Being poor was a good thing

[street]

I never really realized that when I was growing up I was considered poverty level. Being raised in a very rural small community of 700 people life was great as a child (upper plains). My parents both worked but I'm sure it wasn't even minimum wage. We always had food, home, car and were clothed to the best that could be. We weren't any different from the rest of the people in the area. I look back now and everyone was in the same boat with some having it better but no wealthy people for sure.

I never got the impression ever that we were poor. We had everything that we needed all the time. We may not have had the luxurious but we didn't know any better any way. lol I do know I learned to be conservative from growing up and there was no waste.

I remember my mom and dad when they got married they both had a car. Well they didn't need both cars so they actually traded one car for a house. They lived in that house till the day they died. We really were rich and my childhood shows it today how blessed I was being so poor. It showed me my way and I had that foundation of love, work hard and being conservative.

When my parents left the work force I believe they had around 100K. My dad even RE and did part time work in the summer for a few years. They did start SS right away and lived a very nice and comfortable retirement life. They were always happy and loving with what they had.

 

[folivier]

My take on this is your parents were happy with what they had and didn't want more. Very different from the way things are now.

 

[NW-Bound]

... We weren't any different from the rest of the people in the area. I look back now and everyone was in the same boat with some having it better but no wealthy people for sure...

One should learn to look down, not to look up, to see that there are people having much less, and they still manage to live their life.

Else, one can still be unhappy even if he has one billion, for that is just a small fraction of what Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have. I read a biography of someone like that.

 

[Walt34]

I never got the impression ever that we were poor. We had everything that we needed all the time. We may not have had the luxurious but we didn't know any better any way. lol I do know I learned to be conservative from growing up and there was no waste.

Pretty much the same here. We knew others had "more" but it didn't bother me, "it is what it is" kind of thing. But we also had a home (by today's standards very small) but we had indoor plumbing and central heat. Plenty of food, decent clothing but the budget for that was not large. Unlike some others who have posted here I never wondered where my next meal was coming from. Our cars came from the junk yard and we did the maintenance/repairs to keep them running.

 

[REWahoo]

Oh please! You guys had it easy...

 

[travelover]

I agree with the sentiment, in general. I was raised on the poor side of town, but never experienced crushing poverty and I do think that it motivated me in positive ways. Had we been poorer and had I had fewer role models, I can see where it could have been a real trap.

 

[street]

We did get plumbing and had lights but never had a shower just a tub. Lol I remember not even asking for some things because I knew we just couldn't have it. It didn't make me upset and my parents would not of scolded me for asking I just knew I can do with what I had.
I also seen a couple families that I do know had it worse. You just know and I always felt bad for them.

 

[travelover]

.......... I remember not even asking for some things because I knew we just couldn't have it. It didn't make me upset and my parents would not of scolded me for asking I just knew I can do with what I had. ...........

Same here. Looking back, it was just accelerated maturity in that respect. Real life means there are things you can't afford so you don't even go there.

 

[karen1972]

I know we never felt poor and I assume most of that has to do with you either do it yourself or barter ie we never starved because we had a massive garden, we canned or froze everything, we raised 500 chickens and traded them for anything else we needed, fish/deer/beef/pork/milk, there was always someone wanting to trade. Cars could be $500 beaters, you just fix them yourself, you do your own home maintenance and if its something big, you get your whole social circle together and you bang it out. We never bought furniture as there is always someone tossing something out, always a rummage sale, always a way to replace what you need. Money goes a long way when your not using it the traditional way and when you can be crafty and re-purpose and those skills have been lost over time. If we bought what we needed, we would have starved.

Now my parents may have been frugal to a fault. The neighbor was getting rid of his garage to put up a 3 stall one, my dad asked if he could have it.. of course, saved the guy money not having to pay to have it torn down and dumpsters, etc. So every day us kids went over and took off each board, using that tool to take out each nail, saving every little bit of it so we could merge his garage and our garage and build a bigger/better garage. Now my dad got it in his head he had to re-use EVERYthing. I sat and re-bent nails straight for days that summer. So for the last 20 years, the roof has been leaking and its because of those nails... every time he complains I just shake my head.. he could be cheap on everything else, but re-using nails is really never a good idea.

 

[NW-Bound]

... he could be cheap on everything else, but re-using nails is really never a good idea.

In the old days, nails were forged one at a time by a blacksmith.

However, I do not think your dad would be that old to value these expensive handmade nails.

 

[CardsFan]

This thread reminds me of a guy I worked with 30+ years ago. He told the story about saving money and buying food for the church to give baskets to the poor. On Thanksgiving morning, HIS family received a basket. They didn't know they were poor. Some things are relative, and if you are safe, secure, have food on the table, and in a loving family then poor is very relative.

 

[socca]

I grew up in a 4 BR / 2.5 BA / 2200 sq ft / full basement / .3 acre house in a 99.9% white suburb. All of my childhood friends had similar houses (some a bit more, some a bit less). I didn't perceive my family as either rich or poor. We did have a black cleaning lady who took the bus from downtown to clean our house. If I had ever had the chance to see how she lived, perhaps I would have considered us rich. However, this never happened.

 

[brewer12345]

I did not grow up poor, but both my parents did and it greatly impacted how they lived their lives in terms of diet, attitude toward money, what was important, etc. Dad actually became a successful businessman twice in different trades, but it did not make that much of a difference in how he lived. It definitely rubbed off on me. Call it poverty ne generation removed and it is definitely a gift.

 

[pb4uski]

+1. While my grandparents survived the Great Depression and were unusually frugal, Dad was very successful but you wouldn't know it by how he lived or treated others. After he died I found out about some good deeds that he did to help out some friends and family in difficult times but he never talked about it. Very proud to be his son

 

[aaronc879]

I grew up poor by 1980's standards. I remember grocery shopping at the food pantry for years. I rarely had new clothes. Despite that, I was in better conditions than my parents had and they were better off than their parents. I do think that seeing my parents struggle with money is what made me so frugal. I never had much growing up so I never missed having stuff when I got out on my own. I never made much money but when I peaked in the $40Ks/yr I was able to save around half of that and not feel deprived.

 

[FreeBear]

Same here. Looking back, it was just accelerated maturity in that respect. Real life means there are things you can't afford so you don't even go there.

+1

One of my favorite quotes this week

So true! Seemingly obvious to see this in writing, but so many have yet to accept this reality.

 

[RobbieB]

Pops had a good phrase for it; "It's good to want things"

He used it many times when I said I wanted this or that.

Some of them I got and others I didn't. Just like life.

 

[38Chevy454]

I would not say that I grew up poor or poverty, more just typical middle class. One thing that my parents did, that had a fairly strong influence on me, is they did not live on credit. If they wanted something they saved until they could pay cash. So no real payments on anything, besides the mortgage. I am similar, hate to have any credit debt.

Once I was out of the house and graduated from college, my father did move up into mgmt positions where their std of living was higher. Being first born, I did not get many of the same things my youngest sister did. I don't feel any animosity toward youngest, it was just my parent's ability to have more at that time.

 

[Sunset]

I know it sounds like Monty Python, but - you had food ?

We were so poor I was send to the butcher to get chicken wings (they were thrown out back then in 70s) and we ate them all summer. That and free soup bones for the "dog" meant we had lots of soup as well.
Naturally when we fished, we ate all we could keep, none of this catch and release stuff.

Around 1975 I bought a used color tv so my parents could stop watching their b&w tv in the livingroom.

 

[NW-Bound]

Heck, my father became an orphan during WWII, in his late teen years. What's the problem with food? He had to dodge bullets and fend for himself, after burying his parents.

It was not here in the US. American soldiers suffered greatly during WWII, but civilians only faced shortages, and did not have to watch for bullets and bombs. Not elsewhere in the world.

 

[Bamaman]

My father was a son of the Depression, and the family lived off the butter made from a dairy cow, my father's paper route and $25 per month a wealthy relative sent them for taking care of Grandmaw Brown. She was in the middle of a major Civil War battle, and hated Yankees until her death in 1936.

My wife lived in a rented apartment with 5 kids in one bedroom and grandmother on the living room couch. Her mother would feed 7 mouths for 3 meals on one chicken, and they never even had sugar in the house. No car, no phone. Her father made twice the normal salary as a railroader, but spent all his money buying his buddies beer in road houses. And as expected, the girls got married at 17 to escape such hell.
It's unbelievable to see my wife rising to laboratory manager in 3 major hospitals.

She used to compare growing up poor with a close friend. Fred's father watched over a Phillips 66 pipeline in NE OK, and the family lived in a company house. Six boys lived in a screened porch in bunk beds, and they had black plastic keeping down the winter wind. All they had to eat was what they shot and caught--and a big garden. Fred went to the Navy, went to junior college on GI Bill and was a high level computer main frame guy. And he still sleeps with the window open all year round.

Because someone's raised poor doesn't mean they cannot pull themselves up by the boot strings. And such people are to be admired. After all, poor is just a matter of relativity. You don't have to remain there with some hard work and education.

 

[street]

There are some great stories and fun to read. I believe being raised in hard times does build maturity at a fast rate. You learn fast how to survive. I can't imagine not taking those lessons learned and try to improve but I know it goes the other way also.

 

[imoldernu]

Thanks for the memories...

Never knew I was poor. Grew up in a 900+ s.f. two story house, with mom, dad and my little brother, back in the 1930's thru 1958. Three bedrooms, parlor, dining room, kitchen, 1 cold water bath upstairs (hot water in 1943), and a pantry for food and food prep.

[/IMG]

Rented for $7 wk, 'til 1950 when it went up to$8. No phone 'til 1950, but my dad was one of only 5 people on the street, to have a car, and a garage. Most of the homes were three story apartment houses. A few neighbors had phones, all party lines, so no need to gossip...

Perspective... dad and mom walked to work in the mill 1 mile away. their pay was under a dollar/hr. We bought big things from "Max" our traveling salesman... ie. sewing machine $.25/week, which he collected on his weekly visit. Mr. Gordon, was the rep for my insurance policy... $500... collected bi-weekly @ @ $.10/ visit. We had a fish man, (Fridays), bread daily, milkman, iceman, oilman, rag man, vegetable cart, and a Sunday paperman (Providence Sunday Morning Journal)... who came in a horse cart..

School was 1 1/2 miles away, and we walked it summer and winter, and even came home for lunch. (school buses didn't exist). Clothes were worn til they didn't fit, and I was the only boy in school, who had to wear knickers until the fourth grade. Shoes were worn til they had holes in the soles, and then we used cardboard to patch...not good on rainy days.

Food was always enough...we had a "victory garden" in summer, and kept home grown vegetables in a veggie bin, in the cooler basement. Dad and mom got paid on Friday, and during the "'lean years", I can remember Thursday being potato peel soup and powdered milk. Wasn't always like that, but the memories are very clear about the hard times.

I was one of the luckiest kids on the block, as I had my own "modern style" Bakelite radio. Only TV in the early days, was to go Smithfield Avenue Rileys Radio store, and watch it on the 12 inch TV in the window.

Never did without... and every Saturday, went to the Fairlawn theater for $.11, to watch the movie, Pathe News, the "Perils of Pauline",and previews of coming attractions.

Dad worked at Tony's Gas Station in exchange for our car repairs (many). Five gallon/$1.00 but you needed rationing coupons. (For meat and butter, too).

Never thought we were poor...and we weren't... The widow five houses up from us (with five children), they were "poor", but even they didn't know it.

 

[Redbugdave]

I think when you are young what is around you is your only perception. It is your world. My father was career enlisted military. As a kid we moved about every couple of years or so. We had no good furniture to think of and friendships were fleeting. It was not a rich lifestyle. There are different definitions of poor in my mind. Having family and life long friendships helps make up for lack of money, too.

 

[MRG]

My parents were born a hundred years ago. My dad's father was killed w*rking in the summer of '29. His mother baked, did cleaning, laundry etc. Till the RR came through with some insurance. She opened a small family grocery store in a pitiful town. Mom's family was poor too.

I grew up middle class, but definitely the depression memories were still there. Items were purchased based on need. I recall mom making some of my clothes, but not as much as my older siblings.

Then when DW and I got married at 18 we became poor. We both gave up full rides to college to marry, our choice. We ate all cheapest foods and lived paycheck to paycheck(sometimes I didn't get a check if we didn't produce anything).

Finally at 26 I went to night school and worked days to get out of the sawmill into IT. Smartest thing ever. I met people who are mentors even today. So somehow in thirty years doing IT things got pretty good.

I'll never forget what it's like to eat food I really didn't like to have something in my belly. I'll always appreciate the sacrifices my parents made in their lives and those my FIL/MIL made too.

I belive the w*rk ethics my brother taught me and my dad's school of hard knocks tales are the reason we survived. Just last night I was thinking about my final Megacorp interview. The VP of the group explained I'd be salary and would I be okay with no pay for the time. I was able to say I'm working 8 hours then paying to go to school another 4-5 daily so I don't have a problem.