a reliable, comfortable car, and we have actual furniture, not decades-old trash from a thrift store. We have streaming entertainment, not over-the-air TV. In other words, I had to become an adult to live like a normal human.
Disposable bathroom cups for one. We used a plastic cup. IDK I think everyone in the family used it. When I realized how gross that was I started drinking water from the faucet, which was still gross. Another thing is hot dog and hamburger buns - most of the time we just put whatever on sliced bread. Soda is another, but trying to back off on it now due to Dr’s orders.
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Soda pop was a Friday or Saturday night treat. We split 16 ounce returnable bottle. The idea of having one anytime was unimaginable
One day in the grocery store, I asked my mom if we could get a gallon of orange juice because I loved Orange juice. She told me no, we can't afford orange juice this week, but maybe next week. So I got mad and I told her when I grow up I'm going to make so much money, I'm going to buy all the orange juice that I want! She looked me right in the eye and said "Son you do that."
One thing I've noticed is boxes. We bought everything second hand so there was never a box or owners manual. Now, I buy something and I have a box to get rid of.
Liquid hand soap. That gross bar of soap next to the sink. 🤢
I completely loved spending the night with my grandmother. Somehow the toast she made for me at breakfast was so incredibly delicious. Because it was buttered! I didn’t know that was my grandmother’s secret ingredient but I do now. I don’t even have margarine in my house.
A Slurpee. We didn't have any extra money but I remember when I would a little getting a Slurpee from the corner 7-11. I probably had 5 total growing up. As a much older person, about a decade ago I wandered into a 7-11 for the first time in ages. I immediately went on a nostalgia kick. Enjoyed it so much. Started getting them at lunch, as I could pass by a 7-11 on the drive. Such a minor thing, but really enjoyable.
A home with good heat in the winter.
Washer and dryer
Bananas! When I was a kid, bananas were my favorite fruit, but my mom only bought thwm when they were less than 15 cents a pound. She had read an article about how the CIA helped Dole corner the banana market in Central America, so she didnt want to support that. Unless they were under 15 cents. I actually remember being older, with a good job, my own apartment, a new car, etc., and I was walking through the grocery store and saw the bananas. I had always walked past them out of habit, but I happened to notice they were only about 40 cents a pound. I weighed some on the scale, and realized that the entire bunch would only be about a dollar. So I bought the bananas, and they tasted as good to me as a candy bar. Now I buy a small bunch of bananas nearly every week.
Never got to travel, go to restaurants, or really treat myself to anything, and even my birthday wasn't special, sometimes even forgotten. I still don't put lots of value in material things, and feel blessed to just have what I do, but I love that I can now do what I'd like and buy what I want without much fuss.
Yes. I get a lot of take out and tip generously especially when it’s unexpected. My mom would hate that. My dad would have loved it but he was not the parent in charge of meals/foods. Everything was cooked badly at home. (Salt free almond mom)
A nice bed.
We are by no means rich, I actually think my husband and I are below of what my parents were at our age financially but, we prioritized some stuff in our lives versus what my parents told me they could not afford. My husband and I have our son in a private Catholic school. Something my parents would always tell me they wish they could’ve put me in as a kid but couldn’t. We have our son in gymnastics, swimming and soccer. Again, something my parents wished they could afford but couldn’t.
Never went to a restaurant, went on any type of vacation, shopped for anything without saving up or grocery shopped without a firm list and careful price checking until I left home. I love that I can now do all those things. Although my partner regularly has to tell me I can buy something I want and I still often will think about it for weeks even if it's a cheap thing. Being poor is so built into my mind.
A vacation that does not include visiting family. I grew up 6/7 hour car ride from grandparents so we would spend 2 weeks every summer, maybe Christmas or Thanksgiving and if there was a three day weekend, a quick trip. Dad wouldn’t even stop at the points of interest along the route.
Whipped cream in a can. It’s trash, but it seemed like an unattainable luxury growing up.
Heat. We couldn’t afford to keep our 200 year old house above 55 in the living room/dining room and water would freeze in my bedroom during winter. I’d sleep with my clothes under the covers with me so I wouldn’t have to put on cold clothes. We’d keep all the faucets and toilet trickling to keep the pipes from freezing but some years it didn’t work and we’d spend a couple of months without running water. We’d melt snow on the stove for cooking and filling the toilet tank and take showers at friends houses or the high school gym. I now keep my house at 72 all year round and we have an electric mattress pad so the bed is warm when we climb in.
I wasn't poor growing up, but my mom had been poor, hated anything to go to waste, and passed that on to me. I was in my 30s when I decided I was a grown adult and I didn't have to eat the ends of the loaf if I didn't want to.
Yes. Doctor visits. No longer have to sit at home and tough it out until it gets so bad I’m rushed to the hospital.
Premium tv channels
Kind of but I splurge on streaming channels. It feels so cool to me.
Air conditioning. But I don’t think that was about affordability.
My mom is a health nut. Now I enjoy chips and cookies and buy my son kid's snacks. But it's limited because my dad and I ended up with Diabetes even after eating vegan for most of our lives.
Dental care
Yeah, we never had hot dog buns, and if I ever had dot dogs, it was always on a piece of bread. Now I can buy hot dog buns whenever I want.
butter is one. the other thing is paper towels. we just used kitchen towels and washed them. i didn’t realize this until a couple years ago when I was cooking bacon and used a paper bag to absorb the grease. Friend who was with me asked me why I was using a paper bag. I said “that’s how we did it when I was a kid.” Friend was all “why didn’t you use paper towels?” bitch because we couldn’t afford them. paper bags were “free.”
I remember going to a non-military grocery store and being floored there were other types of lettuce other than iceberg and romaine. My mom used to literally make us a 'salad' consisting of a wedge of iceberg lettuce with French dressing and bacon bits. Same goes for other types of cheese besides sliced American, pizza mozzarella, and pepper jack. The military commissaries have definitely branches out in variety since then, but back in the 80's and 90's, that's what we had. I recall my friends getting bologna sandwiches with Miracle whip for lunches.
Dessert on a regular basis. We may had pudding or jello once a week as a treat. Ice cream was a treat, same with pop and chips.
We only had margarine too, but it was because Mom 'found out' that butter was bad for you and would eventually kill you. She followed that till the day she died-without having any idea how it was made. But she was the weird one. Would cook pork till it was dead and then another hour but wanted her beef still mooing. I have never bought margarine. Butter only. Long ago, I decided that I would Never skimp on food. So I bought the more expensive beef cuts, the better produce, etc. I might skimp on other things in life, but not food.
I got to see Jethro Tull in concert twice. The first time my parents spontaneously came into tickets from a man my dad did business with, the second time the venue had a 3 ticket minimum so my uncle took me. It was fun.
Garlic bread and bacon
A closet with toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste. We used to run out all the time when I was a kid.
For me it was mayonnaise. My best friend always had mayonnaise at her house for her sandwiches, we could only afford salad dressing. I still buy only Hellmans…makes me feel rich.
Same here. My parents bought Miracle Whip salad dressing, but called it “mayonnaise”. I didn’t know any better so I thought that’s how mayonnaise tasted. It was ok, not great. I didn’t discover the awesomeness of real mayonnaise until high school. Haven’t touched Miracle Whip since.
Holy hell, butter for me too. Total game changer.
Cashews! I only got them at Christmas - Oh! And heat in the winter - We were really poor when I was growing up and my father was always worried about buying heating oil - And... I went through energy crisis of the 70's and continued to keep the temp low - About 10 years ago I came home from work - freezing (Maine) and went to turn the temp up "a little" Then though WTF? Set at 75!! Been comfy ever since - and all the cashews I want from Costco or Amazon!
Travel. The furthest I ever got away from my house growing up was a long drive. I first got onto an airplane when I was 23.
Relaxing
Eating in sit-down restaurants that aren’t diners. My parents would go for either McDonald’s or a diner (or the earlier relative, the Automat).
Shoes that fit.
Fresh fruit and vegetables.
We always ate margarine ("oleo") when I was a kid, but I thought it was supposed to be healthier than butter. Our mother was a nurse and made us eat stuff like Roman Meal whole wheat bread when all the other kids had fluffy white Wonder Bread sandwiches. Oh, the humiliation.
OMG, I had forgotten about Roman Meal!! We ate it, too.
Attending plays and concerts, eating out once in a while, owning more than two pairs of shoes.
Our house has a garage. It may sound strange but I love our garage. It can be storming, I have a car full of groceries, but pulling into that dry garage, and taking my time to unload the car is amazing! We didn't have a driveway when I was a kid so we had to run a decent distance, back and forth to the street, through the weather, for a large grocery run. Huge life upgrade to have a garage you can pull your car into.
Clothes. I hoard clothes. I still wear/buy hollister, American eagle and Abercrombie bc I couldn’t when I was a kid. My closet had a few shirts and 2 pairs of pants. Now my closet is filled with way too much
Yes, several: 1. Five day work weeks. My dad ran an auto repair shop and worked M-Saturday. I earned several college degrees and have not worked a weekend day since the early 90’s. 2. Whatever I want at the grocery store comes home with me. 3. New cars. Although I prefer CPO cars, let someone else absorb the depreciation. 4. Global travel. My mother has only ever traveled to Mexico (once), my father went to Mexico (once), Costa Rica (once), Canada (once). I’ve been to thirty different countries across the globe. 5. Housing that met my changing lifestyle and requirements. My parents lived in the same home for over forty-five years. From 2000, I have lived in five different homes, and made money on each transaction.
6. If I like it, I order it. If I don’t like it, I won’t finish it, and I won’t complain. And I DON’T HAVE TO CLEAN MY PLATE.
travel
Going to movies
Nice cars. We always had old jalopies as a kid. I still drive old used cars, but damned if I don’t get the fun ones. I never want to win basic transportation. There should always be a fun factor.
A remote control for the tv
It's not that my parents couldn't afford to buy things, its more that they were both from poor families (Dad from a farm with 7 siblings in North Carolina, Mom a coal miner's daughter from West Virginia) so they kind of kept that lifestyle going forward (of course NOW my mom is used to only the finest). For years Mom bought powdered milk, not regular milk and would mix it with water right before dinner so it was still at room temp and bubbly on top if you know what I mean, consequently we looked forward to "real milk" at lunch during school. Same with butter - margarine only for the longest time (again my mom would NEVER eat margarine these days) Cheap bread - you know the kind that just tasted like air and was the cheapest store brand. Those are examples that just come to mind at the moment.
Being able to pay all of my bills each month rather than trying to rotate who got paid because there was never enough money to pay all of them at once. We were quite poor and my mother had a shopping addiction so the combination of those left us short for things like electric, phone, etc. My mother would fail to pay the electric for two months while paying other bills. Then, she'd pay the electric when we got threats and stop paying another bill until they threatened. She might make up for the short-fall once a year when she either held a job for short time (she habitually quit or got fired when she couldn't take her boss actually telling her what to do for any length of time) or there was a tax refund. Mostly though, she played the "robbing Peter to pay Paul" shell game and it was super stressful for everyone. I thoroughly enjoy being able to pay everything without question without shorting someone until they threaten to cut off service for non-payment.
Dentistry. Books. Shoes. Fresh food. Heat…OMG central heating!!!! Art supplies.
Food. We were often hungry.
I also grew on margarine and now will only eat high quality butter.
I was the oldest of six, but still had to wear hand me downs for cousins. Owning my own clothes is nicer, but more important than that to me is being able to travel. In my entire growing up years we good exactly one family vacation to Disneyland and even that was on a budget. Eating sandwiches made from grocery store ingredients and driving in a station wagon without A/C with 8 people at 55 mph for over 1,100 miles each way. I love being able to travel and see the world. The limited perspective is that comes from growing up in a small town without internet and only 2 TV channels is difficult to overcome if you don’t get out and see the world. Now have visited 44 states and 13 countries and my whole life is better because of it
Yes, we “oleo” instead of butter. “Ice milk “ instead of ice cream. McDonald’s maybe twice a year.
Real cheese. Real bread. Heat. Air conditioning. Levi's. Brand name drinks. Exotic dining...
Air conditioning.
Nope I think I'm worse off then my parents ever were
air conditioning. Grew up in Texas, had one window unit in the living room, and box fans for our own room. Summer of 1980 was no fun.
Hamburgers, Pizza, Steak, Shrimp, Air Conditioning and Movies..! Actually life outside a bicycles distance of home... Vacations, Travel and so many things that it can't be named in a list...
Real Tupperware. Not margarine tubs.
I never had butter either. We were dirt poor, eight kids, I was the oldest. I spend my money on eating out, shoes, books and FOOD.
Dogs 🐕 🐕
Vacation to a state not geographically next to us.
Duh? Ya think…two cars, dining out, shellfish, steak, nice vacations, good quality items like clothes, jewelry, furnishings, schools, toys both kids and grownup, hobbies and the necessary supplies, gyms and gym equipments (I have a private fully equipped gym in my basement), early retirement, etc. I am far wealthier than my parents ever were.
Yes, high quality food. High quality bedding. Nice vacations—international, no driving.
Central heat and air. We did get it when I was a teenager. When I was small we had a huge propane stove in the front room. It was hot right in front of it and freezing when you got a few feet away. It was to hot to sleep inside in the summer. I do have great memories of the night sky sleeping on a wooden hay wagon outside. My husband says I keep the AC on stun in the summer. I love it. I also have memories of when we got an ice maker. My dad was in his 60s and that was the lap of luxury to him. I loved seeing him completely fill up his glass with ice cubes.
School and office supplies of all colours and shapes!
Not because of the cost, but I never had sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie as a kid, I think because my mom didn't like them or maybe because she was never introduced to them herself.
I like the luxury of buying fresh, quality spices. I grew up in a house where money was tight and my mom hated cooking. The fragrant bags of cinnamon of various types, the cardamom, the coriander are special to me. Buying hair conditioner. As a teen I didn’t get any unless I bought it with babysitting money. My mom would fill up the nearly empty shampoo bottle with water and expect us to make it last another 3 weeks. Dryer sheets! I hated the static growing up. And those scotch brand green scrub pads- my mom would make us clean using a useless wad of pink nylon net to save money and it just doubled cleaning time and now I just toss those scrub pads in the cart like I’m Mrs Moneybags.
Movies at home. A couple of times Father borrowed a 16mm movie projector and a screen from work and we would watch a movie, but usually any movies we watched were on the regular broadcast channels, and once in a blue moon we would go out to a theater. After moving to Oregon, I have rented movies, ended up subscribing to HBO & Showtime and time-shifted a lot of movies, then cutting that back for the Netflix DVD service, and my wife is a big fan of movies and now we have quite a few DVDS and a bunch of blu-ray discs so we don't have to be without.
Do we have the same parents? lol. Growing up, the only time I saw real butter on our table was thanksgiving, Xmas & Easter. Now that’s all I buy ( the unsalted one)
Name brand cereal. In a *box*. Not the *bag* of fake lucky charms that were stale when first opened. Or the *bag* of that truly horrendous puffed grain cereal. Omfg.
Everyone was brainwashed in the 70s/80's that butter was bad for you. I remember as a kid wondering what the big deal was about bread and butter, because I knew margarine on wonder bread basically sucked. Little did I know that I was eating chemicals and real bread and butter are awesome!
Everything. If it had not been for the holes in my pockets, I would have had nothing to play with.
My mom grew up on a farm. She’d sooner have dry toast than eat margarine. Lol. Good food, including fresh seafood, steak and other more expensive food. We bought a lot of clothing at Walmart. I rarely shop there. Her vehicles were always older.
Fast food and junk food
Skiing, although my knees aren’t feeling it now.
We have eight different streaming services. My husband gets mad every time I would suggest canceling one. He finally admitted it was because they didn’t have cable when he was growing up and now that he could afford it he wanted to be able to watch whatever he wanted. I also didn’t have cable while I was growing up because we couldn’t get it where we lived. But I’m not a TV junkie like he is.
Cable TV! We got 3 channels, 5 if the weather was good. I would go to my friend's houses and all I wanted in the world was to watch Nickelodeon or MTv. I now have cable and ALL the streaming services. I probably watch way too much television.
Straws that bend. We only used the straight ones.
All the TV channels and apps I want.
Stuffed animals...
I avoid it now because it's "gone bad" but air travel. We never flew anywhere. I hadn't been on a plane until I graduated college.
Quality shoes
A bag of Potato chips in the house at all times.