How'd you grow up?

[Zahboo]

I grew up/ am growing up with little money. Work for what you get. Walmart clothes, treasure mart shopper, Why go to the mall everything is too much. I used to hate it. Why do I have to mow people's grass or help them clean to make $20 can't mom just give it to me? But now.... I sort of like it. I know how to do stuff a lot of people don't. I can work tools, cook food and even clean! There are kids in my class that can't even sweep. Growing up with little money I think prepared me for what's to come

 

[Mahonri]

AMEN!

There is no substitute for good hard work and it will reap benefits for years to come!

 

[LarryPQ]

same here. Walmart Keds worn until the hole on the bottom was so large my feet fell out---or I burned myself on the pavement. But I am self-sufficent, without debt, highly educated, with a good job and a family that puts up with my need to know how to do things for myself.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Poor as dirt...lol

But, we didnt know it then. We thought everyone lived this way

It would be so cold in our house on the winter mornings that we would all take turns getting dressed in front of the Kerosene heater in the living room.

Frozen water lines were a weekly occurance.

Being broke down on the side of the road was nothing unusual.

I never walked up hill both ways to school barefoot or anything like that but it sure wasnt easy.

It all came back to me when our well went dry in the drought 2 years ago. After I got done crying, I pulled myself up and thought back to all of the creative things my dad did to get us through those kinds of messes and I just dealt with it. My kids (17,14 and 6) were amazed that we could survive without running water. None of us liked it, but we managed and I am greatful for those days of hardship. They were life lessons!

 

[Sillystunt]

We kicked rocks~ AKA dirt poor but never went without. My parents were hippy activists and we had crazy times growing up! Second hand everything , grown veggies, my mom made everything from scratch~

We just didn't get all the name brands and i started working at 12. i was money hungry and made 8 bucks an hour at 14. It was great , i had everything but worked for it! Of course that was 20 years ago~

 

[Goldlaced_Girl]

same here! walmart, or wherever is aving a sale. that's why I hate it when other girls say "My jeans were 60$" or "all my clothes are Airopostle" like I'm supposed to respect them for that???

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I grew up a country kid. We weren't poor but we weren't rich either, somewhere in the middle like most people where I grew up -- lots of big farm families and some "town people." My dad works in construction so sometimes he was laid off, but my parents did a good job of saving and planning ahead so we always had heat, clothes and food on the table (even if the food sometimes wasn't all that fancy). We had a big vegetable garden and I raised chickens. We went on vacations during the summers but it was camping, not resorts or fancy hotels or stuff like that.

I wore thrift store clothes or hand-me-downs from my mom, or clothes from places like Sears, etc. I can't remember having any "name brand" clothes until I was in late middle school or high school. I went to a private Christian school for elementary school and felt a little awkward around kids whose families could afford the nicer clothes, but I had some good friends so it didn't bother me much. When I was 16, I got a job at McDonald's and bought all of my own clothes.

I always had everything I needed for school. School was important to my parents and my siblings and I were expected to try our very best. My mom and dad spent a lot of time with us reading books and teaching us about nature. My mom's dream for all of us was that we would all go on to college after high school because my dad didn't graduate from college (he went to trade school) and she didn't until I was a senior in high school. She also didn't want any of us to get married until we had a degree or some equivalent kind of job skill. My mom also taught us a lot about manners, acting like a lady/gentleman and being a decent, loving person. She is very old-fashioned, but it's a good thing.

I know my parents probably made some sacrifices for the things we did have when I was growing up, and I know they were conscious about money, but they never made us feel afraid (even when Dad was laid off) and never talked to us about money other than the obvious, "Turn the lights off!"

I think I had a good childhood, and not because of the "stuff" we had or didn't have. I have great memories of things my family did together, family traditions, things like that. The most important thing we had was a family that stayed together and loved each other and watched out for each other; everything else really is secondary, I think.

 

[WriterofWords]

I grew up the spoiled rotten brat of a Colonel. I had too much I didn't have to work for, went places I didn't need to be, didn't have enough responsibility except for my horses and animals. I've done my best to raise my son differently considering that my lifestyle now is a 180 degree turn around from the way I grew up. I don't have the money or resources my grandparents who raised me did. I also am not a good money or home manager, I'm ok, but don't really know how to do it well. I'm trying and have been for a long time, but when you don't learn it as you grow up, responsibility is hard to learn later in life. I know what it is, and even when I think I'm getting it I'm not.
I also grew up sitting around a pot-belly woodburning stove in an old feedstore surrounded by the aged members of our small area. I lapped up those stories and morals and imbedded them in myself so I know that part of me is ok. I have very high standards, I expect a lot of myself and probably too much of others so I do get let down a lot, but then I always find something about someone that picks me right back up there.
I knew I was loved even though it wasn't voiced very often, but now I make sure my son and I never part company without telling the other we love them.
I like to think for all my bad points I turned out ok.

 

[Southernbelle]

I was one of 6 kids - I wore a lot of hand-me-downs and thought a new bag of hand-me-downs was the best thing ever, never owned name-brand anything that I can remember, Mom cooked from scratch for every meal, and I took over the laundry for the entire household at 9 years old.

I wanted horseback riding lessons in the worst way, but my parents couldn't afford them, so at 14 I went to work at a riding stable every day after school to get free riding lessons.

Once I started earning money, (first babysitting, then working in a vets office) I started buying my own things: shoes, clothes, shampoo, etc.

When I got to college, I was shocked at how unprepared the average college student was for the real world. My roomate threw away clothes instead of getting the stains out and threw away dishes instead of washing them!!

She'd run up her credit card and call daddy for money. I was the only one that knew how to cook or balance a checkbook. It was a really good feeling to be so ahead of the game! I didn't always LIKE having to do so much work growing up, but I was very glad for those skills when I joined the real world!

 

[debilorrah]

I am the oldest child of a single mother who was certifiable back then, and only slightly better now. I have finally gotten over making sure she approves of every move I make, and I am alot happier for it too. We get along now, simply because she has finally realized that not everything she says makes sense for my life.

We were also poor and never knew it til later in life. Brown sugar sandwichs in my tree house are a great memory.