“I Don’t Eat The Last Of Anything”: 45 Habits People Kept From Their Poor Days

It's sounds a bit weird, but you're richer in a way that most people with millions in their bank account are. You know the worth of things, whereas they only know the value. You might lack their millions, but I have a sneaking suspicion that your satisfaction with life far outweighs theirs.

When I was a kid, my 3 siblings & I will share a burger. Now I can buy a burger just for myself.

I can now afford tickets to theater, opera, concerts, shows. Every time I go, I feel overly excited. Like, wow, I cannot believe that I'm actually here! That I can buy tickets to 5 or 10 or 20 performances, and I don't need to calculate every penny for food and bills. Just wow!

I didn’t grow up very poor but quite there (I was sent to buy half of a salami stick because we couldn’t afford all of it). Now I look at my life: I have a house in one of the best countries in Europe, 2 healthy and smart kids, car, can afford any small thing and I think ‘wow, child me would be so happy to see this’.

My dad when looking for a house : what are looking for? Mom: indoor plumbing and heating and solid roof. Can you tell which grew up poor?

I thought everyone did this? When I make a pasta bake i pour the sauce out and then the jar is designed so you measure the water up to the label so Igive it a shake too then i have a clean jar and more sauce.

I still do it. Still poor

Isn't this the normal way to do it? You get the jar washed and ready for recycling and the sauce usually needs a bit of water. Of course my parents were kids during rationing after ww2 so maybe it's just a food insecurity tick from previous generations

Yup. “Waste not, want not!”

I do this all the time!

I grew up poor so i eat everything i can get my hands on.this is my third keyboard.

Leaving the last bite for the Fairies.

My Dutch relatives say this is a very "Canadian thing to do", always leaving the last in case someone else would like it. Such politeness and consideration. I never thought of it that way but I've heard that all my life and now we make a joke of it as being "too Canadian to take the last one for yourself" ;) I don't know if this is true, just what has been observed

I had a friend/roommate who did this and I hated it. We shared (almost) everything. He left the last few drops in Coke and milk bottles and put them back to the fridge. He left a single cookie in the package. The portion he laft.was.enough for nothing and usually went to the trash.

I still do that. If I end up with a bunch of stale bread ends, I make them into breadcrumbs which I store in the freezer. Or I make an Italian soup (ribolita) that uses stale bread.

Love the old VW beetle.

I'm dealing with this right now. The worry that is in conflict with my hoarding tendencies is that my loved ones will have to deal with all this stuff after I pass.

I know that feeling 😕 and I absolutely hate it when I need something to reuse which I just threw away recently.

I've downsized twice in the last several years. I'm in the process of the last push, sorting and boxing things to donate. That little voice always saying "this could come in handy someday" is getting softer, but I want to extinguish it.

I grew up upper middle class and I have this problem. Mental health sucks.

There's no shame in being thrifty.... If you're okay with air drying a lot of your clothes, that saves electricity and helps the planet. And what you're saving on the light bill you can then spend on good food--nothing wrong with that, either. Fresh stuff is probably healthier anyway. Canned stuff usually has a lot of preservatives in it. Don't turn your nose up at it permanently though--canned stuff comes in handy when that power outage comes (and you can cook it on that stove!) Finally, it's okay to be efficient on the potty..... sitting too long (like some of us who scroll BP on our phones while going!) isn't good. Just be sure to take your time if you need to :)

We hang our laundry inside and don't have a dryer because a) they aparently cause 80% of the fyers, b) they are bad for the CO2 outlet and c) electrical bill

We used to lose water everytime the power went out so we do the same and this was in the early 2000's. If only that was the biggest worry most people had. To be born in Europe or America truly is a privilege like no other. I am glad you found ways to make your life work for you and these are habits you should be proud of even if they came from a place of hardship that you can't truly ever express.

all good points. FYI, you can pour a bucket of water into the toilet bowl to flush, no need to pour into the back of the toilet/.

Should you ever find yourself in Alberta, find me.

I got my first bath towel for my 10th birthday. It was striped. Red and white. And I loved it! Till then my father was the only one in our household who had a bath towel. The others had to use hand towels. I took my bath towel with me when I left home, got married, had children ... it was my favorite for approximately 20 years, although we owned much better towels by that time. When it fell apart I bought another one. Yes. Striped. Red and white. My precious!!!

Gave my grandma nice luxury new towels. Got put away to "save for good’”, just like the more expensive stockings...

We had to be very frugal, and used bath towels until they were threadbare. You could buy better towels at Goodwill than the ones we used. Our washcloths were so old and nasty... I now have a linen fetish. I love love love all my wonderful precious towels. LOL. Yeah, I know.

Had a friend in school who told me that her family shared the same washcloth in the shower until washday came around, then it was the same washcloth all over again for the next week. I can't imagine how many germs were shared between them. *shudder*