For those of you who didn’t grow up with money or privilege…..

Well to be honest we didn’t know others lived better than us ~ ,cause we only visited our grandparents / aunts and uncles …and they all had out door toilets , in fact is we used grans , we’d have to take a broom handle with us ,as her cook yard was built around the toilet miles down the huge back yard , and they had a vicious rooster.

They all,only had black floors which were about mtr wide old conniver belts from the mines , most interior walls were sugar bags whitewashed …gran had fancy tin walls half way up ….most homes were only wood and iron.
Our blankets were what we called woggas .,which were made with an old woollen blanket sewed to an old hessian wool bale , our sheets were washed flour bags sewed together …

Our bathroom was just like a tin shed attached to the back of the house with a chip heater or we boil,water in the old copper and bucket it into the bath ….As far as cooking went we lit the old wood stove summer and winter to cook meals .
Grans and my aunts had a type of galvanised iron bath tub ..no showers …out bath was sorta greenish like army colours

Many lived in poverty as there was no such thing as Centerlink ( welfare)

We got most of our toys like old cars ( tin pedal cars / bikes both 3 wheel and 2 from local dump ) and built our own out of scraps .

I’d like to know where my parents got the money to spend at the pubs / clubs every day …and not feed us ….
bur I’m not bitter, about my parents in fact they taught me lessons….. in life at a very young age

I always had a determined streak and learned if I wanted something I’d have to work for it ….
I was in competition with a very well known ( at the time ) bottle collector called Tapper ….didn't ever know his real name …bought my first brand new bike by collecting bottles , and I went to Saturday morning pictures for 6 pence ….that was 6 bottles worth …then got a job I had for about 6 years in a deli / fruit and veg shop.

Copied this about Tapper
I mentioned up,here ^^^
Potato sack in one hand, a roll-your-own hanging on a lip and a leather flying hat jammed down over his ears, Albert "Tapper …. is on his bottle run.
And so it was for the area of Hilton for over fifty years.

He scoured the streets and rubbish bins for refundable bottles and cans. Locals called him "Tapper" for his bottle-tapping skills and reckoned he had a small fortune stacked away somewhere, yet the gentle, quite man showed no signs of wealth in his simple unit at the Senior Citizens Home.
Everyone knew Tapper, as he mumbled a hello to passerbys as he shuffled down main street.
He was a part of

They say he always had kept pretty much to himself. He never married and during his working years was employed by a gas company. And, although a man of few words, his memory of dates and names was razor sharp.
 

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My brother, sister and I have nothing to complain about. Life was good. I often think back about how very fortunate all of us were. My dad was an attorney and invested in oil and steel. Back then steel was a great investment, unlike today.

I should also add, our family donated a lot to different organizations that helped the community. The Lions and Rotary Club were the area’s clubs that donated to the less fortunate in our community.
 
Our house was nice but a lot of it was unfinished. We had bare wood floors and unpainted plaster walls. It was sturdy and kept out the weather. Wallpaper was added when I was a teenager. We had land but little money. My closest friend and neighbor lived in a palace. She had a maid and a gardener. The rooms all had lake views and were decorated in Louis XIV in one room and Louis XVi in another. There were stables and paddocks with horses.

What did I know? We played at each others homes. Each had certain advantages. We competed in school. She switched to a private school her junior year in high school so she could get into a good college which she did.
 
I'm sure my parents were not considered middle class, but they both worked which afforded us a nice apartment, nice furniture, plenty of food and decent clothing. My father had a Studebaker with a rumble seat (remember those?) and my mother even had a washing machine. If they struggled financially, I was never aware of it. Mama was a great cook and cooked all the time, so there was no eating out, except at church functions and on the boardwalk when we took day trips to amusement areas.

Speaking of which, there were plenty of church sponsored breakfasts, dinners, teas, as well as bus rides to Rye Beach and Coney Island in N.Y. Also, it was easy to take public transportation to Palisades Park, a popular amusement park in N.J., not far from where we lived. We went on those outings in lieu of taking vacations. As a child I found them exciting and fun. That being said, I never thought about luxuries we may have been missing out on.
 
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Our house was nice but a lot of it was unfinished. We had bare wood floors and unpainted plaster walls. It was sturdy and kept out the weather. Wallpaper was added when I was a teenager. We had land but little money. My closest friend and neighbor lived in a palace. She had a maid and a gardener. The rooms all had lake views and were decorated in Louis XIV in one room and Louis XVi in another. There were stables and paddocks with horses.

What did I know? We played at each others homes. Each had certain advantages. We competed in school. She switched to a private school her junior year in high school so she could get into a good college which she did.
One of my best friends lived in a house that had a dirt floor in the basement, an old coal furnace and his bedroom was like an oversized closet. The bedroom had a bed and a small table with a windup alarm clock. His parents rented the house and his dad was a beer drinker that would go on binges and miss work. He would work for about 3 straight weeks and then take a 4 day weekend being drunk. He wasn’t angry or mean when drunk, he just slept a lot.
 
After reading the posts, I’m really shocked at how poor some of you guys were growing up. My dad was a tool grinder in an auto factory so he made a decent living. I’m the youngest of three and when I was 11 my mother went back to work full-time in a factory also.

Although my dad‘s job paid well there were no protections back then for safety and OSHA didn’t come into existence until 1973 which is the year. He had to retire because he had COPD so bad from his job. He was only 53 and had to take a disability pension. By then he couldn’t walk a block.

We had a decent small house in a blue collar neighborhood. I always had to share a bedroom with my sister who was eight years older than me. until I went to high school, most of my friends were in similar financial circumstances.

When I went to high school and broadened my friend circle, most of them had much nicer homes in more expensive neighborhoods, and their parents all had much better jobs. Until my mom went back to work we only went out to eat once a year but once she started working, we ate out every Friday night.

Being the youngest, my parents had the most money by then so I had more things growing up than my two older siblings had just strictly due to finances. My parents were good with the money they had and saved for retirement on top of my dad having a pension. As I mentioned before my parents both were wonderful and loving as were my grandparents on my mom’s side so I have much to be grateful for.
 
We didn't have any in our house, but I always envied my friends' who had carpets...
We didn't either Hollydolly, bare floorboards when we first moved into our house., then Lino in the loungeroom and 2 bedrooms about 4 years later. When my parents went to Adelaide to see relations my husband and I wallpapered and painted 3 rooms in their house as a surprise, they were so happy.'
 
We had a roof on our head, clothes on our back, and food on the table. We had the basic necessities. What we didn't have were vacations and we didn't get to eat out, although a treat for us was going to the root beer stand and getting a root beer. Although there were no family vacations, I have good memories of going on Sunday drives and having a picnic on the roadside.
 
I grew up like Leave It To Beaver living in Mayberry. I had it easy compared to so many of the Posts herein. I guess my folks was middle class and I did not have the hard times and adversity so many others did. I am very thankful for that.

However on both sides of the family - they all came off Farms and were poor and had grown up in the Depression. This affected me to this day as all the relatives impressed the hard times they had lived.

My Grandparents were Farmers in East Texas and they had indoor plumbing by the time I came along. They still had the old Outhouse but it was not used anymore. They had a Well with the Windlass and Bucket but they also had a new water well that was drilled with a submersible Pump. I spent a good part of the summers on the Farm and I loved it as a kid. I remember my Grandfather plowing the fields with Mules when I was little. He later got a Tractor in his latter 60's. They did not have Air Conditioning and the hot humid summer nights in East Texas were different. But they had screened in Sleeping Porch and fans so it was not bad - just different.

I have the Windless / Pulley from the Old Well hanging on our Porch today.
 
We had a roof on our head, clothes on our back, and food on the table. We had the basic necessities. What we didn't have were vacations and we didn't get to eat out, although a treat for us was going to the root beer stand and getting a root beer. Although there were no family vacations, I have good memories of going on Sunday drives and having a picnic on the roadside.
Your post reminds me that.. we never got any take away food at all ever... or taken to a restaurant... but on the odd occasion if I went shopping on my own with my mum, she would take us both into a cafe, and I could have a coke...:love: ..and also once from memory we also had a picnic in the layby by the roadside... but only because we had my aunt and uncle with us....for a day out.... I still have the photos from that day taken by my aunt and uncle

We did take a trip once.. to the beach ... just for one day... but they brought fish paste sandwiches with us and tea in a flask
 
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We didn't either Hollydolly, bare floorboards when we first moved into our house., then Lino in the loungeroom and 2 bedrooms about 4 years later. When my parents went to Adelaide to see relations my husband and I wallpapered and painted 3 rooms in their house as a surprise, they were so happy.'
What a wonderful surprise for them , Oscash.. how thoughful of you...🧡

Unfortunately by the time I was old enough to be married.. or earning a decent wage.. my mother had died long before , she died when I was a teen..., and my father had remarried.. and was living a comfortable life by then...
 
Your post reminds me that.. we never got any take away food at all ever... or taken to a restaurant... but on the odd occasion if I went shopping on my own with my mum, she would take us both into a cafe, and I could have a coke...:love: ..and also once from memory we also had a picnic in the layby by the roadside... but only because we had my aunt and uncle with us....for a day out.... I still have the photos from that day taken by my aunt and uncle

We did take a trip once.. to the beach ... just for one day... but they brought fish paste sandwiches with us and tea in a flask
luxury!!! in post war years remember it all so well - got sunburnt on a beach once - back covered in blisters - don't think they could afford suncream back then?
 
Not to laugh at any of the depravations others have lived through but this thread made me think of this skit.

we laugh at ourselves in the uk.. we always undercut each other in a joking manner..

One person says they lived in a house with no roof... so the next says.' house.. ?.. you were lucky.. we lived in a hole in the road...

Hole in the road?..says the next one... you were lucky... we lived in a mouse hole in the skirting board...skirting board?..says another.. you were lucky... we lived in a rotten sandwich that a beggar had thrown away... and so it goes on...

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
My dad was 59 when I was born, I never remember him having a job but he did work when younger, mom was 35 and also never worked or learned to drive. My dad made some money with odd jobs but drank that money away, mostly we lived on SS benefits. We got the house we lived in because my oldest brother had been hit by a truck and had serious leg injuries that resulted in a $15k insurance settelment, the money was for future surgeries but my dad used it as a downpayment on the place I grew up.

When you have nothing you expect nothing. I didn't know we were poor, I had no exposure to nice things or properous people. We never went anywhere, didn't have family or friends visit, so again I didn't realize some people had it better.

I'm sure I may have asked for things but I honestly don't remember doing that or what I may have asked for. I started working at a very young age, at first my dad took my earnings but eventually I got smart enough to hold money back, then I bought my own stuff.

Oddly enough even in high school while my friends had nice cars and fancy clothes and I had trash I was never envious of them or their stuff. I admit to being a bit self consious because by then I knew we/I was poor but I just accepted that as life.
 
My dad was 59 when I was born, I never remember him having a job but he did work when younger, mom was 35 and also never worked or learned to drive. My dad made some money with odd jobs but drank that money away, mostly we lived on SS benefits. We got the house we lived in because my oldest brother had been hit by a truck and had serious leg injuries that resulted in a $15k insurance settelment, the money was for future surgeries but my dad used it as a downpayment on the place I grew up.

When you have nothing you expect nothing. I didn't know we were poor, I had no exposure to nice things or properous people. We never went anywhere, didn't have family or friends visit, so again I didn't realize some people had it better.

I'm sure I may have asked for things but I honestly don't remember doing that or what I may have asked for. I started working at a very young age, at first my dad took my earnings but eventually I got smart enough to hold money back, then I bought my own stuff.

Oddly enough even in high school while my friends had nice cars and fancy clothes and I had trash I was never envious of them or their stuff. I admit to being a bit self consious because by then I knew we/I was poor but I just accepted that as life.
that's exactly how I was.. I just thought that certain people had things that I couldn't have , and I never envied them, or asked to have them... I just took it as a fact of life that other people had what we didn't.. and that's how life was...

It helped I think because we lived in a very upmarket area.. .. altho' we had barely anything behind closed doors.. to everyone outside we looked as tho' we must have because we lived in such an upmarket area.. our next door neighbour was the Lord Provost...

.....but my paternal side of the family... mostly lived in the slum areas in the city... so seeing them with even less than we had .. made me always believe as a child.. that there are people who for whatever reason have more..or have less than others.. so that stopped me envying those at school or our neighbours.. material goods..
However..I did get embarassed at having to go to school with holes in my shoes.. but I just wished for new shoes, not anyone else's shoes
 
A shower.

I grew up with washes at the sink, or baths. Yikes.

I no longer even have a bath. I have a wet room with a shower - thank goodness. And not one of those tiny little shower cubicles either. An entire room. THAT is my luxury.
 


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