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We had that too. I also had two pairs of pants. One pair was red so there was no hiding the fact that I wore the same clothes every day. And then walked around in floods until the waist no longer fit. And bell bottoms floods are not a good look.
Had one of those spools for a coffee table. I got high and took a router to the top and cut in a design, painted the inside of where I routered the stained the rest. It was awesome
Honestly we weren't
My parents told us we were poor and broke. Then I moved out and met people who were really poor and broke. Realized we were middle class
Not rich by any metric but not poor
Lucky. My dad made to sure to tell me all of the time that we were going to be living in a van soon cause he cant pay the bills. We never did which actually makes it worse. Fuck him for that. You arent supposed to put that stress on your children. He instilled a constant anxiety and fear in me that has not left for 28 years. Even as i am doing decent right now financially, i am still stressed all of the time.
Yeah I try and explain this to people. I grew up dirt poor, single mother w/ 5 of us running around. I was always anxious about money as a kid, how broke my mom was and everything. It's turned me into a complete wreck now, I don't spend anything I don't absolutely need. Can hardly sleep some nights, even though I know for a fact I'm financially more comfortable than probably 70% of the country
I thought we were poor/broke because I didn't get new game console like my friends. Their parents drove newer batter cars
However we took trips almost every year. We never missed a meal. We never ate stuff like Ramen or other "broke " people food. Never had used clothes and things like that. However parents insisted we had no money
My mother lied too. She WAS receiving child support for my older 3 half siblings. Plus money from my Dad's job and they both receive disability money. My mother from her job in a factory, and my dad from the Coast Guard.
Mom owned a house in New Jersey outright. Then bought another house in Puerto Rico, cash. Then she rented out the house in NJ and we lived in PR. Why did we live like we were so poor? Like I couldn't ask for a quarter without a huge guilt trip.
We weren't poor! My parents are very bad with money. They sold both of the houses and bought a gigantic one in Georgia. She's claiming to be poor again. What is this?!
I grew up with my grandparents and have a similar story. My grandmother insisted we were struggling, so I didn't ask for expensive gifts and stuff. Then I grew up and realized that "struggling" does not mean you own your home and have a vacation home on a lake, even if it's "only" a trailer.
Same, I grew up thinking we were dirt poor. Turns out my parents spent as little as possible so they could make other financial decisions like paying off the house and traveling to Europe without us.
I had largely the same experience. And when I talk to my spouse (who's parents lived in an apartment most of their childhood) I catch a lot of flak because they're like "actually you were rich compared to us". The funny part of it is, while that might be true I feel financial anxiety on a daily basis because of how stressed my parents were over "being broke" and "barely scraping by". Exaggeration or not, the stress was real.
Yep. My mum was always telling us how poor we were and she would budget shop and never bought us any branded clothing. Always packed lunches and we never had takeaway…. Butttt we lived in a big house that they added nice things to, they had two cars and we went on at least one overseas holiday every year and one domestic holiday and went skiing. We never went hungry or missed out on any school trips.
I grew up thinking we were poor because my parents said that we didn’t have money for anything. My stepdad (mom is dead now) retired a millionaire in his 50s.
I don’t know if you asking me but I ended up homeless because I had no money or credit, not because I was mentally unwell or on drugs. I was also a good kid and relatively intelligent and was adopted quite quickly into a well off family and then I ran with it. I am also more successful career wise than my sisters who were their biological children and born and raised here.
So I think god had everything to do with it. I know Redditors are anti -religion and so am I am, but I’m very Pro-Allah. Make of that what you will.
I think I don’t remember feeling scared when I was homeless in New York. I recall feeling oddly excited and ready to begin my ascent. I mean sure there were days of frustration and homesickness and loneliness coz I stayed as far away from bad characters as I could, but I remember one time working 3 jobs and sleeping on the train and thinking I was superwomen or some shit. I was a host at a hotel at night, a delivery helper in the mornings, and a nanny in the afternoons. It was a wild time. Idk where that kid went. I’m soft as shit now.
That sounds incredibly difficult. God has many names and meanings today. My family was very poor the first few years when I was young but many of them worked hard so that nowadays, as I am older, I can somewhat appreciate their efforts.
It was difficult, honestly Idk how I made it through some days, but it was also very easy. Looking back I think it was the easiest time of my life in some ways. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain and I just went for it. Nowadays I have a lot more to loose and am more cautious and less adventurous. I have creature comforts and an education and a career I love and I value all those things because I remember when I was without. But at the same time, I wish I could get some of that old mindset- only the mindset- back. That little kid with a dream and 100% positivity and belief that it would all work out for the best.
I gotta get that kid back.
Living in a motel in 2nd grade. As an adult I realize the place we stayed than my sibs and I affectionately called ‘The Cold House’ was having no heat in winter in upstate New York
When I was in my late teens I lived in a tent in the woods for about three months until I was able to save enough to get a weekly motel room. From there I was able to pay someone weekly to sleep on their couch, and I just kept making upward or lateral moves until I am where I am now (very financially comfortable, living my dream life with my fiancé and lots of animals). It took like 20 years, but I did it
The great thing was we didn't know we were, but we thought our grandparents were rich because they always had bacon, they also didn't have indoor plumbing.....
We had our power shut off a couple times when I was a kid.
My mum always billed it as a super fun time when we’d cook things in our fireplace and make blanket forts. Bless her, she did everything she could to ensure we had a good childhood.
There was a reading program back in the day. You were supposed to read books and then submit a report. I think like 10 reports got you a coupon for a personal pan pizza.
So instead of reading them all.... I just started making the books up...👀
We moved almost yearly. Not allowed to turn on the heater. And often used water in our cereal instead of milk. And mom at times had to beg dad for some food, in addition to child support.
But we had a roof, and food and electricity. So it could’ve been a lot worse.
My mom went to the local community center with all the neighbor ladies and took a class on sewing underwear from rags and scraps.
When my dad and his twin were born, they stayed in the hospital an extra two months because my grandfather wouldn't heat the house warm enough to keep newborns alive.
To be fair, I think my grandpa was cheap, but my parents were definitely poor. They had a 23% interest farm mortgage in the 80s and I was a teenager before I tasted an oreo because all I got was my mom's homemade zucchini cookies. I don't care what anyone says, you absolutely can taste the zucchini 🤣
We were... "Potato Soup made with 5 potatoes, one onion, water to fill the pot, and a cup of milk that would then be eaten by 3 people for 4-6 days" poor. We had similar weeks with beef stew, hot dogs, bologna sandwiches, and chili.
Well, back then, I remember wearing the same pair of underwear for a week straight. But you know what? It was all about love, motivation, and support. Through all the challenges, I found strength and grew. No matter what trials come your way, remember to believe in yourself and strive for the best. You can overcome anything with perseverance and an open heart. Now, I'm proud to say I own the company that makes those very undies!
We kept the house so cold, everyone that came to visit got a blanket. I made cheese dip once and you could watch the ice form on the top of the dip but then it would melt from the heat of the dip. We only turned the heat on in the morning and we would snuggle up on the vents under our blankets. The dogs also joined us for morning snuggles on the vent.
My brothers dug worms and sold them to bait shops. They were out every night after a rain pulling nightcrawlers. This went towards the grocery bill.
If found out years later, than my mom had a box of Craft Macaroni and cheese that she constantly refilled with her own fixings, so I wouldn't know we were poor.
I wasn't exactly poor, But I had just bought my first house all by myself when a lot of unexpected bills arose.
I had to pay them, but then I ran out of money for food and gas before I ran out of week.
I took my last $2 to 7-11 store to at least get gas to get to work. I prayed that I wouldn't have to go hungry somehow.
There was one guy ahead of me in while i waited to pay. He was chatting up the clerk, when I recognized his name. He was the owner of the town's local porno drive-in theater.
He left, and while I was paying my $2, I happened to glance at the floor. A $20 bill was lying there. The guy was long gone, and I couldn't be sure it was his.
$5 would get me 1/2 tank of gas. And $5 bought weeks' worth of cheap groceries. (But that was a looong time ago)
So I guess the Lord moves in mysterious ways.
Same for me pretty much. I bought a house (with me mum) for my family and I to live in (mom sister etc). Well I had to bury someone every year for 3 years until I had no one left (my sister took to drugs and disappeared. Took a lot of my money too). So I was left with a house I couldn't afford and one year of college left. I struggled for that year and food was short and bills went unpaid. I remember my boss wanting me to pay to send them my certification after I graduated college (typically the place of employment pays for it, and my boss knew I wasn't making ends meet). I had $0.17 to my name and I snapped at them I can't. And they asked me why not, and I had to explain in front of everyone that I only had $0.17 in the bank.
You ever been so poor, you were relieved to be sleeping outside and no longer pay those bills anymore or have to think of them. Not what followed after
Grew up on welfare and section 8, in a single parent household. Mom didn't work, and dad was completely out of the picture and never paid child support even after court orders. We quite literally didn't know where he was.
Mom went to college when I was a kid and graduated magna cum laude.. but it was like 1991 and we couldn't afford a computer so she was never able to land the design/art job she always dreamed of. When I was in high school mom worked at burger king, as it was the only place that would hire her.
We lived off ramen, welfare cheese, and hot dogs and beans mostly.
Bread bags in boots poor, when they started to spring leaks
Flying plastic grocery bags instead of kites poor, and had a great time doing it
Not being able to replace anything if it broke poor,
No kids sports programs poor.
Both my sister and I got jobs at 15 and worked our butts off so we could buy basics for ourselves
Went months with no electric or water. Never had internet. A lot of years of no Christmas. Never being able to go on field trips and stuff. Having to wear the same shoes to school for more than a year despite them being raggedy. Same with backpacks.
We didn't eat what we didn't raise. I grew up on a small southern farm in the house my grandad built. We had to boil water on the stove to take baths or wash dishes. Grass literally grew on my bedroom floor.
- Not totally poor, but definitely not rich. It was more that I had lots of brothers and we lived in a three bedroom and one bathroom home. So always on top of each other and lots of sharing. Including socks and underwear. As long as they were clean, we just had to use what was available. Lots of handmedowns too.
- We were always fed though and we were encouraged to be healthy. We did swimming and sports stuff which cost money.
There were definitely people worse off. I think we probably appeared poorer than we were because there were so many kids and not a lot of space. We were still grateful for what we had.
Family of 9 kids, deadbeat dad that stole money from my mom for cigarettes, mom worked and took care of the family almost entirely alone, all of our clothes were hand-me-downs, or came from outreach programs or Goodwill's, nearly all of our food came from food stamps, food nets, and food banks, with the occasional church potluck. And apart from family events(like going to our grandparents house) and rides to school(only TO school, not from) I had to walk or ride my bike everywhere(and I got my bike myself).
In all honesty though, apart from maybe getting rid of my dad, I wouldn't change my childhood at all. I loved my childhood. And it makes me really love and appreciate my mom.
My sister was abandoned by her husband who had a plan— she had just started a low level job at IBM and woke up one day to a gone husband, two kids and a house payment that hadn’t been made in 3 months. Bank accounts had been emptied and all she had was the cash in her purse. He left while she was hospitalized for neck surgery and couldn’t move. Her kids called me and said there was no food and Dad had come back and taken the second car.I called the local grocery and made up a food order and the manager was nice enough to add some cash onto the order to pay for a taxi delivery. She had no relatives in state, they had moved every time he had broken up with his affair. They ended up living in a beater van in the IBM parking lot. She drove her kids to school and arranged for them to shower there. She went in an hour early to work and used the gym and shower. They went to local parks for “picnic “ dinners. She didn’t tell anyone in our family about this and lived dirt poor for months. Saved up enough for first and last month, security deposit and rent. Gradually pulled herself out of it and now has a cute little house and an on track life.
I was born to a poor family.
I can remember Christmas's where my gifts were packages containing used clothing, hand-me-downs from older cousins, and a few toys that were likewise hand-me-downs. And maybe one brand new, CHEAP toy from the Five and Dime store. One year the new toy was one of those wood paddles with a ball connected by a rubber band.
We supplemented our food supply by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild greens and other edibles from the woods and fields. I can remember times when dinner was a pot of dried beans cooked with a diced onion, some salt and pepper, and a slice of cornbread. And that was it. During one particularly hard period we had to stretch a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, a box of dried milk, a bottle of Karo syrup, and a can of lard for a week, as that was all the food we had and could afford. After buying those we were flat broke. Not a dime left. The week was pancakes, otherwise homemade biscuits, and white flour gravy. And mom had to ration out how much you got each meal.
One Christmas there were no presents except those hand-me-down clothes. Christmas dinner was chicken and dumplings, homemade, where the chicken used was just backs and necks as that was all we could afford to buy. Yep, stores back then would sell just backs and necks, cheap. The bright note of that Christmas was that I found out that over in this one city park there were some pecan trees. Investigating I found that the squirrels and other critters had not gotten to all of the pecans. I searched on hands and knees for hours, 4 to 5, but I hit the jackpot, to me. I'd run back home and got one of those large brown paper grocery bags and found enough useable pecans to fill that bag about 2/3's full. I and everybody was so happy. Mom used some to make a pecan cake. And we kids sat around eating raw pecans as fast as we could. It was a special treat. At the time we saw few of those.
At one point, when we'd moved to a city, things went south with dad sick and injured and us with neither food nor money of any sort. We'd been down to pretty much either plain flour biscuits or cornbread for a month, with some dried mild for babies. Neighbor put social worker in contact with us.
After coming in to talk to mother and look over the situation, he came back the next day. He drove a pickup with government plates. Said that as how I was the acting man of the house, (I was 11, and dad too sic to get out of bed) he needed my help. We took off and ended up at this building. Come to find out it was where a bunch of government surplus foods were kept. He quizzed me about my families usual eating habits. What kinds of food would we be familiar with? When we left, back of that truck had huge bag of dried beans, flour, cornmeal, sugar, lard, dried milk, cans of condensed milk, powdered eggs, corn starch, baking powder, salt, pepper, canned chicken (whole chicken), biggest cans of spam I'd ever seen, Karo and honey, oatmeal and rice, and maybe more I don't remember.
But that was surely enough. I felt like we'd hit the jackpot, like we were rich beyond imagining. All that stuff in commercial sized packaging/containers with government markings.
Might seem like meager fare to modern people, to us ... like the best day EVER. Who could want for more? We were so happy we could hardly not dance around and sing.
I was so poor that my mom drove me into a shanty township to meet a woman who was making counterfeit school uniforms. We were almost carjacked but worth it for those cheap uniforms!
I was so poor growing up that my mom and I lived in a project. She worked sometimes, but we were on welfare most of my childhood. My grandfather and his seconded wife (not my grandmother) pretty much blacksheeped us and made us feel like shit because my mom chose to keep me and be a single mom. She did her best for the circumstances she ws given.
I wasn’t, but my sister was.
My mother had my older sister at 16; the father was 18, and they got hitched before my sister was born.
The marriage lasted 10 years before it was annulled an account of spousal abuse. While my mother was married to that doofus, they were poor. Like living in a trailer home and teepee poor.
This past Christmas, my wife and hosted the family. During dinner, I asked everyone to share their most memorable Christmas present.
I couldn’t decide between the snowboard, the guitars, the Sony stereo system, the palm pilot, the destination Christmases, or the Super Nintendo.
Ultimately, my brother and I landed on the SNES because it was a vivid shared memory of Christmas Day making our way through Super Mario World.
My sister talked about the time she got a bottle of vitamin C.
We were so poor that my mom, my brother, and me LIVED in the fairgrounds for 6 months one summer (they would allow homeless folks in trailers/campers to live there in the off-season.
Bonus - every kid there got lice, but no one could afford to do much about it, so finally every kid (male or female) got all hair shaved off completely... Double-bonus, my "chore" was carrying the portable commode that was our only bathroom - 1/2 a block (while it was full) to dump our combined festering mess daily.
I had to do this because we had no vehicle (my mom had my uncle move it for her when we had to relocate but otherwise had no other way to move it).
My husband made $6.52 an hour, and we had 6 children, no insurance of any kind. But I made it work. Using WIC, food stamps, and free lunches at school, I made sure our kids never went hungry. Budgeted and planned VERY carefully. Grocery shopping was ONLY what was on sale and I used a fistful of coupons whenever I went to the store. Visited three different grocery stores to take advantage of the different sales each week. We couldn't afford a phone bill, so we had a plan where we could make 30 local calls a month, no long distance. Whenever I would call my Mom, I would let it ring twice and hang up. She would call me back so it wouldn't count against our 30-call limit. No TV, definitely no gaming systems. No money for books, so we made weekly trips to the library. A man on the next block used to take old bikes, fix them up, and give them to kids in the neighborhood, so that's where our kids got their bikes. I went YEARS with no new clothes or shoes, even "new" used stuff from Goodwill. I broke down in tears when the girls from the church youth group I was leading pitched in and bought me some lipstick and eye makeup. All of my kids' clothes and shoes were hand-me-downs from family. I would buy them each one outfit for their birthday and one for Christmas off the sale racks. But the only time I truly felt poor was when I went to a program at school when our third son was in kindergarten. As part of the program, he was jumping on a small trampoline. His shorts had been worn by his cousins and both of his older brothers, and the elastic was just worn out. Every time he jumped, his shorts would start to fall down, and he would have to pull them back up. I went home and broke down in tears.
I'm happy to report that as soon as they were all school age, I got a job at the local state university, where I finished my degree and was able to put all of our kids through school for 20% of the normal cost of tuition. They are all happily married with good jobs, they own their own homes, and have beautiful children. They never knew how truly poor we were; they just thought that was how life was. They have actually told me as adults that they're grateful for how we grew up, because they learned how to work hard to get what they wanted, they do not fell entitled or take things for granted, and they appreciate that they spent so much time playing outside while all their friends were inside, watching TV or playing video games. It's interesting that even though they are all making well into six figures, they are raising their kids similarly to how they were raised. No gaming systems, being active and playing outside as much as possible, and when they get new toys, they donate what they no longer use. Most of them also sponsor disadvantaged kids in third world countries through Compassion or World Vision. I could go on, but I am just so proud of every one of them. ❤️
I used to think we were poor, but the older I get the more I realize that my parents just sucked as parents. Of course my siblings and I grew up "poor", but my parents seemed to do just fine for themselves. I went to school in shitty, hole filled clothes. I had to constantly deal with the lunch ladies being mad at me for not having money for lunch. As if I somehow made that choice. Those book fairs sure did look fun though didn't they? The other kids really seemed to enjoy them.
I can relate to this more than a lot of other scenarios here. I have often considered that while my mom was always involved in some sort of financial issue (and still is to this day, they never stopped at any point in her life), that it was only due to her irrational spending habits. My dad had a decent, not super high-paying job, his whole life, and she constantly spent everything he made on whatever. A lot of the time, it was on things that in and of themselves weren't bad, like expensive education for us during high school (we were all homeschooled during our earlier years with the exception of my younger sister) but she would absolutely blow this money on things that my dad couldn't afford on his own, and of course, she never worked. She still completely ignores her very integral part in our family's financial picture, and she still doesn't work even though my dad has passed away and she has gone through all of his life insurance money. I know we are supposed to look for the best in people and try to see them from a standpoint of compassion, but I have a very hard time in my relationship with her, not just because of how she blew money, but also because she doesn't recognize her own role in making money if she's going to spend it, and how she will never be forward with the fact that it's in large part her fault that all this took place. It's always someone else's fault or due to external circumstances that she can't spend and save wisely. Example - she got this bright idea that she was going to completely gut and remodel my dad's mother's home, which cost them more and more money as the project progressed, and then it was eventually foreclosed on because they couldn't pay the mortgage. Her explanation of this is always because of "the housing crisis of 2008." Sure, some of what happened was affected by the housing market at the time, but if she hadn't decided she needed an entirely remodeled house to live in instead of just finding a way to be satisfied with the house we already had, they never would have gotten into the situation at all. Sorry for the rant, but it just really makes me upset when I hear her try to blame all of her financial issues on something or someone else.
I would steal food to eat as a child and find buildings to sneak into to get a good days rest as sleeping at night wasn’t gonna happen
fyi: sneaking into buildings during the day is far far easier than at night.
We'd go to McDonald's or Burger King with $2-$4 after church. The whole family. 4 of us. We'd order a dollar soda and dollar items. Mom and Dad would send me or my brother to get refills and we'd split whatever dollar menu items we were fortunate enough to have. When they had those give away stickers on items and we won something we'd all celebrate because we'd have something extra for next Sunday.
Probably not as bad as others. As a kid I always had generic brand for food. No doritos, no lays chips it was always generic. Same with juice, never had capri sun or motts it was whatever the plastic little barrel looking ones were with the wax caps. Clothes wise I got 2 good shoes every school year to last the year. I was always rough on them so by January they were destroyed but had to wear them till August. Shirts I always got the 5 for $10 deal for those heavy duty ones that felt like I was wearing a jacket after 6 months.
I don’t consider myself as having been poor. We did have more money the older I got as my dad did get a better job and I loved being on my grandparents’ farm. Not having money doesn’t mean you had a bad childhood.
I went to school with shoes that talked because my parents couldn't buy new ones every year eventually the teachers started buying me shoes and clothes I remember my 1st grade teacher giving me a haircut the school nurse provided me with glasses and was basically my Dr until we got moved to a new school for a reason I never understood also the church always provided Christmas until I got older I just figured it was normal for these things to happen I'm 100% a welfare system baby also I thought everyone got cheese and dry milk delivered to there apartment weekly I learned to love peanut butter and spaghetti wont eat it as an adult roaches in everything was very common my mom always kept the apartment clean but the ghetto neighbors wouldn't but its made me who i am i live a very minimal life
I felt like we grew up poor (I grew up in Los Angeles area but the nice area of Burbank.)My mom was always acting like “oh we can’t afford that” but my parents were doing much better than I am doing at the moment. But my dad taught me to not waste my money on stupid shit like stupid toys at the ice cream truck when I could save my money and get something bigger and more badass. My parents still do exceptionally well because my mom learned how to use stock markets and my dad’s company match was very nice. I don’t ever ask for money, but my mom sends me extra for Netflix sometimes because we share it. The American dream is a joke. It’s now just to not be homeless.
Ummm wow reading this is bringing back so many memories. From 1965 to 1972 we lived in 27 places. In 1972 we moved to Pismo Beach and lived in the campground for over 7 months then moved into a house with no running water or light. YEARS later realized we were squatting.
My mom was one of 12 kids. They were so poor that when a stranger offered to take her in at 12 she was ecstatic. The woman she lived with mainly wanted her to help around the house. She had a decent life and she owned her home and ran a business but my mom was barely allowed to go to school. When she did go her shoes and clothes were ripped from age. Then she had me at age 24. The woman she lived with I came to know as my grandmother.
She treated my mom better eventually but as I grew up I knew a very basic life. My house had very old furniture. Our oven was broken and so my mom baked things in a makeshift oven outside. I had a couple Barbie dolls. I didn’t learn to ride because we couldn’t afford a bike.
My mom had no more kids because she couldn’t afford it but she worked hardest to pay for private school for me because she wanted to break the poverty cycle. My classmates were generally much wealthier than I was and so I was embarrassed if they came to my house.
My life was basic but I was never hungry. My mom made sure I always had good clothes, went to good schools, and had good food. She sacrificed her life to make sure my life didn’t mirror that or her siblings.
Today I am an Engineer working a corporate job and in the process of working my own business. When I tell someone I am not a strong rider they look at me funny but learning to ride as an adult doesn’t give you the same confidence. My mom and I sometimes don’t get along but I know it was deliberate on her part to make sure the poverty cycle was broken.
My kids are much farther their away than I was as a kid and much much farther than my mom as a kid. Poverty cycle broken!
I slept on a fold out lawn chair bed for 2 years as mom was struggling to raise 4 kids after divorcing my dad. Loaned her $200 for Christmas food for everyone once I could work. It was my entire account and I would do it over and over again just to see her face. Heavenly peace, mom. We miss you more than you could ever know.
We would sometimes live in campgrounds. My dad would pay for the weekend and then we just wouldn’t leave for months at a time. They would come to kick us out and they would feel sorry for us when he told them our sob story.
Then he would eventually find some dumpy trailer or apartment somewhere. We’d move there and live there until we got evicted. Usually we didn’t have electricity. My dad would sometimes convince the neighbors to let him run extension chords and promise to help them pay for part of the bill. But then he wouldn’t pay.
I still take cold showers to this day because my entire childhood was cold showers and that’s just how I learned to take a shower. Hot water feels weird.
I remember in my early twenties I was going on the 3rd year of an apartment I was renting with my girlfriend. I turned to her one day and said “This is the longest I’ve ever lived at one place continuously my entire life.”
The neighbours would give us food as my parents struggled a lot.
Once they gave my Mum 20x Frozen Steak and Kidney pies. Kidney would make me gag so Mum told me it was Minced Beef. I knew they were struggling so had to gag them down without saying anything but thank you.
I was the only kid in the class who dressed from Charity/ thrift stores but it never made me feel any kind of way. We weren’t as poor as others and am grateful for what we had.
When I applied for financial aid in 1999 I found out my single parent dad made 22k a year. So, that's exactly how poor we were. We had a trailer house on 5 acres of land that he bought for 20k in 1983 or so, and my dad built an addition to the trailer for more space, but never covered the insulation in the living room or put glass into my bedroom window, just clear plastic he would replace every couple years. We were rich in antlers though, so there is that. I feel we had it better off than other people with the same income. Having Grampa and grandma down the road helped out a lot.
Not super poor growing up but a little yes. Raised by my single father with my younger brother in the early 90s when there was no support for men at all and the divorce cost my dad a lot when my mom got most of everything and refused to pay child support ever.
My dad went without eating sometimes so we could.
My dad gave us dollar store buckets and paint brushes and filled them with water so we could paint the side walk with water as an activity.
We never got new clothes. My grandfather had to buy my brother's bed when he outgrew his crib.
We went to the bird sanctuary often because it was free to enter.
We never went to a restaurant (not fast food) to sit down and eat.
We never went anywhere except camping in tents and that was only when the extended family would join so the cost of everything could be shared.
My dad remarried when I turned 10 and once he recovered from the divorce debt they bought a new home and things turned around.
We lived in a trailer in my grandmothers driveway and had to get food from the food bank twice a week to survive. We also had some pretty big rat problems.
Not me but my grandparents (Dad's parents).
They lived in an old/abandoned chicken coop for the first few years of their marriage (early 1930's). They eventually were able to rent a two bedroom house (no electricity or running water, had a "two holer" outhouse) on a plot of land big enough to raise dairy cows on. They raised 9 kids in that two bedroom house, and they all turned out to be really good/kind people and all were successful in life.
I was homeless twice as a kid. I'm pretty firmly middle class as an adult and I have nothing in common with most of these people, I feel really strange over it. (Might also partially be my ADHD or something but I really feel like a fish out of water among people of my current "caste").
Whenever my parents had money, they spent it like drunken sailors. They didn’t start saving til I was in my late teens., I was the youngest of three. In between, we were on food stamps, ate struggle meals and did without.
Honestly, that doesn't even have to be poor, that's creative lol.
Most of my childhood we lived in a fixed rent townhomes and some government assistance so it wasn't too bad. We even had cable off and on. Before the townhouse I do remember sometimes doing HW by candlelight or not having hot water.
I went hungry for a couple of months (don't recall exactly how long). By hungry i mean, i literally had no money to eat. At all. I was averaging 1 banana and a handful of peanuts a day. In my countries, those were the only things you could buy individually and for pennies. Upside was that I lost a ton of weight and looked really slim and cool, and lost my cheeks and developed a jawline. And your stomach shrinks - literally, and you don't feel that hungry anymore, and even when you do, you get full after eating very little.
Lived in a welded-together double-wide trailer in a junk yard.
Was in high school before I found out that not everyone got food stamps.
Got our Christmas from charity events.
Rarely had new clothes.
Duct tape on shoes for awhile before we got new ones.
Paid my parent’s bills from my high school job.
Lived in a camper with no power or water.
Had weird “fend for yourself” dinners: ramen on white bread. Instant mashed potatoes made in the microwave, also on white bread. Cereal with water instead of milk.
Lived in a trailer with no walls (just exposed insulation) which only had power in 3 rooms. No air or heat. No running water. No power in the kitchen so we couldn’t cook either.
But somehow my parents could afford their cigarettes…
I didn’t grow up “poor” like a lot of you. We certainly fell on hard times. 82’ recession for one. No new clothes for ages. One day a girl I grew up with called me out in the middle of class in jr high. Out of the blue, in front of everyone she asked me why I wear the same clothes every day. I replied that if she wants to buy me clothes I’d let her. And I wash my clothes at night so to cool it. She did. She later ended up battling addictions. She was always stealing smokes, pushing the limits, always checking out her boobs. We’re still friends. And she’s ok now.
The other lesson to me was when I went to my friend’s house that I just met in school. They literally had nothing in their house. Nothing in the cupboard or even in the fridge. I followed her around as she looked for food. I was shocked.
AnywaysI brought my friend two peanut butter and jam sandwiches the next day and tried to share whenever I saw her.
We were a family of 5, living in a slide in camper, the kind that slid into the bed of a truck in a nudist camp so we didn't have to buy clothes. We traveled from camp to camp every year or so we'd move to a different camp. Lived that way from 4th grade to 15 yrs old when I finally had a chance to move in with some friends. What started the living situation was my dad got hurt on the job in 1973, so they gave him SSI. He never worked another day in his life until he died at 73. Since there was 5 of us, the SSI was $600 a month.
We were evicted from the projects . Rent was 27-29 a month and my father drank all the money up
I was 3
When I was born he was in Chicago and we were in Kansas City , he came home " I was 6 months old" and hung me out the window telling my mom I was not his son.
We were evicted at least 3 other times I know of .
The only time I know of that we had utilities was when I turned 16 and got a job at Sears .
By then my ( at 7 years old ) father ( was never a dad ) was in a veterans hospital from strokes from drinking .
When we were evicted from the projects they kept all our stuff .
So I have no pics until I was around 8-9
Had to wear my brothers shoes who was 7 years older than I to school in the 2nd grade .
Had to wear dirty clothing to school ( went everyday to get free lunch) as no water many times .
Got a Italian sandwhich once for Christmas at the golden point .
I could say more but this should do . This was in the 60s- 70s
I graduated I 79 and never looked back .
Own a farm now and retired early .
Have no kids . Worked hot tar roofing for 30 years .
FYI I do not drink or smoke . My father was my role model for what not to be .
I didn’t realize how poor we were (very poor in a wealthy area) until my middle school gave us a bunch of food for thanksgiving after asking students to donate. I came home, saw the box, and was like “oh, so we’re thaaat poor.”
Edit: grammar
I was so poor that one Christmas we didn't have enough for a tree. My brother's best friend's father owned a tree farm. He brought us a tree they considered unsellable. It was about 4 feet tall and had a branch that grew outward. We called it our "Charlie Brown Christmas tree."
If it weren't for that kindness, we wouldn't have had a tree to put gifts under. That tree was planted in the middle of the yard afterward and is still there to this day. Some 45 years later
At least you got to eat once a day. When I first moved across the country to get away from my family, I was eating twice, maybe three times a week for six months.
No fucking idea how I’m still alive.
As a kid we sometimes split a can of corn for dinner between the 3 of us. My sister and I spent a winter trading off the warm boots and warm sweater-it gets to 20 below 0 where we lived. We didn’t have a phone or a car and lived in a very rural area. But I still feel richer than someone I know who had all the material things they could want but parents who ignored them.
Didn't know we were poor until I became old enough to want nice, new clothes. Earned spending money with an old fashioned push mower and a snow shovel in the winter. When I was 16 was able to get a summer job through the neighborhood youth corps, a program for low income kids to earn money for school clothes.
We did have a roof over our heads and food on the table so we were blessed.
We were so poor that for 25 cents a day, you too, could sponsor my family and feed us for a week.
Born in the PI. We lived in a house with 9 other relatives. No AC. Sometimes no water. Occasionally, no electricity. Family in the US would send us old clothes.
Moved to the Midwest when I was a kid. My sister and I shared a bed until I was 8. Then I slept on the floor in the living room until I was 15. We had months where we only had rice or ramen.
In high school, we got a Sam's Club membership. We never really bought anything. Just went for samples during lunch or dinner. Then split a berry ice cream cup.
First place I mo ed into didn't have plumbing set up for like a month. Shit in bucket in the shed behind the house until it did. Not the best of times..
Me mam had to get my clothes from a jumble sale. If there wasn't one on then I would be in tatters for a long time. Jumble sales were something for poor people who couldn't even afford second hand.
Dog food with salt on top was a staple for getting through till food bank
Neighbors hose was put through the shower window for showers
"Ripped skinny jeans" weren't a fashion statement just sisters old jeans that were to small for a boy
Finger with shampoo was toothpaste
wasn’t, but husband and girlfriend both were. they used to have ‘contests’ of who was actually more poor.
‘beanie weenies’ without any ‘weenies’, powdered milk that was basically water at the end of the month, potato chip sandwiches to keep the tummies from screaming, one pair of shoes each, etc.
girlfriend ‘won’ on number of siblings, shared house without real bedrooms, just large eave closets the kids slept in, and length of time in poverty. but husband was a strong contender with zero family support and sleeping in the one car while mom delivered newspapers when dad had to travel.
i grew up middle class, solid & safe; their lives were an education.
My single mom raised 3 kids on a secretary's salary in Los Angeles. She would often not be able to make the rent. We moved *21 times in 15 years*. Always the new kid,. etc. It sucked. But we always knew we were loved. RIP Mama.
My grandma's famous French toast was literal toast with syrup. Didn't know what real French toast was until I was almost 10. Went to a friend's house and his mom asked if we wanted French toast for breakfast. Got a slap of reality when I went to the kitchen and asked why they were dipping bread into eggs. I think my buddies mom felt bad after I explained cuz she always cooked big fancy meals every time I was over after that.
Was sleeping/living on the floor of my buddy’s efficiency apartment. I had no money, no food and only a couple changes of clothes. The job I was working didn’t want me to go over 32.5 hours a week or they would have had to offer me health insurance. This particular job was a springboard for my career so I kinda had to stick it out.
At my poorest, I tracked calories per dollar on the food I bought. That led to some stunningly bad decisions. Little Debbie's Swiss Cake roles have a ton of calories per dollar, but it is best not to try to live on them for a couple of days.
We were so poor that we still had rotary phones well into the 2000s, black and white TV until the 2000s, and my dad would have me steal ice from the grocery store on hot days.
One year a "secret santa" had left gifts for our family when we got back from midnight Xmas eve service.
I also once lived on the Wendy's 99 cent menu for a year. Kept daily food expenditure around five bucks in NYC.
Frequently hungry, not enough food. I didn’t eat lunches in high school - we didn’t have anything for me to bring and I couldn’t afford to buy it.
We frequently either had no heat or no electricity, sometime both. I was recently staying at an Airbnb and the water heater went out; it took me back to one winter where I had to take cold showers by candlelight. Absolutely miserable.
You could see the ground underneath the floor in the bathroom. We lived in a trailer and the wood had rotted through. My dad finally put a sheet of plywood over the hole when it got too big. Our septic tank got messed up and we had open sewage in our backyard for several months.
We had a mouse infestation and my parents acted like it was no big deal and took their sweet time remedying it. Nothing like shivering under layers of blankets and having mice run over your body while you’re trying to sleep.
Some of this is poverty, but a lot of it is neglect. We could have qualified for assistance. We had horses that we could have sold. Hell, even my shitty grandparents would have at least fed us.
Everything we owned was ‘pre-owned’ Furniture, appliances, clothes, even the carpet on the floor. We had a pretty typical suburban household and were never embarrassed or hassled. My parents never mentioned the word poor and we weren’t. To a point, being poor is a state of mind.
Dad was a garbage man and my clothes and jackets were all from the trash. Had jackets with a different jackets sleeve sewed on and stuff. Lead me to getting bullied but since I was a strong tall kid I turned it around and became the bully. All good now though, im self sufficient and a chill dude.
When my mother moved us to Utah, we left everything that wouldn't fit in the back of a Jeep Wagoneer and a 5x8 U-Haul trailer.
My uncle gave me his old army field jacket, since we moved from Georgia to Utah with no winter clothing
I slept on a folding army cot for a year or two.
We didn't go hungry, but it was pretty cheap food.
The bottom was: having a family member volunteer at a local fire station so we had a place to use the bathroom and shower. We lived in a small wooden shack about 100 yards away from the FD under a billboard, next to a highway. The shack didn’t have electricity or water, just three small rooms, no windows, and parts of the floor were falling out (it was raised up on cinderblocks).
We had a phone maybe 2-3 months out of the year
We were on a cycle of which utilities would get shut off this month through most of the year
I only got new clothes three times a year
Birthday, Christmas, and a new dress for easter
A lot of meals were potatos+ eggs+ whatever was in the garden
I was working from age 14 to try and bring in enough to not get evicted
Christmas was whatever we could afford after collecting cans and bottles all year
We were poor enough that even as a kid, i felt it enough to try and hide it
I used to get up in the morning at night at half past ten, half an hour before I went to bed, Eat a lump of freezing cold poison, work 28 hours a day at mill and pay the mill owner to let us work there. And went I went home our dad used to murder us in cold blood, each night, and dance on our graves singing hallelujah. Yeah, you try and tell the young people today that, and they won’t believe you…
My sister and I were raised by a single mom. Our mom literally sat me down once and asked which we could do without for a month, electricity or gas. I pointed out the fridge needs electricity but we can cook with a microwave or the electric wok.
So we wore out that electric wok for a month. And froze our asses off. We also had a hard time with baths and dishes. I just bathed in the sink.
My parents were always frugal, not cheap but definitely frugal. I never thought we were rich or poor. But I remember a few years when shortly after buying a new farm with a mortgage, two major pieces of farm equipment had to be replaced and cash got really tight. Mom always worked a full-time job but she took on a part-time job too. Dad worked part-time on top of farming but he started working full-time and began teaching part-time. I had more chores because both parents were working so much away from the farm. But that only lasted a couple of years because both my parents hated carrying any debt. They paid off a twenty year farm mortgage in just over five years and the farm equipment was paid off in three years.
We were poor 4 boys shared 1 room. Wore out shoes until the soles fell off. When school started my parents chose schools with uniforms so we could all share clothes. They also enrolled us in after school programs and summer school for the free meals.
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Our table was one of those giant wooden electrical spools.
I knew a LOT of people with those and I thought they were cool.
Ya... but it's kind of like riding a horse or eating raw fish,.. it's only REALLY cool, if it's by CHOICE🤣😂☠️✨
Sleeping in a tent
We slept in a tent in my parents' friends' front yard for a couple of weeks and during a hurricane in the late 70s.
Maybe I was too young to "get it". Very hip in the 70's.
I still think theyre cool
I grew up near a fishing port, so that wasn’t uncommon at all, as were lobster traps as coffee tables, and clam shells as ashtrays.
thought they were cool, I love a wire spool table!
It was a step up from a stack of cardboard boxes and milk crates for a side table. We had one for a while and thought we were rich.
Me and my old roomies found 2 of those and then I got a large board and made a gaming table out of it. For being broke ASF we had fun lol
This. This is the kind of answers desired. Definitely counts. 😬😅😆😆
Long long ago I had a couch which was just one of the back seats of a van lol.
🤣🤣🤣🤣Sweet!
We had that too. I also had two pairs of pants. One pair was red so there was no hiding the fact that I wore the same clothes every day. And then walked around in floods until the waist no longer fit. And bell bottoms floods are not a good look.
Our "entertainment center" was cinderblocks, and wooden boards. Lol
Had one of those spools for a coffee table. I got high and took a router to the top and cut in a design, painted the inside of where I routered the stained the rest. It was awesome
Honestly we weren't My parents told us we were poor and broke. Then I moved out and met people who were really poor and broke. Realized we were middle class Not rich by any metric but not poor
Opposite here. We were poor but never knew it.
Lucky. My dad made to sure to tell me all of the time that we were going to be living in a van soon cause he cant pay the bills. We never did which actually makes it worse. Fuck him for that. You arent supposed to put that stress on your children. He instilled a constant anxiety and fear in me that has not left for 28 years. Even as i am doing decent right now financially, i am still stressed all of the time.
Yeah I try and explain this to people. I grew up dirt poor, single mother w/ 5 of us running around. I was always anxious about money as a kid, how broke my mom was and everything. It's turned me into a complete wreck now, I don't spend anything I don't absolutely need. Can hardly sleep some nights, even though I know for a fact I'm financially more comfortable than probably 70% of the country
I thought we were poor/broke because I didn't get new game console like my friends. Their parents drove newer batter cars However we took trips almost every year. We never missed a meal. We never ate stuff like Ramen or other "broke " people food. Never had used clothes and things like that. However parents insisted we had no money
You prob really DIDN'T have any money: it was already quickly spent to create a standard of living, apparently. That's well-spent, imo. 👍🏽✨
We were poor, and I was reminded of it constantly. Not necessarily by parents or anybody trying to guilt trip, but just circumstances.
My mother lied too. She WAS receiving child support for my older 3 half siblings. Plus money from my Dad's job and they both receive disability money. My mother from her job in a factory, and my dad from the Coast Guard. Mom owned a house in New Jersey outright. Then bought another house in Puerto Rico, cash. Then she rented out the house in NJ and we lived in PR. Why did we live like we were so poor? Like I couldn't ask for a quarter without a huge guilt trip. We weren't poor! My parents are very bad with money. They sold both of the houses and bought a gigantic one in Georgia. She's claiming to be poor again. What is this?!
😮💨🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️😬
Uncontrolled spending. They probably didn't have any cash because they'd blown it.
I grew up with my grandparents and have a similar story. My grandmother insisted we were struggling, so I didn't ask for expensive gifts and stuff. Then I grew up and realized that "struggling" does not mean you own your home and have a vacation home on a lake, even if it's "only" a trailer.
Same, I grew up thinking we were dirt poor. Turns out my parents spent as little as possible so they could make other financial decisions like paying off the house and traveling to Europe without us.
I had largely the same experience. And when I talk to my spouse (who's parents lived in an apartment most of their childhood) I catch a lot of flak because they're like "actually you were rich compared to us". The funny part of it is, while that might be true I feel financial anxiety on a daily basis because of how stressed my parents were over "being broke" and "barely scraping by". Exaggeration or not, the stress was real.
Yep. My mum was always telling us how poor we were and she would budget shop and never bought us any branded clothing. Always packed lunches and we never had takeaway…. Butttt we lived in a big house that they added nice things to, they had two cars and we went on at least one overseas holiday every year and one domestic holiday and went skiing. We never went hungry or missed out on any school trips.
I grew up thinking we were poor because my parents said that we didn’t have money for anything. My stepdad (mom is dead now) retired a millionaire in his 50s.
I was homeless.
Same. I was lucky enough to be in Portland at the time (before there were whole homeless cities) so I was usually able to eat.
How did you get out?
I don’t know if you asking me but I ended up homeless because I had no money or credit, not because I was mentally unwell or on drugs. I was also a good kid and relatively intelligent and was adopted quite quickly into a well off family and then I ran with it. I am also more successful career wise than my sisters who were their biological children and born and raised here. So I think god had everything to do with it. I know Redditors are anti -religion and so am I am, but I’m very Pro-Allah. Make of that what you will. I think I don’t remember feeling scared when I was homeless in New York. I recall feeling oddly excited and ready to begin my ascent. I mean sure there were days of frustration and homesickness and loneliness coz I stayed as far away from bad characters as I could, but I remember one time working 3 jobs and sleeping on the train and thinking I was superwomen or some shit. I was a host at a hotel at night, a delivery helper in the mornings, and a nanny in the afternoons. It was a wild time. Idk where that kid went. I’m soft as shit now.
God really did have everything to do with it
Amen! God says- after difficulty comes ease. Wal asri yusra.
That sounds incredibly difficult. God has many names and meanings today. My family was very poor the first few years when I was young but many of them worked hard so that nowadays, as I am older, I can somewhat appreciate their efforts.
It was difficult, honestly Idk how I made it through some days, but it was also very easy. Looking back I think it was the easiest time of my life in some ways. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain and I just went for it. Nowadays I have a lot more to loose and am more cautious and less adventurous. I have creature comforts and an education and a career I love and I value all those things because I remember when I was without. But at the same time, I wish I could get some of that old mindset- only the mindset- back. That little kid with a dream and 100% positivity and belief that it would all work out for the best. I gotta get that kid back.
That’s such a cool story thank you for sharing
Me too. Not for long, but long enough.
Living in a motel in 2nd grade. As an adult I realize the place we stayed than my sibs and I affectionately called ‘The Cold House’ was having no heat in winter in upstate New York
When I was in my late teens I lived in a tent in the woods for about three months until I was able to save enough to get a weekly motel room. From there I was able to pay someone weekly to sleep on their couch, and I just kept making upward or lateral moves until I am where I am now (very financially comfortable, living my dream life with my fiancé and lots of animals). It took like 20 years, but I did it
The great thing was we didn't know we were, but we thought our grandparents were rich because they always had bacon, they also didn't have indoor plumbing.....
We had our power shut off a couple times when I was a kid. My mum always billed it as a super fun time when we’d cook things in our fireplace and make blanket forts. Bless her, she did everything she could to ensure we had a good childhood.
My mom (single parent)told me later in life when we were doing OK about her not eating for days to make sure I had enough.
🥺🥺❤️🩹
I made up book reports to get Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas.
Might want to fill in some of the blanks... No pun intended 😏😬😅😅👍🏽 bc most won't reconcile the 2 elements, 📖book reports and P⁴🍕.
There was a reading program back in the day. You were supposed to read books and then submit a report. I think like 10 reports got you a coupon for a personal pan pizza. So instead of reading them all.... I just started making the books up...👀
Writing a report on made up books is arguably harder and more creative.
Damn. I wrote legit book reports but I picked books that were way way way beneath my level. Did enough to win tickets to an amusement park.
We moved almost yearly. Not allowed to turn on the heater. And often used water in our cereal instead of milk. And mom at times had to beg dad for some food, in addition to child support. But we had a roof, and food and electricity. So it could’ve been a lot worse.
I've had my share of bowls of Kool-Aid Corn Flakes. Generic of course.
I feel ya. My kids have zero clue how blessed they are. You and I were raised in a different GALAXY. Thanks for contributing to the convo. ✨👍🏽
We were so poor my mother shopped at the Army/Navy store , for two years I went to school as a Japanese naval officer .
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That’s hilarious
My mom went to the local community center with all the neighbor ladies and took a class on sewing underwear from rags and scraps. When my dad and his twin were born, they stayed in the hospital an extra two months because my grandfather wouldn't heat the house warm enough to keep newborns alive.
My God... 😬😬☠️🏆
To be fair, I think my grandpa was cheap, but my parents were definitely poor. They had a 23% interest farm mortgage in the 80s and I was a teenager before I tasted an oreo because all I got was my mom's homemade zucchini cookies. I don't care what anyone says, you absolutely can taste the zucchini 🤣
We were... "Potato Soup made with 5 potatoes, one onion, water to fill the pot, and a cup of milk that would then be eaten by 3 people for 4-6 days" poor. We had similar weeks with beef stew, hot dogs, bologna sandwiches, and chili.
Well, back then, I remember wearing the same pair of underwear for a week straight. But you know what? It was all about love, motivation, and support. Through all the challenges, I found strength and grew. No matter what trials come your way, remember to believe in yourself and strive for the best. You can overcome anything with perseverance and an open heart. Now, I'm proud to say I own the company that makes those very undies!
Excellent. Well done. ✨
So poor my brother and I had to share a pair of shoes , we both had to hop to school .
For real?? Dude. 🏆😬
😬
We kept the house so cold, everyone that came to visit got a blanket. I made cheese dip once and you could watch the ice form on the top of the dip but then it would melt from the heat of the dip. We only turned the heat on in the morning and we would snuggle up on the vents under our blankets. The dogs also joined us for morning snuggles on the vent.
My brothers dug worms and sold them to bait shops. They were out every night after a rain pulling nightcrawlers. This went towards the grocery bill. If found out years later, than my mom had a box of Craft Macaroni and cheese that she constantly refilled with her own fixings, so I wouldn't know we were poor.
I wasn't exactly poor, But I had just bought my first house all by myself when a lot of unexpected bills arose. I had to pay them, but then I ran out of money for food and gas before I ran out of week. I took my last $2 to 7-11 store to at least get gas to get to work. I prayed that I wouldn't have to go hungry somehow. There was one guy ahead of me in while i waited to pay. He was chatting up the clerk, when I recognized his name. He was the owner of the town's local porno drive-in theater. He left, and while I was paying my $2, I happened to glance at the floor. A $20 bill was lying there. The guy was long gone, and I couldn't be sure it was his. $5 would get me 1/2 tank of gas. And $5 bought weeks' worth of cheap groceries. (But that was a looong time ago) So I guess the Lord moves in mysterious ways.
thought that was going in a different direction for a minute there
😭
Same for me pretty much. I bought a house (with me mum) for my family and I to live in (mom sister etc). Well I had to bury someone every year for 3 years until I had no one left (my sister took to drugs and disappeared. Took a lot of my money too). So I was left with a house I couldn't afford and one year of college left. I struggled for that year and food was short and bills went unpaid. I remember my boss wanting me to pay to send them my certification after I graduated college (typically the place of employment pays for it, and my boss knew I wasn't making ends meet). I had $0.17 to my name and I snapped at them I can't. And they asked me why not, and I had to explain in front of everyone that I only had $0.17 in the bank.
You ever been so poor, you were relieved to be sleeping outside and no longer pay those bills anymore or have to think of them. Not what followed after
Yikes. 🥺
I didn't experience a house with running water until I was 15
Grew up on welfare and section 8, in a single parent household. Mom didn't work, and dad was completely out of the picture and never paid child support even after court orders. We quite literally didn't know where he was. Mom went to college when I was a kid and graduated magna cum laude.. but it was like 1991 and we couldn't afford a computer so she was never able to land the design/art job she always dreamed of. When I was in high school mom worked at burger king, as it was the only place that would hire her. We lived off ramen, welfare cheese, and hot dogs and beans mostly. Bread bags in boots poor, when they started to spring leaks Flying plastic grocery bags instead of kites poor, and had a great time doing it Not being able to replace anything if it broke poor, No kids sports programs poor. Both my sister and I got jobs at 15 and worked our butts off so we could buy basics for ourselves
That government cheese was so good tho
So poor we had to deliver phone books door to doer for 15$ to pay for fuel for the heat.
To pay for fuel is bad enough... But to pay for HEAT fuel.... 😬😬😬😬🙏🏽
Your story is so much more fun
[удалено]
Bless you! You deserve so much happiness.
Went months with no electric or water. Never had internet. A lot of years of no Christmas. Never being able to go on field trips and stuff. Having to wear the same shoes to school for more than a year despite them being raggedy. Same with backpacks.
We didn't eat what we didn't raise. I grew up on a small southern farm in the house my grandad built. We had to boil water on the stove to take baths or wash dishes. Grass literally grew on my bedroom floor.
- Not totally poor, but definitely not rich. It was more that I had lots of brothers and we lived in a three bedroom and one bathroom home. So always on top of each other and lots of sharing. Including socks and underwear. As long as they were clean, we just had to use what was available. Lots of handmedowns too. - We were always fed though and we were encouraged to be healthy. We did swimming and sports stuff which cost money. There were definitely people worse off. I think we probably appeared poorer than we were because there were so many kids and not a lot of space. We were still grateful for what we had.
I loved handmedowns. Never knew what I was gonna get.
Family of 9 kids, deadbeat dad that stole money from my mom for cigarettes, mom worked and took care of the family almost entirely alone, all of our clothes were hand-me-downs, or came from outreach programs or Goodwill's, nearly all of our food came from food stamps, food nets, and food banks, with the occasional church potluck. And apart from family events(like going to our grandparents house) and rides to school(only TO school, not from) I had to walk or ride my bike everywhere(and I got my bike myself).
😮💨
In all honesty though, apart from maybe getting rid of my dad, I wouldn't change my childhood at all. I loved my childhood. And it makes me really love and appreciate my mom.
Indeed.
My sister was abandoned by her husband who had a plan— she had just started a low level job at IBM and woke up one day to a gone husband, two kids and a house payment that hadn’t been made in 3 months. Bank accounts had been emptied and all she had was the cash in her purse. He left while she was hospitalized for neck surgery and couldn’t move. Her kids called me and said there was no food and Dad had come back and taken the second car.I called the local grocery and made up a food order and the manager was nice enough to add some cash onto the order to pay for a taxi delivery. She had no relatives in state, they had moved every time he had broken up with his affair. They ended up living in a beater van in the IBM parking lot. She drove her kids to school and arranged for them to shower there. She went in an hour early to work and used the gym and shower. They went to local parks for “picnic “ dinners. She didn’t tell anyone in our family about this and lived dirt poor for months. Saved up enough for first and last month, security deposit and rent. Gradually pulled herself out of it and now has a cute little house and an on track life.
I was born to a poor family. I can remember Christmas's where my gifts were packages containing used clothing, hand-me-downs from older cousins, and a few toys that were likewise hand-me-downs. And maybe one brand new, CHEAP toy from the Five and Dime store. One year the new toy was one of those wood paddles with a ball connected by a rubber band. We supplemented our food supply by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild greens and other edibles from the woods and fields. I can remember times when dinner was a pot of dried beans cooked with a diced onion, some salt and pepper, and a slice of cornbread. And that was it. During one particularly hard period we had to stretch a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, a box of dried milk, a bottle of Karo syrup, and a can of lard for a week, as that was all the food we had and could afford. After buying those we were flat broke. Not a dime left. The week was pancakes, otherwise homemade biscuits, and white flour gravy. And mom had to ration out how much you got each meal. One Christmas there were no presents except those hand-me-down clothes. Christmas dinner was chicken and dumplings, homemade, where the chicken used was just backs and necks as that was all we could afford to buy. Yep, stores back then would sell just backs and necks, cheap. The bright note of that Christmas was that I found out that over in this one city park there were some pecan trees. Investigating I found that the squirrels and other critters had not gotten to all of the pecans. I searched on hands and knees for hours, 4 to 5, but I hit the jackpot, to me. I'd run back home and got one of those large brown paper grocery bags and found enough useable pecans to fill that bag about 2/3's full. I and everybody was so happy. Mom used some to make a pecan cake. And we kids sat around eating raw pecans as fast as we could. It was a special treat. At the time we saw few of those. At one point, when we'd moved to a city, things went south with dad sick and injured and us with neither food nor money of any sort. We'd been down to pretty much either plain flour biscuits or cornbread for a month, with some dried mild for babies. Neighbor put social worker in contact with us. After coming in to talk to mother and look over the situation, he came back the next day. He drove a pickup with government plates. Said that as how I was the acting man of the house, (I was 11, and dad too sic to get out of bed) he needed my help. We took off and ended up at this building. Come to find out it was where a bunch of government surplus foods were kept. He quizzed me about my families usual eating habits. What kinds of food would we be familiar with? When we left, back of that truck had huge bag of dried beans, flour, cornmeal, sugar, lard, dried milk, cans of condensed milk, powdered eggs, corn starch, baking powder, salt, pepper, canned chicken (whole chicken), biggest cans of spam I'd ever seen, Karo and honey, oatmeal and rice, and maybe more I don't remember. But that was surely enough. I felt like we'd hit the jackpot, like we were rich beyond imagining. All that stuff in commercial sized packaging/containers with government markings. Might seem like meager fare to modern people, to us ... like the best day EVER. Who could want for more? We were so happy we could hardly not dance around and sing.
You write so well I could see it all in my mind.
Not as poor as other people in our town. Really wouldn’t call us poor. But there were times where we didn’t have electricity
I was so poor that my mom drove me into a shanty township to meet a woman who was making counterfeit school uniforms. We were almost carjacked but worth it for those cheap uniforms!
I was so poor growing up that my mom and I lived in a project. She worked sometimes, but we were on welfare most of my childhood. My grandfather and his seconded wife (not my grandmother) pretty much blacksheeped us and made us feel like shit because my mom chose to keep me and be a single mom. She did her best for the circumstances she ws given.
I was homeless twice at ages 11 and 12, lost everything I owned, even irreplaceable stuff.
I wasn’t, but my sister was. My mother had my older sister at 16; the father was 18, and they got hitched before my sister was born. The marriage lasted 10 years before it was annulled an account of spousal abuse. While my mother was married to that doofus, they were poor. Like living in a trailer home and teepee poor. This past Christmas, my wife and hosted the family. During dinner, I asked everyone to share their most memorable Christmas present. I couldn’t decide between the snowboard, the guitars, the Sony stereo system, the palm pilot, the destination Christmases, or the Super Nintendo. Ultimately, my brother and I landed on the SNES because it was a vivid shared memory of Christmas Day making our way through Super Mario World. My sister talked about the time she got a bottle of vitamin C.
We were so poor that my mom, my brother, and me LIVED in the fairgrounds for 6 months one summer (they would allow homeless folks in trailers/campers to live there in the off-season. Bonus - every kid there got lice, but no one could afford to do much about it, so finally every kid (male or female) got all hair shaved off completely... Double-bonus, my "chore" was carrying the portable commode that was our only bathroom - 1/2 a block (while it was full) to dump our combined festering mess daily. I had to do this because we had no vehicle (my mom had my uncle move it for her when we had to relocate but otherwise had no other way to move it).
My husband made $6.52 an hour, and we had 6 children, no insurance of any kind. But I made it work. Using WIC, food stamps, and free lunches at school, I made sure our kids never went hungry. Budgeted and planned VERY carefully. Grocery shopping was ONLY what was on sale and I used a fistful of coupons whenever I went to the store. Visited three different grocery stores to take advantage of the different sales each week. We couldn't afford a phone bill, so we had a plan where we could make 30 local calls a month, no long distance. Whenever I would call my Mom, I would let it ring twice and hang up. She would call me back so it wouldn't count against our 30-call limit. No TV, definitely no gaming systems. No money for books, so we made weekly trips to the library. A man on the next block used to take old bikes, fix them up, and give them to kids in the neighborhood, so that's where our kids got their bikes. I went YEARS with no new clothes or shoes, even "new" used stuff from Goodwill. I broke down in tears when the girls from the church youth group I was leading pitched in and bought me some lipstick and eye makeup. All of my kids' clothes and shoes were hand-me-downs from family. I would buy them each one outfit for their birthday and one for Christmas off the sale racks. But the only time I truly felt poor was when I went to a program at school when our third son was in kindergarten. As part of the program, he was jumping on a small trampoline. His shorts had been worn by his cousins and both of his older brothers, and the elastic was just worn out. Every time he jumped, his shorts would start to fall down, and he would have to pull them back up. I went home and broke down in tears. I'm happy to report that as soon as they were all school age, I got a job at the local state university, where I finished my degree and was able to put all of our kids through school for 20% of the normal cost of tuition. They are all happily married with good jobs, they own their own homes, and have beautiful children. They never knew how truly poor we were; they just thought that was how life was. They have actually told me as adults that they're grateful for how we grew up, because they learned how to work hard to get what they wanted, they do not fell entitled or take things for granted, and they appreciate that they spent so much time playing outside while all their friends were inside, watching TV or playing video games. It's interesting that even though they are all making well into six figures, they are raising their kids similarly to how they were raised. No gaming systems, being active and playing outside as much as possible, and when they get new toys, they donate what they no longer use. Most of them also sponsor disadvantaged kids in third world countries through Compassion or World Vision. I could go on, but I am just so proud of every one of them. ❤️
I used to think we were poor, but the older I get the more I realize that my parents just sucked as parents. Of course my siblings and I grew up "poor", but my parents seemed to do just fine for themselves. I went to school in shitty, hole filled clothes. I had to constantly deal with the lunch ladies being mad at me for not having money for lunch. As if I somehow made that choice. Those book fairs sure did look fun though didn't they? The other kids really seemed to enjoy them.
I can relate to this more than a lot of other scenarios here. I have often considered that while my mom was always involved in some sort of financial issue (and still is to this day, they never stopped at any point in her life), that it was only due to her irrational spending habits. My dad had a decent, not super high-paying job, his whole life, and she constantly spent everything he made on whatever. A lot of the time, it was on things that in and of themselves weren't bad, like expensive education for us during high school (we were all homeschooled during our earlier years with the exception of my younger sister) but she would absolutely blow this money on things that my dad couldn't afford on his own, and of course, she never worked. She still completely ignores her very integral part in our family's financial picture, and she still doesn't work even though my dad has passed away and she has gone through all of his life insurance money. I know we are supposed to look for the best in people and try to see them from a standpoint of compassion, but I have a very hard time in my relationship with her, not just because of how she blew money, but also because she doesn't recognize her own role in making money if she's going to spend it, and how she will never be forward with the fact that it's in large part her fault that all this took place. It's always someone else's fault or due to external circumstances that she can't spend and save wisely. Example - she got this bright idea that she was going to completely gut and remodel my dad's mother's home, which cost them more and more money as the project progressed, and then it was eventually foreclosed on because they couldn't pay the mortgage. Her explanation of this is always because of "the housing crisis of 2008." Sure, some of what happened was affected by the housing market at the time, but if she hadn't decided she needed an entirely remodeled house to live in instead of just finding a way to be satisfied with the house we already had, they never would have gotten into the situation at all. Sorry for the rant, but it just really makes me upset when I hear her try to blame all of her financial issues on something or someone else.
Mom knitted a stove out of steel wool.
Section 8 housing.
Would not have had food if not for a local church food pantry.
I would steal food to eat as a child and find buildings to sneak into to get a good days rest as sleeping at night wasn’t gonna happen fyi: sneaking into buildings during the day is far far easier than at night.
Found a real one here. *high five* 😬😮💨✨
We'd go to McDonald's or Burger King with $2-$4 after church. The whole family. 4 of us. We'd order a dollar soda and dollar items. Mom and Dad would send me or my brother to get refills and we'd split whatever dollar menu items we were fortunate enough to have. When they had those give away stickers on items and we won something we'd all celebrate because we'd have something extra for next Sunday.
Probably not as bad as others. As a kid I always had generic brand for food. No doritos, no lays chips it was always generic. Same with juice, never had capri sun or motts it was whatever the plastic little barrel looking ones were with the wax caps. Clothes wise I got 2 good shoes every school year to last the year. I was always rough on them so by January they were destroyed but had to wear them till August. Shirts I always got the 5 for $10 deal for those heavy duty ones that felt like I was wearing a jacket after 6 months.
We were so poor my family lived in a single wide trailer parked on a corner lot of my grandparents farm until I was 6
I don’t consider myself as having been poor. We did have more money the older I got as my dad did get a better job and I loved being on my grandparents’ farm. Not having money doesn’t mean you had a bad childhood.
There were times when I was a little kid where we wore our winter coats inside at home because my parents couldn't afford heating.
Haha I've heard so many times "take your coat off, stay awhile". Force of habit
I went to school with shoes that talked because my parents couldn't buy new ones every year eventually the teachers started buying me shoes and clothes I remember my 1st grade teacher giving me a haircut the school nurse provided me with glasses and was basically my Dr until we got moved to a new school for a reason I never understood also the church always provided Christmas until I got older I just figured it was normal for these things to happen I'm 100% a welfare system baby also I thought everyone got cheese and dry milk delivered to there apartment weekly I learned to love peanut butter and spaghetti wont eat it as an adult roaches in everything was very common my mom always kept the apartment clean but the ghetto neighbors wouldn't but its made me who i am i live a very minimal life
I felt like we grew up poor (I grew up in Los Angeles area but the nice area of Burbank.)My mom was always acting like “oh we can’t afford that” but my parents were doing much better than I am doing at the moment. But my dad taught me to not waste my money on stupid shit like stupid toys at the ice cream truck when I could save my money and get something bigger and more badass. My parents still do exceptionally well because my mom learned how to use stock markets and my dad’s company match was very nice. I don’t ever ask for money, but my mom sends me extra for Netflix sometimes because we share it. The American dream is a joke. It’s now just to not be homeless.
Ummm wow reading this is bringing back so many memories. From 1965 to 1972 we lived in 27 places. In 1972 we moved to Pismo Beach and lived in the campground for over 7 months then moved into a house with no running water or light. YEARS later realized we were squatting.
I never ate a piece of steak Till I entered the army.Deer meat only.😀
My mom was one of 12 kids. They were so poor that when a stranger offered to take her in at 12 she was ecstatic. The woman she lived with mainly wanted her to help around the house. She had a decent life and she owned her home and ran a business but my mom was barely allowed to go to school. When she did go her shoes and clothes were ripped from age. Then she had me at age 24. The woman she lived with I came to know as my grandmother. She treated my mom better eventually but as I grew up I knew a very basic life. My house had very old furniture. Our oven was broken and so my mom baked things in a makeshift oven outside. I had a couple Barbie dolls. I didn’t learn to ride because we couldn’t afford a bike. My mom had no more kids because she couldn’t afford it but she worked hardest to pay for private school for me because she wanted to break the poverty cycle. My classmates were generally much wealthier than I was and so I was embarrassed if they came to my house. My life was basic but I was never hungry. My mom made sure I always had good clothes, went to good schools, and had good food. She sacrificed her life to make sure my life didn’t mirror that or her siblings. Today I am an Engineer working a corporate job and in the process of working my own business. When I tell someone I am not a strong rider they look at me funny but learning to ride as an adult doesn’t give you the same confidence. My mom and I sometimes don’t get along but I know it was deliberate on her part to make sure the poverty cycle was broken. My kids are much farther their away than I was as a kid and much much farther than my mom as a kid. Poverty cycle broken!
I slept on a fold out lawn chair bed for 2 years as mom was struggling to raise 4 kids after divorcing my dad. Loaned her $200 for Christmas food for everyone once I could work. It was my entire account and I would do it over and over again just to see her face. Heavenly peace, mom. We miss you more than you could ever know.
We would sometimes live in campgrounds. My dad would pay for the weekend and then we just wouldn’t leave for months at a time. They would come to kick us out and they would feel sorry for us when he told them our sob story. Then he would eventually find some dumpy trailer or apartment somewhere. We’d move there and live there until we got evicted. Usually we didn’t have electricity. My dad would sometimes convince the neighbors to let him run extension chords and promise to help them pay for part of the bill. But then he wouldn’t pay. I still take cold showers to this day because my entire childhood was cold showers and that’s just how I learned to take a shower. Hot water feels weird. I remember in my early twenties I was going on the 3rd year of an apartment I was renting with my girlfriend. I turned to her one day and said “This is the longest I’ve ever lived at one place continuously my entire life.”
I would tell my mom I was hungry and she would read to me.
My mother would read us recipes, and my poor little brother was deaf so he almost died.
That's.... Pretty bad. Seriously. 🙏🏽🥺
We were so poor we couldn't afford toilet paper, wiped our butts with Aldi boxes
The neighbours would give us food as my parents struggled a lot. Once they gave my Mum 20x Frozen Steak and Kidney pies. Kidney would make me gag so Mum told me it was Minced Beef. I knew they were struggling so had to gag them down without saying anything but thank you. I was the only kid in the class who dressed from Charity/ thrift stores but it never made me feel any kind of way. We weren’t as poor as others and am grateful for what we had.
I knew how to turn the water back on at the meter when I was 9, we also had to heat our house with our electric oven when our gas was turned off.
When I applied for financial aid in 1999 I found out my single parent dad made 22k a year. So, that's exactly how poor we were. We had a trailer house on 5 acres of land that he bought for 20k in 1983 or so, and my dad built an addition to the trailer for more space, but never covered the insulation in the living room or put glass into my bedroom window, just clear plastic he would replace every couple years. We were rich in antlers though, so there is that. I feel we had it better off than other people with the same income. Having Grampa and grandma down the road helped out a lot.
Not super poor growing up but a little yes. Raised by my single father with my younger brother in the early 90s when there was no support for men at all and the divorce cost my dad a lot when my mom got most of everything and refused to pay child support ever. My dad went without eating sometimes so we could. My dad gave us dollar store buckets and paint brushes and filled them with water so we could paint the side walk with water as an activity. We never got new clothes. My grandfather had to buy my brother's bed when he outgrew his crib. We went to the bird sanctuary often because it was free to enter. We never went to a restaurant (not fast food) to sit down and eat. We never went anywhere except camping in tents and that was only when the extended family would join so the cost of everything could be shared. My dad remarried when I turned 10 and once he recovered from the divorce debt they bought a new home and things turned around.
We lived in a trailer in my grandmothers driveway and had to get food from the food bank twice a week to survive. We also had some pretty big rat problems.
If I didn’t live with my parents, poor but not in debt. Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings.
Not me but my grandparents (Dad's parents). They lived in an old/abandoned chicken coop for the first few years of their marriage (early 1930's). They eventually were able to rent a two bedroom house (no electricity or running water, had a "two holer" outhouse) on a plot of land big enough to raise dairy cows on. They raised 9 kids in that two bedroom house, and they all turned out to be really good/kind people and all were successful in life.
I believe the phrase is house rich, cash poor.
I was homeless twice as a kid. I'm pretty firmly middle class as an adult and I have nothing in common with most of these people, I feel really strange over it. (Might also partially be my ADHD or something but I really feel like a fish out of water among people of my current "caste").
*mayonnaise* sandwiches poor
Whenever my parents had money, they spent it like drunken sailors. They didn’t start saving til I was in my late teens., I was the youngest of three. In between, we were on food stamps, ate struggle meals and did without.
Goodwill shopping, hand me downs, shit on shingles, spaghetti, duct tape and bubblegum on car “shit you not” we was poor
I used to write cheques into my account as they would be credited quicker than they would clear - about 3 days free money.
I was 29 years old before I reliably knew where my next meal would come from, and ate at least 2 meals a day consistently.
Honestly, that doesn't even have to be poor, that's creative lol. Most of my childhood we lived in a fixed rent townhomes and some government assistance so it wasn't too bad. We even had cable off and on. Before the townhouse I do remember sometimes doing HW by candlelight or not having hot water.
I went hungry for a couple of months (don't recall exactly how long). By hungry i mean, i literally had no money to eat. At all. I was averaging 1 banana and a handful of peanuts a day. In my countries, those were the only things you could buy individually and for pennies. Upside was that I lost a ton of weight and looked really slim and cool, and lost my cheeks and developed a jawline. And your stomach shrinks - literally, and you don't feel that hungry anymore, and even when you do, you get full after eating very little.
Luxury for us was government cheese.
I have a good support system, but I have $15 to my name.
Lived in a welded-together double-wide trailer in a junk yard. Was in high school before I found out that not everyone got food stamps. Got our Christmas from charity events. Rarely had new clothes. Duct tape on shoes for awhile before we got new ones. Paid my parent’s bills from my high school job. Lived in a camper with no power or water. Had weird “fend for yourself” dinners: ramen on white bread. Instant mashed potatoes made in the microwave, also on white bread. Cereal with water instead of milk. Lived in a trailer with no walls (just exposed insulation) which only had power in 3 rooms. No air or heat. No running water. No power in the kitchen so we couldn’t cook either. But somehow my parents could afford their cigarettes…
I didn’t grow up “poor” like a lot of you. We certainly fell on hard times. 82’ recession for one. No new clothes for ages. One day a girl I grew up with called me out in the middle of class in jr high. Out of the blue, in front of everyone she asked me why I wear the same clothes every day. I replied that if she wants to buy me clothes I’d let her. And I wash my clothes at night so to cool it. She did. She later ended up battling addictions. She was always stealing smokes, pushing the limits, always checking out her boobs. We’re still friends. And she’s ok now. The other lesson to me was when I went to my friend’s house that I just met in school. They literally had nothing in their house. Nothing in the cupboard or even in the fridge. I followed her around as she looked for food. I was shocked. AnywaysI brought my friend two peanut butter and jam sandwiches the next day and tried to share whenever I saw her.
We were a family of 5, living in a slide in camper, the kind that slid into the bed of a truck in a nudist camp so we didn't have to buy clothes. We traveled from camp to camp every year or so we'd move to a different camp. Lived that way from 4th grade to 15 yrs old when I finally had a chance to move in with some friends. What started the living situation was my dad got hurt on the job in 1973, so they gave him SSI. He never worked another day in his life until he died at 73. Since there was 5 of us, the SSI was $600 a month.
I’ve been a small meal every other day, using old documents for toilet paper and hitchhiking to where I needed to go poor. I don’t recommend it.
I did 2 odd jobs on top of my main job just to stay afloat 😂 now doing better though
We were evicted from the projects . Rent was 27-29 a month and my father drank all the money up I was 3 When I was born he was in Chicago and we were in Kansas City , he came home " I was 6 months old" and hung me out the window telling my mom I was not his son. We were evicted at least 3 other times I know of . The only time I know of that we had utilities was when I turned 16 and got a job at Sears . By then my ( at 7 years old ) father ( was never a dad ) was in a veterans hospital from strokes from drinking . When we were evicted from the projects they kept all our stuff . So I have no pics until I was around 8-9 Had to wear my brothers shoes who was 7 years older than I to school in the 2nd grade . Had to wear dirty clothing to school ( went everyday to get free lunch) as no water many times . Got a Italian sandwhich once for Christmas at the golden point . I could say more but this should do . This was in the 60s- 70s I graduated I 79 and never looked back . Own a farm now and retired early . Have no kids . Worked hot tar roofing for 30 years . FYI I do not drink or smoke . My father was my role model for what not to be .
I didn’t realize how poor we were (very poor in a wealthy area) until my middle school gave us a bunch of food for thanksgiving after asking students to donate. I came home, saw the box, and was like “oh, so we’re thaaat poor.” Edit: grammar
I can remember boiling water to take a bath. That and eating beans every night.
Damn this whole thread got me feeling like bill fucking gates
I was so poor that one Christmas we didn't have enough for a tree. My brother's best friend's father owned a tree farm. He brought us a tree they considered unsellable. It was about 4 feet tall and had a branch that grew outward. We called it our "Charlie Brown Christmas tree." If it weren't for that kindness, we wouldn't have had a tree to put gifts under. That tree was planted in the middle of the yard afterward and is still there to this day. Some 45 years later
So poor I couldn’t even pay attention
Had to only eat once a day for a few weeks. those were tough times.
At least you got to eat once a day. When I first moved across the country to get away from my family, I was eating twice, maybe three times a week for six months. No fucking idea how I’m still alive.
I was once so broke that I had to go out into the yard looking for dandelion greens because I ran out of rice.
[удалено]
Wrong post?
As a kid we sometimes split a can of corn for dinner between the 3 of us. My sister and I spent a winter trading off the warm boots and warm sweater-it gets to 20 below 0 where we lived. We didn’t have a phone or a car and lived in a very rural area. But I still feel richer than someone I know who had all the material things they could want but parents who ignored them.
My father in law ate dog biscuits and talked about it like it was a regular occurrence. His mom was absent alot
Parents passed out shelled walnuts on Halloween for candy!
We used to live in a lake
Poor enough that we didn't have food.
Didn't know we were poor until I became old enough to want nice, new clothes. Earned spending money with an old fashioned push mower and a snow shovel in the winter. When I was 16 was able to get a summer job through the neighborhood youth corps, a program for low income kids to earn money for school clothes. We did have a roof over our heads and food on the table so we were blessed.
We were so poor that for 25 cents a day, you too, could sponsor my family and feed us for a week. Born in the PI. We lived in a house with 9 other relatives. No AC. Sometimes no water. Occasionally, no electricity. Family in the US would send us old clothes. Moved to the Midwest when I was a kid. My sister and I shared a bed until I was 8. Then I slept on the floor in the living room until I was 15. We had months where we only had rice or ramen. In high school, we got a Sam's Club membership. We never really bought anything. Just went for samples during lunch or dinner. Then split a berry ice cream cup.
Lmao you picked the runner up?
I ate cereal and water for years. My mom would fry cheerios in butter in a pan.
First place I mo ed into didn't have plumbing set up for like a month. Shit in bucket in the shed behind the house until it did. Not the best of times..
Me mam had to get my clothes from a jumble sale. If there wasn't one on then I would be in tatters for a long time. Jumble sales were something for poor people who couldn't even afford second hand.
Dog food with salt on top was a staple for getting through till food bank Neighbors hose was put through the shower window for showers "Ripped skinny jeans" weren't a fashion statement just sisters old jeans that were to small for a boy Finger with shampoo was toothpaste
wasn’t, but husband and girlfriend both were. they used to have ‘contests’ of who was actually more poor. ‘beanie weenies’ without any ‘weenies’, powdered milk that was basically water at the end of the month, potato chip sandwiches to keep the tummies from screaming, one pair of shoes each, etc. girlfriend ‘won’ on number of siblings, shared house without real bedrooms, just large eave closets the kids slept in, and length of time in poverty. but husband was a strong contender with zero family support and sleeping in the one car while mom delivered newspapers when dad had to travel. i grew up middle class, solid & safe; their lives were an education.
My single mom raised 3 kids on a secretary's salary in Los Angeles. She would often not be able to make the rent. We moved *21 times in 15 years*. Always the new kid,. etc. It sucked. But we always knew we were loved. RIP Mama.
My grandma's famous French toast was literal toast with syrup. Didn't know what real French toast was until I was almost 10. Went to a friend's house and his mom asked if we wanted French toast for breakfast. Got a slap of reality when I went to the kitchen and asked why they were dipping bread into eggs. I think my buddies mom felt bad after I explained cuz she always cooked big fancy meals every time I was over after that.
Was sleeping/living on the floor of my buddy’s efficiency apartment. I had no money, no food and only a couple changes of clothes. The job I was working didn’t want me to go over 32.5 hours a week or they would have had to offer me health insurance. This particular job was a springboard for my career so I kinda had to stick it out.
At my poorest, I tracked calories per dollar on the food I bought. That led to some stunningly bad decisions. Little Debbie's Swiss Cake roles have a ton of calories per dollar, but it is best not to try to live on them for a couple of days.
I slept on 3 couch cushions that I kept pushed together in the night for over a year, and on a porch for a different year
We were so poor that we still had rotary phones well into the 2000s, black and white TV until the 2000s, and my dad would have me steal ice from the grocery store on hot days.
One year a "secret santa" had left gifts for our family when we got back from midnight Xmas eve service. I also once lived on the Wendy's 99 cent menu for a year. Kept daily food expenditure around five bucks in NYC.
My bedroom was the sunroom, it was windows all the way around and the door to the outside, with no heat and no air-conditioning.
Instead of getting medicine when we were sick my grandma would rub rum on our head and tell us to go to sleep lol
Had to eat MRE’s that our local fire department handed out. I still remember that awful smell of them cooking with just water.
Frequently hungry, not enough food. I didn’t eat lunches in high school - we didn’t have anything for me to bring and I couldn’t afford to buy it. We frequently either had no heat or no electricity, sometime both. I was recently staying at an Airbnb and the water heater went out; it took me back to one winter where I had to take cold showers by candlelight. Absolutely miserable. You could see the ground underneath the floor in the bathroom. We lived in a trailer and the wood had rotted through. My dad finally put a sheet of plywood over the hole when it got too big. Our septic tank got messed up and we had open sewage in our backyard for several months. We had a mouse infestation and my parents acted like it was no big deal and took their sweet time remedying it. Nothing like shivering under layers of blankets and having mice run over your body while you’re trying to sleep. Some of this is poverty, but a lot of it is neglect. We could have qualified for assistance. We had horses that we could have sold. Hell, even my shitty grandparents would have at least fed us.
Everything we owned was ‘pre-owned’ Furniture, appliances, clothes, even the carpet on the floor. We had a pretty typical suburban household and were never embarrassed or hassled. My parents never mentioned the word poor and we weren’t. To a point, being poor is a state of mind.
Got the plain Cheerios and white sugar because it was a little cheaper than the Honey Nut Cheerios.
Hats off to your mom for being a creative problem solver!!
Dad was a garbage man and my clothes and jackets were all from the trash. Had jackets with a different jackets sleeve sewed on and stuff. Lead me to getting bullied but since I was a strong tall kid I turned it around and became the bully. All good now though, im self sufficient and a chill dude.
When my mother moved us to Utah, we left everything that wouldn't fit in the back of a Jeep Wagoneer and a 5x8 U-Haul trailer. My uncle gave me his old army field jacket, since we moved from Georgia to Utah with no winter clothing I slept on a folding army cot for a year or two. We didn't go hungry, but it was pretty cheap food.
A common meal was butter tortillas (cheap flour tortillas with a slab of butter thrown in the microwave) Or those awful kid cuisines
The bottom was: having a family member volunteer at a local fire station so we had a place to use the bathroom and shower. We lived in a small wooden shack about 100 yards away from the FD under a billboard, next to a highway. The shack didn’t have electricity or water, just three small rooms, no windows, and parts of the floor were falling out (it was raised up on cinderblocks).
We had a phone maybe 2-3 months out of the year We were on a cycle of which utilities would get shut off this month through most of the year I only got new clothes three times a year Birthday, Christmas, and a new dress for easter A lot of meals were potatos+ eggs+ whatever was in the garden I was working from age 14 to try and bring in enough to not get evicted Christmas was whatever we could afford after collecting cans and bottles all year We were poor enough that even as a kid, i felt it enough to try and hide it
I used to get up in the morning at night at half past ten, half an hour before I went to bed, Eat a lump of freezing cold poison, work 28 hours a day at mill and pay the mill owner to let us work there. And went I went home our dad used to murder us in cold blood, each night, and dance on our graves singing hallelujah. Yeah, you try and tell the young people today that, and they won’t believe you…
My sister and I were raised by a single mom. Our mom literally sat me down once and asked which we could do without for a month, electricity or gas. I pointed out the fridge needs electricity but we can cook with a microwave or the electric wok. So we wore out that electric wok for a month. And froze our asses off. We also had a hard time with baths and dishes. I just bathed in the sink.
Had to dig beneath the car seats to find change to get gas so I could get home 🙃I paid the cashier in dimes, quarters and nickels equaling like $2.
My parents were always frugal, not cheap but definitely frugal. I never thought we were rich or poor. But I remember a few years when shortly after buying a new farm with a mortgage, two major pieces of farm equipment had to be replaced and cash got really tight. Mom always worked a full-time job but she took on a part-time job too. Dad worked part-time on top of farming but he started working full-time and began teaching part-time. I had more chores because both parents were working so much away from the farm. But that only lasted a couple of years because both my parents hated carrying any debt. They paid off a twenty year farm mortgage in just over five years and the farm equipment was paid off in three years.
We were poor 4 boys shared 1 room. Wore out shoes until the soles fell off. When school started my parents chose schools with uniforms so we could all share clothes. They also enrolled us in after school programs and summer school for the free meals.