Did you think you were poor growing up?

Money was tight in my early years. I was aware we had our own house, a semi, without central heating, but of course that was an absolute luxury back then as were fitted carpets which we also didn't have. I was aware we had a mortgage, my dad worked in a managerial capacity for the Gas Board. My mother felt we didn't have any nice furniture, in fact she didn't think we had nice anything much. I think most of it was hand me downs plus there was much carping about new school shoes that my father felt had to be replaced far too often. I didn't have a lot of new clothes, I mean hardly any clothes at all really compared to what children have today. Mine were mostly hand me downs from an older cousin, her clothes were actually lovely and I got annoyed when she didn't grow out of them quickly enough so I could have them. My mother's side of the family often complained my father didn't prioritise the basics, which he didn't, and spent money on non essentials. Yes I had holes in my shoes but I was taken up to London to see ballets, to the cinema or stage productions as well as all the major museums. My husband who probably lived the same distance as me from the capital but in another county and who grew up with much more money said his father never took them anywhere.

My mother honed her secretarial skills working in the office of a nearby Prep school during term time when I first went to infant school, but went to work full time for Legal and General when my brother and I were going through junior school from which time we became latch key kids and that changed our financial situation somewhat. I remember for example when we got a car. We took holidays down to the West Country and always stopped at Stonehenge, when you could get right up close to the stones.

We were neither rich nor poor - probably pretty average if I think back to my childhood friends and classmates.

My father had grown up in poverty. His parents who had been comfortably wealthy before the great depression but the depression put paid to that, and they failed to adapt to their changed circumstances. My grandfather's various 'ventures' all failed.
Then Dad's mum died suddenly when he was 15, making things even more difficult, especially after his dad quickly remarried and he had to start supporting himself.

Luckily, my dad managed to pull himself out of that, working both day and night at times in the early years of his and my mother's marriage. I think his childhood experiences were what spurred him on, not wanting to repeat his parents mistakes.

Mum and Dad managed to buy a modest new house in the mid '60s, which they slowly improved over the years, adding a small extension, and central heating in the '70s.
We had a week's holiday at the seaside every year, and days out at the weekend sometimes, and we were always well dressed and fed.

I realise now that they had it tough at times, but they were never extravagant and always pulled through, with my mum always having a part time job too once I was in school.

I do remember when I was at secondary school that there was going to be a skiing trip one year, but it cost what seemed to me so much money that I did not even consider asking my parents if I could go. That didn't make me feel poor, as it was only a tiny number of pupils from our state school who ever mention such trips.

We probably were poor when I think about it. My dad worked a menial factory job, mum stayed at home. I was one of four. Loads of aunts, uncles, cousins lived nearby. Clothes were handmade or passed down the family. We grew our own vegetables. Holidays were a week in a caravan loaned by a family member and also the same with a car. No colour tv for many years. A big event when a twin tub washing machine was bought on HP. My dad bought his first car when I was 20. Every purchase was carefully considered. Money was very tight.

Oldnproud

We were neither rich nor poor - probably pretty average if I think back to my childhood friends and classmates.

My father had grown up in poverty. His parents who had been comfortably wealthy before the great depression but the depression put paid to that, and they failed to adapt to their changed circumstances. My grandfather's various 'ventures' all failed.
Then Dad's mum died suddenly when he was 15, making things even more difficult, especially after his dad quickly remarried and he had to start supporting himself.

Luckily, my dad managed to pull himself out of that, working both day and night at times in the early years of his and my mother's marriage. I think his childhood experiences were what spurred him on, not wanting to repeat his parents mistakes.

Mum and Dad managed to buy a modest new house in the mid '60s, which they slowly improved over the years, adding a small extension, and central heating in the '70s.
We had a week's holiday at the seaside every year, and days out at the weekend sometimes, and we were always well dressed and fed.

I realise now that they had it tough at times, but they were never extravagant and always pulled through, with my mum always having a part time job too once I was in school.

I do remember when I was at secondary school that there was going to be a skiing trip one year, but it cost what seemed to me so much money that I did not even consider asking my parents if I could go. That didn't make me feel poor, as it was only a tiny number of pupils from our state school who ever mention such trips.

That last sentence should say "who ever went on such trips", not mention

I was one of eight children one died at 18mths. We lived in my grans back parlour in a terraced house in Liverpool and all of us parents included slept in one room. We moved into a four bedroomed newly built council house on an estate when I was 5yrs old. It was like a mansion to us in the middle of farmland on the outskirts of Liverpool.
My dad worked in the local factory and my mum worked little jobs for extra money. It was a tough upbringing but our parents tried their best we really did appreciate them.

I’m from a large family of 16 children. I grew up in grinding poverty, dirty, smelly house, never had clean bedlinen, four to a bed and one of the children would inevitably wet the bed so there was a dip in the mattress. I went to school religiously because that’s where I got a hot meal. An older brother suffered severe mental illness, but lived at home. It was total chaos. Most of my sisters got pregnant and married young - and are now on 2nd/3rd marriages. Incest/sexual abuse was the norm. You have no idea about poverty unless you’ve lived it. My parents were totally irresponsible - my father was born in the last year of the 19th century and my mother was born in the 20s. I can’t change my childhood memories. I’ve absolutely made sure my children were loved, well cared for and most of all received a good education.

The wealthiest home you can have, beyond the very basics, is one where steady, warm, love and as near unconditional acceptance as reasonable, rooted ideally in an extended family or long loving friendships.

And a desire, by parents, without envy, for their children to thrive, even if you have only managed some of your own life's goals.

Those are the greatest riches.

Sheebeel, I had similar experience. 10 of us children, no money although Dad did work most of the time. But they were feckless and selfish, at the pub every weekend, not worrying about anything us kids would need. Mom got a part time job as an auxilliary nurse. She needed something away from the house, but it didn't mean any extra money for meals or clothes. I have mentioned on other threads before, I loved them, but cannot forgive them for the shame and humiliation we faced every day. We did not realise at the time, that we were the talk of the nieghbourhood, for all the wrong reasons. What would it have cost them to at least make sure we were clean when we left the house, cleaned our teeth and had clean clothes? But half of us have gone on to have meaningful careers, and a good standard of living.
So my beloved three children had a warm safe nurturing upbringing, and I am very proud of the adults they have become. But it is horrible remembering the things we didn't have and the poverty we endured. But as adults we are close, and that is truly wonderful and rewarding.

I think some people/MPs are proud of being working class which I think is different from being poor or living in poverty

We didn't have a car or a TV, but my parents were buying their house and we used to manage a week's holiday by the sea every year. After my grandfather died we moved in with my grandmother and sold our house. It meant we now had a car and could hire a TV, but things like uniform when I went to grammar school were still a stretch.

JaneJudge

I think some people/MPs are proud of being working class which I think is different from being poor or living in poverty

But they often seek to go one lower than middle class to make them sound hard done by.
For example, the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, droned on about how she was bullied at school because she was poor, how parents didn't want their children to come and play at her house because it wasn't great. Apparently it turns out she wasn't exactly poverty-stricken as she makes out as a child.

Bridget park
It’s always with me, I wish it wasn’t…I’m a glass half empty.

Sorry, one lower than working class.
I should have proof read, but I'm watching Murder on the Orient Express!

Definitely not poor, but until we moved south and my parents bought their house, I thought we were poor before then, I didn’t realise they were saving, so we lived economically.
We moved, few carpets, but had parquet flooring in the hall, my Mum loved that floor and kept it so well.
Dad did have a car and in my very early teens their financial situation improved marginally and continued to do so.
I remember my Mum having screaming nightmares for a good while, I found out when I was a lot older it was financial pressures.

MartavTaurus

Sorry, one lower than working class.
I should have proof read, but I'm watching Murder on the Orient Express!

It’s interesting how happy many families were when mothers stayed at home, and little sign that the mo

There was very little money coming in and I remember mum crying when her purse was empty. Two up, two down, no bathroom, outside loo, but dad grew veg, fruit and salads so we ate healthily. Dad’s work then brought other privileges, phone, use of a car etc despite low pay. Second hand school uniform, few presents, no money for school trips, but always books, music, six weeks away with parents for Dad’s work in the summer.
Also very poor in the early days of my first marriage.

[sorry] little sign that the mothers resented it,

Everybody's standard of living was lower in the past. Almost without exception we lived in houses without central heating, went to bed in cold unheated bedrooms, had a narrower choice of food and smaller portions, far fewer clothes. I can remember having my first non-school uniform winter coat as a 13th birthday present - and my father was an army officer. We lived in army furnished uarters, or hirings until he left the army.

Holidays were hit and miss depending on where we were living but would be one or two weeks in modest seaside hotels in the UK. Although when I was in my late teens we were living in Germany and my father bought a caravan. Then we went to France, Denmark, Italy. But that was normal middle income living at the time.

Compared with how we live nowadays, all of us lived in comparative poverty.

Mum knitted us new jumpers and cardigans for Easter and Christmas but the majority of my clothes and shoes came from jumble sales. I was thrilled to get them too!

At primary school there was no uniform but I wore hand me down Posh Irish convent school uniform. My wealthier cousins outgrown stuff! 🤣

I was born in 1948, an only child. My Dad returned from WW2 to drive buses and Mum was the homemaker. I had a wonderfully happy childhood but money must have been tight. My parents saved for extras like a TV and a fridge. People were satisfied with a lot less than today's young parents and their children.
Compared to some I may have been poor, growing up where material things were concerned but in the important things in life like love, care and kindness I was a millionaire.

A loving, happy childhood.
Mum came from a very poor family, got married at 19 to my Dad, who was 45, and top of the legal profession (a Judge). My Dad’s first wife passed away, leaving one son, who was roughly the same age as my Mum.
My parents had 9 children. I was the youngest. Sadly I am the only one left now.

We were extremely poor even by the standards of the 50s and 60s. My mother’s three relationships produced five girls and three boys. The girls all worked hard, eventually having good careers and becoming comfortably middle class, the boys didn’t do quite so well, but better than our parents. Two of my siblings have died, one has remained single, and the remainder are all happily married.

My own children have only an inkling of how difficult my childhood was, and that suits me fine. ☺️

Outside toilets, sculleries, one coal fire and no bathroom were the norm,

This was certainly the case during my Liverpool childhood in the 1940s and 1950s. There was one income coming in because my father (a factory worker) considered it a disgrace for his wife to "have" to work. My parents constantly argued about money. When I went to secondary school my uniform was bought in the second hand market (affectionately known as Paddy's market) and there was a time when I had cardboard in the soles of my shoes.

Eventually when I was about 14 my father reluctantly allowed my mother to get a part time job in Vernon's pools (where they processed the weekly football scores). When I entered the civil service as a clerical officer at 16 it was considered a posh job. All my friends got jobs as shop assistants, hairdressing apprentices and secretaries. Staying on to do A levels was vetoed by my parents. Going to university (even though it was free in those days) would have been considered a romantic dream.

I was the first in my family to go to uni and I was in my early 40s before it happened. Only one other family member ever made it.

I never gave it a thought, and it certainly wouldn't have been dicussed in front of me.
I knew some people had bigger houses, or nicer clothes, but it never occured to me to me to wonder why.