People who grew up poor but are now financially comfortable

Jazzy1

Jazzy1

Got A Cracker?
Location
Adirondack Region NY
What “poor-kid habit” will you probably never drop?
I think only the wealthy are comfortable now, but I'm in better condition than I grew up in and I've kept nearly all of those habits. I water down my shampoo, I'll wear clothes until they're falling apart, I get ALL that toothpaste out the tube. I can still live on store brand boxed anything, and my first thought when I have any type of health issue is still always "is this something that can be fixed with the right combination of supplies from Dollar General or Walgreens?"

How about you?
 

I grew up poor, and was poor for 30 years of my married life to my first husband, trying to make ends meet with 5 kids.

I don’t go to extremes, but nonetheless my first stop (and typically my only stop). Is to head straight to the sale racks or clearance section.

I have trouble leaving uneaten food on my plate or throwing food away, so one or two meals a week are leftovers, or stews and stir frys that use up all the uneaten veggies.

With some exceptions, I will tend to buy generic or store brands in the grocery store because they’re always cheaper.

I’ll drive out of my way to get gas at a cheaper price.
 
Wot @Ronni said...almost identical story to Ronni;s... desperately poor growing up.... desperately poor in my first marriage...

I refuse now to scrape the last vestages of toothpaste ..or wear clothes till they're falling apart.. I did all that from childhood for decades ..and I feel for anyone who is still doing that at our age....but I am still careful about certain things in case poverty strikes me again..it's always at the fore-front of my mind..not the back.. the front... so I look after my things very well.. I take care of my clothes and footwear , I take care of all my furniture, and furnishings, .. my everything.. including my car... so that I don't spend money needlessly...

I buy new clothes.. but I'll also buy from a charity shop if there's something that I like...

I don't take expensive holidays ...

My husband always took the mickey out of me, calling me ''tight''.. saying it in an affected Scottish accent in a mocking manner.. but he grew up in a well off family, and never knew a day's poverty in his life...
 

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I grew up frequently hungry, then it was worse during my first marriage when one meal a day, and not a very good one, was all I had.

To this day I find it almost impossible to throw away food. Leftovers that I really don't want to eat I eat anyway. I can't seem feel confident that I will always have food.
 
I never considered myself poor, but no doubt others may have. I wasn't poor because I learned to repair things I could get free or low cost. I learned to make things. I learned to build. I rarely had new store bought clothes and learned to make my own from second hand clothes. Most of my current closet is second hand clothes and all high quality name brands that I bought at a fraction of the original price.

I learned from a young age that being considered poor is just a judgement that others inflict on those with less "things." One that is full of life and works hard, may never have lots of things or big bank accounts, but many times are the richest in happiness and most content.

I define poverty as rich and discontent and wealth as poor and content.
 
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We were not poor, but not considered middle class either. We always had plenty of food and decent clothes. I was "Poor Girl" from when I was in my early 20s to mid 30s. One thing I learned in my mid 20's was to always pay myself first and save on a regular basis. I began investing in my late 30s. Saving and investing became such an integral part of my existence that I felt strange if for some reason I didn't do it for even one pay period.

The elders had a saying when I was growing up. (They could) make a dollar out of 15 cents. I've learned to shop at thrift-consignment shops rather than retail stores, buy store brands and shop the sales, then stock up. I buy many items in bulk from Costco. Even Oprah takes advantage of the good prices at Costco. I also shop at Dollar Tree and Amazon. I try to minimize food waste. Sometimes I make body wash with the "gourmet" soaps left over from when I used to sell them.
 
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Deya said:
I never considered myself poor, but no doubt others may have. I wasn't poor because I learned to repair things I could get free or low cost. I learned to make things. I learned to build. I rarely had new store bought clothes and learned to make my own from second hand clothes. Most of my current closet is second hand clothes and all high quality name brands that I bought at a fraction of the original price.

I learned from a young age that being considered poor is just a judgement that others inflict on those with less "things." One that is full of life and works hard, may never have lots of things or big bank accounts, but many times are the richest in happiness and most content.

I define poverty as rich and discontent and wealth as poor and content.
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I love your last line: "I define poverty as rich and discontent and wealth as poor and content."
 
I think one thing I have carried thru my life is the ability to question every purchase. I don't need to deny myself anything at this point, I'm financially very comfortable, yet I still feel the need to evaluate and justify about every purchase.

And like the OP I squeeze every bit I can out of my purchases, doesn't matter if I paid a $1 or $50k I'm going to try and get everything I can out of it.
 
My family wasn't necessarily poor, but some years the family income was on the lower end of middle class. We were conservative, and yes, it carried forward into my adult life when I got out on my own. I don't feel bad about that. I've read of people who grew up financially comfortable, yet were very tight or careful with their money. Warren Buffett still lives in the same house he purchased in Omaha, Nebraska in 1958. He bought the five-bedroom, 6,570-square-foot home for $31,500.
 
While growing up I don't think my classmates would have called me "poor," because we lived in a really nice, big, new, brick house, had good quality plentiful meals, my father owned his business, my mother dressed well and held her own with the other club ladies. Yet I was the worst dressed person in school with only two outfits that I alternated, no allowance at all, and no money for things like class rings or extracurricular activities. I think my parents just didn't think kids needed money.

Then I grew up and got married. During that ten years I had exactly one penny in my purse left over from three days after our marriage when my own money ran out. That was it. My husband would go to my place of work on payday and I'd sign the back of my check and give it to him.

I was always a little hurt by people suggesting that if only I was willing to put in a little work or do a little smart shopping, I too could have nice clothes and furniture. I remember my sister-in-law showing me a dresser and telling me it only cost $20 used and then she had refinished it. Hinting that I could do the same. As if I ever had $20 or money for sand paper and paint, just as I didn't have a sewing machine or money for fabric, or money for items that were on sale. Sometimes when people say they have no money, they literally mean no money.

It's better now but I still feel really guilty when I spend money and shopping sometimes makes me cry from the stress of it.
 
My childhood was to be surrounded by other families who had plenty because the dads worked in the Cold War defense contracting industry as did my dad, but we were always scrapping by because, as I found out later, he was always spending money on his mistresses/side girlfriends. So I was surrounded by kids who made fun of my old cheap clothing, toys, etc. and the fact that my mom/stepmothers always had to work outside the home. It has made me grateful for what I have now, though.

My Huzz grew up dirt poor--they lived in their car sometimes, in 100F weather, and his mom was pregnant one time--and it's had both a good and a bad effect on him. The good: he does appreciate what he has now. The bad: he can't stand to watch people out walking because "poor people have to walk everywhere"; he thinks buying anything used, no matter how good a shape it's in, is depressing; even if somebody gave him something used that was in perfect condition, it'd depress him because he grew up on hand-me-downs and charity. So it's like he can't relax and think about anything besides money.
 
officerripley said:
My childhood was to be surrounded by other families who had plenty because the dads worked in the Cold War defense contracting industry as did my dad, but we were always scrapping by because, as I found out later, he was always spending money on his mistresses/side girlfriends. So I was surrounded by kids who made fun of my old cheap clothing, toys, etc. and the fact that my mom/stepmothers always had to work outside the home. It has made me grateful for what I have now, though.

My Huzz grew up dirt poor--they lived in their car sometimes, in 100F weather, and his mom was pregnant one time--and it's had both a good and a bad effect on him. The good: he does appreciate what he has now. The bad: he can't stand to watch people out walking because "poor people have to walk everywhere"; he thinks buying anything used, no matter how good a shape it's in, is depressing; even if somebody gave him something used that was in perfect condition, it'd depress him because he grew up on hand-me-downs and charity. So it's like he can't relax and think about anything besides money.
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when I was a child there was no such thing as charity shops where people could buy second hand clothes... nothing like it.. so we would have one uniform for school and our shirts had to be washed out by hand every second night and dried on the pulley.. and sometimes they wouldn't be dry in the morning so we had to dry them in front of the coal fire..

We each had one coat, the wadding would be bursting out of it where we;d grown and the seams had torn... we wore shoes with barely any soles left in them which they'd line with carboard (usually a piece of cornflake packet) we'd come home in winter with soaked feet and chillblains.. socks ruined as well...

Eventually father would go to the huge weekend market in the city where hawkers sold their goods.. and he would buy something very cheap, didn't matter what it looked like..if it was our size and he got it for next to nothing, we'd have to wear it. I spent a whole summer & winter one year wearing boys B&W baseball boots to school.. and a yellow plastic raincoat complete with sou'wester.. ... the bullying was horrendous...
 
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I was always aware that we were not as well off as a lot of others, and I was determined I would never be in that position. I must admit that I was a bit lazy, but I also made good choices and looked after our money. Now we're not rich, but we are 'comfortable' - however, I have a 'fear' of not having enough to enjoy this lifestyle. As my daughter puts it, life is too short to drink cheap wine.
 
Poor for most of my early years because money was tight due to my father being legally blind & not able to secure a high paying job. He did have a job as a reamer operator. Never applied for any government assistence programs.

My parents way. Needs came 1st. always. Bills paid on time never a past due notice. Never homeless & always enough to eat.

During our married life. Needs always came 1st. Bills always paid on time. Never homeless & always enough to eat. Now 30 years into retirement were financially comfortable.
 
Rae said:
I didn't think my parents were poor but as a child I didn't think about it as we had enough to eat and mom sewed most of our clothes. If times were hard, we didn't know about it.
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At the schools I attended, "homemade" was one of the worst insults you could use ("That's a nice dress. Is it HOMEMADE?" Evil snickering.) Once when a boyfriend called me and asked what I was doing and I told him I was sewing something, he said, "Ew, sewing is what old ladies do! What's wrong with you?!"

Or another insult was to call somebody "farmer", as in "Whatcha doing outside, FARMER Kevin {or whatever name}?" Then the evil snickering. I first saw when I was about 15 a bumper sticker that said "He Who Dies with the Most Toys Wins." I think that place was the home of that "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. Guess it's not surprising that area later became Silicon Valley.
 
officerripley said:
At the schools I attended, "homemade" was one of the worst insults you could use ("That's a nice dress. Is it HOMEMADE?" Evil snickering.) Once when a boyfriend called me and asked what I was doing and I told him I was sewing something, he said, "Ew, sewing is what old ladies do! What's wrong with you?!"

Or another insult was to call somebody "farmer", as in "Whatcha doing outside, FARMER Kevin {or whatever name}?" Then the evil snickering. I first saw when I was about 15 a bumper sticker that said "He Who Dies with the Most Toys Wins." I think that place was the home of that "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. Guess it's not surprising that area later became Silicon Valley.
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Absolutely, same where I grew up, anything home mdae was derided.... even knitted cardigans.. my mother occasionally would knit school sweaters.. very occasionally, but it was cheaper than buying the regulation school cotton/rayon sweater from the school store suppliers ... but of course everyone knew it was home made, regardless of how nice it was,


Yet we were continully taught in school how to knit, and how to sew.... ...
 
officerripley said:
At the schools I attended, "homemade" was one of the worst insults you could use ("That's a nice dress. Is it HOMEMADE?" Evil snickering.) Once when a boyfriend called me and asked what I was doing and I told him I was sewing something, he said, "Ew, sewing is what old ladies do! What's wrong with you?!"

Or another insult was to call somebody "farmer", as in "Whatcha doing outside, FARMER Kevin {or whatever name}?" Then the evil snickering. I first saw when I was about 15 a bumper sticker that said "He Who Dies with the Most Toys Wins." I think that place was the home of that "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. Guess it's not surprising that area later became Silicon Valley.
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My mother was very good at sewing, it was mostly dresses for me and my sister. That was when we were still in early grade school. We got compliments on our clothes. As we grew older, it was store bought clothes. We didn't have people making fun of us. Maybe we lived in a different time or place at that time of our lives.
 
Actually the first part of my childhood up to about age 7 or so we were solidly middle class. Then my old man decided to just quit working and piss away all our money on drinking, gambling and womanizing and then died of a heart attack and left my mom and I broke and with a bunch of his debts. So then I quickly slid down the socio economic ladder to become the poorest white kid in town. A real roller coaster ride. I'm not sure what that experiance had to do with the way I am now but I am one cheap bastard who squeezes a nickel till the Buffalo shits. I lnow. They don't make those kind of nickels any more but you get the idea.
 

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