If you were a child in the 1970s do you remember your parents worrying about money?

[gordonsntonic]

I do. They used to argue about it at night, and I remember asking my mum what "in the red" meant. Then I remember my mum getting a part time job, so I had to go to friends houses or my Nan's after school. I just thought my dad was bad with money, but with hindsight, this would have been around the time that the UK had huge interest rates. We got through it, but there was one key difference to now - back then, mortgage affordability was calculated on the basis of one income, not two, so my mum going out to work would have helped to bridge the gap. Things are obviously different now. 😬

My Dad worked 2 jobs, holidays were camping and we went camping abroad in 1979 which coincided with my Mum also getting a job!

No. But I knew we didn't have much.
Combination of post war austerity from my grandparents and my Mum being effectively a single parent meant nothing was wasted but I don't remember going without any important. The difference to my own kids is as a child I had one pair of shoes, one coat, one 'party' dress and only a handful of everyday clothes. Leaving food uneaten was unthinkable.

Yes, I do remember them being worried, particularly when interest rates went sky high.

Late 70s baby. Affected all of the 80s for me. My Dad lost his business, went bankrupt. Money was always an issue.

Took years before my Dad got a job. Mum died suddenly.

90s were pretty shit too - by this time Dad had remarried, found work but then had a mortgage with horrendous interest rates.

Life didn't get better for me until the 00s.

Could all be gone in a heartbeat.

No, never. I was 15 in 1970 and never heard them discuss anything financial. If they had worries they never let on.

No. Whether they had worries or not they kept things like that from us. Although - huge house, loads of kids, elderly parents to look after and dad set up his own business all in a short period of time, so I don’t know how they didn’t have miner worries.

they were kids during ww2 so I suppose they avoided giving us lot anything ‘adult world’ to worry about.

Yes definitely. I remember not telling my parents my shoes had a hole in the sole and were letting in rain. I made insoles from cardboard and covered them in tinfoil. I think I was around 9 or 10. I didn’t tell them because I knew there was no money for new shoes. And when dad was stressed he shouted.

My mum got a part time job once my youngest sister could go to nursery school which helped. Job was in Cadburys so we got cheap chocolate too!

money was tight in our house until I left school and started working really.

Yes. Free dinners, underwear and shoes bought through some sort of benefit. Did my parents say “off the nash”?

Strikes. Dad was on a picket line.
Electricity strikes, meant sitting around a candle. Some other strike meant mum baking her own bread.

Yes, my parents never had any money for holidays or anything beyond the bare basics. My mother got an inheritance which helped
them out for a few years and then she went back to work.

Yes. My mum didn't work and dad was quite tight with money, I guess he had to be. I remember my mum making us clothes and going wrong and stuffing the material at the back of the cupboard so that my dad wouldn't see the waste as he would be cross. He wasn't abusive, but money was tight and she was a worrier.

Yes, I remember them being really worried. Mum would divvy up Dad's wages in little brown envelopes for all the bills and then would have to move the money around to make ends meet. It felt like a constant struggle for them.

My Dad got a big promotion in the early 70s so we were very comfortably off. However, my Mum was very frugal and although we never went without anything, nothing was wasted, there were constant reminders to switch the lights off and we were part of an informal neighbourhood secondhand clothes exchange.

Definitely things were tight. Mum would do seasonal work sorting post at Christmas. Nan would visit on a Thursday bringing a lump of liver for the cat. Mum would save it and cook it for my tea as it was nutritious. Never been able to face the stuff since. Shoes had cardboard in the soles where I had worn a hole through. This was so embarrassing when I had to kneel at the altar to receive the sacrament. I am by no means rich these days and I feel for families being put in similar curcumstances.

Yes. My dad had 2 jobs for a while. My mum went back to work (part time) when I was about 7. They got into debt through ridiculous things like building a lean to which we didn't need. I think that my dad borrowed money from his mother which he paid back.

No treats. Very very few days out.

My mum was a single parent (1980s) but had a good job, she was always very careful with money but I don't remember her being worried.

The main difference back then was that nearly everyone around us was poor (working class, northern city). Unemployment was very high, family members had jobs in factories or shops - my mum was the only one of her siblings to go to uni. My gran minded all the grandchildren after school so parents could work. Holidays were a b&b in Scarborough or Wales, and not til I was older.....

Yes, we weren’t poor enough to qualify for any financial help but we were up against it. We ate lots of suet puddings & dumplings, things to fill us up. I always had chilblains on my toes and was very, very skinny. It was always cold in our house too.

Yes, all the time. My mum seemed to argue with my dad every time he bought something that wasn't absolutely essential. There were so many arguments about money.

I attribute that to my own fear (as an adult) of spending money. I'm both scared that we will run out of money (irrationally as said fear has meant we have a good savings buffer) and that spending will cause an argument (also ridiculous as DH would be happy for me to spend whatever).

Oh yes - end of the 1970s and 1980s in Ireland. My DF had a good job but I was fully aware that we "lived in the overdraft" because the numbers didn't add up. Luckily everyone else was pretty much in the same position.

My mum regularly jiggled coins out of our money boxes with a palette knife to pay the milkman and then put it back once she’d been paid. But it was all done very cheerfully. I think it was just normal for her to live pay day to pay day. If she did worry about money, she hid it from us. But we knew not to ask for things except at Christmas etc.

I was born mid 60's so was a teenager in the 70's. I don't remember my parents talking about money worries but my DF worked in a bank so will have had budgeting drilled into him (getting into debt was not an option as staff finances were closely monitored by the branch manager).
I do however remember being told that I couldn't have things as we couldn't afford them. And Christmas/birthdays didn't involved the ridiculous over indulgence in 'stuff' that we see now.

An yes, the chilblains! I had hose too. We didn’t have central heating or a fridge for most of my childhood. My mother only got a washing machine in the seventies. Hard times. I remember the strikes and having candles at one point.

I wasn’t around in the 1970’s but large parts of the 80’s and 90’s were hideous. We lost our home a couple of times and we shopped in Kwik Save on the bus. Thatcher’s policies decimated my area. My grandparents paid for our few holidays and school trips, and I rarely remember having new clothes.

Life honestly only became stable in about 1997…coincidence?

I dropped a jar of jam when I was about 3 and helping lay the table. I cried, my mum cried, and there was no jam for a couple of weeks. My grandma put a dollop into a tupperware pot in the end so my brother and I had something to go on our bread.
Things weren't much better by the time I was at school. Bread was rationed by the slice and biscuits were a treat. Mum used to ask dad for more housekeeping as she couldn't manage and he'd say no. She used to worry every time my brother and I needed new shoes. Clothes were from jumble sales but shoes were harder to come by.

Yes, there were constant screaming rows over money and credit card debt whilst they struggled to pay the mortgage. I guess they were lucky in that they had managed to buy a home but mum didn't work due to depression. It wasn't until my dad went to work overseas that things got easier.

Even though they have a very comfortable living now, it still affects my mum who hoards tinned/packet food. She can't bare empty cupboards and I keep finding groceries around the house.

It's made me very careful with money.

Not really. My parents split up in the 70s and my mum was a single parent after that. We never had much money, but mum always worked (very long hours), and I didn't really realise we were poor as every one else around me was pretty poor too. it was only when I started secondary school and I met girls with ponies and big houses that I thought hang on a minute... It all concentrated my mind wonderfully at school as I knew I didn't want to have to work as hard as my mum in a low paying job!