mrssmith23
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2013
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- 1,281
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Times are really different now on many ways, but none of my aunts, uncle or mother realized they grew up dirt poor. They had everything they needed, not everything they wanted. The house my mom grew up in was built for the $5.00 box of nails. All the family gave my grandfather the lumber, he had to buy the nails and they all built the house.
A lot of money was spent on farm animals, but that was food, not pets. My grandfather had some hunting dogs too, just a couple and guard dogs, but the guard dogs weren't pets. The only pets were the horses.
My mom was the baby and they never made her do anything so she never learned the canning, sewing, churning butter, etc. Having a TV at a time wouldn't matter out there, couldn't get an antenna that would pick up a good signal.
The best thing, my granny had a party line and I LOVED it. They also had outhouses when I was really young and a "fancy" underground well because there wasn't city water. I thought the outhouses were the best thing ever!
I definitely agree. While I didn't have everything I wanted, I always had lights, water, and food. Even if my car was a when I got older, I still had one so I could contribute. It was acceptable. Times are different. I want more for my family, and I work very hard to give them that, but I also think back to simpler times.. When I wasn't paying $100 for cable and $160 for cell phones, $200 car payments, credit card bills, etc. I never really thought of us as poor growing up, I know now that we definitely weren't considered middle class. We still have family completely content in that lifestyle, and that's fine. I wanted to become more financially secure, with taking that on, it caused many other headaches. I may have more money now than I did before, but my stress level far increased too.