How poor were you growing up?

I never wanted for anything but I never had the most expensive things.

My grandparents helped me out with most things until college

Had usually weeks worth of clothes. We never had phone or power cut off and usually I was able to buy a snack for week.

I never went on a family vacation.
My mom worked at a fast food restaurant, and my dad was a truck driver. We never ate out except restaurant leftovers
We lived in a sketch neighborhood,but I didn't know it when I was a kid. Looks like a war zone now.
I went to maybe 2 movies a year.

Loved my childhood.

Credit to lower income people whose kids have no idea they are lower income. I was never privy to the family financial statement. All I know is we weren't close to rich but I never went without necessities and had a happy childhood with the occasional luxury.

A friend gave me a Winky Dink screen for my 10th birthday but we didn’t have a TV.

Semi poor, but looking back, it was Heaven.

quote:

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Credit to lower income people whose kids have no idea they are lower income. I was never privy to the family financial statement. All I know is we weren't close to rich but I never went without necessities and had a happy childhood with the occasional luxury.

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Amen to that! My childhood sounds about like yours. We weren’t rich, but we never had our utilities cut off and even got a few luxuries and family trips occasionally.

Also, reading so many posts by people whose families really struggled yet still gave their kids a great childhood is pretty amazing.

I had a wood heater in my bedroom with the stove pipe ran out the window as a young boy.

We had a big house passed down from grandmother but it was old with little insulation. No way my dad was going to pay to heat it with gas. I remember sleeping warm and cozy on those cold North Arkansas nights though.

We rotated between which utility was out due to non payment. We were pretty much straight poor to begin with, but my mother "managed" the money awfully.

Power bill 3 months behind, gets shut off. Calls my grandparents, they pay it. She's got her nails and hair done.

It was not hidden well, we knew we were poor growing up. We also knew we had things my parents could not afford and the household suffered so we could have "stuff."

It was a horrible environment to be honest. Mom has since moved her problems elsewhere, leaving my dad well over 100k in debt, with 0 retirement. He's recovering well.

Never went to Europe as a kid