Were you raised by Depression-era parents

[golfnut]

Both my parents were born in Ireland. Dad in 1912 and mom in 1916. Came to the u.s. in late 1940s. Dad's father died when he was very young and same with my mom's mother.



I saw their houses where they grew up in Ireland in 1990 and my mom's house still did not have a toilet.


They were both very frugal (my dad more so). He hated what he thought were high utility bills (he went as far as putting a lock on the house (dial) phone. He wasn't too happy to find out my brother and I knew how to compromise it.


Anyhoo, I definitely credit my dad for my frugal ways. They definitely helped me retire early. Now if my wife would just learn to turn off lights when she leaves a room.

 

[nhcycling]

Dad was born in 1930 and Mom 1933. And my nana was an immigrant from Italy in 1929 born in 1898.
Mom came from a huge family that was very poor, their kitchen table was a door. They never went hungry as her dad was a butcher. She’s very frugal. When my parents married they were not well off, they told us the story of a sweltering night where dad asked for a glass of soda and mom said they didn’t have any, nor 10 cents to buy some. Dad worked 2 jobs, made his way with his own business and mom managed the household budget well, dad invested wisely. They did very well. Most of us 5 lbym and are doing well. The next generation was overindulged however but they seem to be lbym people too.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

My parents were both born in the 1920s. Their families were farmers, they lost their farms when the banks locked their doors and foreclosed on mortgages.

The big migration West called the Grapes of Wraith was my kinfolk. As a child in school, I was called an Okie in memory of that migration.

My grandparents on both sides never forgot the hardships that they lived through.

 

[imoldernu]

I can remember very clearly, growing up right after the depression... born in 1936, my youngest years were spent in the arms of both my mom and dad's extended families. A time when those who were down on their luck were supported by the rest of the family who had jobs. WWll in the early 40's was not much better than the lack of money, as life was governed by shortages, rationing and sacrifices that would seem devastating today. No meat, walk to work miles because of gas shortage, no leather, limited dry goods..., and any metal at a premium.( it was before plastic) Wage and price control... (Emergency Stabilization Act)... unimaginable today.

Friday was payday... That meant that Thursday, when we had run out of money, we might have carrot-top soup for dinner. And... we were better off than half of our neighbors, because my dad still had a job.

In retrospect, no sacrifice... just a matter of "it is what it is", and as kids, we didn't know any better.

 

[Red Badger]

My mom's side had money. They had horses. Just like today, horses meant discretionary $ (unless LAYM). But the GR impacted mom quite strongly.
Dad's family was dirt scrabble poor. Big family on a small homestead farm in ND during the dust bowl. Gramps saved the farm by smuggling whiskey from Canada.

Thanks Canada.

 

[gcgang]

Parents both born in 1914. Mom had stories about Salvation Army giving them coal, local grocer giving food. Dad's father was well off, a chemist who ran paper mills. Dad said the crash of 1929 wiped him out, had a stroke and died. Dad's mom baked bread, sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls (why I grew up with a weight problem-lol) while he worked as a chicken plucker and pin setter in the bowling alley to get by.

They always made me feel that I could have anything I wanted, but based on their example, I rarely asked.

 

[Oz investor]

i don't have to rely on only the stories , i have photos and the ration books ( and some other keepsakes )

certainly some interesting lessons were learned from that era , could it all happen again ( it was less than 90 years ago and current times could be compared to the roaring '20s )

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Dad's family was dirt scrabble poor. Big family on a small homestead farm in ND during the dust bowl. Gramps saved the farm by smuggling whiskey from Canada.

Thanks Canada.

My grandmother's 2nd husband smuggled booze too! They still like to drink in North Dakota ...

 

[MarieIG]

Yes, parents born in 20 & 28. My father WOULD NOT THROW OUT FOOD. If something went bad, he would eat it anyway. My mother used to have to throw out his raggy old clothes when he was at work.

I remember my grandmother saving and reusing string and tea bags.

 

[Oz investor]

two uses of a tea bag and then thrown in the garden ( as fertilizer ) still works for me

and rags can be useful

 

[PawPrint53]

I had great aunts and uncles who never got over it. When we cleaned out one uncle's house at the end we found piles of grocery bags, egg cartons, and bread wrappers, as well as bushel baskets of slightly used hotel soaps (great aunt was a maid in a local hotel).

My Dad had packages of ramen stored in the bedroom dressers, many outdated cans of food in the cupboard, the trays that meat come in, and lots of newspapers as well as grocery bags and egg cartons. Even though his income was more than his outgo even when he was in a higher level of assisted living, he wouldn't buy himself new clothes or spend much money on anything. His boxers were so thin that they looked like gauze. Luckily (well, for me), he let me take over his finances so I bought him some new clothes. His hoarding habit worked for me one time when he gave me coupons (no expiration date) he'd received during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair so 30 years later, my DH and I went up to the top of the Space Needle for free.

 

[braumeister]

When I was a kid, any tendency toward hoarding earned people a reference to the Collyer Brothers. They were New Yorkers like us, and everyone seemed to know about them. Worth a read if you want to see what serious hoarders can be like.

 

[mickeyd]

I voted yes. No doubt their frugality has rubbed off on me.
Thank goodness!

 

[MarieIG]

When I was a kid, any tendency toward hoarding earned people a reference to the Collyer Brothers. They were New Yorkers like us, and everyone seemed to know about them. Worth a read if you want to see what serious hoarders can be like.

Yes, I'm a life-long New Yorker, and remember my parents referencing the Collyer Brothers. I have a vague recollection of seeing a picture, but not sure where.

 

[MarieIG]

two uses of a tea bag and then thrown in the garden ( as fertilizer ) still works for me

and rags can be useful

Ah, I remember now, Dad endorsed dust rags after the clothes fell apart.

 

[2lhasas]

My parents were born in 29 and 30. Dad would find something on sale and stock up to sometimes ridiculous levels. So frugal, but also not. LOL He was a travel hacker before that was really a thing and would sometimes book a really cheap fare somewhere to simply rack the miles and get to his next Skymiles level. He was probably on a watch list somewhere. One time he found a super cheap fare from Dallas to Brussels. Flew with nothing but a couple of books. Flew there, then turned around and flew right back without ever leaving the airport.

They definitely taught me lessons about savings, investing and frugality, but I also learned lessons about enjoying life. Dad planned to travel extensively in retirement, but by the time he got there, an old ankle injury really impacted his mobility. He got cancer and mom had dementia. A long and enjoyable retirement is not guaranteed, which is what I told co workers who couldn't believe I was retiring at 50.

 

[scrabbler1]

When I was a kid, any tendency toward hoarding earned people a reference to the Collyer Brothers. They were New Yorkers like us, and everyone seemed to know about them. Worth a read if you want to see what serious hoarders can be like.

I recall (MS)NBC had a show about hoarders about 10 years ago which included a small piece about the Collyer brothers and their odd, dangerous living quarters.

 

[MikeD]

My Dad was very emotional (Mostly hate and depression). He did not allow my mother to work and thus we had no money to spend. We ALWAYS had food. And health insurance from his job as an engineer.

My mother grew up so poor that, as the 14 year old head of household (!) she would steal the trash from the local food store and use scissors to cut the bad spots from the thrown-away outer cabbage leaves and make soup from it and the remains of bad, thrown away onions. He mother had died when Ma was 12 and her father would spend his entire paycheck at the bar the day he got paid.

She never got over it.

I am a life-long diabetic who was reminded his whole life to be prepared, both by my parents and the fact that I can not go without eating without having low blood sugar. I am not frugal but make sure to have enough things and food and money saved or lined up some way for the future.

I had a life expectancy of 42 to 45 and literally almost died of kidney failure at 42. It was estimated by two of my doctors that I had two-three weeks to live on the day of my life-saving kidney/pancreas transplant, but here I am at age 64, almost 65. I opened a 401K at my first job in, I think, the first year that they were offered even though I thought that I wouldn't live to retire. I put in the minimum amount in order to receive the maximum employer match. I remember saying to my future boss as I filled out my first real employee forms, "Hey, it's like free money!"

So I think my mother's money saving ways rubbed off on me in the way that I do not want to be without anything in the future. My Dad once told me to save money and I remembered that. I know that my mother was proud of me as she told me once.

 

[Bir48die]

Dad in 1924. Mom in 1928. Remember my mom telling me stories of her dad trying to make money when she was young. He played banjo in a band for cash and dug graves. Later in life he leased a farm and made barely enough to survive. My dad's dad was a logger and also leased a farm to raise chickens.

Both my parents worked once I was in grade school. My dad was cheap but he could maximize anything. Built a house, campers, boats and furniture. He was a white collar office guy. I learned everything about money and hard work watching him.

One bad point is I have had struggles enjoying spending money at times. However I am slowly learning.

 

[FreeBear]

My folks grew up overseas and were barely in their teens during WW II. On rare occasions, they would talk about enduring years of enemy occupation, aerial dogfights, and hiding from enemy troops while subsisting off the land.

My folks survived the war and became professionals, immigrating to the US in the late 1950's. It wasn't easy living as a "foreigners", naturalized US citizens that is, but they did well in the 1960's economic boom.

My mom told great stories of her early days all alone in the US, the gist of most being make friends and love others. My mom taught me the meaning of love. My dad got into real estate and taught me to "be an owner, not an employee" as a young kid.

It took me a few decades to figure out how to apply my dad's wisdom to my own life, but I believe I did him proud by catching FIRE in my 40's. Like many here, I discovered the "secret" of saving a large chunk of my employee wages and investing in ownership of equity funds. My dad was right: ownership eventually trumped working as an employee!

 

[meleana]

My parents and grandparents saved everything- even reused aluminum foil, etc.. I still cut open toothpaste tubes.

 

[JoeWras]

My parents were 20's babies. Their stories, along with my Grandparents had a huge impact on me. They were really affected by the depression.


I recently looked through some photos and noticed that my mom and uncle's clothing was all home made. Pictures I have of the families from right before WWI show snappy dressers. So, yeah, life changed.

 

[Seagirt]

My mother was born in 1925, and shortly after that her parents lives were devastated by the depression. Grandfather's family had been very wealthy but lost it all in the crash, and I believe died as well. They had to leave the big city and go live with grandmother's parents, and scrape by. They never went back to their city lives, but lived very frugally and close to the land (hunting, gardening, diy) all their lives.

In the 1950's my mother was determined to escape to the big city and a glamorous lifestyle, but my father's work caused a lot of stress, and that all fell apart with divorce,. She also had to downgrade and moved to a small town. She was quite bitter about it all, there was nothing she admired so much as people who lived in 'high society'. For me, I always felt my grandparents were quite contented and well off.

I think this has affected my retirement: I view city jobs and lifestyles as being quite precarious and leaving you open to disaster, whereas I'd rather have a more stable, independent lifestyle closer to nature.