If you were poor as a kid...(lighthearted)

[bakedbeansontoastfortea]

If you were poor as a kid but are less poor now, is there a small thing you do that maybe (in a weird way) makes you feel better?

For context, I was a missionary kid and had a really lovely (but poor) childhood. My siblings and I were born in the UK but raised overseas and had some genuinely great adventures but money was really tight. Food was plentiful but plain, clothes were hand-me-downs, Christmasses were always a bit scary in the run-up as our parents saved their pennies knowing they'd never be able to keep up with the latest-whatever. And oh, we always had to be careful with toilet roll...that stuff could be expensive.

But today, I have this thing...I have baskets in the loos at home, both with stuffed with extra toilet rolls. It's like me saying to my guests and family, 'there's loads...use freely and as much as you like'. I also can't bring myself to buy clothes from charity shops because as much as I want to support the charity, it reminds me of being that kid who never had new clothes.

I've been on MN for a while (NC) but wondering if there's others like this? If you grew up poor, are there things you do today as a response to this? Loads of loo rolls? New bedding? Something else?

Also, hoping this will be lighthearted. I fully understand there's massive issues around COL and extreme poverty in the UK, also that some people had horrible, horrible childhoods and adulthood is sadly no better. I want to do what I can to make this better.

We where not poor but my parents hated spending money on us

One big thing was clothes-hand me downs that where on their 5th/6th owner before we got them

I never looked 'nice'

Now I buy clothes all the time-im always overdressed but they are lovely and I feel special in them

I was very fortunate to have a privileged childhood because my dad grew up in absolute poverty and he made sure it didn't happen to his own children. No blame or judgement, my grandparents were Irish immigrants and worked so hard but had so very little and he went without even the basics as a child. As a result of this, he is obsessed with clothes and shoes as he only had whatever my Nan could make or knit and he was frequently singled out as a young teen as my Nan, bless her, would knit him
shorts. Shoes were patched up and he says his feet were cold and wet and sore in the winter. He's 84 and has more clothes than anybody I know and way more than he will ever need. Same with shoes. When he became successful he also made sure his parents were secure. There must be a massive impact when you have lived like that.

We never had enough money for clothes. My mum was always converting something of hers into something for me as she was good at sewing.

I constantly had the piss ripped out of me for some of the hideous outfits she produced. I hardly had a proper item of school uniform that wasn’t something that she’d created out of one of her old skirts.

As an adult, I literally live in black. I have the plainest wardrobe of anybody you will ever meet in your life

Having shower gels & nice soap. I too had a poor but happy childhood. We always had the basics, enough food but plain. Lived in a old cottage & like others just a fire in the sitting room, everywhere else was freezing, used to put my clothes in bed so they wouldn’t be cold to put on in the morning.
But we always had Fairy soap in the kitchen & for washing & baths. Big green blocks with a relief picture of a walking baby in a nappy stamped on it. At school it was blocks of red carbolic soap. So now I always keep well stocked up with lovely smelling soaps & shower gels.

Warm house.

I will never be cold inside.

4 children and 1 salary meant things were tight. So on Saturdays DM went to work in the china section of a department store to earn some extra cash while DF looked after the kids to the best of his ability…
It was actually a great escape for her and a chance to meet other women, do hair and makeup and come home slowly through town to a cooked meal. Not so great on DSis who had to step into babysitting far too young.

Anyway, one of the perks was if anything got damaged it was written off and the staff were allowed to take it home. We had such a motley selection of chipped plates, dishes, glasses, some from expensive brands like Royal Doulton, Wedgwood etc. But nothing EVER matched!

DM was very knowledgeable and would tell me all about the factories and patterns. That inspired my lifelong passion for collecting china and pottery but I cannot tolerate eating off damaged crockery or part sets.
I have sets for Summer and Christmas, barbecue, fondue, pizza, you name it! I buy glasses at IKEA because they can be replaced any time. I’ve equipped people for University and new homes with my cast-offs.

What’s my Christmas present this year? Cake forks and latte spoons for my “good” cutlery set, to replace the perfectly good stainless steel ones I already have…

The central heating actually works and goes on. I had the coldest smallest bedroom too, probably why I moved out first.

Clothes from an actual shop and not the jumble sale.

My dds actually get the stuff they ask for for Christmas. Not all of it, but stuff they’ve asked for isn’t met with a ‘no’.

When the food runs low midweek it gets stocked up with the stuff dds and I like.

I was desperate for a job when at college and was proud when I got a part time job in Sainsbury’s whilst at college. Bought my own clothes with my pay packet in cash, was so proud of myself.

Not me but my father. He grew up in Ireland , his mother died when he was 3 , his younger brother 18 months . 3 older siblings. His father looked after them as best he could and he would often go to aunts house, hoping for a piece of bread and butter. His abiding memory of childhood was always being hungry. Consequently, we were quite spoiled . Clothes , bedrooms, lifts in the rain, and never wanted for anything but best quality food.

Toilet roll was a luxury, we cut up newspaper into squares and hung them on a nail on the toilet door. One pair of socks each, mum used to wash them in the sink and dry them in the oven. Icicles on the inside of the bedroom windows. Now we have plenty of loo rolls, I’m obsessed with luxury socks and our house is always lovely and warm.

Eating out/getting a coffee
Letting them go on rides
Getting a taxi instead of the bus (sometimes cheaper now!)
Theatre tickets
Soft play

Happy but poor childhood here.

On the odd occasion we would toast bread on the gas fire unit and have it on a tray with jam and marmite in front of the tv in our pjs and we loved that.

Looking back it would have been skint time before pay day and no food in

We didn't have central heating only a gas fire in the front room and we always got dressed and undressed in front of that in the front room in winter.

Loo roll was monitored and we had one type of squash or water as well as penguin choc biscuits for pack ups and value bread.

Consequently I don't scrimp on heating and my kids normally moan the house is too hot.

I also have a thing about naice bread or bagels or thins etc for pack ups as well as a few different cheeses and meats and biscuits always available.

One thing as an adult in indulge in is coffee out because it was just never done when we were kids.
We took flasks and pack ups so like a previous poster family days out include eating out for me.

We always had 1 soap and 1 shower gel and they were replaced as they ran out

I have many different luxury soaps and shower creams and I have a thing about washing smelling of washing liquid

Another poor but happy child here. For me it is sellotape! I grew up believing it was incredibly expensive and used the most minute amounts to wrap presents. Nowadays I sometimes use TWO pieces on the same side!

Me too!

While dc were small and in the 'excited about going for a picnic' phase then we would take a packed lunch sometimes, but oh, the memories of the depressing things I had to eat on days out when I was a child, and how I yearned to be able to eat in a restaurant or cafe like lots of other people did.

Our poverty was a result of severe financial abuse by a parent, so I don’t like to think about it.

But I suppose I take pleasure from having my own money and deciding exactly how to spend it. 😊

I remember having the most amazing birthday party when we all sat on a blanket on the floor and ate a picnic and my mum led games.

Of course it was raining so we couldn't be outside (summer birthday) and we could never have afforded a hall or anything like that.

Kids remember the strangest things.

I'm like a previous poster - I like to eat out for lunch now if we go out for the day.

we mostly had packed lunches although I do remember an amazing cafe that did beans on toast when we went on holiday to a caravan in wales.

My parents made themselves poor. They had a bigger house than they could afford and sent us to private school. I hate that feeling of oh there should be a tenner left in my account, so ill wander round the supermarket but I won't spend more than 9.98
I dont over extend myself.

Not the same thing really, but my childhood was poor and cruel. I now love sitting in a mess (not dirty in the slightest but untidy), I'm happy when my daughter has made a mess and we leave it until the morning to tidy away. I never had this 'luxury' as a child; possessions were thrown away if out of place. Even visiting friends homes, that are spotlessly/clinically tidy makes me very uncomfortable. I'm very happy to go home to my messy beautiful home :)

Not a poor upbringing but a very careful one. I have a thing for buying my kids exactly what they want for Christmas. I never had that as a kid.

I buy own brand stuff mostly as I have memories of cheap food and very little of it.

Clothes: I have a problem treating myself and feel incredibly guilty, but my kids have loads of clothes to choose from. I remember only having two or three items to wear and feeling inferior to friends who had new fashionable clothes.

Not to the same extreme that my dad experienced but now I like having food in my cupboards I have chosen that I like. I like being able to change the menu for the day based on what we fancy.
My amazing memory to share (the we used at my dad's eulogy recently) is the year that he made, by hand, despite his awful diy skills, an 'a team' house for my brother and a shop for me using off cuts and freebies.

Same here. Made that choice for us but couldn't afford it all. To our detriment really.

I pay for parking. So many memories of being made to walk huge (relative to little legs) distances to avoid paying to park.
I'll always say yes to an ice cream on a day out too (bless her she keeps trying to pay with her pocket money but I've never let her).

My parents also spent all the money on school fees.
I like to have things that coordinate in the house now as my parents got whatever was cheapest.
Going on holiday to somewhere that isn't furnished out of the 1950s and doesn't have nylon sheets.
However I still don't think can buy treats or nice clothes as I was never brought up with clothes labels etc.
But I was happy and knew I would have to work to get what I wanted.

A full bath! We grew up with a rain-water cistern, so water was always rationed. We had at most 3" of water in our bath, and 4 children... starting with the youngest and going up. My bath was always lukewarm and a no bubbles left.

When I first moved away from home and realized I could use as much water as I wanted, it was pure luxury. I still lounge in the tub for ages, topping up with more hot water when it cools.

I have curtains that close, block out light, insulate the rooms and are pleasing to my tastes in colour and texture.

My plants have pot covers chosen for size, colour, shape and texture.

I don't think the cheapest thing in the shop is identical to the most expensive. That way lies soggy washing, not enough space for your arse on the sofa, multiple appliances all failing to meet needs rather than one or two that cover everything - and the uncomfortable feeling of your breasts being simultaneously crushed and left dangling.

I wear comfortable shoes that fit me instead of plastic, sweaty things around half a size and one width fitting too small because they were reduced in the sale.

I have lampshades and decent light fittings. No more bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling 'because nobody ever looks up, and the light would dazzle them anyway'. A 150W lightbulb was not a moneysaving exercise 'because you get more light for the money'.

Furnishings can be moved into different rooms and will still tone with what's already in there - because I chose colours that would blend nicely.

My rugs match.

If something is unrepairable, uncomfortable or a stain won't come out, it gets recycled. Nobody needs blisters on their inner thigh crease and everybody notices food stains on your shirt.

Oh, and there are a few things I will never have in the house;

Ariel and Lenor Blue. Bloody stinks and makes me itch.
Soft & Gentle deodorant spray. Mixed in with the mustiness of one bath a week, it doesn't hold pleasant olfactory memories.
Unsmoked back bacon (the cheapest). Some things just shouldn't exist in the first place.

Most important thing, though. My cats' shit doesn't stink - I buy food that's suitable for them, rather than whichever out of Whiskas and Felix is on offer.

Poor but happy childhood, I’m pretty sure my mum just ate crisps or rice some nights so I could eat. I won’t scrimp on food now. It’s had a lasting effect on me though, I’m under 35 I’m mortgage free and earn good money part time. However I can’t bring myself to spend much of it! I’ve only bought things from the charity shop or tkmaxx clearance section for over 10 years. Paying for haircuts kills me! I will happily treat DC though. Makes me sad when I see these beautifully dressed put together women…I’ve also worked hard and could achieve that but I won’t let myself