What was your standard of living growing up?

[TazzyDrunk]

I would say it was fairly good , not overly impressive but no real financial problems that me and my brother noticed

A bit up and down tbh. Very affluent when I was very little. Mum used to dress me in ludicrous designer baby clothes, holidays to Cyprus, dinner out a lot, mum drove a Mercedes, dad had all sorts of cars, a chauffeur at one point. Then my dad lost his business and although they kept the house the holidays and cars disappeared and I’d help my mum look for the yellow label food in Tesco on the big shop, and we didn’t go to restaurants anymore... started to get better again by the time I was about 15 but we were never that badly off, we were very lucky in comparison.

I grew up in one of the roughest estates in Glasgow. Dad worked full time (bricklayer) mum worked part time in a pub. They had 6 children.
Our house was clean didn't have central heating until I was in my early teens.
We were happy, shared a bedroom with 2 sisters.
Looking back we were not well off but everyone was the same so didn't really notice it.
Never went on holiday or went out to eat.
My dad spent a lot of time in the pub he would go everyday straight from work all my friends dad did the same so to us this was normal. I can remember waiting on him outside.
My mum probably didn't have the best life, but as a kid you didn't realise it.

@IamPickleRick thanks for replying to my post it’s not nice that someone can relate and had the same upbringing but it’s nice knowing you were like me in a weird way.. sounds like you’ve done a fab job too with your children and nice you would give them the world, be proud of yourself. I’m booking our first sun holiday when they come out next. Our son is only 8months so before then it wasn’t worth it as you have to book minimum of 4 people but I’m still taking my own bedding. I remember my mum saying why would we pay for bedding when we can take our own and took all our own food 😂 the car journey was cramped but I laugh now some habits are hard to let go of. My partner grew up more wealthy than me and he doesn’t understand some things I scrimp on. I actually enjoy eating a bag of 30p pasta and cheap pasta sauce.

I read some threads where people refuse to by their children decent trainers and clothes as teenagers as they ‘ruin them and don’t understand how kids can get bullied/waste of money etc’ it makes me sad cause kids do get bullied and there is no getting away from it. School was absolute hell for me

Military dad with a preference for alcohol and domestic violence so houses were lovely, schools amazing but home life not so much.

A family tragedy led to horrific consequences. Life changed immeasurably from that moment on. I was 16.
Parents split. No money. No heating. Disinterested mother with mental health issues, dad disappeared.
I was pretty much on my own from being 15/16.

They claimed poverty from me being 12 or 13 so no Easter eggs for me or siblings very little for Christmas or birthdays. I remember getting the kids Easter eggs with my babysitting money at 12.

Clothes too small, never new clothes, shoes falling to bits.

Violence, feeling frightened all the fucking time. Awful just awful.

Overcrowded but fairly happy. Our rent was tiny so we had a decent amount of disposable income but by the time I was 14, there was me, my brother, my sister, her partner, their daughter, my parents and my maternal grandparents in a 2.5 bed house.

Always enough for food and bills plus a bit of wiggle room. No extravagances.

My parents owned their own home but with 4 kids were strapped for cash. We had a meal out once a year and 3 foreign holidays till I was 18. Hand me down clothes or my mum made them. It was the 70s so we didn't have central heating in the whole house till I was 11, no colour TV till I went to uni.

But my Mum was the best in the world, we played outside a lot, had lots of fun and a very joyful childhood.

We were very rich in money and very poor in parenting. As a parent I (hope!) I am the opposite.

Pretty good, my Dad had a rags to riches story in that he grew up in a small council property and got a very good job. We had the largest house on the street and lovely long haul holidays to places like Australia, Hawaii and Bali. They were fairly frugal day to day having grown up with not much and my brother and I are sensible financially as a result.

Very, very privileged. My dad owned a clothes factory. I went to private school, owned a house with marble bathrooms, a sauna and a jacuzzi. I also had a nanny, a maid and a handyman.

Glittershake You’re so right, school was horrific. This sounds awful but often I just didn’t go. I’d sit at home reading, no one noticed. No teachers, my mum, no one. I had 50% attendance one year and not a single person asked me why. This was the 90’s too.

We did get a holiday as kids but only if my grandparents chipped in, and I remember even then all sleeping in one bed so that we stayed warm because of the electric and gas cost. DH is the same, I stick the last bit of old soaps together to make one big soap and he’s like wtf are you doing Or this is so grim, when we first moved in together, I’d “save” the bath water so that we could all use it and only have to run the heater once. It really is a marvel that I don’t have to do that now, I will never take it for granted that I have heat and food. I hoard a bit now though, that’s a result of it. I just look at my things and think, can’t throw that, what if one day I can’t afford to get another one. Clothes, especially for the kids because I remember having to wear my boy cousins clothes.

To anyone here who suffered the same

Fairly affluent I'd say, by north wales standards.
Both parents worked full time as teachers, I was an only child and never went without anything I really wanted.

We had a big detached house which with 4 beds was very spacious for the three of us.
Always had nice things to eat and occasionally ate out. Never did nearly as many "day trips" as I do with my kids now though, I think my parents were too knackered! Also went abroad on hols quite a lot when a teenager.

Now dh and I are financially comfortable, we don't have a particularly big house but we didn't want a massive mortgage. We've nearly paid it off now. Regular hols though mostly in the Uk. Nice car. Recently paid for brand new kitchen. Not frivolously at all in spending and we rarely go out or buy new clothes but we do spend money on nice food in the supermarket and also on days out with the kids, which neither of us really did as kids. But in a fairly similar situation to what I experienced as a child.

In the 80’s we were ok. Dp’s owned their own house, food always available, clothes from a jumble sale, no treats as such. No central heating in the house, just electric heaters in rooms at night. Shared a bedroom with my dB until I was 10. The little bedroom was freezing and the central heating was only fixed when I moved out

Mum started working in 1984. More spends, And new furniture was delivered. Extension to the house. Money still tight for ‘new’ clothes.

I left school and worked part time. Hurrah for C&A’s. Bought my own clothes. Worked overtime to make more money to buy clothes and be able to go out.

Born 1970. Youngest of 5. DD was a farmer so pretty idyllic country life. Bloody cold house tho (no central heating). Remember shampoo freezing in the bottle.

A decent basic standard against the odds. Enough food. Warmish home. Second hand clothes. No extras. My poor old Mum went to bed hungry to achieve it.

In the 1950's in one of the colonies in Africa. Beautiful house and gardens and four live in servants. My father was high up in the Colonial Service and they lived the life of Riley. At 9 I was sent back to the UK to boarding school and only saw my parents twice between the ages of 9 and 13.

After they returned house (owner occupied) in the home counties and private schools. So materially privileged but emotionally deprived.

Overcrowded. Poverty stricken.

Food tended to be a lot of bread and rice

Clothes were always jumble sale cast offs. (The clothes no one else wanted after the jumble sale had finished)

We were okay. Had 3 meals a day, a roof over our heads , and the opportunity to do a hobby each.
I learnt as an adult that my parents were poor at saving and my dad in particular drank a lot of money away. They never saved anything for us but were supportive and kind.
They divorced and both struggle for money now due to poor decisions when we were kids. I have approached my finances very differently to them.

I was a child in the 70s and things were just more expensive then. Clothes cost around the same as clothes from Primark do now, so took up a much bigger portion of wages. Eating out was very expensive too, there weren't really any harvesters or the equivalent, so if you went out for a meal it was a big chunk of what you took home that week. White goods again were much much more expensive. So we didn't have much in the way of consumer goods, clothes, eating out etc. On the other hand my dad's lowly clerical job + my mum working as a dinner lady funded a three bedroom house with a massive garden, and what consumer goods like washing machine or telly or whatever we couldn't afford to buy we rented for not very much money so, you know, swings and roundabouts.

I was a child in the 70s and things were just more expensive then. Clothes cost around the same as clothes from Primark do now

I left school in the 70s and clothes compared to salary were extortionate.

I remember a Jeans store opening in town and people flocking to it because they were selling pairs of jeans for £5. They were really cheaply made and the sizing was completely off.

My friend size 10-12 couldn’t get a pair that size over her knees and was told to look at the size 18 or 20

Friend refused to buy a pair of size 18 jeans no matter how cheap they were.
£5 was 1/16th of my salary it would be the equivalent of £100 nowadays.

Used to use the Berni inn and Pizzaland for meals out

My Dad and my Aunt made a lot of my clothes in the 70s. My Mum knitted all my jumpers. I remember lovely things handmade by my Dad in particular...his Dad was a tailor so knew how to sew and make patterns.

Born in the mid-70's and despite having relatively well earning parents me and my sister had a very spartan and basic upbringing, because my parents were more concerned with hoarding all their money away so they could retire at 50.

In the 70's - working class and so poor. Mom and dad both worked, we had a slot to put money in the tv. Ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. A rip in the pvc sofa that mum would try and hide. She was very house proud. She'd work all week and drag the twin tub out on a Saturday, spend all day washing clothes. She'd tuck us in with blankets so tight, that I'd wake up in the position I'd gone to sleep in. Dinner was cheap and filling.

BUT - I remember being well aware that I had the best family, I can't remember what toys I got at Christmas, but Christmas was amazing. I can honestly say that I didn't want for anything. There was a lot of love in that house.

Mum lives well now. The majority of our standards of living have increased since those days. Mum and dad bought their house, she's quite well off now. She wouldn't have to live with a rip in her pvc sofa anymore. She can buy nice food and clothing, not a Fray Bentos pie in sight (I loved them though) and faggots. She has a lovely, well decorated house, new kitchen. She's travelled the world.

Her standard of living absolutely rose.

My parents weren’t well off, but they grew veg and my dad was good at making things. All of our furniture was either our grandparents‘ old stuff, or made by dad.

My grandparents bought our school uniforms and shoes; Mum made things like party dresses, and the rest was other people’s hand me downs.

We had a mortgaged house- deposit paid by grandparents, and always had a new car, bought by them.

My mum was at home with us until we were all in high school; dad was a librarian.

We camped most weekends and wild swam in lakes or the sea. We had bikes and outdoor toys (made by Dad). We never ate in restaurants, or went abroad.

We had yearly contracts for the local swimming pool, so could go as often as we wanted.

I think my parents were lucky to have the support of my grandparents, but also used what money they had to the greatest benefit for us as a family.

Council flat in a poor and crime ridden part of London. Dad worked in a restaurant and mum worked p/t. As a child and teen I Never once felt poor. Never remember feeling ‘without’ anything.

Good with no extra trimmings. Dad had a professional job, Mum was a SAHM, parents owned their home and we had a car. We only holidayed in the UK and ate out rarely, we took picnics/flasks on days out. No video, dishwasher, or home computers at home until I was a teenager but we were happy.