Things your parents did to save money

[penn19]

I absolutely don't understand why they chose to stop taking responsibility. I always jokingly called them "social darwinists" since they gave birth to us, gave us a house to live in, and beyond that, we were on our own to survive


That was like my parents. I used to say they did just enough so HRS/CPS wasn't called on them. My mom and dad had 6 kids and my dad made a decent salary, but we learned early on that my mom was saving for their retirement. The refused to pay for college (marry rich was my advice), they gave token amounts for SOME of our weddings. My older ssiter had some "issues" growing up, and it was recommended that she see a shrink. Well my brother needed braces. Couldn't do both so my sister did without the shrink. I get that back then a lot of people paid cash for everything, but my parents HAD the money and chose not to get their child care. Everyone gets a $20 gift card now for Christmas/birthdays. But my mom? After my Dad died, she started traveling. And not little weekend trips either. A 3 week cruise, a month in Tahiti. So all that saving she did when we were younger paid off for her also.
So for her I hope all of that was worth it because if she ever needs to be taken care of she is SOL.
Maybe we should start a new thread on "how bad my childhood was". The stories I know I could tell!

 

[patsal]

I absolutely don't understand why they chose to stop taking responsibility. I always jokingly called them "social darwinists" since they gave birth to us, gave us a house to live in, and beyond that, we were on our own to survive


That was like my parents. I used to say they did just enough so HRS/CPS wasn't called on them. My mom and dad had 6 kids and my dad made a decent salary, but we learned early on that my mom was saving for their retirement. The refused to pay for college (marry rich was my advice), they gave token amounts for SOME of our weddings. My older ssiter had some "issues" growing up, and it was recommended that she see a shrink. Well my brother needed braces. Couldn't do both so my sister did without the shrink. I get that back then a lot of people paid cash for everything, but my parents HAD the money and chose not to get their child care. Everyone gets a $20 gift card now for Christmas/birthdays. But my mom? After my Dad died, she started traveling. And not little weekend trips either. A 3 week cruise, a month in Tahiti. So all that saving she did when we were younger paid off for her also.
So for her I hope all of that was worth it because if she ever needs to be taken care of she is SOL.
Maybe we should start a new thread on "how bad my childhood was". The stories I know I could tell!

The stories I could tell would have me cringing in the corner rocking back and fourth--that was why I checked out of the thread earlier--I felt like I was in a "well your parents were not as awful as my parents" and I checked out before I needed to go to therapy! Seriously while my son was in counselling for something I had to meet with the shrink and I had him crossing his armas and rocking before I left--I didn't even scratch the surface so I figured if I traumatized a shrink I was better left to my own coping mechanisms!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

As far as food....

Once in a while my mother would make Vienna Sausage with rice. We used to snack on it when we were hungry after school.

Vienna Sausages! I completely forgot about those! That and Spam was a staple around my house. I can't stand the smell of either anymore.

Having read this whole thread I have to ask what is government cheese?

Government cheese is kind of like a Velveeta/American kind of cheese . It's a very bright orangish yellow cheese. Or at least it was, I don't know anymore. We never had any but one of my best friends did and I loved going over her house .


I love this thread! It's put a lot into perspective for when I have kids.

 

[punkin]

I felt like I was in a "well your parents were not as awful as my parents"

I do not see this thread like this. My parents were not awful and I had a wonderful childhood (sorry about yours ). It is kind of fun to reminisce about all the things we didn't have when we were little and managed to do just fine without. Obviously, some people on the thread (you included) had other experiences and I am sorry this thread made you remember painful times. It only brought back happy memories for me.

 

[Ava]

My sister and I to this day despise Salmon patties. Shredded salmon that came out of a can and Mom somehow put into a patty shape and fried up.

Mmmm! We called them Salmon Cakes, love those. I could never watch my mom make them though because her picking the grey skin out of the salmon grossed me out. We dipped them in ketchup - yum yum yum.

My friend's mom used to make basically the same thing, only with tuna. But she was Jewish, so she called them "Tuna Latkes" - hahaha. It sounded totally fancy to me though, so I thought it was great. Those we dipped in mustard.

 

[patsal]

I do not see this thread like this. My parents were not awful and I had a wonderful childhood (sorry about yours ). It is kind of fun to reminisce about all the things we didn't have when we were little and managed to do just fine without. Obviously, some people on the thread (you included) had other experiences and I am sorry this thread made you remember painful times. It only brought back happy memories for me.

Exactly, it was off topic as most people were sharing what frugal things their parents did--my original post was like that. Then others brought up other things that I latched onto--completely my own fault for that. I think the thread as a whole is great and it is fun to see what we were able to do without or the icky stuff we ate but can't stand anymore! My above comment was really for the other perspective only. I have enjoyed laughing with some of the stuff on here as well. My issues are mine, it was just a comment and certainly not meant to derail any of the reminiscent stuff that is endearing.

 

[penn19]

I apologize for going OT on here. I was also thinking about some of the memories this thread brought back (good ones) and did not mean to bring the tone down at all. Sorry!!

 

[charming23]

My mom has been using coupons for things for as long as I can remember and in return I have started to use them as well.

Also we never went out to dinner unless we had a coupon of some sort while I was growing up which saved a lot of money over the years. Our favorite restuarants always advertised in the local papers with coupons so unless we had one it was dinner at home so we only ate out probably 2 to 3 times a month.

 

[Bitsmommy]

Ok, so I am just realizing how poor we were as a kid.
Mom made powdered milk (we hated it and the milk jug trick didn't work)
Everything was homemade. I was in 5th grade before store bought bread.
We wore lots of hand me downs. We were given a certain amount of money each week - allowance, that was used for everything school lunch, clothes and personal items. They bought us soap and that was it!!! That amount was increased if we were in extra activities and needed money for meals when we were traveling and decreased in the summer time. USUALLY, it was about $20.00 per week. I graduated high school in 1998.
Starting in 5th grade, our mother gave us a set amount for school clothes and fees. We figured out that we got more at thrift stores and demanded to be brought to them. WE WOULD ONLY SHOP SALES!!!
Cars were purchased by us and we paid our own insurance.
We loved the day old bread store.
Lunch was often sample day at Sams.
Water was drank at all meals out.
We either paid for college ourselves OR we got scholarships
After high school graduation you either paid rent or you were a full time student.

I still make bread for my family, everything we eat is homemade and I can veggies and fruits from friends gardens and fruit trees. We don't buy jelly, jam, canned tomatoes, pickles, salsa and various other things. We don't buy bisquick because it is so easy to make your own.

 

[fortheluvofpooh]

subscribing

 

[snowbunny]

Breakfast..Cream of Wheat

Yes - still can't contemplate another bowl of "Creama" as we called it, after all these years.

We took vacations but they were not deluxe. On a trip to Disneyland in the early 1960s we stayed in one of the motels on the main drag in Anaheim (as for something I try never to do), and we thought it was grand.

Right through middle school I wore my older brothers' handmedown shirts and pants. That was hard sometimes.

 

[100%gemini]

My dad worked in the automobile business and was laid off a week worked a week for a long time. We had a kerosine heater to warm the house and no a/c in the summer. We loved dinners by candle light with hot dogs and beans and my mom made chili concarne with left over chili. Snacks were popcorn and koolaid. (I always felt lucky because my mom put the right amount of sugar in the koolaid and never watered it down like some of my friends moms did)

Vacations were up north to my grandparents cottage and renting a house during spring break in florida with all of my grandparents. There was a house full but we didn't know the difference, we were in Florida at Easter.

 

[Vivianne]

I've mostly posted about food and reminiscing some funny things (at least for me) about my childhood. However, believe me, it wasn't all good. I lived in a high crime area (NYC) and only because my mother watched us like a hawk did we survive in more ways than I can imagine. Members of my family were victims of crime and the interaction between my parents wasn't the best. Probably, counseling would have helped my family. I guess, I just try to put it out of my mind.

I feel sorry some have remembered really bad things about their childhood.

We were poor, but I appreciate my mother's efforts and even though my father was gruff and had issues, he still took care of the family. Hopefully, some here can remember something good or at least enjoy their family/children now as adults.

I was always curious about Fluffernutters, never had one. DH told me that's all his mother sent him to school with for lunch and he HATED it! We'll not too long ago I bought some and made one with peanut butter.....I agree it's awful.

 

[Poohbear5]

As a child, our only vacations were tenting in the woods an hour from home.

When my 3 kids were toddlers, I decided I wanted to take them to Disney (hubby had never been to Disney either). Everyone told us not to take them that young "because they wouldn't remember it". We packed up our old station wagon that had 180,000 miles on it, packed our own cereal, snacks and sandwhiches, stayed at at Motel 6.
I doubt the kids remember sleeping 3 in a bed or what we ate. But for me, it's still a perfect memory of the first time the 5 of us shared at Disney!

 

[busyshrew]

I started thinking about what I ate as a child.... were you allowed to just grab food from your fridge? Or were your parents really strict about it?

I was allowed to snack on *some* things without permission;

ketchup sandwiches (butter and jam were controlled substances)
cold boiled potatoes (mom always had some in the fridge)
apples (but the rule was, eat the ones with bruises first)

And, did you get to pick your birthday meal? I always requested (and got) KFC and an ice-cream cake. We almost never ate out so it was a huge treat to eat takeout for my birthday supper.

 

[punkin]

I started thinking about what I ate as a child.... were you allowed to just grab food from your fridge? Or were your parents really strict about it?

I was really skinny as a child (I finally hit 60 pounds at age 12) so my Grandma let me eat anything I wanted as long as I actually ate.

I should probably clarify why I talk about my grandma on this thread...we lived with her and my mother worked all the time.

 

[timzagain]

I started thinking about what I ate as a child.... were you allowed to just grab food from your fridge? Or were your parents really strict about it?

I was allowed to snack on *some* things without permission;

ketchup sandwiches (butter and jam were controlled substances)
cold boiled potatoes (mom always had some in the fridge)
apples (but the rule was, eat the ones with bruises first)

And, did you get to pick your birthday meal? I always requested (and got) KFC and an ice-cream cake. We almost never ate out so it was a huge treat to eat takeout for my birthday supper.

My parents didn't limit our access to the fridge. We live in the Caribbean, and grew up on a property with lots of fruit trees. My grandparents also had lots of fruit trees! We snacked on fresh fruit while we played or hung out under the trees. I don't remember my mother buying fruit at the grocery store.

The birthday meal was always a dinner prepared at home - the birthday girl's or boy's favourite meal, with a special salad - you knew it was a special occasion when slices of apples were added to the salad! The apples that most of you take for granted were kind of a big deal for us, because they were imported and expensive.

My kids can't grasp the concept that fast food was a rare treat and that no, my parents didn't buy each of the three of us a separate kids' meal or 2 piece chicken dinner! I think we might have each had one piece of chicken at KFC with shared fries! KFC is another one of those things that was considered pretty expensive when I was growing up!

OP, thanks for starting this thread! I must say, reminiscing about childhood put a much needed smile on my face

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I started thinking about what I ate as a child.... were you allowed to just grab food from your fridge? Or were your parents really strict about it?

I was never allowed to just grab food from the fridge (until I was in high school, had a job, and bought my own stuff). When we got home from school we were allowed to have a piece of fruit until dinner (we got home about 3, dinner was at 5-6).

My parents were very frugal when I was growing up. I'm sure they could've afforded more but they didn't see the need to go to a fast food place when there was perfectly good bread and peanut butter at home and even though I said I was hungry they knew I wouldn't starve to death before we got home . It was understood that if I wanted to go to college I had to either find a way to pay for myself or get scholarships. Also, my parents have always said they will not pay for my wedding so I'm saving for that as well. But I never went hungry, I always had clean clothes (even if they were my brother's hand me downs) and roof over my head, and my parents always tried to find fun things for us to do or give us (my Mom would cut Jack O' Lantern faces into my apples every day for lunch and put lemon juice on them and the other kids with the Lunchables or that had the money to buy lunch were always so jealous ), and for that I'm very grateful. It would've been nice to have the parents that bought me a $100+ dress for prom, always had the coolest clothes, a nice car, a free ride to college, but the friends I know that had that also had a parent (or both) that they never saw because they were working so much.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Such wonderful memories-chip chopped ham, Koolaid popsicles, powdered milk, casseroles (love tuna noodle)!
Recently my mom told me that the "beef and steaks" I ate as a child were really deer meat as the real stuff was too expensive. She knew my sisters and I would never eat "Bambi" so she stretched the truth!

 

[annsteere]

When I was 7 and my sister was 5, our family took a 3 week trip from Wisconsin to California---in a tent.

I'd still do that.

But, my Grandma had been a single mother WAY before it was common and my Dad wanted to do something special for her. So, he invited her along.

5 in a tent when one of them is your mother-in-law?? No way.