How wealthy was your family?

[JuancoRocks]

This will probably sound like a Victor Hugo or James Joyce story...But as Bill Murray said..."That's the facts, Jack!"

My parents divorced and I was put in an orphanage at the age of 5 or so...Was there a while and met the reign of the original Sister Mary Discipline ...Goddamn ruler hurts on the knuckles.....more on the ass.....Read every book in the school library....then went to two foster homes working on farms in the Appalachian Mountains...More of a hired hand than any part of a family...Milked cows...slaughtered pigs....killed lots of snakes.... chased chickens, ducks and geese.... Rode horses (still bow legged)(But, I could ride any horse)....Was somewhat incorrigible....got in trouble with the law....Minor stuff...But as a result was shipped out to Father Flanagan's Boys Home at Boys Town, Nebraska at the tender age of 12.

Graduated High School at the age of 17... Was still considered a minor and therefore a ward of the court....had enough of discipline and structure and took off on my own with no money and no plan. Dodging the authorities....Till I turned 18...

Went to Ohio State for a while....(met my wife there)...Then had to decide, school....Or I could eat regular.....but not both.....Dropped out of school.....immediately drafted..spent a year in Viet-Nam...grew up a lot...aged even more....

Came home with an attitude and a lot of pent up anger....Got into some fights....Got many jobs....Did income taxes....sold window film and solar heaters....Real estate....water softeners...air freight...Dining Guides....lots of crap...

Then two things happened...my son was born and I got a job with the best Fire Department in the US.....(Phoenix of course)

That was over 30 years ago and I am still here...same house for 37 years...same wife for 39 years.....

So, I guess it's true..Life is what you make it.

When I hear Tony Bennett sing "Rags To Riches", I figure it must be for me.....

[Sundae]

My family were poor by today's standards, and still reasonably poor by the standards of the day. I remember getting our telephone, and our first fridge freezer - prior to that it was the callbox on the corner and a larder fridge with a tiny icebox.

We didn't have a car when I lived at home, and hired one to go on holiday - although we went every year it was always camping and never at a time when the weather was really suitable as the prices were too high on those weeks.

My parents cooked "real" food - making their own chips, breading their own fish, lots of casseroles with cheaper cuts of meat and mince (ground) beef that had to have the fat skimmed off it a couple of times before use. We always had enough to eat, but towards the end of the month the choices would diminish - cheese or ham for sandwiches, no crisps (chips) with packed lunch, a biscuit (cookie) wrapped in foil rather than a chocolate biscuit bar.

Both my parents worked, and worked shifts, so there was always someone home, when we woke up, when we came home for lunch, when we got home from school. It was a great way to grow up.

We went to the cinema about once a year - it was a big treat. We saved all our pocket money after Christmas for our holiday, so we could buy seaside tat, postcards and ice cream. We only ever went out to dinner when family visited (and paid for it) and we always packed our own food when we went anywhere, rather than eating at the concessions. I envied the children eating burgers and drinking out of waxed paper cups with straws - we'd be sharing a limp sandwich and a warm lemonade.

I remember my first visit to McDonalds and I wondered about the fact our burgers were in paper, as were our fries, when other people had burgers in polysterene boxes and cardboard. I silently concluded that we'd had to buy the cheapest option, although it was probably more to do with portion size than money.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

My family were poor by today's standards, and still reasonably poor by the standards of the day. I remember getting our telephone, and our first fridge freezer - prior to that it was the callbox on the corner and a larder fridge with a tiny icebox.

We didn't have a car when I lived at home, and hired one to go on holiday - although we went every year it was always camping and never at a time when the weather was really suitable as the prices were too high on those weeks.

My parents cooked "real" food - making their own chips, breading their own fish, lots of casseroles with cheaper cuts of meat and mince (ground) beef that had to have the fat skimmed off it a couple of times before use. We always had enough to eat, but towards the end of the month the choices would diminish - cheese or ham for sandwiches, no crisps (chips) with packed lunch, a biscuit (cookie) wrapped in foil rather than a chocolate biscuit bar.

Both my parents worked, and worked shifts, so there was always someone home, when we woke up, when we came home for lunch, when we got home from school. It was a great way to grow up.

We went to the cinema about once a year - it was a big treat. We saved all our pocket money after Christmas for our holiday, so we could buy seaside tat, postcards and ice cream. We only ever went out to dinner when family visited (and paid for it) and we always packed our own food when we went anywhere, rather than eating at the concessions. I envied the children eating burgers and drinking out of waxed paper cups with straws - we'd be sharing a limp sandwich and a warm lemonade.

I remember my first visit to McDonalds and I wondered about the fact our burgers were in paper, as were our fries, when other people had burgers in polysterene boxes and cardboard. I silently concluded that we'd had to buy the cheapest option, although it was probably more to do with portion size than money.

That about sums up mine too, SG. My mum's family were wealthier, but they wisely did not subsidize my parents. When they died, my mum quickly pissed away her inheritance. Good job I'm not relying on getting it one day!

[Happy Monkey]

We lived very frugally, but my parents were saving up so they could help us kids through college and beyond.

[SteveDallas]

Mom was a teacher for 35+ years, mostly first grade and kindergarten, but she taught everything up to 8th grade at one time or another. Dad sold fishing tackle most of the time. (He's still doing the janitor job--I think he's going to hang it up after Christmas, but I wouldn't be surprised if he stays on a while longer.)

I would say we were solidly middle middle class. Nothing much fancy, and there were times money was tight, especially the early 1980s. Mom worked nights & weekends at Sears for a time during this period. It very straightforward--I'm sure things were very tight for it to get to that point, but of course they never confided their money concerns with the kids. We certainly didn't get everything we wanted, but there were usually nice Christmas gifts and such. (Santa Claus always managed to omit some gifts... looking back with a parent's eye, I see that they were the ones with lots of "extras" to be bought later--more action figures, more expansion units, etc.) While my mom also perpetrated the powdered milk on us (yum!), there was never any perception on my part that we were skimping on groceries.

Getting through those lean times was surely helped by the house--a 3 bedroom ranch, they bought it new in 1964 I believe, for $20,000, and paid for it with a 6% 20-year mortgage. I'm sure by 1980 the payments seemed relatively modest.

[Aliantha]

We weren't wealthy, but we weren't poor either. Mum and Dad always had enough to pay the bills and they paid off the family home by the time I was a teenager. Dad worked hard and did plenty of overtime as an electrician. Mum stayed home and took care of us kids and the house etc. We used to go on camping holidays and saw most of Australia that way as kids but everything was done on a tight budget.

Now my dad would be classed as wealthy by most people's standards although you wouldn't know it to look at his lifestyle. He grows his own veges etc and is pretty self sufficient on his farm and he has a reasonable number of investments which guarantee him a pretty secure retirement.

I'm glad my folks didn't splurge on stuff we didn't really need, even though as a kid I always felt like we (me and my brother) were hard done by. It's good to see your parents living with enough to keep themselves happy and to not have to worry about them, and it also taught me some pretty valuable lessons although I know my lifestyle is far less frugal than my parents would like.

[Ibby]

Lower-upper-middle class?
Military dad, mom works partly-full time. Military pays for our house, electricity, water, school, etc here, which is good. Very little spending money, our cash is usually pretty tight, but we do have a lot of, well, stuff. We each have a laptop, we have a pretty nice widescreen LCD TV, i have a nice guitar and a nice amp, a decent allowance... we're pretty well-off i suppose, but like i said, actual spending money is usually pretty tight. I think we come out thissss close to overspending every month, usually only have a little bit of a surplus every month... but I'm not exactly in charge of home finance of anything.

[DucksNuts]

I always thought my parents did it tough.

Well, they did....I have 3 older siblings (I am the baby by 9 years) and there is not even a year between each of them. Dad was a farm hand, Mum was a SAHM and used to help cook for shearers etc.

When we moved into the *city*, Mum started working full time and I guess things got better, but I wouldnt of known it.

It appears my parents were very frugal, I lacked a lot of niceties, but not necessities. They always paid their bills in advance and there was always money if we needed it. They owned their house and land quite quickly.

Mum never impulse bought and I was never treated to anything when we were out shopping. She made my school uniforms and special occasion outfits.

When I wanted my first horse, I had to earnthe cash by milking the neighboring farms cows and raising poddie calves.

I didnt have a saddle until I could afford to buy it, well, actually....a rich Uncle helped there.

My parents still act like they do it tough, but I help out enough with their finances to know they are very comfortable and I admire them for the way they live.

Has it influenced the way I live now? Not me, but I see it in my youngest brother...hes very much a hoarder and frugal type person.

[Brett's Honey]

Lower class. Dad was 17, Mom 15 when they married - had three kids by ages of 19 & 20! Dad was a "rolling stone". Always a small cheap rent house, we did eat out at a local cafe a couple times a month. Dad always had money for a 6 or 12 pack after work, and more on the week-ends, though. And almost always money to go camping for a week in Arkansas or Missouri for a summer vacation. Never were really hungry and without food.
I do have one painful memory...in 8th grade, one kinda snobby upper class girl asked me, around several other kids while walking out of a classroom, "So are those the only two dresses you own?! (One was obviously from the previous year and being outgrown fast.) Another girl quickly leaned over and quietly said that that remark had been mean and out of line, but that was little consolation at the time.
But....Dad spent the money on other things, I had just a few motorcycle T shirts and a couple pair of second hand jeans for a wardrobe, but I also had a brand new Honda CL 125 for my 13th birthday in 1973! It was all I had asked for and I begged for it for two years, and got it. My brother had a sponsor, moto-cross racing and I rode his bike around the house, but you could get your motorcycle license at 13 in Arkansas. I had wheels and was on the road!
What was the question...?...on yeah...lower class.....

[Flint]

_____: My family was sooo wealthy!

Spexx: How wealthy were they?

_____: They were sooo wealthy that it invalidates all my opinions in any discussion about economics!

[theotherguy]

As we have gotten older, my brother and I have figure out that we were poorer than we thought. My dad was a firefighter and retired making $26,000/yr from the city. However, as most firefighters do, he had a side business. Some years were wonderful. Some, not so much. He had one side that went bankrupt, but always seemed to rebound. I remember times when my mom would be upset from collection calls, but we never lost a house or car. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. It was a choice my parents decided they would stick to no matter what. My parents did have a friend who owned a temp agency and mom would work for him from time to time. She was actually very sought after by everyone she ever worked for due to her office skills. Very bright woman.

There were times that there was barely any food in the house, but we would only realize that later in life. My parents once created a dish they called b.o.a.r (beef, onions, and rice) because that was all that was in the cabinets. Our house was always fun and my brother and I never really thought about money. There were many things we did not get because may parents could not afford it, but we always had what we needed.

I have to give my parents a ton of credit. They might have been strapped at times, but it never stopped them from being wonderful parents and keeping our family happy.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Flint

_____: My family was sooo wealthy!

Spexx: How wealthy were they?

_____: They were sooo wealthy that it invalidates all my opinions in any discussion about economics!

Come here - I'll invalidate your mouth with my dick.

[theotherguy]

Spexx, you say the sweetest things.

[BigV]

Spexx, you have an invalid dick?

Dude, they have medicine for that now. Don't worry, if it works for Bob Dole, who's partly paralyzed, I'm sure it will work for you too..

[DanaC]

I would say my family had a fairly working-class income. Dad was a maintenance electrician, working nights for 25 years (prior to that he had a failed attempt at setting up a vacuum repair business with his mate). He was pretty well paid, but he worked long hours for it and was basically nocturnal. Mum worked in admin then started Nursing college when I was 7. She injured her back and had to give it up a few weeks before her finals. She ended up back in admin, part-time for a few years then trained as a phlebotomist and again worked part-time.

In some ways my life was more comfortable than my peers: mum and dad owned their house and it was a nice little stone cottage, with two living rooms and big kitchen, a yard and a small garden at front. Always had nice Christmas pressies (which my mum would finish paying for shortly before the next ones were due :P) and had regular pocket money. But we rarely went on holiday (maybe four or five times by the time I was 15) and it was usually just a week in a caravan in Yorkshire.

We intermittently had a car (cheap, second hand) and I think I was about 6 when we got a phone.

Mostly what I remember is a fairly priveleged existence where i had everything i needed and some of what I wanted. What I didn't notice at the time was mum making food stretch :P Mince and onion pies made with half mincemeat, half soya. Lots of spagh bol, broth, and curries. Most meals were of the big pot variety, or involved a pastry crust. As a 'special treat', Sundays usually involved slices of cheese and onion pie and a plate of meat paste sandwiches. It of course never occurred to me that this was a very cheap treat:P

Culturally I had a foot in two camps. Dad was from a well-to-do family of the Indian Raj, and his brother and cousins had done quite well (graduates, professionals, business-people) and visits to them introduced me to that culture. Mum had grown up in Salford, and though her family had recovered itself by the time she was in her early teens, her early years were in extreme poverty. She made sure that my brother and I understood what poverty can mean to people.