Did You Grow Up Poor, Rich, Somewhere In The Middle?

fmdog44

fmdog44

Well-known Member
Location
Houston, Texas
We were middle class clear through. Never rich but very few were in my neighborhood. I think a lot of the families inherited the homes they lived in. Lots of old homes. Ours was built in 1875. The basement had a cold furnace when we moved in and the basement was a scary place to me.
 

I suppose "somewhere in the middle." We were a typical family of the time; mama was a housewife and daddy went off to work. Not a lot of luxury but food on the table, a comfortable home and a happy family.
 
Very poor, in an upper class neighbourhood....all fur coat and no knickers . Father worked Blue collar always .....and mother worked as a nurse when she wasn't ill, which was most of the time.
 

Upper middle class. Very comfortable financially. We weren't wealthy but there was plenty of money for our needs and almost all our wants. My father was a successful, well paid executive.
 
I guess you'd call us lower middle class. We didn't have any extra money but mom knew how to squeeze a nickel until the buffalo's nose bled. We had everything we needed and lot of what we wanted, mostly because of my thrifty mom. My dad had a good job and my mother worked after all the little kids were old enough for school.

I remember my friends liked to come over to our house because there was always lots to eat. The food was simple, but plentiful. I didn't realize until later in life that a lot of them didn't get as much to eat as they wanted...or needed.
 
Middle middle-class, as were all of my friends. Dad owned his own shop, Mom worked as a sales gal. We had a car, a large apartment in my granddad's building. I never knew want, hunger, despair. My neighborhood changed, greatly, during "White Flight," and I was exposed to lower-class folks whom I learned a lot of positive things from, things that served me well, in later life. I learned to get along with all types of folks.
 
jujube said:
I guess you'd call us lower middle class. We didn't have any extra money but mom knew how to squeeze a nickel until the buffalo's nose bled. We had everything we needed and lot of what we wanted, mostly because of my thrifty mom. My dad had a good job ...
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This :dito:
 
Both sides of my family had assets and little money.

My parents were lower middle class working people that never owned their own home. When my mother divorced and remarried my stepfather was a working man that owned his home.

Growing up we had a good life mainly due to the efforts of the strong women in our family. My grandmothers and my mother knew how to scrimp and plan so that we always had the necessities and a few luxuries, they were great women.
 
Middle class all the way. Both parents worked-my mom started working after she had kiddo #3 (I was #4) and never stopped. My hubby always teases me that I was raised upper class because we had a Summer home. Not sure why he says that,because by the time I met him,his family did too. But we were both raised very middle class. If my mom hadn`t always worked,we definitely wouldn`t have had that summer place.
 
Poor. Outhouse and well water poor. Life was tough for my parents, but we never went hungry and were always clean and were taught manners.
 
Very Middle Class. My Dad worked hard, and often long hours, and Mom was a very good housewife that made sure we were raised properly. They were very frugal, and lived quite well on what most would consider a "Median" income. Their examples have served me and my sister well.
 
I know what you mean Hollydolly. Going back a couple of generations, both sides of my family were comfortably well off. By the time I came along, family wealth had been diluted and my parents were decidedly working class. They totally lacked ambition for themselves, but wanted us to succeed so that they could take the credit. I never wanted to be like them - and never was.
 
Money wise I'd say poor. Family wise eating together, sharing hand me downs not thought about at the time as being poor. Never lacked for food & shelter Company picnics where my father worked always special since "fun" was not in the budget.


At 16 I got a job as an apprentise butcher. Not long after starting work my hourly pay was more than what my father was making. The most natural thing was to contribute to the family budget. I'm pretty sure that as an early life experience was the basis for being self reliant and responsible.
 
I'd say about in the high side of middle class. Dad had an excellent talent/job. Had built a solid brick 2 story, 4 bedroom, colonial home
in the middle of the depression (middle 30s) and became a 2 car family. I have/had NO complaints.
 
Lower middle class. Step-dad worked a full-time job at a lumber company and I helped him on the small farm we had. Biggest thrills were when we drove to Michigan to visit my step-mom's sisters for a weekend and watching the Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights. I was pretty jealous of my cousins, because they did have money and had tons of fun on Saturday nights where parents went bowling on a league. I loved it when I was able to spend some summer weekends with them.

Anyway, I absolutely couldn't wait to graduate from high school and get out on my own to have some thrills and fun. Thing was, that "get out on own to have some thrills and fun" didn't last long due to a call from my Navy Recruiter two weeks after graduation and I left for Basic Training.
 
I was born small town southern in 1933. The terms poor, middle-class or rich had a different meaning then to what it was 10 or 15 years later. My family was never homeless, never jobless, never hungry. All primary needs were met but no expensive wants. Young parents were renters but both sets of grandparents were long time home and small business owners. I don't know what that meant in the 30s.

In my town, where you stood in its quasi caste system was more dependent on how well you lived your life than how much money you had. Things like working, paying your bills, taking care of your children, raising them right, caring for your surroundings, staying out of jail were far more relevant to class status than how much money you had in the bank. The southern term "poor white trash' had nothing to do with bank accounts or skin color.
 
Capt Lightning said:
I know what you mean Hollydolly. Going back a couple of generations, both sides of my family were comfortably well off. By the time I came along, family wealth had been diluted and my parents were decidedly working class. They totally lacked ambition for themselves, but wanted us to succeed so that they could take the credit. I never wanted to be like them - and never was.
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Exactly, ! Capt Lightening , you've got it in a nutshell !
 
we were very poor growing up-mom and dad separated when i was 9 -we had out side potty--and cold water in the house- we had to turn the heater off at night to save the kerosene for the next day-it got kind of cold in mass--it was my job to get the kerosene from the spooky basement at night and light the heater in the morning--i had to wear my coat and hat-brrrr
 
Only after I was grown and entering adult jobs and life did I realize that my childhood was rather poor. We were never hungry but macaroni and cheese, liver and potatoes and breakfast of crackers and coffee were routine meals. My dad liked to gamble and in those days a man never told his wife how much money he made, he just gave what he wanted to the household.

Hand me down clothes were a welcome thing and we accepted that as a normal thing not a bad thing. I really think this was a good thing for my life as I never expected my parents to provide anything once I got out of the army and into adult life. In the mid fifties when I was starting employment. there were plenty of jobs and I thrived.

Poor to me is those who were hungry and there were some worse off than us.
 
We were probably lower middle class. Dad was blue collar and Mom worked an Old Folks Home when she wasn't pregnant.. Eight children pretty much insures want. There was always plenty of food,we had an expansive garden and the farm provided our protein. We also all hunted, so there was game to eat. My father bought his first new car in 1962 a Rambler Ambassador.
Christmas and birthdays were light on toys and heavy on clothes.
 
I guess upper poor class would just about cover it. A bit lower than lower middle class.

I'm proud to say I've improved my lot considerably. My sister and brother have not fared so well but they get by okay.
 
Thanks to my Grandfather, who came to the U.S. from Greece, we were in pretty good shape. My dad was career military, so if we had to depend on just his salary, it would have been a different story. My Grandfather was a professional boxer and was hurt in the ring and could no longer box. He took his earnings and opened up several restaurants, which he was able to turn into very profitable establishments. My Mom was able to be a stay at home Mom, thanks to my Grandfather.

The money that my Grandfather had put together has been passed down from generation to generation.
 

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