Quirks from a poorer childhood that have followed you through life.

[Motorwayview]

Inspired by the tight people thread.
No matter how much underwear I have I am always slightly panicked that I'll run out of clean underwear so have been known to handwash and leave overnight to dry. Ive got draws and draws of the stuff now - BUT growing up for a while I had just enough to get by on but only if DM washed them every night. ( 3 pairs knickers) Sometimes we didn't have the 50p for the meter to use the emersion heater or boil a kettle (this was the '70's).
The one that drives DH mad is that I have to use every last drop out of a bottle even if Ive got 3 more of the same in the cupboard ( shampoo ect) .
Anyone else ?

I always have to have a bathrobe and hair turban now. After the misery of a 70s childhood of getting out of the bath in a freezing cold bathroom, hair dripping, with only a teeny little towel, those two things are a must. Even if we do have heating in cold weather now, I'll not be parted from them.

I still ask myself that question regularly. It was the same with ham from the soup, we never got to touch it.

This reminds me of my husband’s grandmother when she told us that during the war you got one egg a week which was meant for the children and many women would give it to their husband.

In fairness to the poster’s dad, did he maybe need his strength to continue to be able to put food on the table and hopefully get them to better times? But yes, agree it’s almost unthinkable.

@Nogimachi this was the reasoning in poor working class families in the war and austerity years. The father was the breadwinner and brought in the money. School age children contributed nothing to the family until they were old enough to get a job. Any job so they could contribute to the family coffer. Men did not like their wives to go out and work in those days.If you came from a poor childhood in the 50s (As I did) you grew up with attitudes which influenced you for life.

They deny it

They where the most loving,caring and generous parents ever-they would give us their last penny

Utter bollocks but thats what they say

I remember differently

@Nogimachi a lot of husbands were away obviously. Some were at home. My grandad was a baker so there was always a bit of extra bread at my dad’s.
My dad told me my grandad would bake a few extra ones and literally put them through letterboxes of families who were really, really struggling.
A lady I met at a funeral confirmed this - she was one of the little kids getting a bread roll.
My parents discussed rationing a lot. They were really protective over butter and it drove me mad. They would use a knife to spread some on toast, and wipe the excess back into the butter dish - full of crumbs.
They weren’t tight by any means but food was really important. My dad used to eat a lot of cakes because they just didn’t have any.
I know they both hated powdered egg.
I think resources always went to the man.
My dad used to have a small piece of streak every Thursday when he got paid and we’d have egg and chips. The irony being my mum worked full time.
My grandad was a master confectioner before the war and taught his daughter how to make the most beautiful cakes. As soon as they could get the ingredients. I have never tasted better cakes in my life.

It was one egg EACH as everyone had an individual ration book. Pregnant women and babies got two a week. So a household of mum, dad, two kids and a baby would get five eggs a week. My grandmother said the same thing, that the men would often get them as they were off out to work all day, so got an egg for breakfast (presuming they weren't off at war, of course) my grandmother also always thought mean needed a lot more food in general though, which I suppose had some logic if they were indeed out working all day down the pits or something. Kinda stopped making much sense once they were retired though so why she continued giving my grandad more well into his 80, I don't know.

Ah that makes more sense - so she was talking about them getting an extra egg for a child and this often going to the man. Thank you for clarifying.
…old habits die hard, I guess. I’m glad we no longer put men on such a pedestal, but then it sounds like your granddad might have fought in the war, in which case maybe he deserved a few extra eggs! And maybe she was just so grateful that he came back and knew men who didn’t?

I've found my kindred spirit!! I do these exact things too 😂

@Stardancerintheskye
You've reminded me of a incident that is slightly off this topic but still,
When I started work after leaving school my father told me he wanted every penny repaid he'd spent on me since birth
Believe me I didn't have toys clothes were ugly functional and cardboard was in my shoes
At home I had one each of jumper tshirt skirt and 3 horrible old fashioned summer dresses given by a well meaning 70 year old neighbour that had been her daughters
He said he figured it was £40 a week evened out over 18 years
Problem was my wage was then £27 weekly
First day at work wore mothers skirt/cardigan
When I got paid that first time
Bought some basic pieces then
Told him I was paid monthly and one of the friends I'd made had bought me my clothes
So I owed her straightaway
Left home 2 weeks later
And never went back
Mother ŵas worse than useless never stood up to him once
And that is the reason that
If I want it and can afford it I have it
Still all these years later appreciate having lovely new suited to me things and some style in my life

I've gone completely the other way and now think I deserve nice things. My parents had money, they just wouldn't spend it on us children. Now I have all the things and do all the things I would have loved as a child.

Wow @QueenietheGreat that’s definitely on the topic of upbringing. Misers are seen as comic figures, but my paternal grandfather was one & your father sounds as if he was too. There’s nothing at all funny about living with one. Well done for escaping!

I was reminded of another thing as I was doing it this week: I use plastic bags in bins, rather than buy designated bin liners. Obviously, now they are not given out freely at supermarkets, they are in shorter supply. This week I used the plastic wrapper from a bumper packet of toilet rolls, which I’d cut open carefully with its future use in mind.

Living up to my username again!

That is shocking @QueenietheGreat . I am so sorry.

I didn't have much as a child
It can go either way in adulthood. I struggle to buy things for myself. Today I bought myself some good quality night cream from boots. I have a knot in my stomach with guilt. I can't believe I spent that on cream for my face but also glad I persuaded myself. I stood there ages until I finally thought "just do it" and walked quickly to the tills before the guilt took over.
Absolutely ridiculous. I earn my money!!
But I also overspend massively on my kids so they never feel they are missing out like I did. So then I feel guilty about spoiling them too.
Can't bloody win!! 😄

This is such a sad thread - and this is particularly awful. Really some parents …..

I can’t abide food wastage. I’ve read statistics that we waste 10% of our food. I’ll freeze bread, milk, leftovers, make soup, stir fry’s.

I mark toiletries/shampoo/cosmetic bottles so that I know how much I use, so when the, say, shampoo or shower gel, gets down to just 7 days, I put it aside ready to take on the next holiday. Then I have exactly a week's worth so I won't run out, don't have excess weight, and won't waste any and don't have anything to bring back. Alongside that I've always done "packing lists" for holidays, and keep them in a file after the holiday, so I've got templates for future holidays, so never take too much, and I never miss anything, so don't have to make expensive last minute purchases for forgotten items at the airport or in the resort/hotel. Saves an absolute fortune over the years.

I have minimal wardrobe/shoes etc., and tend to re-buy things I like, to avoid buying things I'll not wear that may end up thrown out or gifted. Eg I'm on my 8th pair of identity walking shoes - I wear them daily as I walk to/from work, and each pair lasts an average of a year. When I open the box, I buy another pair to have a spare in the cupboard, and I buy them when they're on offer etc so I've never paid full price and never been caught out without my favoured pair. I do the same with other things like underwear (mostly same shop and style but just different colours) and again, always have some unworn new ones in packs ready to wear to replace existing ones. Same with everything else really. I like what I like and I'm not a slave to fashion, so happy to "look" the same year on year, if not decade after decade, with basically same/similar clothes from same shops! It works for me and I save a fortune.

In my childhood, you could get free train tickets by accumulating tokens from the backs of packets of breakfast cereals and some washing powders - I remember my mother buying several packets of them at a time and she'd put them on the shelf (for months!) with the cardboard cut out where the token was. That kind of memory sticks in your mind.

I absolutely detest waste (including paying for things you could get free or cheaper), which comes from not having a childhood and young adulthood with any spare money, so I had to make literally every pound count. A "growing up" habit like that never leaves you however much money you earn/save in later years.

It is, sounds like cruelty.

I grew up one of 3 kids in the 60’s & 70’s, my parents worked hard, Dad had 2 jobs until Mum went back to work p/t then f/t as we got older. We had everything we needed but didn’t have a car, holidays abroad or lots of clothes, our basic needs were met without any luxuries, basically the things that some young people expect or feel entitled to now.
I used to feel jealous of friends who had lots of clothes, shoes etc, now I have too many clothes, shoes and handbags as well as some lovely items of jewellery that I keep for best which is a habit I’m trying to break.

No, my grandparents were too young to have fought in the war. Nan was a proper 1950s housewife, she married in 1955 age 20, and granddad was a stereotypical 1950s husband. So it was all just sexism 🤷
They were kids in the war. Nan stayed in inner-city Birmingham even through all the bombing as her mum refused to break up the family. She told me stories of being yanked out of bed in the night, pulled by the hand down the street in her bare feet and nightie and thrown into the air raid shelter.
Granddad was evacuated, but never talked about it. I think they abused him :(
Tough times, different people!

Me too, especially food fights and those times on TV where someone's shovelling food in to their mouth makes me feel physically sick.

I agree. I think my genuinely deprived childhood means that, for me, having the candle sitting there, ready to light, is 'better' than burning it. A friend visited the other day. I'm hoping to sell my house so had got the stored 'posh' (in fact Aldi but a supersized one) candle out. I'd had some prossecco so I lit it! My friend, (also a very deprived childhood) was both impressed & slightly horrified!

Helpful to read this thread re food though. I have too much in the house (& probably eat too big a portion) as we literally didn't have enough as a child. I was sent to school with sugar sandwiches / 'forgotten packed lunch' on all school trips. There just wasn't any. Also didn't invite people home (no spare snack/dinner but not enough loo roll / no hot water to wash hands etc)

I live in Scotland now. Free period products are great - all schools/ colleges/ health centres / some supermarkets. Glad for todays young girls & women.

I haven’t read the whole thread. So apologies if this has been mentioned a lot. I just can’t get my head around Smash Cakes. I always thought the concept was bonkers and wasteful and then I heard how much they cost and that really did my head in!

Smash cakes are disgusting.

I never went hungry as a child, nor was I ever forced by my parents to eat something I didn't like. Still, I'm another one who has always thought that cake smashes are absolutely obscene. Just shameful.