What did you think only rich people could afford until you realized you were just broke growing up?

Well, I never had a shower growing up. I could take baths though. Had to wash my hair in the sink.
Used vinegar for hair conditioner.
 

Pinky said:
@hollydolly

My circumstances were similar to yours, Hols. I've described it somewhere in another thread on the
forum. Outhouse, no insulation in house, wood-burning stove. Iced-up windows in winter, water from
a well. Tiny ice-box. Winter was difficult. My 2 sisters and I slept on the pull-out chesterfield .. no sheets. 1 blanket with everyone's winter coats on top. I used to lay awake, freezing my nose and toes off.
Click to expand...
yes even tho' my parents both worked, well my mother not until we were older they still had too many children for the money that was coming into the house.. just bluddy ridiculous.. there was 4 of us at home.. but 5 children.. it makes me angry when I think of it now..

We never had a shower at home, we all had to share the same bath water, one in one out... and we never once had a take -away meal from anywhere.. not even a bag of chips from the chip shop..
 
Even though I was born during the depression, and growing up around a lot of people who were truly impoverished by it, we were never poor. We shared with friends and neighbors, and my mom was generous to a fault. Kids came to our house to even have their teeth brushed properly, and when I think back, it was one of the saddest things I can recall as a child.
 
We were probably lower middle class. We had a decent house and car. I never went without anything I needed and Xmas was good. The first time we got new living room furniture I was 15. I was the youngest of 3. We never ate out until my mom went to work when I was 10. Then it was Friday night fish fry at the local bar. That’s how you knew you were in Wisconsin:)).
 
Real maple syrup. The stuff we used on pancakes and French toast was Karo syrup- and not the newfangled kind that's made for that purpose. Awhile later we started having a brand called Staley's.

Also, fresh bread. Day-old bread from a discount place wasn't bad, and they did have other baked goods I really liked, but I was a little envious of a neighbor when I went to her home one day and she made sandwiches with Sunbeam bread.
 
There were 6 houses on the block where I grew up. 3 had cars and 3 had telephones. We were the only house that had both.
In 1940 the WPA dug up the street and installed sewers. There was an ice cream truck that came around. We could see a golf course away in the distance, but we did not know anyone that belonged to it. We got our first B&W tv when I was 19.
 
Growing up in suburban Northern California, never thought about what others had that I didn't. My dad always had a decent middle class income but with a large family I never expected nor complained about not having goods. Same with other neighborhood kids. We ate well, wore usual clothes of the day, Christmas was fun, always had a bicycle, a fishing pole, and usual minor stuff most other kids had. As a mid 1960s teen I never had a car but then that was never something I envied though was aware a few others drove their cars to school.
 

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