Old money: what small things did you save up for as a kid?

[PoundNoteCollector]

My username probably gives it away – I’ve always had a soft spot for old notes and coins.

When I was a boy, I used to tuck away every spare pound and penny in a jar for something small but magical. In my case it was usually a second-hand book or a packet of biscuits my parents wouldn’t normally buy.

What did you save up for when you were young? Comics, records, sweets, first car, something else? And does anyone here still keep an old note or coin just for the memories?

 

[horseless carriage]

The former white five pound not can command quite a good price, I saw an asking price of £300 for one in pristine condition.
Not that I ever so much as saw one when I was a kid. Saving though, did become a habit, and one of the purchases, probably the only one, was a bicycle. It was a lady's framed bike in that it had no crossbar. The frame, designed for a lady to reach both pedals without lifting one of her legs over the saddle, was ideal for a small boy whose legs weren't long enough to reach the pedals when seated on the saddle. The bike, bought seconhand, was the princely sum of two pounds and would you believe, I still have that bike.

 

[Pinky]

Comics .. Little Lulu, Katy Keene, Superman, to name a few. 45 rpm records, they cost 88 cents.

 

[hollydolly]

Welcome to the forum.. whereabouts in the UK are you ?... you might like to Introduce yourself here.... Introductions

 

[QuietByNature]

Mom would drag me to church every Sunday and I'd keep the quarter she gave me to buy Hockey cards

 

[horseless carriage]

Mom would drag me to church every Sunday and I'd keep the quarter she gave me to buy Hockey cards

Was that quarter bribe money to get you to church, or was it meant for you to put in the church collection? Roberto Calvi [/might want a word with you!]

 

[Muskrat]

I saved for anything I wanted. We never got an allowance…all money had to be earned. We picked up pop bottles…mowed lawns…raked leaves…sold seeds. Whatever it took.

 

[IrishEyes]

Until I turned 13, this was it, always it and nothing else.
I wanted a herd of them. Breyer Horses

 

[Muskrat]

@IrishEyes …I see three I owned…man I loved those…

 

[jujube]

Comic books. Every spare cent I came up with went on comic books.

 

[Imogene]

I saved every penny for a horse. By the time I was 12, in 1959, I had $300.00 and I was still $50 short. Mom came through, but added the threat of selling the horse if I didn’t feed her, barring sickness or school activities,

That’s about $3,896.00 in today’s money, which is a lot for a horse without papers, but she was worth every penny

 

[MACKTEXAS]

I've saved currency that says "silver certificate" instead of "federal reserve note" since they are no longer made and rarely seen such as the one pictured below, which is off the internet, not one I actually have.

I have silver dollars from the 1800's. None of this is all that valuable, nor am I trying to sell it - I just enjoy having something like that from the past.

 

[QuietByNature]

Was that quarter bribe money to get you to church, or was it meant for you to put in the church collection? Roberto Calvi [/might want a word with you!]

It was supposed to go in the collection

 

[MarkinPhx]

 

[Trade]

Marbles. Back in the mid 1950's I collected marbles. I would never play marbles because I was afraid I would lose but I would buy them every chance I got.I kept them in an one of those old Robin Hood school lunch boxes. I had it full to the brim with marbles. I don't know what happened to them. I wish I still had them. Both those old 1950's lunch boxes and 1950's marbles are now collectors items.

 

[JBR]

Proceeds from a small weekly allowance, plus my first jobs, enabled me to buy a sweater ("jumper" to those in the UK). It was in style at the time, and either my parents didn't care for the style or their budget was tight then... I never found out.

 

[horseless carriage]

Saving though, did become a habit, and one of the purchases, probably the only one, was a bicycle. It was a lady's framed bike in that it had no crossbar. The frame, designed for a lady to reach both pedals without lifting one of her legs over the saddle, was ideal for a small boy whose legs weren't long enough to reach the pedals when seated on the saddle. The bike, bought seconhand, was the princely sum of two pounds and would you believe, I still have that bike.

My feet can reach the pedals these days.

 

[ChiroDoc]

I've saved currency that says "silver certificate" instead of "federal reserve note" since they are no longer made and rarely seen such as the one pictured below, which is off the internet, not one I actually have.

I have silver dollars from the 1800's. None of this is all that valuable, nor am I trying to sell it - I just enjoy having something like that from the past.

View attachment 470903

I too saved Silver Certificates for awhile. Then I realized it didn't make any difference. The government would never redeem them for silver.

As a kid it was easy to walk into any bank and get silver dollars in exchange for paper dollars. Not that I could do that too often... I loved having the heavy coins, and sometime you'd find an old one.

IMO they should bring back a silver dollar that's bigger than a half dollar. Anything less than a dollar hasn't much value. Maybe they could keep the quarter, or even the dime.
And we need a larger denomination paper money-- like a $500 bill, like there used to be.

The Fed always talks about money laundering, which I could care less about. They just don't want to admit that inflation has been so bad on account of the Federal Reserve increasing the money supply, that they want to keep the illusion that coins still have value; and that they don't want a larger denomination bill.

 

[Naturally]

I was a spender, my brother was a saver.
That said, I did collect Roosevelt Dimes and accumulated a complete set of them.
My dad worked at a bank and that helped.
I long ago as a kid, sold that dime collection ... and spent the money on something else.

EDIT: Oh, and I did inherit my dad's Franklin Half collection he put together while working at the bank in the early 60's
(Last name on the sticker redacted for security)

 

[BJintheUK]

When I was a child I was obsessed with flying. So much so that I spent every penny I got as an allowance on Airfix model aircraft. Particularly ones of WW2 aircraft from Britain, the US, and Germany. I can't remember what happened to them all, but I remember I had a large box full of them for a while.

It wasn't until I was 49 that I actually started flying lessons, and on my 50th birthday I soloed in my own flexwing microlight aircraft. That was a dream come true, and now I have 3 microlight aircraft, although none of them are flexwings now, as I no longer have the strength in my arms and shoulders to control the wing via the 'A' frame. In case you don't know what a flexwing is, here's a picture of one of mine that I no longer own.

In the photo you can see the 'A' frame, it's a triangular shape made up of three metal tubes. This is connected directly to the wing and by using the 'A' frame I could move the plane from side to side, and up and down. The trouble is that if you get hit by a gust of wind, it makes the wing try to move off the line of travel, and you have to wrestle with it to bring it back in line again. I no longer have the physical strength to do that, so I had to give up flying flexwings back in 2016.



Instead I've had to move to the 'dark side' and now fly 3 axis aircraft. Here's a photo of two of the three that I now own.

 

[Lewkat]

Chewing gum. My parents would never allow me to have it as it was bad for the teeth, so I'd buy it on the sly. I loved bubble gum, and my mother threw a hissy fit whenever It got caught in my hair. To say nothing that she threatened to stop my allowance if I did not knock it off with buying gum.

 

[Paco Dennis]

Skateboard wheels, the fastest ones.

 

[C50]

I don't remember ever saving for anything when I was a kid, but do remember the first thing I purchased and made payments on. A used ten speed bicycle! Older kid I worked with at the Mink ranch got his drivers license and agreed to sell me his old ten speed, our boss kind of brokered the deal and paid for the bike, then deducted money out of my pay ever week until I paid it off. I don't remember what I paid but man that was one fine machine, I'd never had something so nice.