Growing up Poor, Winding up Crazy (556 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 0.04 on 21 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Myself (View user info) at 2006-02-08 11:59:15 EST
Growing up poor isn't really so bad. It's not until you get older that you even really realize you were THAT poor. I thought when my mom brought home a dozen pairs of courderoy (I can not spell that) pants (in all the colors of the rainbow no less) from a yard sale, that my disgust and embarassment was just a normal part of life. I thought, many kids got clothes this way, just, you know, the other kid's parents had better taste.
So, anyway, I've been reflecting on my childhood, and the things that I suffered, without really knowing I was suffering.
Kool Aid was a special treat. cokes even more so. we rarely had chips, icecream, or other junkfood as a kid. On thinking back, I only had a couple happy meals growing up, and if we ate out sit down, it was at shoney's. So, you know, when I got my first job, I was like, wow! i can eat micky d's every day.
Hand me down clothes was a constant in my life, and we only bought clothes once a year, at the start of school, and we made them last as long as we could. I still do that with my clothes. I can't bring myself to throw shirts away, cause you can always so up the holes. I wear pants until they get a major tear or something. But, I had all kinds of hand me down stuff as a kid. In highschool I wore men's black dress pants all the time, cause I had gotten a hold of a bunch from a friend.
Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, as a kid, I didn't have proper dishes and stuff to play house with. So I used clam shells from the river for bowls, and loved to make mud tacos using magnolia leaves for shells. I collected shelled acorns into a butter bowl, and always wondered if they could be eaten.
And what came of all this? I am a pack rat. You'd think I lived through the depression or something. I keep wrapping paper and reuse it, I keep butter bowls and icecream buckets and boxes and old newspapers, because, well.... you never know when you might need something like that. Really, you can say "that's not so bad" but I also make enough to eat at outback twice a week, blah blah, and still, I save the wrapping paper so I won't have to buy an 88 cent roll of christmas paper. I will also take the paper from my parents house and my husband's parent's at christams.
My parents love to remind me that when I was a kid I collected pocket lint. I'll never tell them I planned to use it to stuff a matress I was going to make out of woven grass with it...
oh man, I was a deprived fucked up little kid.
but there is at least one benefit...
I do the same thing with money. just put it in the bank. you never know when if might come in handy.
I could stuff a matress with it, or maybe sew it into curtains, you know, when I build a log cabin out in the woods, to live off a garden and by hunting.... yeah, I can't even put a worm on a hook.
User Reviews
Submitted by Foonbo (user info) at 2006-02-09 15:40:35 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
First post auto -2
Submitted by RamenNoodle (user info) at 2006-02-09 01:29:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
You do realize that you are going to die with like a million bucks in your bank, a house full of clutter, and a really happy federal government. If you have any kids they will probably be just as frugal as you and just squirrell away the money you leave them, and the cycle continues. While you are alive do some good with that cash, give to Doctors Without Borders, or whatever charity you deem worthy. I will also be happy to take any excess cash off your hands, and will even provide you with a receipt come tax season :)
Submitted by GuinnessSince1759 (user info) at 2006-02-09 01:05:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Welcome...take a +2 sympathy. Have fun.
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2006-02-08 18:27:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Growing up poor isn't really so bad. It's not until you get older that you even really realize you were THAT poor
True. 0.5
Submitted by Deconstruction (user info) at 2006-02-08 18:17:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
1.5
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-02-08 16:36:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i hear you.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-02-08 16:32:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Kool Aid was a special treat. cokes even more so. we rarely had chips, icecream, or other junkfood as a kid.
--------
so you grew up with no cavities and not being a fat pig - see no problem there.
Submitted by COMountain (user info) at 2006-02-08 13:53:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Okay first post... you'll get better.
Even thinking about clutter makes me want to start fires... minimalism is where it's at.
...off to start a fire.
Submitted by MickGinny (user info) at 2006-02-08 13:45:20 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
this could have been interesting if there would have been a point... or zombies.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-02-08 13:33:15 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I grew up poor and most of what you said rang true except you did a shitty job of portraying it and barely scratched the surface.
Submitted by RyuFu (user info) at 2006-02-08 13:17:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I sort of sympathize with you in that there wasn't too much stuff growing up, considering both parents and both of my older sisters worked to bring home money. I never realized how hard it must have been for everyone to scrounge up the dough for a Super Nintendo.
On the other hand, this post read more like a blog than anything else. It seems you've been reading stuff on Uber for a while, you should know better.
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2006-02-08 13:06:17 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
fascinating
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2006-02-08 13:02:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:14:31 (#)
Ranking: 0
was there a point to this?
===========================
Now that's funny.
Submitted by MistressFist (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:33:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jeebus christ live a little. When you get shot by a raving homeless midget on crack, the gov't will take all of your saved money anyway. Go fuck some whores or something. Buy some cheese. Go to Istanbul.
Submitted by apollo88 (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:30:16 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
...........
Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:28:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I grew up poor too, so I smell what you're stepping in. This was a little light though.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:16:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I don't know if I want to feel sorry for you, or laugh at you.
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:14:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I wish I could save money.
(Proofread and spellcheck are your friends, take advantage of them).
-Dave
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:14:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
was there a point to this?
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:08:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I have to spend every penny I earn as soon as I get my grubby mitts on it.
Submitted by leilani (user info) at 2006-02-08 12:02:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i think it's good to be frugal. all the reusing you do is good. people are really wasteful in this country.