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 remember being on a school trip bug swimming waterpark place and not having spending money. Everyone was buying chips, burgers, slushies, and I just had a ham sandwich and an apple in my bag. Now when my children go out i'm obsessed with making sure they have enough money with them, and tell them to buy something for a friend if they don't have money with them. I can't bear the thought of them feeling left out or having less than others.

I realise this might not be helpful in the long run, I like it when school set a £10 limit of whatever because I have no concept of how much is a normal amount to send.

But I also get really frustrated at DS who spends all his pocket money the second he gets it. No concept of saving it because he might need it later!

Growing up I only lived with my dad and brother. I had no access to period products and often no money to buy them. Although I would sometimes skip lunch and save any lunch money I got given Although this too was sporadic.
I have very heavy periods and having to make wedges of toilet roll just really did not work.

So the moment I had a sniff of money at college I started stock piling period products so I'd never run out. I now use period underwear but I still have my stock because "just incase" although I am planning to donate it to the homeless charity. There is still a bit inside me that panics.

I do the save for best things too, I've a box full of the 'nice' toiletries and skincare that barely get used. But I read an article about an older woman who died, she'd lived quite simply, and her house was filled with lovely things she was keeping for best. Best never came.

Burn the candle, wear the dress, use the bubble bath - you don't know what's around the corner.

It’s having the “right thing” for me - a wee hammer to knock in picture hooks, a roll of sellotape, small sharp craft scissors, yellow dusters….we always made do in the best possible and creative way, but now I love having good tools and supplies.

Growing up, my family was not poor but my parents still had habits formed during their own childhoods during WW2. We children all wore darned, mended clothes and only ever had 1 pair of shoes at a time. As a teenager, I had one dress, one skirt, a few tops and one pair of jeans. I guess I was a shallow child because I longed for pretty clothes.

As an adult, I hoard clothing, bags and shoes but never actually wear them. As with PP, I'm 'keeping them for best' which I also agree is crazy. Stems from never having anything nice as a child.

My mum liked value for money haircuts so I always had a horrendously short fringe on haircut day and then long periods between cuts. I have my hair trimmed every 3 weeks ( short style that needs to be tidy) to avoid the huge difference between 'too long hair ' and 'just been cut hair ' and my hairdresser knows all about my fringe terror.
Jeans. I would have 1 pair bought for me and they were to last for as long as possible. Mum would turn them up by many, many inches and then,as I grew they'd be turned down. There was always a white line where they'd been turned up. She'd colour it in with a biro. In the ebd there would be at keast 3 white lines.My friends had lots more money and lots more clothes. I hated non uniform School trips because they'd laugh at my awful clothes. I love clothes now and spend a lot of money and time on looking ' put together'. Its a control thing because I had no control over how awful I looked as a child.

Switching lights off when not in room and not switching light on in hall . Remembering the many times our electricity was cut off or we didn’t have 50p for the meter.

Markets , I always go to market and they are a magnet wherever we go.

Yellow stickers , my kids joke when I die my coffin will have a yellow sticker on it.

Not throwing away food , reusing , repairing clothes and finding it difficult to throw out underwear that has holes etc as no one will see it.

Having a “pain threshold” for buying things that even if I can afford it I won’t go over.

paying bills as soon as they come , a childhood of balliffs coming to the door and not answering and pretending we weren’t in gives me a horror of unpaid bills.

Whenever my young adult kids ask me to borrow a small amount of money I always add extra because I know if I had to ask it was always the barest minimum I would possibly need. I'm always worried it's not really enough they're asking for and I don't want them to be trying to choose whether to buy lunch and walk miles or get the bus and go hungry.

I don't like spending money on myself. I always worry that it might be needed for something else.

paying bills as soon as they come , a childhood of balliffs coming to the door and not answering and pretending we weren’t in gives me a horror of unpaid bills.

I overpay the really important ones just in case something happens.

I feel guilty buying myself anything. I'll occasionally buy myself a book and guilt myself afterwards. My brain just goes "You didn't really need that, should you have really spent that £8.99?"

This rings a bell with me, I'm in my 70's and still when I've been out take off my going out clothes and put something else on so I don't spoil them! Also (I'm that old) used to have tin bath in the kitchen filled from the immersion heater and ever since I left home have had really full baths, sometimes to the point of the water spilling out when I get in - and lots and lots of bubbles.

This. I'm late 70s and still do this so end up with hardly worn stuff. Not even sure what I'm "saving" them for.

My mum used to iron used wrapping paper to re use. I’ve done this myself a couple of times too, but more because it is useful to have if I forget some and a birthday looms! But still it’s good to recycle. She also used to cut used sheets in half and then sew the outside edges together. I think this is going too far! She did go through the Second World War though, when nothing was wasted.

Eating a round of bread with every meal to fill you up as bread was cheap compared to meat.

Using everything. There's forever cake or random meals being made for the freezer here, because I will use everything. So if DD has a hankering for blueberries but doesn't get through the box (regularly), muffins or a tray bake happen. I make soup year round to use up odds and ends of veg.

Every time I make dinner I root through the fridge or cupboard to see what we have and will add diced broccoli stalks or a handful of chopped bacon or whatever into the pan along with the "usual" ingredients.

We can easily afford the "nice" dinners every night. But growing up we had to make do and I can't shake that off.

On the plus side, I'm incredibly good at making up nice meals with scraps. It's a skill more people should have.

DH has funny habits left over from childhood. He likes things bought in small sizes and argues it is more economical because it means you use less by ekeing them out. He never quite fills a petrol tank because he likes to stop at a round figure (the car cost over £100k), at service stations he always breaks away from us and buys himself a cheap Greggs and sausage roll, whilst giving me £20 or £50. And the saving for best - he never opens new shirts, pants, or puts a new coat on until the old is beyond redemption, oh and has been known to knot a broken shoelace!

He is now worth millions, the above are foibles and he is generous with everyone else.

This!!

When my Nana died, we found drawers of lovely new jumpers, a bottle of Chanel no 5, bubble baths, candles…

All saved “for best”. All never enjoyed

My parents are minted but so tight they squeak

As a child,we wore whatever she could get her hands on for cheap (or even better,for free)

I know that dread of non uniform days and not having anything to wear and was bullied/laughed at for not having nice,trendy clothes and having holes in your ill fitting shoes

She'd cut our hair herself,which lead to some awful cuts (I did grow it by the time I started secondary and she went mental because I needed hair bobbles for pe,i didnt have a haircut from 11-17 as she refused to pay a hairdresser)

She would buy the cheapest shampoo/soap/toothpaste (god help you if your toothbrush needed replacing within 6 months of her handing it to you and that washing up liquid type shampoo was a luxury)

If you wanted to start a hobby,she'd suck her teeth and moan like fuck if you needed equipment for it-shed buy the cheapest she could get (or not bother in my case-i started horse riding-she got my grandad to pay for the lessons and I only got the boots i needed when someone gave her some-i was a size 4 and these where an 8,i was forced to quit when he died and she refused to allow me to join the brownies as she couldnt get her hands on a free uniform)

Food was mainly veg that my father grew-didnt matter if you liked it or not-you had to eat it,meat was rare (unless it was on her plate) and the cheap cuts like kidney or liver (shes almost passed out with joy when a neighbour gave her enough free meat to fill her freezer-we saw none of it)

As an adult i have a wardrobe that is overflowing with nice clothes-i cannot get anything else in there

I get my hair cut every 6 weeks and panic if I cant get in on time (I have long hair now) and my bathroom is overflowing with nice shampoos/conditioners/toothpastes/soaps etc

I stock up on my hobby (cross stitch,so have a stockpile of kits)

I eat what I like (I do eat veg,but only what I like) and I cannot eat cheap meat-my freezer is full of tesco finest or butcher meat rather than bags of offal from the market

My dp thinks im mad but I have to live like this or I panic

When my DH doesn’t want an item of clothing anymore (eg it doesn’t fit or has a hole in), he tears it up and throws it in the bin. This genuinely sets my teeth on edge because what if you don’t have a replacement, or the replacement breaks in a worse way than the original?? I have drawers of things I don’t wear anymore just in case - I’d rather have knickers with holes in than none at all, even though I have plenty!

With bigger items like his trousers I’ll always try to mend them before he dramatically throws them out.

The other day, he bought me replacement boots because mine had holes in and were letting in water - I asked where my old ones were and he’d already thrown them away, and I had a little internal panic, even though the new ones were nicer and perfectly comfortable!

DH is a terror for "saving for best". This means that he has decades-old trousers in his wardrobe that he has never worn. And will never wear, because his waistline isn't what it used to be ...

i didn’t even grow up in poverty, just lower middle class, and I almost threw the phone at the wall reading that.

how can you bear it?!

And people today say that they were the good old days when everyone had a house and a massive pension and spent their evenings in the pub.

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’ve never understood people who DON’T do this tbh. Is it some point of pride to chuck things away with a few goes left in them? You paid for it all, might as well rinse it all out!

I grew up aware of how short of money we were and I was always anxious that we wouldn’t have enough. I picked a husband partly based on how financially secure we could be together. He is ambitious but not reckless, financially savvy and careful but not tight. He sees a big part of his role as a partner and father as providing for his family. Fortunately he has lots of other lovely qualities too.