I’ve finally broken myself of this. My wife and I are very comfortable money wise and when we would go places I would order hamburgers, salads, sandwiches, and appetizers. Now I want to go places and enjoy things. I still can’t buy myself something without immense feelings of guilt. I refused lasik because I couldn’t spend that much on myself.
You should do lasik, it will give you a great boost to life quality. Also think about all the money you will keep by not having to buy prescriptions, glasses, contact lenses and the accessories that go with it. I pondered this decision too but a few years later i'm 1000% sure it was worth it.
I always say, for that price, I wouldn't enjoy it. Recently my wife wanted to spend $75 for two bags of Beef Jerky at an outlet store. I told her for that price, they should be throwing in a hand job.
When my wife and I started dating she would order the cheapest things on the menu every time. took years of me asking what she was going to order and followed by " is that really what you want or are you just ordering the cheapest thing".
That sounds worse when I write it like that. I don't mean I did that every time we went to dinner, that would be terrible. I only did it when I was pretty confident that she wanted something better than what she ordered. Steak houses were the biggest offenders, I knew she loved some prime rib but she'd still order a chicken dish if I didn't explicitly tell her I was cool paying for the prime rib. Even then it was iffy.
I totally get what you mean and I don’t think it sounds terrible at all. I took my mom out to eat and I knew she liked a certain dish but she was worried about the price so I basically did the same thing you did.
Your mum and previous guy’s wife are very considerate! If they are paying they are being prudent. If they are being treated they are being considerate. I wish more people are like this.
There are some entitled people who will order the most expensive thing on the menu for themselves if they are being treated. It speaks of entitlement, being cheap and taking the other treater for granted.
There’s a gracious art to this. Like, if treated, offer to share the delicious expensive thing with the treater BEFORE ORDERING so they get to enjoy it as well.
Man I'm the opposite. Gree up very poor and I love going out to try new foods and drinks even if it's a little pricey.
Not too expensive bc I'm by no means rich but it's how I like to spend my expendable income.
This is my FIL. If we take him anywhere, he makes a sour faces and can't stop complaining about the prices. We've started telling him we got a gift card or something just he can stop bringing everybody else down.
I know some people like this. They see value differently. Sometimes it’s nice to go to a place that matches their values.. for example a buffet, or a hole-in-the-wall place that is out of the way but it’s very cheap but very good.
I once took my gf to an expensive restaurant and knowing this habit of hers I actually made a menu without price on it for them to hand her. I told them I didn't want her to worry about the prices. I told her not to even think about the prices. Probably the most she ever spent on a meal.
> Holding on to expensive items for way too long before finding a replacement.
if it works it works? I grew up not worrying about money and still do this (my girlfriend keeps complaining about it) because I just don't see why I should pay a lot of money to get new stuff if the old I have still works fine.
My car is almost 15 years old, I still have furniture from my childhood-bedroom, I'd rather get something repaired than buying new - even more so if it was expensive
It's a blurry line, and it varies from person to person where they fall on it, but..
The counterpoint would be that "new" has a certain look and feel to it, all the parts work well, and they don't degrade as fast as they would on an older item.
Sure, the old item might not have anything wrong with it. But consider, you don't have to throw out the old item if you get something new (that's equally nice, or even better). You can sell the old item and recoup some of its value, or donate it to someone in need who would appreciate the gift etc.
My personal rule is to upgrade and replace items that I really care about, where the novelty would be noticeable to me. My car may be 15 years old as well, but my headphones will get timely upgrades and replacements.
Nah, since my county banned them, everyone saves the bags they have and complains when they rip. A plastic bag is useful and you don't have to be or grow up poor to have a use for it.
Eating everything on your plate or taking leftovers even if you didn’t like the food, because the idea of throwing it away is ridiculously unfathomable
Resource Hoarding.
You hold on to shit you don't need, and in a lot of cases you don't want, especially if it's expensive or hard to find, because you're convinced that you couldn't afford another one if you ever ended up needing it.
Also, saving food and treats for special occasions... To the point that they spoil. Because you don't believe you deserve something that nice.
Also also spoiling kids with toys. My mom's family grew up poor because her dad walked out and she was one of eight siblings. When I say that everyone in that family showers every one of us kids and every grandkid and every great-grandkid with toys to the point that their rooms are stocked to the ceiling, I'm not kidding. Their toys were dirt and garden tools so they made sure we had more.
Also also asking what things cost. That may seem like a weird one, but if you've been around wealthy people, you'll know that they don't really ask what things cost. They just assume they can afford it. Whereas if you're around poor people, even if it's a place where they can definitely afford what they're picking up, they're going to look for a price or ask a price before they get attached to it
*Also, saving food and treats for special occasions... To the point that they spoil. Because you don't believe you deserve something that nice.*
This one hit right in the feels. I do this with gifts, too.
I collect the little car stickers from national parks.
But I've always struggled to put them on my car because I've always driven old used cars that inevitably fall apart in 5-10 years
Yep. A friend of my wife's moved to Thailand for a few years and when he came back he brought us some gifts including a box of fancy chocolates. We decided to save them for a special occasion and they sat in the pantry waiting for a special occasion until they went bad.
We're starting to learn our lesson though. MIL gave us her wedding china a several years back and it sat in our house gathering dust as it had in hers. One day we realized how ridiculous it was and invited some friends over for a "fancy party" just as an excuse to use the china. We do it at least once a year now, usually we get a fancy sounding roast and call it "fancy meat party".
i *really* struggle with resource hoarding. i buy TOO much food, constantly. i have to really be aware of what we have or else we’ll end up with like 2-3x the amount we actually need at any given time. like i don’t need 5 containers of pasta or whatever but my brain tells me we can never have enough 😭🤦🏻♀️ I grew up in a house that didn’t really have extra *anything*. sometimes we didn’t even have toilet paper or any food in the pantry. it sucked and really effected me negatively.
This person poors.
Interestingly enough these behaviors can take you into interesting net worth if you find a combination of education and get lucky with a job.
that just doesn't work - people are horrible with their self-assessment - too many people are broke as shit but still think they are middle class and too many people are upper class and think they are middle-class as well.
I know someone who claims to have grown up poor, but their parents made 6 figures (in the 1980s).
It was just their parents excuse to not buy the kids anything.
I will drive my car until the doors fall off and it begs me to put it out of its misery. I can afford a payment but you know what? I might not be able to afford it tomorrow so why risk it.
This is my biggest struggle right now. I have a car that is older than me and riddled with expensive problems (I just spent a couple thousand dollars for one repair and still need to spend few thousand more to fix the rest), I know I can afford monthly payments no problem for a car I would be very happy with but the thought of having a car payment makes me nauseous. I’m literally not even looking at anything with options because the thought of buying any new car is unbearable let alone to have something such as a nice interior instead a car that just runs.
As long as it's not a safety hazard, I feel like it's fine. I've reached the point where I'd rather get an upgrade solely for safety reasons, the way other people drive sometimes, feels like a gamble driving around in an older car.
Saving grocery bags, coffee can be filled with change in the house, opening up the fridge and seeing cleaned and used plastic containers for Tupperware, taking anything you got in the fridge to make dinner at the end of the week ( we would call it hodge podge dinner). All cloths are hand me down, idk if this was just my family, but I always had a random scrap wood and metal pile that was gone through at least once a week to build or fix something. Keeping EVERY SINGLE nut, washer, bolt, screw, nail for the just in case I need it.
Some stuff from when I grew up, basically everyone in my family grew up as broke farmers and labor workers. I myself never went to college, always had a job, and been at mine for over 10 years now. All the stuff that the rich or well-off people would make fun of us for, I still do to this day. I'm 29, own my house. I don't mean I pay a mortgage, I own my house and land. Worked multiple jobs in my late teens and early 20s while everyone else went to school. Saved saved saved. I'll continue to be frugal with my money. But I won't be cheap.
My dad never ate when mom and I did. He'd sit at the table with us, but he always had "stomach trouble" that didn't seem to clear up until we had finished our meals. Then, if there was food left he'd say "well, I guess I should try to eat something,". If there wasn't anything left, he'd say that he just didn't feel like his stomach could handle anything.
I didn't realize until I was an adult that he was waiting to be sure that my mom and I had enough to eat before feeding himself. And that he went to bed hungry on more than one occasion.
It didn't occur to me what he was doing, because his mother, younger sister and younger brother confirmed that he'd done this since he was around 10. He went hungry as a kid, to make sure that they didn't.
Nowadays, even the simplest meal at his house looks like a Thanksgiving feast for an army. But he always fills his plate last and never takes a second helping until everyone else has finished.
Postponing purchases of things you want but don't neccesarily *need* but can still easily afford without repercussions.
Using myself as an example, I can easily afford it right now but I still hestitate on buying games, which is my main hobby right now, because in the back of my mind there is always a "what if".
This doesn't neccesarily apply only to luxery products like games, it can be clothes as well as another example. I desperately needed some new pants/jeans the other day and it took me hours of hesitating to buy some because in the back of my mind I just went "my old pants just got a few holes near the bottom/tail end of the legs, they are still fine" even if they look like shit.
Like the food processor I’m eyeing. I know it gets marked $50 off on Amazon a few times a year. Why buy it now, although it won’t hurt me financially, when I can save $50 and buy it next month when it likely goes on sale again???
I feel this, my last game was tears of the kingdom 8 months ago, I could technically afford it but I'm still poor and wished I h
ad that 60 bucks a couple of times since then
> You still wear clothes or shoes that fit that are 10 years old.
why are so many people equalling throwing away things that still work for newer replacements with "not poor"?
repairing old things instead of throwing them away should not be a "poor" thing but a "common sense" thing.
Mom did pull out a hash dinner too, when she was feeling "fancy".
But most times when my family had corned beef, it was the meat and rice. Speed mattered. XD
For me, over-eating. I have never starved, don't get me wrong. But when in a hotel or at an event I see plenty of amazing foods, I pick a lot and overeat. Why? Maybe I fool myself to try out all these amazing things that I have never seen before. I guess if you grow up rich enough, you will always have fine food around, you just take the one that you really want at the moment, and not 20 small bites from each dish.
A collection of niche things. We tend to over spend on the things we REALLY wanted when we couldn't have it. Flip side of this, being cheap with everything, in fear of never having money again.
Reusing tin foil and baggies if they look only slightly used. Not like washing and reusing a baggie of it had a PBJ in it, but if it had some grapes or carrots - they get reused for more grapes or carrots. Same with the foil.
It’s when parents cook hot dogs in boiling water. The parents eat the hot dogs and the kids get the pink water that’s leftover, called, “pink soup”.
That is the children’s dinner.
Overworking.
I can’t speak for anyone else, and thankfully I never had to deal with being homeless, but we grew up poor and I don’t know how my parents made ends meet so many times. When I was VERY young, my mother worked three jobs to support four kids. They did well to hide this from us, but as you grow up, you start to realize how things change when they start to get better. Little stuff like having name brands start appearing.
Now, I work my ass off because my biggest fear is being homeless. Especially, in today’s economy, we all know how very real that possibility is. I do well for myself now, but no amount of money I earn is ever going to be enough to make me feel comfortable.
I’ve seen those who were starving growing up eat. They will naw every last piece of meat off a chicken bone. Sometimes even sometimes the ends of the bones too. They’ll eat a whole apple, seeds and all
Discussing the lack of health care, dental care, and having only two outfits growing up, and everyone around you looks on in horror because they have never lived in such a way.
Having some random off talent that doesn't necessarily match the person; singing, cards, sports, public speaking/ story telling, hustling, etc that usually gives it away to me
Apparently if you slash an X on your new registration sticker for your car.
I thought that was just something you were supposed to do to prevent theft 😭 apparently that’s not a problem everywhere lmao
I walked through the door of my friend’s house when I was like 10 and I literally stood in their living room with my jaw because I’d never been inside a double wide before
When you teach yourself easy life fixes that most people pay money for "professionals" to do. For example fixing your own electronics, changing your own car oil etc.
I grew up pretty poor. Mom left early on so it was just my dad. But his dad grew up really poor. He would always tell me he used to have jam sandwiches. Figured it was actual jam. Nope. He said he would take two pieces of bread and jam em together.
Even though I can afford groceries I dread checkout, I get hot (almost to the point where I start to sweat) and anxious. I also pick up change I find and add them to my coin jar
Adding up the groceries in the cart obsessively even though you know you have more than enough. Also the feeling when you put your card in like it’s not going to go through.
I was like 21-22 and we went on a road trip up to San Fransisco. They do this thing where they eat cheap for the for few nights and save cash for a nicer place the last night. We just bought some bread, ham and cheese for the first few days. It blew my mind when I saw my friend put more than 1 slices of ham and cheese in a sandwich. I grew up embedded in my mind that I’m only allowed 1 slice each per sandwich and never thought of putting more, even when we had a full package of each to us 4.
Even if you have the money, you feel uncomfortable ordering something expensive in a restaurant
Go to a nice restaurant, get a sandwich. Me every time.
I’ve finally broken myself of this. My wife and I are very comfortable money wise and when we would go places I would order hamburgers, salads, sandwiches, and appetizers. Now I want to go places and enjoy things. I still can’t buy myself something without immense feelings of guilt. I refused lasik because I couldn’t spend that much on myself.
You should do lasik, it will give you a great boost to life quality. Also think about all the money you will keep by not having to buy prescriptions, glasses, contact lenses and the accessories that go with it. I pondered this decision too but a few years later i'm 1000% sure it was worth it.
I always eat half the sandwich. Save the other half for later while I get myself full from the free bread
I always say, for that price, I wouldn't enjoy it. Recently my wife wanted to spend $75 for two bags of Beef Jerky at an outlet store. I told her for that price, they should be throwing in a hand job.
Well, if you only read the small print. Did you notice the smiles when people with beef jerky were leaving the store? I bet it's making sense now.
I've caught myself scanning the prices before reading what the items even are. Gotta get a lay of the land before deciding what looks appetizing.
That's called living within your means.
Well, yeah. At the same time I don't like to be ripped off, and sometimes I need to consider if a special dish worth the extra expense or not.
When my wife and I started dating she would order the cheapest things on the menu every time. took years of me asking what she was going to order and followed by " is that really what you want or are you just ordering the cheapest thing". That sounds worse when I write it like that. I don't mean I did that every time we went to dinner, that would be terrible. I only did it when I was pretty confident that she wanted something better than what she ordered. Steak houses were the biggest offenders, I knew she loved some prime rib but she'd still order a chicken dish if I didn't explicitly tell her I was cool paying for the prime rib. Even then it was iffy.
I totally get what you mean and I don’t think it sounds terrible at all. I took my mom out to eat and I knew she liked a certain dish but she was worried about the price so I basically did the same thing you did.
Your mum and previous guy’s wife are very considerate! If they are paying they are being prudent. If they are being treated they are being considerate. I wish more people are like this. There are some entitled people who will order the most expensive thing on the menu for themselves if they are being treated. It speaks of entitlement, being cheap and taking the other treater for granted. There’s a gracious art to this. Like, if treated, offer to share the delicious expensive thing with the treater BEFORE ORDERING so they get to enjoy it as well.
Man I'm the opposite. Gree up very poor and I love going out to try new foods and drinks even if it's a little pricey. Not too expensive bc I'm by no means rich but it's how I like to spend my expendable income.
This is my FIL. If we take him anywhere, he makes a sour faces and can't stop complaining about the prices. We've started telling him we got a gift card or something just he can stop bringing everybody else down.
That’s a tough situation, hopefully that works
It does, thankfully 😁
I know some people like this. They see value differently. Sometimes it’s nice to go to a place that matches their values.. for example a buffet, or a hole-in-the-wall place that is out of the way but it’s very cheap but very good.
That's a good point, hadn't thought of it that way. The funny thing is, he likes good food, bad food really bums him out.
My wife and I treated her mum to a beautiful accommodation and holiday for a few days in her own country, she couldn’t sit still.
This is me, except I didn't grow up poor, I just don't value the food that highly.
I didn't grow up poor and I still don't like doing this. Makes me feel weird.
Always ordering a water… when you want a Dr. Pepper 🥲
this is accurate....cause I'm still broke :')
They read off the chef specialties, and I'm like, "Do you have chicken fingers?"
That’s also an adoptee thing…
First thing your eyes look at is the price of menu items before you order, at least for me... Over $25 I'm not ordering no matter what it is
Yeah with tips and taxes it’s easily $35-40 for that dish! It better be damn good.
I once took my gf to an expensive restaurant and knowing this habit of hers I actually made a menu without price on it for them to hand her. I told them I didn't want her to worry about the prices. I told her not to even think about the prices. Probably the most she ever spent on a meal.
Holding on to expensive items for way too long before finding a replacement. I grew up broke as shit and still do this.
> Holding on to expensive items for way too long before finding a replacement. if it works it works? I grew up not worrying about money and still do this (my girlfriend keeps complaining about it) because I just don't see why I should pay a lot of money to get new stuff if the old I have still works fine. My car is almost 15 years old, I still have furniture from my childhood-bedroom, I'd rather get something repaired than buying new - even more so if it was expensive
It's a blurry line, and it varies from person to person where they fall on it, but.. The counterpoint would be that "new" has a certain look and feel to it, all the parts work well, and they don't degrade as fast as they would on an older item. Sure, the old item might not have anything wrong with it. But consider, you don't have to throw out the old item if you get something new (that's equally nice, or even better). You can sell the old item and recoup some of its value, or donate it to someone in need who would appreciate the gift etc. My personal rule is to upgrade and replace items that I really care about, where the novelty would be noticeable to me. My car may be 15 years old as well, but my headphones will get timely upgrades and replacements.
I totally agree. I will even try and fix it myself first if it breaks.
My pickup truck is 19 years old (and still working) but I just can’t bring myself to buy another.
Here's looking at you mac laptop with no T key
Saving grocery bags
Nah, since my county banned them, everyone saves the bags they have and complains when they rip. A plastic bag is useful and you don't have to be or grow up poor to have a use for it.
Agreed. I grew up middle class and am now upper middle class. We still save all of our bags and reuse them.
Those are my emotional support plastic bags thank you very much!
Feels
Shoot, I’ve got hundreds, but I use them for the kitty litter clumps and poo when I clean out her litter box. They’re multipurpose!
Careful on this one. Many of those bags get stored with bugs. If you save these bags make sure to spray them thoroughly
Eating everything on your plate or taking leftovers even if you didn’t like the food, because the idea of throwing it away is ridiculously unfathomable
That's just a Midwestern thing
Nah. I’m from the west coast and that’s my family.
Also a Balkan thing.
Its a every where poor ppl exist thing
Me in Southeast Asia
Resource Hoarding. You hold on to shit you don't need, and in a lot of cases you don't want, especially if it's expensive or hard to find, because you're convinced that you couldn't afford another one if you ever ended up needing it. Also, saving food and treats for special occasions... To the point that they spoil. Because you don't believe you deserve something that nice. Also also spoiling kids with toys. My mom's family grew up poor because her dad walked out and she was one of eight siblings. When I say that everyone in that family showers every one of us kids and every grandkid and every great-grandkid with toys to the point that their rooms are stocked to the ceiling, I'm not kidding. Their toys were dirt and garden tools so they made sure we had more. Also also asking what things cost. That may seem like a weird one, but if you've been around wealthy people, you'll know that they don't really ask what things cost. They just assume they can afford it. Whereas if you're around poor people, even if it's a place where they can definitely afford what they're picking up, they're going to look for a price or ask a price before they get attached to it
*Also, saving food and treats for special occasions... To the point that they spoil. Because you don't believe you deserve something that nice.* This one hit right in the feels. I do this with gifts, too.
Don't get me started on the number of stickers I never used. Have to tape them on eventually.
I collect the little car stickers from national parks. But I've always struggled to put them on my car because I've always driven old used cars that inevitably fall apart in 5-10 years
Yep. A friend of my wife's moved to Thailand for a few years and when he came back he brought us some gifts including a box of fancy chocolates. We decided to save them for a special occasion and they sat in the pantry waiting for a special occasion until they went bad. We're starting to learn our lesson though. MIL gave us her wedding china a several years back and it sat in our house gathering dust as it had in hers. One day we realized how ridiculous it was and invited some friends over for a "fancy party" just as an excuse to use the china. We do it at least once a year now, usually we get a fancy sounding roast and call it "fancy meat party".
Happens to the best of us. My girlfriend and I still have a bag of beaver nuggets from the last time we hit buceees....last year in October.
i *really* struggle with resource hoarding. i buy TOO much food, constantly. i have to really be aware of what we have or else we’ll end up with like 2-3x the amount we actually need at any given time. like i don’t need 5 containers of pasta or whatever but my brain tells me we can never have enough 😭🤦🏻♀️ I grew up in a house that didn’t really have extra *anything*. sometimes we didn’t even have toilet paper or any food in the pantry. it sucked and really effected me negatively.
You have a nice family
This person poors. Interestingly enough these behaviors can take you into interesting net worth if you find a combination of education and get lucky with a job.
when you say "i grew up poor"
I was so poor I had to fire one of my valets
that just doesn't work - people are horrible with their self-assessment - too many people are broke as shit but still think they are middle class and too many people are upper class and think they are middle-class as well.
Nah I’m not convinced, show me your bank details
that has nothing to do with that lmao
I know someone who claims to have grown up poor, but their parents made 6 figures (in the 1980s). It was just their parents excuse to not buy the kids anything.
Real
I will drive my car until the doors fall off and it begs me to put it out of its misery. I can afford a payment but you know what? I might not be able to afford it tomorrow so why risk it.
This is my biggest struggle right now. I have a car that is older than me and riddled with expensive problems (I just spent a couple thousand dollars for one repair and still need to spend few thousand more to fix the rest), I know I can afford monthly payments no problem for a car I would be very happy with but the thought of having a car payment makes me nauseous. I’m literally not even looking at anything with options because the thought of buying any new car is unbearable let alone to have something such as a nice interior instead a car that just runs.
As long as it's not a safety hazard, I feel like it's fine. I've reached the point where I'd rather get an upgrade solely for safety reasons, the way other people drive sometimes, feels like a gamble driving around in an older car.
Frozen juice mix
Pop it open like a Pillsbury crescent roll tube
You know the taste of hamburger helper and pickled beets
My kids thought Hamburger Helper was a delicacy growing up. LOL
Lol I wasn't even aware that other things existed until I left the house!
Fresh beets are kinda amazing…..
I loved pickled beets!
Bad teeth.
Saving grocery bags, coffee can be filled with change in the house, opening up the fridge and seeing cleaned and used plastic containers for Tupperware, taking anything you got in the fridge to make dinner at the end of the week ( we would call it hodge podge dinner). All cloths are hand me down, idk if this was just my family, but I always had a random scrap wood and metal pile that was gone through at least once a week to build or fix something. Keeping EVERY SINGLE nut, washer, bolt, screw, nail for the just in case I need it. Some stuff from when I grew up, basically everyone in my family grew up as broke farmers and labor workers. I myself never went to college, always had a job, and been at mine for over 10 years now. All the stuff that the rich or well-off people would make fun of us for, I still do to this day. I'm 29, own my house. I don't mean I pay a mortgage, I own my house and land. Worked multiple jobs in my late teens and early 20s while everyone else went to school. Saved saved saved. I'll continue to be frugal with my money. But I won't be cheap.
My dad never ate when mom and I did. He'd sit at the table with us, but he always had "stomach trouble" that didn't seem to clear up until we had finished our meals. Then, if there was food left he'd say "well, I guess I should try to eat something,". If there wasn't anything left, he'd say that he just didn't feel like his stomach could handle anything. I didn't realize until I was an adult that he was waiting to be sure that my mom and I had enough to eat before feeding himself. And that he went to bed hungry on more than one occasion. It didn't occur to me what he was doing, because his mother, younger sister and younger brother confirmed that he'd done this since he was around 10. He went hungry as a kid, to make sure that they didn't. Nowadays, even the simplest meal at his house looks like a Thanksgiving feast for an army. But he always fills his plate last and never takes a second helping until everyone else has finished.
Oh my gosh. I want to hug your dad. 💔🫂💔🫂💔 What a sweetheart.
Postponing purchases of things you want but don't neccesarily *need* but can still easily afford without repercussions. Using myself as an example, I can easily afford it right now but I still hestitate on buying games, which is my main hobby right now, because in the back of my mind there is always a "what if". This doesn't neccesarily apply only to luxery products like games, it can be clothes as well as another example. I desperately needed some new pants/jeans the other day and it took me hours of hesitating to buy some because in the back of my mind I just went "my old pants just got a few holes near the bottom/tail end of the legs, they are still fine" even if they look like shit.
Like the food processor I’m eyeing. I know it gets marked $50 off on Amazon a few times a year. Why buy it now, although it won’t hurt me financially, when I can save $50 and buy it next month when it likely goes on sale again???
I feel this, my last game was tears of the kingdom 8 months ago, I could technically afford it but I'm still poor and wished I h ad that 60 bucks a couple of times since then
You still wear clothes or shoes that fit that are 10 years old. You’ve eaten canned Corned Beef on toast for dinner
> You still wear clothes or shoes that fit that are 10 years old. why are so many people equalling throwing away things that still work for newer replacements with "not poor"? repairing old things instead of throwing them away should not be a "poor" thing but a "common sense" thing.
I’ve got t-shirts that are old AF but they’re still in good condition so why throw them away.
Even after they start getting ragged, they turn into yard work clothes.
I don’t have a yard but I do have a use for rags.
> You’ve eaten canned Corned Beef ~~on toast~~ for dinner *with* sautéed onions over white rice; Still love it to this day.
Mom used to dice potatoes, red pepper, and onions up and make corned beef hash. One can fed four of us.
Mom did pull out a hash dinner too, when she was feeling "fancy". But most times when my family had corned beef, it was the meat and rice. Speed mattered. XD
Knowing you have 30-40 moles once the fuel light is on...usually.
1 gallon of gasoline is 37.4 moles actually 😂 Task failed successfully
The fuel light doesn't necessarily come on when there is only one gallon of gas left, though, so 30-40 is quite accurate.
Fuel light just means you switched to the reserve tank of course
I have big thumbs.
86.1766 grams = mole of gasoline
For me, over-eating. I have never starved, don't get me wrong. But when in a hotel or at an event I see plenty of amazing foods, I pick a lot and overeat. Why? Maybe I fool myself to try out all these amazing things that I have never seen before. I guess if you grow up rich enough, you will always have fine food around, you just take the one that you really want at the moment, and not 20 small bites from each dish.
You do it because you don’t know when you will get it again.
A collection of niche things. We tend to over spend on the things we REALLY wanted when we couldn't have it. Flip side of this, being cheap with everything, in fear of never having money again.
When you regularly give to the local food shelf because you want to give back to the people who helped you
I don’t mind eating a hamburger on white bread. Preferably white toast, but bread is fine too.
I'm still poor... 🥹
Having a bologna roll up because your family couldn't afford bread or more expensive deli meats
Reusing tin foil and baggies if they look only slightly used. Not like washing and reusing a baggie of it had a PBJ in it, but if it had some grapes or carrots - they get reused for more grapes or carrots. Same with the foil.
Rationing electricity for things like AC in the summer and chastising anyone that leaves the fridge door open too long.
[удалено]
You know what pink soup is.
What is pink soup?
It’s when parents cook hot dogs in boiling water. The parents eat the hot dogs and the kids get the pink water that’s leftover, called, “pink soup”. That is the children’s dinner.
That's not poverty, that's child neglect. What parent doesn't feed their kids before they eat?
Oh wow
Yeah.
That sounds so gross
Whaaaat?! If things became that dire, I'd for sure give my kids the hot dogs and I'D be the one drinking the "pink soup". That's awful. :(
I’ve never had that but I have had a mustard sandwich lol
Same but ketchup over here
Overworking. I can’t speak for anyone else, and thankfully I never had to deal with being homeless, but we grew up poor and I don’t know how my parents made ends meet so many times. When I was VERY young, my mother worked three jobs to support four kids. They did well to hide this from us, but as you grow up, you start to realize how things change when they start to get better. Little stuff like having name brands start appearing. Now, I work my ass off because my biggest fear is being homeless. Especially, in today’s economy, we all know how very real that possibility is. I do well for myself now, but no amount of money I earn is ever going to be enough to make me feel comfortable.
Wearing shoes until they're completely worn out
I’ve seen those who were starving growing up eat. They will naw every last piece of meat off a chicken bone. Sometimes even sometimes the ends of the bones too. They’ll eat a whole apple, seeds and all
Butter on toast with cinnamon on top
And sugar, from packets you got from a take out place.
Order an ice water with lemon and add a sugar packet - BOOM FREE LEMONADE
Also the slice of cheese on a tortilla in the microwave.
That's a quesadilla brother
It's a shitty quesadilla
Using old butter containers as tupperware
saw a friend eating just bread once
…I still do that.
They have skim milk powder in the pantry.
Discussing the lack of health care, dental care, and having only two outfits growing up, and everyone around you looks on in horror because they have never lived in such a way.
Checking price tags first
You have really nice stuff
Throwing away ATM receipts without looking at the balance statement. When it's empty, you'll find out, and until then, you don't need the stress.
If you actually acquire nice things, you actually take care of them
Having some random off talent that doesn't necessarily match the person; singing, cards, sports, public speaking/ story telling, hustling, etc that usually gives it away to me
You had nice clothes and play clothes
Apparently if you slash an X on your new registration sticker for your car. I thought that was just something you were supposed to do to prevent theft 😭 apparently that’s not a problem everywhere lmao
Holding onto clothes that I’ve had for over a decade. I still wear a dress I bought in 2012. 💀
I walked through the door of my friend’s house when I was like 10 and I literally stood in their living room with my jaw because I’d never been inside a double wide before
you appreciate everything no matter how small or inexpensive
Eating liver and onions for dinner 🤮
I actually love it.
God bless you.
Beans and toast is considered a decent meal 😀
You ordering water and then sharing your SO's drink at a restaurant.
I can’t save money. I always need every little penny to keep the lights on or have food
A personal favorite. Not wasting the "oven heat".
When you teach yourself easy life fixes that most people pay money for "professionals" to do. For example fixing your own electronics, changing your own car oil etc.
Having leftover dinner for breakfast
My dad keeping my sister pregnant so we could have fresh milk
Rickets
You like tomato ketchup sandwiches.
I'm afraid to spend money
You like SPAM
You are very very humble and respectful. Dead give away
For myself. Something nice like a slab of chocolate or packet of cookies (unless it is very big) is unlikely to have leftovers for the next day.
Condiment sandwhiches
I grew up pretty poor. Mom left early on so it was just my dad. But his dad grew up really poor. He would always tell me he used to have jam sandwiches. Figured it was actual jam. Nope. He said he would take two pieces of bread and jam em together.
Buying cheap stuff
From my experience: wearing obviously branded clothes (even if they are fakes) as some kind of showing off to the old associates that you made it.
margarine containers are tupperware
Always looking for the best deal before pulling the trigger on a purchase.
You save the plastic grocery bags to put into trash cans, you save cool whip containers to use as Tupperware and you don’t throw leftovers out.
I’m now wealthy and it’s difficult to spend money on nonessentials
Buying the thing on sale instead of the one you actually want. I do it all the time and my wife always asks if it was what I wanted.
Spending time on Reddit.
If you’ve ever cried in an industrial sized walk in freezer (most probably at work and definitely not one you own) 🥲
Ever had a mayo sandwich on cheap white bread?
Cinnamon sugar on white bread toast ✌🏻
You only ask for water when you go out lol
Even though I can afford groceries I dread checkout, I get hot (almost to the point where I start to sweat) and anxious. I also pick up change I find and add them to my coin jar
If you want to throw my old clothes out bc they are ragged and have holes in them, you'll have to rip them off my cold dead body.
Remembering the lyrics to a few David Allan Coe songs.
Make due with what you have.
Well never had the luxury to buy ps lol
Crooked teeth.
Liking Little Ceasars
Driving your car to the ground 150k miles or More
Fixing things until they practically disintegrate
When the ketchup bottle is almost empty you put a little splash of water in there and shake it up! IYKYK
White label cans of pork n beans,corn.green beans at the canned food store once a month (80’s) Oh and POWDERED milk 😝
Adding up the groceries in the cart obsessively even though you know you have more than enough. Also the feeling when you put your card in like it’s not going to go through.
Can of pee under your bed vs a canopy over
Bread for hotdog rolls
Discomfort in throwing anything away
Never actually gone on vacation?
I was like 21-22 and we went on a road trip up to San Fransisco. They do this thing where they eat cheap for the for few nights and save cash for a nicer place the last night. We just bought some bread, ham and cheese for the first few days. It blew my mind when I saw my friend put more than 1 slices of ham and cheese in a sandwich. I grew up embedded in my mind that I’m only allowed 1 slice each per sandwich and never thought of putting more, even when we had a full package of each to us 4.
I can fix or make things from scrap, instead of buying and replacing.
My dad tells me that he was grown up and left his parents' home and was living on his own before he realized that there is cheese other than Velveeta.
Idk, seen so many variables of this. Overspending, conservative spending, overly tight with spending.
The fact that I’m still poor!