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.

I don't remember being poor as such but lots of things looking back. We would often walk or cycle to school to "exercise" though I now know it was because of petrol prices.

In the winter me and my sister would often be invited into dad's bed for a cuddle at night. Always when it was very cold, probably to keep us warm. When we woke he was often on the sofa with a small blanket and the extra on us two girls.

Dad was often full up after a large lunch at work and encouraged us to eat up. I'm sure he was hungry as he didn't have a canteen at work but made sure we have plenty to eat.

My Dad is older now and we help where we can, meals cooked, extra fleece blanket or a top up for his gas. He sacrificed so much growing up, especially as a single dad as support was few and far between, it's only fair we repay him.

So not lighthearted but made me even more grateful for my lovely dad 🥰

My house is always, always warm- growing up my house was freezing. I also have lights on as much as I want- I have vivid memories of my mum sitting downstairs in the dark but insisting she preferred it that way. My cupboards always have snacks available beyond 'meal food'. I do keep a well-stocked pantry as if it runs down to only a few days worth of food I get anxious- my mum always kept a storecupboard of tins 'just in case'. And my kids have way too many toys and clothes, but in fairness they love them and I like to buy them for them, and it's affordable. But the main one for me is definitely a warm house! I would sacrifice a lot of things before I let the house get cold.

DH grew up poor, so we always have lots of food in and never just the cheapest. We're not exactly not poor ourselves, but we prioritise food and the children are always well-fed with food they want to eat. Oh, and he gets a ton of mushrooms on his fry up because he was never allowed them.

Another one with parents who weren't poor but hated to spend money, to the extent that it actually caused financial harm (ie. not doing minor upkeep on the house which led to proper structural damage later down the line). The mattress on my childhood bed is still there, 40 odd years later, and I learned recently that it was already second-hand when my mum bought it - it now has the texture of blancmange...

...so: both the mattress on my bed and the spare bed were bought new, and I will have no qualms in getting them properly taken away when their time is up.

...I do repairs on the house as soon as I can (money dependent); and also do an annual sweep of what needs doing to check I'm on top of it.

...I love pre-prepared fancy little food from M&S, Waitrose and the like. LOVE. All those fancy little salmon canapé things that are around right now, marvellous. And when I'm given chocolates or nice wine, we eat and drink them pronto, rather than stashing them in a cupboard until the end of time.

...and yes, a warm house and long hot baths :)

Like others, it took me a very very long time to learn how to spend money on myself, for comfort and pleasure. I would say that I am wise with money, rather that unnecessarily frugal.

We never felt we were poor. Money was tight but we never went hungry.

I absolutely hate being cold. We had a solid fuel range in the main room of the house & it was used for cooking & heating. The rest of the house was freezing in winter till we were in our teens. I love duvets & lovely bedding now rather than scratchy heavy wool blankets.

My granny knit our school jumpers as they were warmer & cheaper than school ones but we were made fun of. in high school, my mum bought a second hand duffel coat rather than school uniform gabardine that everyone else had. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I made sure my kids had the same uniform as everyone else

We never had batteries. Would have to take the batteries out of the remote to use them for something else. My parents would never buy batteries.
So now we always have a supply.

Ah, this is where I wish MN had a like button so I could tick
'like' on all the memories people have shared.

When clothes get holes I chuck them out, not keep them going forever. And new clothes for the kids. My mum used to go to jumble sales every weekend and come back with a black sack full of very dated nylon static clothes that always smelt of mothballs. I would fake smile for her when I would have rather had 1 nice new thing than 50 old things that probably would have cost the same. I’m not adverse to buying my own clothes from charity shop though.

When we returned to the UK (and still had no money) things like Philadelphia cream cheese and wrapped biscuits were treats. If ever I buy biscuits, I never buy own label ones...feels 'decadent' to have actual Kit Kats. 😂

Nope. I still can't do it. It's ingrained in me

@Beckafett . What a lovely dad

Yes pretty poor as kids. Mother single parent who wasn't great. Had to be extremely careful with money and thus am uber organised with bank accounts/bills/spreadsheets. The impact though is I cannot be profligate with money on myself although we are extremely comfortable now. So always think twice about buying a nice sandwich for lunch at work from the beautiful artisan bakery in favour of a home made one. Adult kids though totally different as they had a lovely upbringing with holidays abroad etc but also have high expectations and regularly try and milk me for money. I don't mind

I love this.

My clothing as a child was hand me downs from my sister, also handed down from the neighbor's daughter, that were handed down from her older sister. Nothing fit, matched, and was a decade out of style. I was called so many names at school and I always wished we wore uniforms instead. I never had things like socks and underwear either, maybe a couple pair of each, but also hand me downs.

So now I have too many clothes, but it makes me really happy. I thrift and shop bargains. I'm always the most overdressed and overly put-together person anywhere but it doesn't bother me. I have a big collection of socks and underwear too.

Hunger was an issue as a child too. My sister and I both now keep our kitchen fully stocked to overflowing so we know we'll never be in danger of hunger again.

When I was little I slept on a mattress that had been given to us by an elderly relative. The springs were poking out and my mother never put sheets on our beds and never had pajamas either. I remember complaining of back pain from the springs, when I was probably 8. I slept in a bare mattress with just undies on. To this day I can't let a mattress touch my skin, it's almost a phobia. As an adult I used to pile on many layers of sheets and blankets, probably 15 or so. Now I'm ok with just sheets and a blanket, but I also have a large collection of bedding. I could buy many more, if I had space to store them.

I think most of my weird habits are channeled to my children. I really enjoy giving to them, whether it's affection, food, time, etc. I find myself telling them all the time how much I would have loved to have their lives as a child. It really can be healing to give to yourself what you didn't have as a child, within reason.

I hate rubbing out if everything so always feel like I need at least two of things as back up in my cupboards.

I could never find sanitary pads when I was younger so now I have packs and packs of the stuff just in case!

I always like my children to have nice school uniform and lots of nice underwear. I also like to make the house lovely including their bedrooms. Just the feeling that they can just open a drawer and be able to choose some.nice white knickers or have the right coat for the weather is a.nice feeling for me. Hair washed with nice products, I was happy as a child but some things have stuck.

I was thought we was the poor family out of all my friends and I. We didn't have central heating just a fire and them gas colar fires it was always cold in winter and slept in sleeping bags with loads of blankets on top. Realised when I got older that my friends all lived in council houses they had heating and double glazing. My dad had a mortgage and three jobs but I am the only one out of my friends now that will inherit a house it's had central heating and double glazing in about 15 years ago.
It's being rented out and he has another mortgage on another house which he lives with his partner.
I live in a council house and up to the last couple of years my kids never had to suffer with the cold.

Public transport. Don’t get me wrong, when it’s ample it’s fine, dh and I lived car free in London for years.
But growing up in the middle of nowhere it was just hours of being wet and cold. Walking everywhere took so much time and was dark often.

Are you from Lincolnshire?

I use the thanks button as ''I hear you'' , ''ha ha'' and ''here's some solidarity''. #I hope people get that as I've been ''thanking'' liberally lately

Having milk and butter that is kept in the fridge and not rancid. I know it’s a simple thing that money can’t buy but every time I drink a cup of tea with toast, I’m grateful for it.

We also didn’t have central heating so that’s amazing as a PP said.

and a roast chicken.

We were neglected and poor tbh.

I give a genuine prayer of thanks every time I put the heating on.
Having a heating system that

1. works
2. I can >usually > afford to put on is nothing sort of miraculous to me

Going to any kind of restaurant. My first experience of a restaurant was when I was 15, and it was because Mum won some pizza hut vouchers at work. We all ordered our own individual pizza, it was amazing!

See also, cinema. We went once as a child to see He-Man and She-Ra The Movie, but otherwise never could afford it. The joy when I was able to go and see any film I wanted! Even had cineworld cards for a couple of years.

We were quite poor when we had our own young family, and my kids tell me some of their favourite memories and activities always warms my heart as it was usually stuff I did BECAUSE we were poor. Like a walk looking for giant sticks on Xmas eve, instead of the Santa visits all my friends were doing. We still do it now!

Never had many clothes as a child/ teen. Sometimes had to wear school uniform at home on weekends ( without blazer and tie!) as had no casual/ weekend clothes to wear.
So when I had DC I bought them a ridiculous amount of clothes all from good quality brands like mini boden.

Oh and also always have fruit! Fruit was a huge treat in our house was always told of for asking for oranges . My DC can have as much fruit as they like from fruit bowl. ( not that they eat much of it!)