Were you raised by Depression-era parents

[Breedlove]

Something from my parents father born 1920 mother 1921 . Both came from large families , my father talked of the girls in his family wearing dresses made out of flour sacks . When my father was 16 he lied and joined the CCC camps . To him it was a great experience . My mother's family was from Hungary again a large family . My mother used to tell us kids during WWII all the men were in the war . Every evening the women in her small town would get together at the church and make quilts for their loved ones . She said it was more of a social and what's going on type thing. Several of her girl friends lost their husbands , brothers , friends or reletives . She always said this made them stronger . As far a money mom and dad had two words
(Were broke )
Dad came home from II , worked 37 years in a foundry , raised 3 boys paid his home off . He lost his left leg in WWII so he worked on an artificial leg
never complained . To me my parents are true American heroes My Grandparents on father's side first generation German . My mother was first generation Hungarian.

 

[NW-Bound]

I chose "Other".

My parents were young adults during WW II. Not being American born, they had to dodge bombs and bullets.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

She told my father how terrible it was living through a major war in the Battle of Franklin at the end of the Civil War. And she sure hated Yankees.

It was the Secesh who initiated that battle IIRC.

 

[audreyh1]

Not only the Depression, but one of my parents experienced the Dust Bowl as well.

 

[SheitlQueen]

My mother constantly worried about money, although she did not need to. She also never threw anything away and would reuse everything she could.

 

[nativenewenglander]

My mom was born in 1921 dad in 1930. Mom grew up with her mom and three siblings my grandfather walked out when my mom was four years old. We never knew our grandfather as mom wouldn't allow him to come and visit. They struggled, my grandmother worked as a house cleaner to get by. Her parents died around 1890, when she was young, so she went to live in an orphanage in Newark NJ. My dad grew up in western PA, my grandfather worked three jobs to get by. They had boarders that lived in the house for extra money. Their house lot was large for a city, but managed grow fruits and vegetables plus they raised rabbits and chickens for food and eggs. My dad said my grandmother loved making bread and whenever a homeless person came by looking for food she always made them a jelly sandwich. Both my parents were very frugal and instilled that in my brother and I. I still save seeds of some of the same vegetables my grandmother grew. Sorry this is so long...

 

[Pellice]

Yes, both my parents were born in the 1920s and had very frugal habits and a fear of being poor that they gave to me. My mother talked about it a lot; I don't think she ever felt secure. Her most often repeated advice to me was "save lots of money." (I don't think either of them ever brought themselves to think in terms of investment - they loved the high savings accounts interest in the 80s). My father absolutely refused to have anything to do with a garden. When he was a child, he had to work daily in his family's garden to help feed a family of 8 children.

It did motivate me to be very careful with money. When my mother passed, she was able somehow to leave me a modest sum (forever grateful to her, but sad she couldn't bring herself to spend it). I was careful to use that inheritance in ways that she would approve!

 

[marko]

The Depression never visited my grandparent's home, except for one thing:
Grand dad's mom died on October 29, 1929. Great-grandad came home early and said that the markets had crashed. She dropped dead right there in the hallway.

Other than that, mom and her brother were raised as if nothing was going on. The old man had money and made a lot more buying foreclosures.

To the day he died, my uncle would not eat roast beef or steak; claiming he ate that almost every night during the Depression.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I voted "Yes I was" because I am sure my parents were affected by the Great Depression to some extent although they scarcely talked about it. My Dad hardly at all but Mom sometimes mentioned having very few clothes and lining her shoes with cardboard during her younger years (especially when gazing at the bounty of clothes and shoes my sister and I had crammed into our closets).

Dad was born in 1905 and Mom in 1915, both to immigrant parents. My father and his brother were both college graduates as was my Mom and her five siblings (Mom graduated from h.s. in '32 and college in '37 after which she began teaching and eventually earned a master's from Duke in '41). Dad's family became very well off by the 20's and the 30's as his father had an excellent management job in a major steel mill and also owned property and businesses around town. Mom's not so much, but they were very frugal and hard working and my grandfather stayed employed although with reduced hours throughout the '30's, and the children did well in school, some earning scholarships (there were 3 Carnegie Tech grads among the 6 children). My mother said they always had enough to eat, and she never felt poor as so many others were in similar situations and some even worse off. She and her siblings all helped each other (and also her parents) when they got jobs. My mother was always careful and saving with money, my father much less so. My sister and I were told when we were in high school that we could attend college anywhere we chose and they would foot the entire bill.

 

[racy]

Dad was born in 1925 & Mom in 1930, so yes. You wouldn't believe the stacks of empty plastic butter tubs, boxes of old National Geographic magazines, and the like. Or, maybe you would!

 

[donheff]

Dad born in 1905 and mom in 1910. I felt like we were well off but in reality my parents were very frugal, as was our life style. In retrospect it seems amazing that my civil servant father and stay at home mother could put five of six kids through college. The home they maintained made me feel that I always had a place and a family I could fall back on. I think that made a huge difference in my outlook.

 

[Cobra9777]

My parents were born in 1931 and 1932. In-laws in 1933 and 1934. So they all would have been very young during most of the Great Depression. I'm sure they were affected in some way, but they never spoke about it that I can remember. Neither did my grandparents. Growing up, money was very tight in our family, which I posted in the other thread. So we were frugal by necessity. There were no Depression-era habits.

DMIL was age 7-11 during WW2 and came from a large family in London. She tells stories of bombings and then being sent to the countryside to live. She stayed with some people who eventually became her "family." She never went back to her real family after the war. To this day, with the exception of a couple siblings, her "family" in England are the people she stayed with out in the country during the war. She has lots of extreme hardship stories from that time. That was 75 years ago and a lot has changed, but again, I don't see any frugal behavior resulting from that experience. Just stories.

 

[Car-Guy]

Yes, and I still remember my dads hardship stories. Over and over again.

 

[Blueskies123]

Yes, both parents were born in the 20's and had stories about growing up in the depression. The biggest impact on me was that my mom got hysterical every time my dad talked about investing in stocks. When my parents retired every dollar they had was in the bank and had been in savings accounts their entire life. Their retired life would have been different if they had invested in stocks.

 

[jollystomper]

Both my parents grew up in countries where the the U.S. Depression conditions would have been an upgrade to their childhood.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Dad was born 1926; Mom was born 1929. Dad was probably more frugal than Mom and had some stories, but I think Mom and her siblings were young enough that they figured being frugal was just the normal way of things. Dad died with over $1M and we were trying to get him to spend it almost until he died. He deteriorated very rapidly, but when we thought he could go to assisted living he wouldn't look at the nicer places but instead was looking at an old converted motel. He did like to spend on travel.

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).

I have some money and generally like to spend it, but checking Quicken it looks like I'm barely at half my SWR for the year and we're 11 months in. I have to admit I inherited some of my parents' traits and still obsess over gas prices, clip coupons for groceries, etc. I need to blow that dough!

 

[PatrickA5]

Dad (born '21) lived on a farm during the depression. No running water until he was a late teen. One room school house taught by his sister. Back then, boys on the farm were expected to work the farm and didn't go to school until after their farm chores were done. Lots of talk of riding his horse to school. They really weren't paid much, if any, actual money back in the 30's. Everything was barter.

Fast forward about 80 years and he was still frugal into his 90's. I would take him to the store and spend over an hour while he might pick out maybe 10 items costing $10.

He enlisted in the Army (WWII) in order to get off the farm. He had a lot of fascinating stories that he didn't reveal until he was in his 80's and 90's (or perhaps I just wasn't listening until I was getting old).

 

[Sunset]

Yes, both parents were born in the 20's and had stories about growing up in the depression. The biggest impact on me was that my mom got hysterical every time my dad talked about investing in stocks. When my parents retired every dollar they had was in the bank and had been in savings accounts their entire life. Their retired life would have been different if they had invested in stocks.

+1
Both parents couldn't invest in stocks, as they had stories of grandmother using stock certificates to wallpaper the bathroom since they were worthless.

I had to hold my mother's hand, as I had her buy bonds.
They never bought a house.

 

[scrabbler1]

My dad was born in 1931, my mom in 1935. My dad's dad was a traveling salesman who maintained a decent household throughout the 1930s, my dad told me. My mom, who passed away in 1995, never told me about any tough times in the 1930s although she probably wouldn't remember much due to being so young by the time the 1930s ended.

 

[Dawg52]

My dad was born in 1919 and my mom 1917. I heard all the horror stories of how tough it was but they both said they were happy for the most part. Dad didn't graduate from HS and was an airplane mechanic during WWII. He developed rheumatoid arthritis in his 20's so physical work was pretty much over when he came home from the war. He worked in a low stress job for the Air National Guard from then on. He never made much money and mom was a stay at home housewife/mom.

They were certainly conservative with their money as they had to be. Some of that spilled over to me. But nowhere near to their level. I sometimes feel guilty for having the savings I do and living such a comfortable lifestyle. But I usually get over it. They would be happy for me anyway....

 

[geeky_grrl]

I guess I'm a youngster here, my parents are baby boomers.

 

[Odiedog]

My parents were born in 31 and 32 so they grew up in that era and experienced the rationing that went along with WW2. I know that they started out as a young married couple with very little and we grew up with a fairly frugal lifestyle with hand me downs, simple meals, etc. but we always had clothes and food on the table. We heard all the typical stories about children in other countries starving for the food we might waste (and we were smacked for suggesting they ship ours to them.....)

It was more interesting seeing how they adapted as they became more financially secure. I think my dad made up for the pent up desire for things while my mom tracked every cent they ever spent. I am glad that they are in a position in their later years to be comfortable.

It is also interesting to see how we, their children approach money. One is a spendthrift with little savings (probably following my dad's desire to make up for going without as a kid) , the others are all pretty conservative.

 

[Walt34]

You wouldn't believe the stacks of empty plastic butter tubs, boxes of old National Geographic magazines, and the like. Or, maybe you would!

I believe you! When my mother was getting ready to move out of the house she'd lived in for ~40 years, my sisters had to double-team her to get her out of the house so I and one sister could clean stuff out and throw it out. The other sister would take Mom out to lunch while the other one and I cleaned stuff out.

I was stunned at the number of butter tubs and plastic grocery bags under the sink and had no idea it was even possible to cram that many in there!

 

[braumeister]

I was stunned at the number of butter tubs and plastic grocery bags under the sink and had no idea it was even possible to cram that many in there!

How about in the oven? It was crammed full of those things. And every time I cleaned it out and told Mom how unsafe that was, the reply was always "What's the problem? I never use the oven."

 

[Walt34]

How about in the oven? It was crammed full of those things. And every time I cleaned it out and told Mom how unsafe that was, the reply was always "What's the problem? I never use the oven."

Oh, that wouldn't do. The oven was where she kept the Tupperware....