30 People From Low-Income Homes Explain The Things That Rich Kids Would Never Understand
Interview
While the United States is considered to be one of the richest countries in the world, it has a huge wealth gap—more than 34M of its residents live in poverty. Many of them are facing financial struggles every single day and can easily see the privileges others are lucky to have.
So when a couple of users asked people who grew up in low-income families to share things that the rich would never understand, it sparked quite a conversation on the r/AskReddit sub. Whether it’s talking about household items, chores, or food on the table, commenters quickly started telling the unwritten rules they had to live by.
Take a look below at some of the most illuminating answers we collected from the thread. And after you’re done, don’t forget to check out our previous posts about the subtle signs that show a person is rich here and right here.
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That it never goes away. I want from homeless growing up to having a very comfy six figure job. I still find myself acting as if I am always living on the edge of homelessness again. Thinking I can't try new foods because it I don't like it then I won't get dinner. That I'm a bad person for throwing out things instead of trying to reuse them. I get serious panic attacks I think I did bad at work because my brain still tells me I'm one paycheck from the street.
Oh this needs to be number 1. I went through pretty bad poverty years ago- dumpster diving for food, stealing from neighbour's veggie patches and fruit trees, begging for $$ on the street just to keep a roof over our head. Recently the main earner in my household lost their job and I've already found myself eating one meal a day to make things stretch, looking at what I own that I can sell, taking notice of who nearby grows fruit and veggies. I dont feel the hunger pangs anymore and I've lost 10kg in the last 2mths. We're not even desperate for food or money yet but I'm already in poverty mode.
True hunger. I don't mean that casual "I guess I should eat..." feeling, I mean that hollow, cramping pain deep in your stomach, the hunger that feels like your own body is eating itself from the inside out and that drives you crazy to the point you'll eat anything you can chew through just to try and keep the pain away.
Nobody should have to feel that, poor or not, especially a child.
Bored Panda reached out to the Redditor Leroy_Spankinz whose question “What’s something you’d find in a lower class home that rich people wouldn’t understand?” amassed more than 15.5K upvotes and 9.6K comments. The user was kind enough to discuss the idea behind this thread and the conversation that it sparked.
Leroy_Spankinz told us that they post on r/AskReddit a lot and are always interested to hear others’ thoughts and experiences. “I think a lot of people, the majority even, grow up in financially strained households,” they said.
“I wanted to hear about all of the different ways poorer families learned to adapt, and what they have in common with each other. Wealthier households just don’t have that same kind of creativity, and that was the basis for the question.”
It’s expensive being poor.
Yep. I’ve paid way more in bank fees this year than friends who make twice as much as I do. Not to mention having to buy smaller quantities of things (4 rolls of TP instead of 24) so paying more per item. If I’m short on a bill payment they charge me more so now I’m even more behind. I wish I knew how much extra fees I’ve paid over my lifetime for being broke.
A lifetime of clutter because it's so hard to throw anything away even when you're no longer poor.
They shared with us that one of their parents was very poor while they were growing up, and the other was financially secure. “I asked that question just because I’ve seen the differences between those households myself and I wanted to understand how other people viewed those differences as well,” Leroy_Spankinz explained.
The user also mentioned some examples that come to mind when discussing the differences between low and high-income households. In the former ones, you could find “a drawer full of condiment packets, a pile of old napkins from various fast food restaurants, old Slurpee/BigGulp cups used as normal kitchen cups, stuff like that.”
Meanwhile, wealthier households just buy the “proper” version of such items “and are even disgusted when they see other people living with these.”
Seeing your mother wear 20+ year old worn out clothing and what amount to rags she collected from hospital visits, all so her child could have the best. Then the sadness of not being able to spoil her when you finally have your own money because she passed away too young.
Well... I just made myself sad lol
“You didn’t make good choices, you HAD good choices.”
They seemingly always try to downplay the headstart they get, and how it boosts them throughout their life, versus someone who didn’t have that.
“You didn’t make good choices, you HAD good choices,” wow I’ve never seen it worded like that and I love it
@Bexxxx funny I was just talking about this. People with money "look smarter because they have better choices. And if that choice doesn't work out they can recover from it, whereas if you are poor, probably not, or it takes forever. Poor people tend to have bad and less bad choices. It's really not a winnable situation.
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I mistakenly watched a piece of an interview w Kendall Jenner I caught the part where she said she worked hard for all that she has and in no way did her family's name help her. I almost choked on my food.
I think my eyes are stuck rolled back into my head after reading that. So clueless!
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It's so true. There's an old expression about "doing your best with the hand you're dealt in life" that truly exemplifies how some start with a greater advantage. No amount of bluffing can help you when you were dealt a pair of 2's, a 3, a 4, and a 6 and the top players are all holding royal flushes (and can see your cards in the mirror behind you to boot).
I went from middle class as a child to on the verge of homelessness as a young adult. My choice at that point was to continue suffering abuse or fend for myself. Every decision for the next 20 years was based on how to not be poor anymore. I did not have good choices. It was always a matter of which choice was the best of the crappy options available. Good choices don't always just fall into your lap. Sometimes you have to wade through a cesspool of garbage to get to them.
And that’s if a person is capable of recognizing a good choice! Some people can’t. They sometimes don’t know that interacting with this or that person, or walking into that place, or job is a good choice. When you’re poor you operate on what you need in the present, not five months, or five years.
Load More Replies... I absolutely agree with this. We started out poor, but I never knew it. I am amazed at the way my parents worked their way up, my dad not even completed his high school education. He started out wiring panels in the plant. It was "luck" that someone, we never knew who, saw his potential and work ethic and was transferred to depts where he was continually learning new things and being moved up. Eventually oversaw customer service for design of custom medical equipment. I see that so much of it can come down to education. The rich white schools get everything and the black and brown poor neighborhoods get schools needing repair, minimal supplies and nothing to make things interesting and relevant so kids want to stay. Libraries? Doubt it. School trips? Doubt it. Belief in opportunities? Doubt it. There are a lot of kids who are overlooked because no one goes there to meet them. And what in hell is wrong with trade school? The world will ALWAYS need them.
This is the part people don’t understand! Yes, you can work hard, but if no one noticed your hard work, or gives you a chance, you don’t get to move up! Sometimes, a lot of the time, it’s just luck! Someone with privilege saw a need and decided to pay it forward rather than close the door. It doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard. It means you didn’t get noticed working hard, and been given a chance by people with more power.
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Reminds me of a certain someone who took a small loan of a million dollars from their father and thinks of it as hard work.
How you start and how you finish are two different things. We've all seen people with many "advantages" blow it all and end up totally wiped out, and we've all seen those that started with nothing and end up on top of the world.
Yep, literally everyone I know with a well paying career got help by someone they knew in the beginning. Everyone.
Not me. So your anecdotal info is canceled out by my anecdotal info
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I hear you, I understand and I wish I had many more options growing up. I wish I had the advantages my children will have. I will say that the greatest thing about the US is it still CAN be done. I grew up about as poor as anyone. I had no help whatsoever for college, working full time while I got my degree, paying for Masters and doctorate as I could, etc. So yeah, my life is not what it could have been if I had different circumstances growing up. I acknowledge that. However, where you started should never dictate where you end up. In many countries it is, but thankfully we still have the ability here with hard work and dedication to still change our life here. Don't fall into the trap of giving up because you didn't have the advantages of others, too many do. Make the best of what is available to you and try to give your children advantages you never had.
Same here, except I didn’t even graduate college. I fund the lifestyle for my entire family now and it only took me like 2 years after holding my head a little higher and trying to work around my deep poverty. Unfortunately there really isn’t direction given to people on how to make it. Some people just naturally can’t or are too bad off, but some people really can claw our way out of being super poor.
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The poor people I've met tend towards a blame game rather than taking responsibility. We are given in the US great opportunity throughout our lives and rather than go to a laundromat they'll complain and buy booze instead. You are responsible for yourself. Don't blame others.
While other kids were gifted cars, money, even houses.. I was gifted debt and bad credit from s**t my mom put in my name without telling me... I am still re-building from that, lol.
Without money behind you, it is impossible to find a way to live according to CHOICES. You do what you have to do and there is NO CHOICE. You lust after choices, the POWER of just HAVING choices is intoxicating and you resent rich people who claim they are not rich while they tell you how they "had to" choose this or that...and you think how much you would love to have a choice to "have to" make!
If we have that choice 99.9% will choose what we thought was the best.at the time. Later we can wonder if it really was!! I do not believe in regret as such, but life experiences, a few red faces and a lot of realisation it was not yet an uneventful life after all!!
i remember the family of accountants , the mother and father were partners at the firm i started at , the kids were my class mates - its nice to imagine i would be as successful as the boy - its nice
I think I would re-word that phrase, "You didn't make good choices, you BENEFITTED from INHERENT ADVANTAGES."
I'm over 50 now & I'm still confused about Wealth/wealthy/Rich ect--Growing up there was often a shortage of food--You learn to eat stuff you absolutely hate (just enough to get by but by no means Full-- To myself--Middle class is fairly Wealthy--well off or even Rich--I'm a home owner now but I still reuse bread bags for freezing things (no ziplocks ect) -add Extra water to canned soups -buy in bulk only when it's a good special--(other than that just do without-- It drives me Crazy when I hear Middle Class folks Claiming to be struggling-- to me--they are wealthy--They have lots of Freedom to make Choices & still live a comfortable life-- The amout of Money they spend on Disposable cleaning supplies like wipes/Swiffer mops/dusters / pads for makup removal ect ect could almost feed a poor family- (& of course destroying our land/Air & water) -- If you come from a middle class or wealthier family-- you can make some Bad choices & still be OK--But if not--your hungry & mabe homeless -
It's difficult to implement what your have never been exposed to. I've been held back by so much lack while seeking and learning how to succeed. Seems so easy and, for me, with a higher IQ has been difficult and at times, doable.
It makes the well off feel better. It wouldn't be nice to be rich if you didn't think you deserved to be.
Not everyone well off had the headstart though. You still can make good choices.
Yea, it's an u equal playing field from the start. So no matter what choices u make, even if they were all "right", u would still be inherently disadvantaged overall.
I've got one: not having vacations.
I'm in my thirties now. Work in tech. Work thing they had some trivia game and one of the questions was both "(senior leaders) A and B went to this same ski lodge last so and so".
Had been functioning as the team 'ace' with the more brainy questions- for that I just leaned back and went "Welp, no help to us here; I don't know any ski lodges"
My whole team, baffled prodded me going "wait, you don't know any? Just guess the one you went to as a kid with your family"
So . . . explained to like 3 other adults that poor families don't do that. I had never had a family vacation. Winter meant hauling firewood.
Leroy_Spankinz was truly impressed by how respectful and constructive the comments were: “It was so cool to provide a space for people to learn and laugh together over all the little things they didn’t know they had in common.”
We also contacted the author of another thread, Bobtheglob71, who was curious to ask people from low-income homes about things “that ‘rich kids’ will never understand.” They told Bored Panda that they came up with this post after spending a lot of time browsing the r/AntiWork subreddit, a community dedicated to discussing job-related struggles.
This actually is painful to type, but, here goes.
Sometimes, only being able to see your mother for fifteen minutes a day when she picks you up or drops you off at school, because she has to work 18 hours a day just to support you. Having to wear shoes from Pay-Less because your mom can't afford anything better. Having to borrow food from other kids at school because your mom can't afford food, and the school lunches aren't free. Having to sometimes go a day or two without eating at all because you lost your food stamp card. Only having 12 channels of TV, and that TV is 30 years old, and only 14 inches. Having to watch other kids get everything they wanted for their birthdays, just so you can kind of pretend its your birthday party.
Some mothers having to work abroad and not seeing their children for months at a time.
Watching your mom have to put items back as there is it not enough money to pay for everything.
And really hoping your mom didn’t put back the hominy (I like hominy)
Having dinner and knowing that your Mum isn't eating, not because she isn't hungry, but because she's making sure her kids have food first.
My dad did this all his life. Mum would make enough to feed an army every night just so dad would eat at all. He even wanted us to have plenty of leftovers in case we got the munchies, he was the one with the munchies cos he never ate enough dinner just in case and then ate properly once we were sleeping.
Bobtheglob71 noticed that there were quite a few posts expressing hatred towards people who were born into wealth and “was curious to see what everyone else thought.”
The user disclosed that they didn’t grow up poor: “This question was also partly made so that I could see others’ views on life based on what family they were born into. I’ve learned that the ‘rich kid’ doesn’t experience just about any of those things that people answered.”
A lot of poor addicts are addicts because they need the escapism of it. Lifting people out of poverty is the biggest mental help you can give someone
When I went to school (in the '70s). At lunch time we had to stand in line in the hall before going into the cafeteria. they made those of us on 'free lunches' stand in the back of the line. It was quite humiliating.
My ex was wealthy and never understood why I don’t answer phone numbers I don’t recognize. We just never did that at my house, and now I understand it was probably to avoid debt collectors.
Even though I am years beyond it and have a good job. I have gotten past most of it except for 2 things.
Guilt over spending anything on myself even if I need it (work clothes for example)
Food waste. I am more like,y to eat the oldest leftovers in the fridge so the don’t go bad or overeat if there is just a bit left than to throw it out. I know this is detrimental to my health but haven’t stopped because throwing something out makes me stressed.
Clothes. You wear what you have, and you wear it out. Yes, this is the same bathing suit as last year, you judgemental b****.
I have a steady job, savings, and a closet full of clothes. I still wear everything like I did when I was 7. You wear it until it is visibly stained, or noticeably smells. And you don't ever throw anything away, because you might need it again.
Or if you do give clothes away, you give them to another neighborhood child. Every single one of your neighbors is as bad off as you, they will not turn away clothes that fit.
I learned to sew on an ancient machine when I was 12 because the hand me downs that I got from a family friend were all the wrong colors (pale pastels) and stodgy styles (think preppy type stuff when everyone was wearing peasant tops and bell bottoms)
Back in the Dominican Republic, my mom would lean a chair against each exit door at night and put metal cups on top of the chairs. If someone tried forcing the door open, the metal cups would fall — alarming us of the danger. That was our 'security' system for years.
What a luxury laundry is. Those kids i went to.school with will never understand I was so poor my family couldn't afford to use the laundry machines in our building, so often times my dad would just get a big cheap bottle of dish soap or some bars of Irish Spring, and that soap was for laundry, dishes and bathing. Also that those tv dinners were a god send. Getting 20 banquet tv dinners for 10 bucks meant eating good for a few days.
for my experience, a cheap and better version of one soap for all is marseille soap. works splendidly for washing anything, and it's gentle on our body.
All my gifts for Christmas and Birthdays were something I needed or would need and had to be bought anyway. Like clothes, shoes, or school supplies. Never, never anything fun or just because I wanted it. I also had to steal my first real bra because I'd outgrown my training bra. I'd even snipped the elastic all around to provide more stretch but it wasn't working anymore and people were commenting on it.
A lot of people are mentioning being deprived of food and clothes, so I'll mention other things. People who grew up umm not poor often don't understand how come I've never been ice skating. Or roller skating. I don't know how to swim, because I didn't have any means to pay for swimming classes or pool entry (no swimming pool at my school). I could never participate in any after school activities, because even if they were funded by a nearby town, I had no way to get there. My hobbies were writing awful poems and drawing with s**tty crayons, because it was free. I didn't have any video games, except of pirated The Sims. We've never been on vacation as a family. I never went to a summer camp. If you are rich, these things are a given. They are normal. Also, so many knock offs. Knock off toys, knock off cereal, Tesco Value everything. Also, toilet paper was a luxury.
Cold hot dog on piece of bread. Turning off every light in the house except the room you're in. Window unit ACs. Space heaters. Little storage space. Little freezer/fridge space. Microwave as only way to cook food. Saving all extra napkins/utensils/condiments. No working bath/shower in home. No washer/dryer. Leaky roof. Makeshift insulation made of bubble wrap and tin foil for windows. Blankets over windows instead of curtains. Sprinkler on roof to keep it cooler in the summer. Dirty laundry because you have to wait to get quarters. Rationing quarters, rationing food, rationing everything. Always have a mental list of things you can sell to get quick cash in an emergency. Torn/worn clothes/bedding. Wearing the one good bra constantly. Laundry day outfit. Spaghetti. All. The. Time. Foods with long shelf life. Chips in dishes. That one thing (or few things) that's just literally held together with duct tape. Stuffing down the trash to make sure you get full use out of each trash bag. The sack of other sacks. The car that you'll drive until it can't go anymore, if you have a car. Moving a "spare" lightbulb from one room to the other so you can delay buying more. Holding on to food past it's expiration date even though you won't eat it in the foreseeable future but what if you NEED it? Squeezing the s**t out of the toothpaste. Adding water to the drop of shampoo in the bottle. Delaying medical care. Having to put down pets yourself because you can't afford the vet doing it. Baking soda as carpet freshener. Febreezing everything if you don't have money for the wash. Using paper towels as toilet paper. Using paper towels as tissues. Using paper towels as plates. Negotiating with the electric/water company so that they don't turn off your utilities before you get paid. Lots of blankets in winter. Hanging clothes to dry. Washing clothes by hand. Washing dishes by hand. Taking a "rag bath." F**ked up teeth, can't afford dentist. Some long term ailment that you put off seeing a medical professional about because it's not an emergency, just an inconvenience. Reusing ziploc bags. Buying paper folders vs. plastic ones. Cinnamon, sugar, butter tortillas for desert. Hand-me-downs.
'There's a trick to it' is a phrase to indicate something is messed up, but not enough to fix it. See also: 'Ya gotta jiggle the handle.'
I remember coming back from summer vacation and dreading going back to school for the mere fact I had nothing interesting to share about the summer. All my classmates would talk about their vacations and I would make something up so I wouldn’t sound boring.
I dreaded our drama classes because of this. After the long summer holiday we had to stand up in drama class and speak about what we had done during our summer break. I had nothing. Lived in the middle of nowhere and only had my sister to spend time with - we'd cycle for miles but that doesn't make for an interesting speech.
Why your parents are incredibly strict and won't let you go anywhere or do anything.
My mom never allowed me to go with friends because she knew I wouldn't be able to afford hanging out with them. I always thought she was just really strict, but really she just wanted to spare me the embarrassment.
i remember my mom having to explain to a classmate's mom that she couldn't spot my mom money for me to go out with her and her daughter because she had no idea if she could pay it back. classmate's mom was all class and never let her daughter bring it up again, but would occasionally buy stuff for all the girls in class to make sure i got toys or hair ties and such
Amount of time feeling powerless.
Self blame, blaming your parents for even having you, defeat, feeling trapped, feeling like the only poor person in a world where everyone is just casually going to the dentist and doctor and having a new shirt or jacket every so often. Feeling suicidal, wanting to give up. It’s very very difficult.
Yogurt and other grocery containers used as Tupperware. A bunch of basins for hand-washing clothes in the bathtub.
I think Western poor houses would tend to be more cluttered. You can't rebuy things easily, so you end up keeping around doubles of things you already have, or extra things you aren't using but might need sometime. You don't know if you'll be able to afford it in the future.
My mom grew up in the depression. Her phrase was "Don't throw that away, you never know when we might need it." We never did, but it was always there just in case.
Diluted dishwashing soap that doubles as hand-washing soap.
Diluted shampoo for handsoap is less harsh on hands. Diluted dish soap is good for washing clothes.
When it's really hot in the South, it can be hard to sleep. I keep a mister water bottle by the bed and mist the sheet before I go to sleep, and periodically cool off through the night.
Being told:
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."
Being bullied for being poor.
I got made fun of for not owning a pair of jeans and for the shoe brand I wore, and for wearing pink, purple and bright green. For being proud of having a cheap but cool holographic watch my granny bought me at the holograph store (that store was so cool). For never have gone to Disneyland or Disney World. For the colour and style of my bike I had gotten for my birthday. I got made fun of for so many things I didn't want to be around anyone at school.
Using the larger plastic shopping bags as trash can liners.
This is just a good way to recycle them. We use plastic bags that TP comes in to recycle plastic, empty cat litter bags for paper.
I used to have a can crusher outside and one of my chores was to crush the cans. We would put them in this industrial plastic barrel that my dad got from work. When it eventually filled up, we took it to the scrap metal yard and sold the cans.
I had to crush soda cans with my foot. Don't know what my dad did with the harder vegetable cans.
Reused ziplock bags — they're still okay."
"Can I get $2.46 on pump 3?"
I remember an old "Ziggy" cartoon where the gas station guy says, "No, I can't give you two dollars-worth. My reflexes aren't that fast."
There was a scene from Family Guy where Carter Pewterschmidt (Lois’ rich dad) visits their house. When he walks in, he says
“Oh, I forgot you were poor and so your front door opens directly into your living room.”
I felt that.
That's normal here even in fancy houses, because we don't really do the victorian entrance hall thing... that's only in really old colonial houses. Also, most poor people here have a house which consists of six sheets of corrugated iron tied together with wire. So... having an actual house, here, is pretty nice. It is one of our government's achievements was to deliver a substantial number of actual houses.
Getting a job as soon as it's legal to help out with rent and groceries
Did not wait for it to be legal, just didn't get any work clothes so the owners could claim that we were just children playing if anybody asked.
Tons of random promotional items: free pens, scrap pads, Frisbee, back scratcher, stress ball, etc. And yes, I came up with this quick list while sitting at my dad's house and glancing around.
That you don't need to flaunt your processions like they are personality traits. Once did a project with a guy in college. And all he really talked about was his expensive family trips and expensive things that they owned and how much they cost. I was generally kind but also dismissive of his stories because I knew hey wanted me to be impressed and be wow but I wasn't. "wooo you have an expensive thing, cool beans.. Want to know the most prized thing I have. it isn't a yacht but my father's ashes." Is something I dearly wanted to say but couldn't.
I once had a classmate whom bought everything ''branded'' She was so proud her socks were 35 euros.. absolutely ridicolous and nobody liked her.
My bedroom is the living room of our trailer. I tied a rope from one wall to another and draped a blanket over it so I have somewhat of a wall.
Yes, the classic blanket wall! To this day, I do not barge through a hanging blanket.
When I was a kid, grabbing our clothes in the morning and dressing in front of the wood stove because it was the only warm spot in the house. In the summer, fans everywhere and all the windows open.
Putting my jammies on by the stove and warming up a blanket I'd carry upstairs with me into bed.
Hamburgers made with sliced bread.
Being astounded that other people see not giving or buying gifts on christmas as inconsiderate, unthoughtful, or even just unnatural because growing up all you had was each other
Mcdonalds as a very special occasion
My older sisters worked mcd their whole young adult time. The ammount of toys I recieved was astounishing. Some were from display, some stolen, some found And I enjoyed each And every one. The memory of my sis opening door And showing me a crumpled mcd bag that jingled with plastic is one of my best memories
'Glassware' that is actually novelty fast-food cups and mugs stolen from work.
My husband glommed onto my big plastic cup from the local convenience store and used it for 25 yrs. I kinda missed it, because I'd been using it for 5 yrs before he laid claim to it, They don't make 'em like that no more....husbands or cups either one! :)
If you grow up poor in a city then the odds are pretty high that you're going to grow up around a lot of different races so that means you see race and racism a lot differently than rich people, who tend to grow up in areas with other rich people who pretty much all look the same. Most people who grow up poor have a much more practical and realistic view of race, racism and class. And people who grew up poor are almost always going to relate more to other poor people, regardless of race, than they will to rich people of their same race. How many people who grew up poor and somehow managed to move to a wealthier area have had neighbors or acquaintances say or do something "questionable" and then had to figure out how to react to it without starting an unwinnable argument or fight?
This one explains how in the UK the areas where "immigration" is considered by people to be the most important political issue, are actually the areas with the lowest percentage of foreign-born people and the lowest levels of ethnic diversity. The people who think immigration is bad live in areas where there are no immigrants!
Days of hunger , parents crying and begging for help , being bullied and picked on in school , no hope , crippling depression , suicide and watching drugs consume people . If you make it out you turn boy to man very early and you’ll be strong in the heart and mind . I guess that is hope .
Hot showers. My wife grew up poor and told me stories of how her parents would collect snow in buckets and heat them on the stove so they could take a bath. She grew up in the mountains of Virginia. When she went to college in NYC she would turn on the hot water in the shower and just sit there for an hour.
Thanks to my ex-husband's drug addiction. we went 6 months without a water heater. Cold showers SUCK. Heating up water on the stove to wash dishes? SUCKED. We even went to my parent's house to shower because it was horrible that winter.
Black mold on the bathroom ceiling and crusty faucets! Those cheap plastic shutter blinds that's always missing 2 to 4 panels. The plastic containers from lunch meat or sour cream being used as tupperware. Free calendars from the asian supermarket. Those note pads with the local real estate agent on them. Folded towels being used as a kitchen/bathroom mat.
This. I just remember everything in other peoples houses seemed pretty and complimented each other. At my house it was just a mixed up mash of old furniture and cheap accessories. To this day I am an expert at prettying things up with next to nothing (scarves for curtain valances and lamp covers etc.)
Laundry in the bathtub because you can’t afford to take it to the laundromat and you don’t have a washer/dryer because they’re too expensive and your tiny apartment has no hookups for them anyway.
Not sure I can exactly play here, but certainly there were points where perticularly my mum was struggling, (sole custody for a while then split custody, mum didn't work, dad worked, but was living off credit) However, I'm also incredibly fortunate, as I know others situations would have been much worse.
-Getting a donation box for Christmas of mostly tinned food and from that getting hair pins as my Christmas present. It's weird looking back on this, I remember being so excited, the box was even wrapped up.
-waiting for the free baked goods drop off. There was a spot we would go where local bakeries would drop off there left overs after close of business, first in best dressed, and we would just grab what ever
-when 'new' clothes are always op shop clothes or neighbor/friend hand me downs.
-the sheer guilt of asking for money, I quickly learned to just not ask, I ended up pretty young doing jobs for neighbors and earning money, so I wouldn't have to ask.
-when Christmas presents are cheap things you need, one year was a lunch box.
-white rice and tinned tomatoes for dinner, over and over and over. Also liking really weird cheap food combos.
-the shock of discovering the financial devide of yourself and other kids, and kids questioning this
-living in a refuge centre
-always getting second hand school uniforms, which are way too large and looks comical even 4years later.
Looking back on this, it's incredible as a kid, I didn't really understand what was going on when I was young, I just kinda dealt with it, it was just how life was.
In my later years as a teenager, I went to a private school, as things did change for financially, and it was a rude.. introduction to kids who had daddy's credit card and on a school trip would buy a $450 pair of jeans. I remember being floored that someone could carelessly throw that sort of money into a pair of jeans, (let alone spending someone else's money) when it could be better spent in many other ways, perticularly on the homeless people we had just passed...
Grew up poor but lucky to be pretty bright. Where I grew up was pretty rough but everyone was in the same boat so it seemed normal.
I managed to get a junior brokers job in the City through a kind of gifted scheme and the rich kids I worked with thought a rough accent, state high school without college and a s**tty address equaled stupidity. Not every one of them but a lot thought the same if you didn’t know what type of clothes to wear or did not know how to order in a restaurant, that kind of bulls**t.
It was tough to suffer that at first but I quickly realised that it was an advantage to be underestimated.
It also formed my opinion that your financial background is much more of an important factor in having a nice life than race, religion or sexual preferences. I’d rather be a black gay Muslim with rich parents than anyone from a ghetto regardless of their race, sex or religion. The sad facts of life is that the vast majority of poor people are f**ked from the time they are born, and what’s really heartbreaking is that few of them realise how bad things are because they never experience the dignity of a life where you don’t go to bed every night worrying if you’re going to be kicked out of the place you’re staying tomorrow, or if you can send your kids to school with a sandwich.
Harsh but all true, although I will say that being a poor black guy Muslim is not going to be the same as being poor, white, straight, and Christian. Those things do matter.
I felt like a total [jerk] once.
I was visiting someone for coffee, and something spilled, so I was helping wipe it up. A single AA battery rolled toward me on the counter, and I asked if it needed to be someplace, and was told it went in a drawer. I opened the drawer, and there were several batteries, but none in packages. I said, "Damn, don't you hate it when you accidentally destroy the packaging getting a couple of batteries out, and then have to find a place to put them all?"
It turned out they didn't leave batteries in small devices. They just put them in to use the item, then took them back out and saved them to use in something else when needed.
A space heater. Apparently some people have a thermostat that just makes their whole house warm.
I keep the thermostat set low and carry around my little space heater to put where I'm working.
Obviously depends on the person, but clutter.
Rich people often have more space and more options for organizing their things out of sight. Poor people have fewer places to put things and often a harder time letting go of stuff because what if they need it later and can't afford a new one?
This is why I dont quite like the "minimalist" living trend. Its a trend for wealthy people only who can afford anything anytime anyway
That thing in the kitchen. Where you store the things you might need but you never do. But you can't bring yourself to get rid of the stuff. And 1 plastic grocery bag stuffed full of other grocery balls.
The drawer where you put the bills you have to pay but don't need to pay immediately to live. The drawer is only emptied after it won't close anymore because 16 duplicates have been received and said bill is no closer to getting paid.
Several almost worn out pairs of cheap shoes.
I don't buy expensive shoes but they have to be good shoes (no $400 heels-lol). They have to be comfortable and fit right. I grew up wearing ill-fitting cheap shoes so I have a lot of permanent foot problems. This is something most people don't think about. Children's feet are growing so they need proper-fitting shoes.
Stop asking something (toy, clothes, vs) and hiding sadness about that
I am 30 now and anytime I go shopping with my 70 yo mom And she wants to pay for my small item I always ask "mom can I?" pointing to my small item even tho we are both well to buy a dozen of those
Never going to birthday partys because your parents work 7 days a week so you can't get there and even if you could, you can't afford to give a birthday present or card so it's better to never attend social events and pretend you're busy with something else.
i could never make any plans because as the oldest, i had to "babysit" my younger siblings while my mum worked.
Getting to stay home instead of school field trips because mom could never afford the ticket.Used to get excited about it until I realized why.
My daughter didn't tell me about a school trip to Disney land her business class was going on because she knew I couldn't afford it! The only girl in her class that didn't go!
Free furniture. Mis-matched, chipped/broken...found on roadside, marked "Free."
Not enough chairs to seat the whole family for a meal. The folding chairs being in constant use.
Buying office chairs used for $15-20 bucks and making them last five years.
I will always buy or pick up used furniture. There's no reason perfectly good furniture should be going to landfill. We already waste enough.
Duct taping your shoes when the soles start falling off so they'll last a few more months.
Back when I was a kid....the needle nose pliers we changed the channel on the TV with. One kid would change the channel while the other (usually me) went outside whatever the weather to turn the antenna until the channel came in. Then my dad would decide to go back to the other show and we’d repeat the process.
Holy cow, this! So much this. And, we only had the 3 channels. I remember standing outside in the freezing cold, turning that damn antenna inch buy inch. "Now!?" No, a little more! "Now!?" No!
A junk drawer
...which is full of things that are almost garbage, but could still be useful maybe, one day. almost used up pens, almost dead batteries, plastic bags, the last of the tape, a pair of scissors with half its handle broken off but can still be used to cut maybe, a broken ruler, pencil sharpeners, old needles and old spools of thread you wont remember you even have when you want thread...you'll just go out and buy some more, countless paperclips, those paper binder things too, for some odd reason ear wax sticks, random cotton balls and bandages, rubberbands...single keys you have no clue open what...
what i do know about junk drawers is that you don't just go diving in looking for what you want. that's an easy way to get your finger pricked on some random thumbtack or rusty egde.
you respect the junk drawer. you push its items to the side, purposefully and considerately, until it decides to yield the item you were seeking.
I like to start at the back of the junk drawer sometimes. Amazing what you can find back there.
The Sauce Packet Drawer™! Got extra ketchup packets, Taco Bell hot sauce packets, soy sauce packets, etc.? Toss them in the Sauce Packet Drawer™!
Extension cord connected to another extension cord with a multiple power plug adapter with too many electronic devices connected to it.
We have several extension cords in our flat because it has been built in the 50s, before the mere idea of owning electronic devices like today was more than a distant fantasy.
Putting all your food in the fridge because the cabinets are full of cockroaches and ants.
True, about apt. bldg. being infested. Sorry if anyone thought I didn't understand. Because I do. And when younger I had similar issues when living in apartments. Greedy, uncaring landlords/ladies and/or owners refused to eradicate pests. When we complained they evicted us. My little boy and I had to live outside, we didn't have a tent, either. But believe it or not, there were less bugs... Everyone I know has suffered through unspeakable hardships, myself included. So, sorry if my comment earlier sounded uncaring. I've fought ants with orange dish-soap ( when I didn't have $ for ant bait traps or sprays ) ants won't cross lines of the liquid soap. Roaches get stuck on the glue/sticky fly trap thingies. Inexpensive ones you hang by windows/doors. They work for roaches if you just lay them flat ( no hanging needed ). But if it's a bad infestation, you'd need a lot. They're super cheap at most dollar stores, if this helps anyone... State or government agencies need to be to be notified.
Being poor isn’t cool if you don’t have the option not to be. Going to bed hungry sucks ass. Wearing the same shoes in July as you do in January sucks ass. Watching your parents waste their lives away in dead end jobs to support their children is traumatic and painful. What was that song again, “you’ll never live like common people”
I actually gotta disagree with that shoe one. I'm still a growing minor so I'm not just some adult whose foot size isn't changing any time soon, but I have had this same pair of shoes for almost 2 years now and still wear them whenever I go out. I did recently receive another pair of shoes from a friend a little while back, but it's literally the same size as the other pair. Both pairs of shoes have always fit me comfortably, never feeling too big or too small lol
A large chest freezer stuffed with frozen food from the bargain shop
No towel is ever the same. Just random odd towels and face cloths.
Having to ration gas, many weekends of no road trips because I needed that gas. Or going to pump and only putting a gallon or two in.
Man, those were some rough times
I used to do sleep for lunch. Because I’m high school some days I’d be there from 7:30 to 6:30 and counting leaving the house I actually was away from around 6:00am to 8:00pm.
Jury-rigged furniture--plywood and cinder blocks are super versatile. My personal favorite is the kitchen table that's actually a giant cable spool.
A working TV on top of a broken, old floor console TV because the old one weighs 300 pounds.
Currently have a new coworker who grew up poor and is still struggling financially. It’s sad to see her face when food is brought to the office this time of the year. Really hurts my heart because you can see it all on her face
I do home inspections for low income homes.
“The Throne”
Generally an entirely unfinished basement with a lone installed toilet in the center or corner. No walls, sink,or anything around it. Bonus points if the concrete slab they pour for it allows you to touch the ceiling above you while sitting. Generally the water is not hooked up to it and the bowl has a drowned rat in it. I have used it once, found out the hard way that it doesn’t work
Wearing the same [stuff] to school almost every day.
Multiple; uninsured, unregistered, uninspected, broken down cars that show no sign of restoration. Mismatching lawn furniture, front yard. An above ground pool. Several grills, smokers. A chain link fence around the property with a snarling rottweiler. A sign that says something about forget the guns, beware of owner on the front door. A bright red sticker from code enforcement stuck to the front window. A pink flamingo. Welcome to Florida.
I don't get this one. Lawn furntire. several grills, a rotweiller, a goddamn pool - how are those a sign of poverty?
I grew up very poor, but the most puzzling thing for me was that the rich kids at school were continuously trying to pick on me (unsuccessfully). I thought back then they were jealous because I was good at maths and was clearly going to do better in life than them. Now I realise they simply were dumb, and likely didn't understand how education works.
That’s because they almost certainly weren’t rich, but rather just the “richest” people in a poor community, and they don’t realize they aren’t rich. Middle school in a rural town was like that for me too. Those kids going around wearing Abercrombie and living in $150,000 houses, driving Grand Cherokees, thinking they’re better than everyone when their parents are only a couple of paychecks away from losing it all, and have massive credit card debt. They’re hardly rich. They’re actually just poor too, but they have one more crumb then the next person and they want you to feel bad about it! Rich kids tend to not even go to school with poor kids, because of how districts are defined by real estate taxes. Or the rich just opt for private education.
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This post made me cry. It's so hard to live when there's not enough money. To see where my kids, nephews and nieces have to go trough. I hope they will get out of poverty someday.
I grew up dirt poor. We learned to handle things differently. We rarely used the heater in our home, too expensive. So we wore our hoodies and jackets in the house or brought our sleeping bags (too poor to afford sheets and blankets) to cozy up on the couch. Libraries were a life saver, warm and toasty on rainy days snd full of entertainment. The times when our dryer broke and we needed to dry clothes in the winter, we turned on the oven and brought the blow dryer into the kitchen. I never begged for food, assholes would just throw food at me, eventually I stopped hanging out where everyone else was eating, it was just too torturous. I was a reluctant shop lifter of food, not proud of it at all. I empathize strongly with those who find themselves homeless now. That struggle is brutally devastating
I feel that. No heat. No dryer. No no no no no.... When you're that poor, life is one long "NO!" and it sucks.
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And that you dont just take something from the fridge or the kitchen and eat it without asking first.
As a child, I had no idea my parents struggled financially. When I became a parent myself, I began to understand. "Breakfast for dinner" REALLY meant there was no money left at the end of the week, so cereal and milk was by necessity, not for fun. My brother and I never knew. Building furniture from scrap wood Dad picked up on Trash Day wasn't because he was creative (tho he was), it was because there was no money to buy new furniture nor buy wood from a lumber yard. But we grew up feeling loved & knew that education & moral behavior were the gold our family valued. I believe we grew up with greater wealth than Donald Trump's kids did, absolutely!
𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 $𝟏𝟗𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟐 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝐤 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. 💰 💰 💰 💰 HERE ➤➤ 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐚𝐫.𝐂𝐨𝐦
Load More Replies... My BFF was in an orphanage until she was 8. She didn't have much of anything and whatever you had you'd better keep it with you or it will disappear. In high school she had a large purse with everything in it but the kitchen sink. But then no one ever asked her for that, so maybe she had one!😆 Even as an adult into her 50's she always carried an extra bag with her with her important "stuff" in it just in case. She still has sweaters from high school. She's getting better at understanding its going to be ok. She's in a much better financial situation. But I think it will always be a challenge. But she gives money to friends in tough situations like she has been. Insists it is not a loan. If you get to a spot where you can and want to pay it back, fine. But it's not a loan. It's because you're her dear friend who needs it. I will love her til the day I die. The best person I have ever known.
What a lovely and inspiring story, Miss Frankfurter! Blessings to you and your friend.
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If i was lucky enough to go into the city centre with my mum, were all the shops where, the first thing she would say to me was "don't ask for anything".
Very mixed experiences here. Grew up in an area with a lot of rich kids but never had what they had. They'd talk about their double storey houses and porsches and I was always confused as to what was interesting about that. Eventually ended up in a poor suburb where my mom had to choose between meat or bread or cereal (OR). Some weeks only ate cereal with sauce on it to pretend it was meat. Fortunately got out of that to middle class. I now remind my kids of privlege all the time. Show them shanty towns, etc., how people live literally on rubbish dumps. Tell them to appreciate everything, all the time.
Growing up on a Native American reservation, we were poor. An outhouse on the side of a hill made from reused wood. We had flour so grandma made gravy and tortillas, all from flour. It didnt seem unusual because there were other familiea even worse off than we were. At least we had a wood burning stove.
Growing up poor is tough enough, I can only imagine how it must be growing up poor in a rich country. It's one thing when you're poor, but the whole country is struggling and trying to reach a better economy, another thing is when you're poor in a country that's amongst the leaders of the world economy, and the standards around you are too high, you can't even dream about it.
I think growing up poor IN a poor country would be worse. In a poor country you can look around and see that children dont have schools to go. NGO's are providing basic healthcare. etc etc. Americans for all their issues dont emigrate for a better life do they?
Load More Replies... We lost power five days ago. We got it back this morning. We now have heat (with a low of too-da*n-cold tonight). We have lights. My hubby burst into a sort of mania of rejoicing, and I was like, "dude, I grew up using only wood stove heat, and this fireplace sucked, what a step down, but we had light and heat enough to not die or have our pipes freeze, so chill", and that's when we both realized.... wow, we really did not grow up on the same planet. Thirty years, and we still get that reminder.
Growing up where the weather is hot, I can't imagine being cold like that, but the last time I lost power for two weeks after a hurricane, I was wondering how I managed to sleep without AC as a child. When I was a kid, air conditioning was a rarity, but we managed; of course we had little fans that kept the air moving around. Without power, there is none of that. Now, with global warming, I'm afraid a lot more people are going to have to deal with dangerous heat as well as dangerous cold.
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A dear friend put me in my place; I said "I grew up poor too" He said "Ah, but you were poor in a rich country, I was poor in a poor country"
Honestly, I think it's much worse to be poor in a rich country, but then I remind myself that "rich" and "poor" are arbitrary terms, after all. Because it depends on "how rich" and "how poor". When you're poor in a country that's poor, but there's hope kind of poor, then you can still meet at least part of the standards, and can work your way around the difficulties. Besides that, known poor countries get some aid from abroad. When you're in that same kind of poverty, but in a community with way higher standards, then chances are high you are screwed. However, when your whole country is super poor, and the standards are so low that nobody even knows any better, and, consequently, crime is high.... and then you live even below these standards..... now, that's tragic.
Load More Replies... I just realized after this list that we were more poor than I knew growing up. I knew we weren't as well off as the people around me at school, but I din't realize we were so desperate. Thanks for making childhood gracious anyway, Mom and Dad. We did have "vacations". We often went hiking or to the beach (when we lived near one.) I think I'll go make a peanut butter sandwich in memorium.
You shouldn’t have children if you can’t afford to look after them properly. It’s the ultimate act of selfishness.
There are things in life you can't predict. I had my kids when I was in good health and my husband too. After a few years he became sick, his parents became sick and with all those problems and work I had a burn-out and depression. Even we don't have a lot of money, we do everything for our kids and we are caring for them. I see a lot of kids with rich parents who are spoiled financly but they aren't sharing time with their parents, everyone has their own life and scedule.
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I think that everyone should be getting decent pay to live and be happy. At the same time, if people aren't making very much money, then why would they want to bring children into the world that they then have to try to care for? Do they not understand that their kids will not be able to eat well? Will not have great Christmases? I remember stories my grandmother told me about living through the Depression. There are people doing the same thing today that her family had to do during that time. Yet those people are still having kids. And not just one kid, but several. I just don't understand. I feel like people like this are really selfish. How many people in poor areas (India comes to mind) just keep having kid after kid after kid, merely because they want to have a big family. And then those kids suffer because the parents can't support as well as they should.
I have no idea how the headline “ 89 People Share What Rules They Abided By While Growing Up And It’s Important To Read To Be Aware Of It” appears to any of these
My dad found a good job when I was about ten, but previous to that we weren't doing so well. My mum always made it seem like an adventure and I didn't realize how poor we were until I looked back in my teens. The diluted soap, condiments, reusing single use items, buying stuff too big and second hand, hotdog on a single slice of white bread, "saving up" laundry and never separating colors(didn't know this was a thing until my roommate told me in college), etc.
I was abandoned by my business man father at 4 who bought luxury cars and multiple properties while we lived in the projects to a single mother on welfare addicted to Crack. We never had food, lights, toothpaste, clothes, etc., my last Christmas was at 8 years old and it was 1 pack of socks (I desperately needed them) my 3 outfits I was bought every few years came from the goodwill. My mother died when I was a teenager and my father only came back a few years later when he was broke and destitute thanks to bad financial decisions then he immediately complained about having to pay $100 a month in child support for 2 kids (I was paying $2500 a month for 1). I left for the military, got my education and now I'm making more money then most the rich kids I work around and own more property and have more in stocks and bonds than them but it took me until 40 before I ever bought more than 3 outfits and felt like I could splurge on "luxuries" like full cabinets and clothes.
Grew up with more downs than ups financially. Mid-to-late 90's was a tough time in Bulgaria. There was a time of hyperinflation, my mom's monthly qage was enough to buy a kilogram of olives. We lasted 2 weeks on a local type of pasta (called iufka) which my grandma would make out of flour and water and dry on old bedsheets in her flat. Cheapest possible clothes and shoes from the flea market was what I wore from ages 9 to 16. My toes would hurt and curl, and my heels would bleed because of the terrible shoe quality. My parents had cases where they didn't eat just so we would be able to. Winter was a nightmare, with the high electricity bills. We all huddled in the kitchen, as the living room was too large to heat up, so it was locked down. My father would go around unplugging appliances every evening, so that the little red stand-by light on the TV wouldn't consume electricity. The water heater would be on only after 10 pm, as the night tariff was cheaper
I can relate to the part about shoes. I think I embarrassed my father when he took me to the shoe store. I didn't go up one size, I went up 4 sizes. The shoe clerk gave my father "the look". Looking back now, I hope he was embarrassed. That's no way to treat a child, keeping them in shoes that are literally 4 sizes too small.
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Didn't grow up real poor, but my parents didn't exactly believe in spending money on things like dental care. Only went when a tooth got abscessed. Yeah. I now have dentures. And not filling a prescription for antibiotics when I was deathly ill and my neck was swollen up like a basketball from infection. Just borrowed a Percodan from a friend.
I lived all that in Cuba my birth country, I'm so glad I came to live I capitalist USA, even though by American standards I may still be poor , at leat I'm not hungry ,I got clothes and a job , and don't need authorization from the government to get a ticket to get shoes ,or a special card to buy eggs only allow to buy 6 eggs a month if you can afford them, If you guys think being poor in a capitalism country is bad ,trie to be poor in a comunits one. Lol , over there everyone is equally poor only elite government dirty rich ,and those hand me down clothes and cheap shoes or spire food yall talking about here is a luxury over there.
Making orange juice with four cans of water rather than two, so there will be enough. Doing clothes shopping at thrift stores on their sale day.
Growing up poor has made me decide to never have kids. The world is very unkind especially when you're poor. I wouldn't bring kids into that. That would be a very selfish thing to do. And having kids only ensures that you're gonna stay poor. They drag you down even further. So if you're poor, just be poor on your own. Don't bring kids into your life to be poor with you
Technically camping in a house. Having no running water, sewer/septic tank and no electricity. You cooked on a bbg pit and buried your own c@#p. You knew about Santa at a very young age because mom had to explain that "mommy was Santa and mommy is to broke to afford anything". You knew better than to invite anyone over.
Here's one: Fat, poor people aren't "well-fed." Low quality, high-calorie food is way cheaper than quality food. Compare the cost per calorie of a Little Debbie's snack and something healthy. And poor people eat at places like McDonald's and 7-11 often because they work too many hours to get home and cook something decent between shifts. Did you ever wonder why burger chains put mayonnaise on hamburgers (or mayo-based "special sauce") despite the fact it more that doubles the amount of fat in their burger? My entire life, I have never met someone who puts mayonnaise on hamburgers they make at home. Burger chains do that because a fair amount of their customers are just buying full bellies.
I think the worst thing about this is you know that a lot of the posters are living in the so called richest country in the world, and yet there is revolting poverty. I am so grateful now that I am able to live comfortably and help my immediate and extended family, many of whom have also lived in poverty most of their lives. People don't understand how poverty controls your entire life. I have an academically brilliant niece and nephew. Their options would have been next to nothing in terms of further education because of the cost. Just because I was able to help financially, one will graduate as a doctor next year and one with master's degrees in two completely different sciences. Both of them are committed to helping others and making the world a better place. Neither would have been able to do any of that, just because of poverty. It's shameful that anyone in the western world still has to deal with this.
Grew up poor. I still freak out when my fridge or pantry "looks" empty. I have been solidly middle class with some savings and no longer have to worry if we have enough money for things for years now, but I still have to fight the panic of an empty kitchen. And my kids' pickiness about food grates on me, but I can afford it. I know so many people can't.
Wasn't allowed to eat anything without asking first, everything I wore was free hand me downs, often I would be wearing boys clothes (I'm a girl) Christmas was getting essentials instead of gifts. Wearing hand me down shoes that were so painful to wear causing infections. Nearly dieing from blood poisoning because my mom didn't want to spend the money on antibiotics
Door bell goes... Constantly hiding. Hiding from the milkman, the man from the Pru, and even the Parish Priest, because mum didn't have any money for the poor of the parish or the overseas needy, because we were the poor and needy ones ourselves!
Feeling sick reading lists like this because you still have PTSD from being raised like this. Also feeling jealous of the people on this list complaining about how they were treated getting free school lunches because that's not a thing in your country and came very close to dying from starvation as a child.
I'm also very happy my mom always did the laundry once a week and never had to hand wash cloths.... didn't have fabreze. Also never went hungry. And we always had a car.
I hate the adding water to soaps or milk to dressing bottles. I only turn them upside down. Water in a shampoo bottle is the worst... cold and not enough soap. So even though I was only a little better off than my parents & my husbands parents I put an end to that.
I grew up very poor, but the most puzzling thing for me was that the rich kids at school were continuously trying to pick on me (unsuccessfully). I thought back then they were jealous because I was good at maths and was clearly going to do better in life than them. Now I realise they simply were dumb, and likely didn't understand how education works.
That’s because they almost certainly weren’t rich, but rather just the “richest” people in a poor community, and they don’t realize they aren’t rich. Middle school in a rural town was like that for me too. Those kids going around wearing Abercrombie and living in $150,000 houses, driving Grand Cherokees, thinking they’re better than everyone when their parents are only a couple of paychecks away from losing it all, and have massive credit card debt. They’re hardly rich. They’re actually just poor too, but they have one more crumb then the next person and they want you to feel bad about it! Rich kids tend to not even go to school with poor kids, because of how districts are defined by real estate taxes. Or the rich just opt for private education.
Load More Replies... This post made me cry. It's so hard to live when there's not enough money. To see where my kids, nephews and nieces have to go trough. I hope they will get out of poverty someday.
I grew up dirt poor. We learned to handle things differently. We rarely used the heater in our home, too expensive. So we wore our hoodies and jackets in the house or brought our sleeping bags (too poor to afford sheets and blankets) to cozy up on the couch. Libraries were a life saver, warm and toasty on rainy days snd full of entertainment. The times when our dryer broke and we needed to dry clothes in the winter, we turned on the oven and brought the blow dryer into the kitchen. I never begged for food, assholes would just throw food at me, eventually I stopped hanging out where everyone else was eating, it was just too torturous. I was a reluctant shop lifter of food, not proud of it at all. I empathize strongly with those who find themselves homeless now. That struggle is brutally devastating
I feel that. No heat. No dryer. No no no no no.... When you're that poor, life is one long "NO!" and it sucks.
Load More Replies... And that you dont just take something from the fridge or the kitchen and eat it without asking first.
As a child, I had no idea my parents struggled financially. When I became a parent myself, I began to understand. "Breakfast for dinner" REALLY meant there was no money left at the end of the week, so cereal and milk was by necessity, not for fun. My brother and I never knew. Building furniture from scrap wood Dad picked up on Trash Day wasn't because he was creative (tho he was), it was because there was no money to buy new furniture nor buy wood from a lumber yard. But we grew up feeling loved & knew that education & moral behavior were the gold our family valued. I believe we grew up with greater wealth than Donald Trump's kids did, absolutely!
𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 $𝟏𝟗𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟐 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈'𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝐤 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. 💰 💰 💰 💰 HERE ➤➤ 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐚𝐫.𝐂𝐨𝐦
Load More Replies... My BFF was in an orphanage until she was 8. She didn't have much of anything and whatever you had you'd better keep it with you or it will disappear. In high school she had a large purse with everything in it but the kitchen sink. But then no one ever asked her for that, so maybe she had one!😆 Even as an adult into her 50's she always carried an extra bag with her with her important "stuff" in it just in case. She still has sweaters from high school. She's getting better at understanding its going to be ok. She's in a much better financial situation. But I think it will always be a challenge. But she gives money to friends in tough situations like she has been. Insists it is not a loan. If you get to a spot where you can and want to pay it back, fine. But it's not a loan. It's because you're her dear friend who needs it. I will love her til the day I die. The best person I have ever known.
What a lovely and inspiring story, Miss Frankfurter! Blessings to you and your friend.
Load More Replies... If i was lucky enough to go into the city centre with my mum, were all the shops where, the first thing she would say to me was "don't ask for anything".
Very mixed experiences here. Grew up in an area with a lot of rich kids but never had what they had. They'd talk about their double storey houses and porsches and I was always confused as to what was interesting about that. Eventually ended up in a poor suburb where my mom had to choose between meat or bread or cereal (OR). Some weeks only ate cereal with sauce on it to pretend it was meat. Fortunately got out of that to middle class. I now remind my kids of privlege all the time. Show them shanty towns, etc., how people live literally on rubbish dumps. Tell them to appreciate everything, all the time.
Growing up on a Native American reservation, we were poor. An outhouse on the side of a hill made from reused wood. We had flour so grandma made gravy and tortillas, all from flour. It didnt seem unusual because there were other familiea even worse off than we were. At least we had a wood burning stove.
Growing up poor is tough enough, I can only imagine how it must be growing up poor in a rich country. It's one thing when you're poor, but the whole country is struggling and trying to reach a better economy, another thing is when you're poor in a country that's amongst the leaders of the world economy, and the standards around you are too high, you can't even dream about it.
I think growing up poor IN a poor country would be worse. In a poor country you can look around and see that children dont have schools to go. NGO's are providing basic healthcare. etc etc. Americans for all their issues dont emigrate for a better life do they?
Load More Replies... We lost power five days ago. We got it back this morning. We now have heat (with a low of too-da*n-cold tonight). We have lights. My hubby burst into a sort of mania of rejoicing, and I was like, "dude, I grew up using only wood stove heat, and this fireplace sucked, what a step down, but we had light and heat enough to not die or have our pipes freeze, so chill", and that's when we both realized.... wow, we really did not grow up on the same planet. Thirty years, and we still get that reminder.
Growing up where the weather is hot, I can't imagine being cold like that, but the last time I lost power for two weeks after a hurricane, I was wondering how I managed to sleep without AC as a child. When I was a kid, air conditioning was a rarity, but we managed; of course we had little fans that kept the air moving around. Without power, there is none of that. Now, with global warming, I'm afraid a lot more people are going to have to deal with dangerous heat as well as dangerous cold.
Load More Replies... A dear friend put me in my place; I said "I grew up poor too" He said "Ah, but you were poor in a rich country, I was poor in a poor country"
Honestly, I think it's much worse to be poor in a rich country, but then I remind myself that "rich" and "poor" are arbitrary terms, after all. Because it depends on "how rich" and "how poor". When you're poor in a country that's poor, but there's hope kind of poor, then you can still meet at least part of the standards, and can work your way around the difficulties. Besides that, known poor countries get some aid from abroad. When you're in that same kind of poverty, but in a community with way higher standards, then chances are high you are screwed. However, when your whole country is super poor, and the standards are so low that nobody even knows any better, and, consequently, crime is high.... and then you live even below these standards..... now, that's tragic.
Load More Replies... I just realized after this list that we were more poor than I knew growing up. I knew we weren't as well off as the people around me at school, but I din't realize we were so desperate. Thanks for making childhood gracious anyway, Mom and Dad. We did have "vacations". We often went hiking or to the beach (when we lived near one.) I think I'll go make a peanut butter sandwich in memorium.
You shouldn’t have children if you can’t afford to look after them properly. It’s the ultimate act of selfishness.
There are things in life you can't predict. I had my kids when I was in good health and my husband too. After a few years he became sick, his parents became sick and with all those problems and work I had a burn-out and depression. Even we don't have a lot of money, we do everything for our kids and we are caring for them. I see a lot of kids with rich parents who are spoiled financly but they aren't sharing time with their parents, everyone has their own life and scedule.
Load More Replies... I think that everyone should be getting decent pay to live and be happy. At the same time, if people aren't making very much money, then why would they want to bring children into the world that they then have to try to care for? Do they not understand that their kids will not be able to eat well? Will not have great Christmases? I remember stories my grandmother told me about living through the Depression. There are people doing the same thing today that her family had to do during that time. Yet those people are still having kids. And not just one kid, but several. I just don't understand. I feel like people like this are really selfish. How many people in poor areas (India comes to mind) just keep having kid after kid after kid, merely because they want to have a big family. And then those kids suffer because the parents can't support as well as they should.
I have no idea how the headline “ 89 People Share What Rules They Abided By While Growing Up And It’s Important To Read To Be Aware Of It” appears to any of these
My dad found a good job when I was about ten, but previous to that we weren't doing so well. My mum always made it seem like an adventure and I didn't realize how poor we were until I looked back in my teens. The diluted soap, condiments, reusing single use items, buying stuff too big and second hand, hotdog on a single slice of white bread, "saving up" laundry and never separating colors(didn't know this was a thing until my roommate told me in college), etc.
I was abandoned by my business man father at 4 who bought luxury cars and multiple properties while we lived in the projects to a single mother on welfare addicted to Crack. We never had food, lights, toothpaste, clothes, etc., my last Christmas was at 8 years old and it was 1 pack of socks (I desperately needed them) my 3 outfits I was bought every few years came from the goodwill. My mother died when I was a teenager and my father only came back a few years later when he was broke and destitute thanks to bad financial decisions then he immediately complained about having to pay $100 a month in child support for 2 kids (I was paying $2500 a month for 1). I left for the military, got my education and now I'm making more money then most the rich kids I work around and own more property and have more in stocks and bonds than them but it took me until 40 before I ever bought more than 3 outfits and felt like I could splurge on "luxuries" like full cabinets and clothes.
Grew up with more downs than ups financially. Mid-to-late 90's was a tough time in Bulgaria. There was a time of hyperinflation, my mom's monthly qage was enough to buy a kilogram of olives. We lasted 2 weeks on a local type of pasta (called iufka) which my grandma would make out of flour and water and dry on old bedsheets in her flat. Cheapest possible clothes and shoes from the flea market was what I wore from ages 9 to 16. My toes would hurt and curl, and my heels would bleed because of the terrible shoe quality. My parents had cases where they didn't eat just so we would be able to. Winter was a nightmare, with the high electricity bills. We all huddled in the kitchen, as the living room was too large to heat up, so it was locked down. My father would go around unplugging appliances every evening, so that the little red stand-by light on the TV wouldn't consume electricity. The water heater would be on only after 10 pm, as the night tariff was cheaper
I can relate to the part about shoes. I think I embarrassed my father when he took me to the shoe store. I didn't go up one size, I went up 4 sizes. The shoe clerk gave my father "the look". Looking back now, I hope he was embarrassed. That's no way to treat a child, keeping them in shoes that are literally 4 sizes too small.
Load More Replies... Didn't grow up real poor, but my parents didn't exactly believe in spending money on things like dental care. Only went when a tooth got abscessed. Yeah. I now have dentures. And not filling a prescription for antibiotics when I was deathly ill and my neck was swollen up like a basketball from infection. Just borrowed a Percodan from a friend.
I lived all that in Cuba my birth country, I'm so glad I came to live I capitalist USA, even though by American standards I may still be poor , at leat I'm not hungry ,I got clothes and a job , and don't need authorization from the government to get a ticket to get shoes ,or a special card to buy eggs only allow to buy 6 eggs a month if you can afford them, If you guys think being poor in a capitalism country is bad ,trie to be poor in a comunits one. Lol , over there everyone is equally poor only elite government dirty rich ,and those hand me down clothes and cheap shoes or spire food yall talking about here is a luxury over there.
Making orange juice with four cans of water rather than two, so there will be enough. Doing clothes shopping at thrift stores on their sale day.
Growing up poor has made me decide to never have kids. The world is very unkind especially when you're poor. I wouldn't bring kids into that. That would be a very selfish thing to do. And having kids only ensures that you're gonna stay poor. They drag you down even further. So if you're poor, just be poor on your own. Don't bring kids into your life to be poor with you
Technically camping in a house. Having no running water, sewer/septic tank and no electricity. You cooked on a bbg pit and buried your own c@#p. You knew about Santa at a very young age because mom had to explain that "mommy was Santa and mommy is to broke to afford anything". You knew better than to invite anyone over.
Here's one: Fat, poor people aren't "well-fed." Low quality, high-calorie food is way cheaper than quality food. Compare the cost per calorie of a Little Debbie's snack and something healthy. And poor people eat at places like McDonald's and 7-11 often because they work too many hours to get home and cook something decent between shifts. Did you ever wonder why burger chains put mayonnaise on hamburgers (or mayo-based "special sauce") despite the fact it more that doubles the amount of fat in their burger? My entire life, I have never met someone who puts mayonnaise on hamburgers they make at home. Burger chains do that because a fair amount of their customers are just buying full bellies.
I think the worst thing about this is you know that a lot of the posters are living in the so called richest country in the world, and yet there is revolting poverty. I am so grateful now that I am able to live comfortably and help my immediate and extended family, many of whom have also lived in poverty most of their lives. People don't understand how poverty controls your entire life. I have an academically brilliant niece and nephew. Their options would have been next to nothing in terms of further education because of the cost. Just because I was able to help financially, one will graduate as a doctor next year and one with master's degrees in two completely different sciences. Both of them are committed to helping others and making the world a better place. Neither would have been able to do any of that, just because of poverty. It's shameful that anyone in the western world still has to deal with this.
Grew up poor. I still freak out when my fridge or pantry "looks" empty. I have been solidly middle class with some savings and no longer have to worry if we have enough money for things for years now, but I still have to fight the panic of an empty kitchen. And my kids' pickiness about food grates on me, but I can afford it. I know so many people can't.
Wasn't allowed to eat anything without asking first, everything I wore was free hand me downs, often I would be wearing boys clothes (I'm a girl) Christmas was getting essentials instead of gifts. Wearing hand me down shoes that were so painful to wear causing infections. Nearly dieing from blood poisoning because my mom didn't want to spend the money on antibiotics
Door bell goes... Constantly hiding. Hiding from the milkman, the man from the Pru, and even the Parish Priest, because mum didn't have any money for the poor of the parish or the overseas needy, because we were the poor and needy ones ourselves!
Feeling sick reading lists like this because you still have PTSD from being raised like this. Also feeling jealous of the people on this list complaining about how they were treated getting free school lunches because that's not a thing in your country and came very close to dying from starvation as a child.
I'm also very happy my mom always did the laundry once a week and never had to hand wash cloths.... didn't have fabreze. Also never went hungry. And we always had a car.
I hate the adding water to soaps or milk to dressing bottles. I only turn them upside down. Water in a shampoo bottle is the worst... cold and not enough soap. So even though I was only a little better off than my parents & my husbands parents I put an end to that.
