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. 😬

No. My dad was made redundant and did an ou degree for a few years and I had free school meals (but wouldn’t eat them). They still owned their own house and an old car and we never went without food. My mum was a cleaner so I’m not exactly sure how they managed because my grandparents wouldn’t have been helping. We always had Clarkes shoes but my mum made some of my clothes - which I loved because I could have a matching headband!

You can do both. I don't think living like that did me any harm, in fact I think I had a more grounded childhood, and was certainly better fed, than many are now. But we were certainly not as badly-off as many. If we'd all continued living more like that we wouldn't have buggered up the planet and wouldn't be in such debt. But I've always voted Labour since I was eligible to vote and through most of that time the majority of people have voted Conservative. I don't know what to make of that.

I agree with the poster upthread who talked about being force-fed advertising that has created a frenzy of consumerism. That persuades women to spend thousands on shoes and handbags and 'beauty' treatments when they could be paying into a pension or saving. That has persuaded lots of parents that they're failing because they can't take their children abroad twice a year for holidays.

I had free school meals and we had a paraffin heater in the living room. The only room that was heated because of money. I had very few clothes and days out were a picnic in the local park or going local walks. Going anywhere paid like the cinema was a huge very rare treat.
It was fine as a younger child as everyone around me lived the same, it was a very poor area. Became more of an issue as I got older and realised some people took heating and nice food for granted.

This is my experience too.

My parents had to move to England in the late 80s due to Thatcher's decimation of industrial areas.

No I don't remember. The only time I think I ever noticed was when my dad bought me and my brother an ice cream from the van on a Sunday and then had to cycle to work that week as he didn't have any money for petrol

DH remembers his parents always fighting about money, and his mum sending him to shoplift food. (I really want to ask Grumpy if he wins the thread ) Seriously though he did grow up cold and thin, in a bedsit with his DPs and siblings until they were older. 1970s.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very wealthy family surrounded by a similar people. I'm ashamed to say it was an eye opener meeting DH as I genuinely had no idea how some people lived, although I was aware of poverty etc I just had no idea of the real life experiences of people. I did know I was very privileged - I was just insulated rather than spoiled, if that makes sense?

Obviously it was "interesting" when we got together as our lives couldn't have been more different. Whole other thread We try and bring the DC up as a happy medium between our childhoods. Of course they are aware of the differences between our wider families and I think it gives them a broader outlook on life. (DH would spoil our DC much more than I would, which is understandable. He would like them to have all the clothes they want and the best shoes as he remembers cold feet and being bullied at school). Our cupboards are always always full of food and I'm grateful for it now that prices are rising as it's smoothing it out for us.

My parents struggled in the mid to later 70s due to my father being ill and unemployed. My mum has always been very good at managing money though and only having one child helped. I remember she bought a lot of my clothes at jumble sales.

However, they did own their house as my father was much older than my mum and had built up equity during his life, so we were able to sell the house and buy a smaller one to get some money. The day we moved in, my dad was offered a job and things changed from then. Although he was financially abusive so I wouldn't say that I was exactly spoilt. But there was some money for school trips.

Big differences between now and then. People are so much more materialistic nowadays. Gone are the days when a couple saved up, got married, moved into a house with nothing and bought stuff when.they could afford it. No credit cards, the only debt was the mortgage.
Nowadays the culture is "have it all right now"
People upgrading their TV, phone, laptop every couple of years, massively expensive kitchens, new furniture cos they not keen on the perfectly serviceable stuff they already have.
And don't get me started on the Facebook posts of "Nevaeh's first birthday" pictured in front of a Mount Everest pile of wrapped gifts, and a cake smash? What in the name of fuckety fuck is a cake smash?
Jesus christ on a 3 wheeler bike these people seem to have way more money than sense!!

I was born in ‘77, so I’ve no memories of the 70s. My parents got their first mortgage in the mid 80s though, and while there were no rows, I know it was hard for them. I’ve a vague memory of a point where I realised there was something about this house that was different, my parents were trying to get us excited about the move - and they were excited - yet I picked up on a significant fear there too.

My dad worked away during the week, and would come home at weekends. My mum was lucky enough to have 3 sisters living close-by, and they’d each buy one magazine a week, and then swap them around so they got to read all four. Clothes were passed around too, between my mum and aunts, and from my sister, down to me, then on to cousins if they were decent, and we went to regular jumble sales. We didn’t question it, we weren’t in grinding poverty, but there wasn’t a lot to spare, and as soon as my brother started high school, my mum got a full time job.

My Dad got a new job, and my parents decided renting was a waste of money and bought a house, not realising how much everything would cost. We had a paraffin heater and they got so sick of lugging it upstairs at night that instead of buying a second one they took out a loan for central heating. Which cost them so much in interest we couldn't afford to have it on.
They worried about money because they were rubbish with money. They'd buy stuff because they'd been persuaded it was an investment in the house they'd bought that they couldn't afford. Like fitted wardrobes, when we had hardly any clothes to hang in them.

@Paperthinspiders you could if you had no option!

I know it's easy to judge but I wonder how many parents who are like this, grew up in a childhood like my DH. Credit is (or has been) so easily accessible. I know everyone on MN would never admit to being one of those people you refer to but we all know there is a parental instinct to give our DC the best childhood we could. For people like my DH, they are desperate to give their DC a much better childhood than they had and credit cards and loans are advertised constantly and it's "the norm" (especially with interest rates being artistically low over the last few years and younger people thinking it's the norm). I understand how this can happen and have sympathy now the shit is hitting the fan.

(Nice use of judgy DC name there btw).

Yes, I remember us being poor (I was 5 in 1970) and my parents scrimped and scraped for money all the time. We always burnt waste wood on a fire for heating in 1 room only and also hot water/cooking (old Rayburn). Lots of mending/darning/sewing went on. No gadgets at all. Much like @alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 it gave me a massive amount of drive to ensure I earnt enough to never wants for basics again.

I'm an early 80's baby. It's strange, because we my parents owned a house (mortgaged) and my dad always had a decent car, but it feels like we had barely any money for anything else. No phone in the house until some time in the 90's (remember weekly trip to the phone box to ring my granny) and when we did get one my dad used to lock it with a pin. My mum walked everywhere with us - miles and miles in all weathers - hardly any clothes, definitely no holidays - all of the furniture in our house was handed down to us by my grandparents (I can't think of one thing that wasn't - we're not talking about antiques). The ceiling over my bed collapsed because our house was so damp - it was always cold. I was definitely aware that we weren't very well off. Like others have said, things improved when my mum got a job - looking back I think my dad was financially abusive.

I'm only just remembering all my clothes were hand me downs or homemade often by repurposing something else. New school shoes were just the height of decadence and my Mum was grateful that my feet barely grew so they always lasted a year.

No phone until 1980 and Dad's work paid for it.

We were lucky as they had a mortgaged home they could afford and we had the heating on. I was aware of people much poorer. Uncle was a miner so I remember the strikes. We lived in a relatively "affluent" area for the North East - college in the city was a bit of a shock!

Gone are the days when a couple saved up, got married, moved into a house with nothing and bought stuff when.they could afford it.

Not the point you were trying to make I know, but these days most couples can't just save up, get married and buy a house.
DH's parents got married when they were 21 and 18, having both worked (and saved) since they were both 16. They stretched themselves to buy an end terrace, rather than a mid terrace.
I don't think that's achievable these days, even if you save every penny you earn.

born in 72.
don't remember much other than candles on saucers during the power cuts...
life was simpler, and I guess cheaper in relative terms.

I was at secondary school in the early 70s and medical school in the late 70s. Both parents grew up in slums, born during WW1 and fought in WW2, so they felt they were comparatively “rich” to have a tiny semidetached house on a mortgage, an indoor toilet, a gas fire and a car.
My student flat, by contrast, was a Victorian slum tenement with no bathroom and one paraffin heater. We stuffed rags in the holes in the stonework round the windows, to keep the draughts out. During Scottish winters, the only water pipe in the tiny scullery kitchen froze solid and had to be thawed each morning with a hair dryer.
Life was very different in those days!

Yes

I knew money was tight, I was aware I couldn’t have what some friends had it was just known it wasn’t always talked about but the stress was there

my ds has known when I didn’t have money and never asked for anything and still rarely does

Born 1976 and yes definitely remember always worrying about money.
My mum is still very frugal now

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.

I remember similar and especially brown bags. I was allowed to count the milk money. We had curtains made from bedsheets and thought we were pretty good because some neighbours only had newspaper on the windows. I remember getting curtains for the first time. We had a joint of meat each week and my mum sliced it wafer thin. On the second day, we had it cold and on the third, we had it minced or cooked into something and there was always something left for sandwiches too. Yorkshire pudding bulked it all out. Then we had fritters with bits of bacon in them and fried potatoes. I also remember fried bread in the meat dripping. Mum made my clothes which I hated because I wanted to wear trousers and she only made dresses. I had hand-me-downs too but they were so old because they came from much older siblings (this was before the pill and abortion) and they had been put aside for their children! The most prized (in my Mum's eyes) came from Marks and Sparks and I remember the old labels :).

Yes my dad had 3 jobs for as long as I can remember

I grew up on a really rough at the time council estate, both my parents worked full time once I was five which was unusual where I lived in the mid 70’s. I always had lots of nice toys and clothes. I passed the 11 plus and went to a grammar school in a different area. My new friend’s houses were lovely chunky 1920/30’s semis and the mum’s worked part time, I remember thinking this is more like it, this is the life I want when I’m older.

I was born in the late 70s, so I remember the eighties and my mum was home looking after us and Dad was a electric door fitter. He lost his job (company made him redundant) and so mum did cleaning jobs whilst he was looking for work. He found another job in a factory. My mum started her OU degree. By the end of the 80s they were both working full-time. But money was always tight in the early part of that decade. They used to fight a fair bit. We were never entitled to any state support. Thank you Mrs Thatcher.

Gone are the days when a couple saved up, got married, moved into a house with nothing and bought stuff when.they could afford it.

I remember being told to concentrate on buying the house because people would give you stuff to put in it.