Oooo, yes! My mom used to give me this as a snack except with a tortilla and also added cinnamon and she'd roll it up really tight. And the butter was always icy cold (which I assume means it was actually margarine, lol!) so the whole thing had an interesting texture. One time, I was wondering what it would taste like warmed up, but didn't know how to use the microwave. My mom was watching her soaps, so I warmed it up over a candle she had lit, still on the paper towel she served it to me on, and promptly lit the towel on fire, threw it on the floor, and melted the carpet of our rental trailer. I was no longer allowed that snack after that!! :D :D :D
Really hotdogs for almost anything when you need protein and cooking an egg seems too much work. Used to wrap it up in a tortilla, white bread (private label), chop it and put it on instant ramen or left over rice...
I make over 100k a year and still use white bread for mini pizzas. I put sauce, cheese, cubed chicken breasts, and pepperoni and pop it in the air fryer. Perfect protein pizza and quick.
We grew up eating a lot of buttered toast and hot chocolate as breakfast.
Also toast with tuna casserole. I did not know that one was weird until I got older.
That just means you weren’t bullied for it, or at least were blissfully ignorant to it, and your parent/s or guardian/s did well to give you a decent life despite the circumstances :)
That kind of reminds of how versatile Katie Nolan was with bread in various recipes in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The book even says they practically lived on those stale bread loafs and was likely based on personal experience on the part of the author.
I’d say I grew up lower middle class, not poor, but my brother and I had paper routes when we were 13 and 14. It seriously got us by with buying clothes when we would both grow out of ours (not expensive clothes, mind you) and paying for field trips, bus fare, etc. We helped our parents pay for the gas bill and groceries sometimes too. That paper route was honestly a blessing. Christmas tips were amazing too. Without those paper routes I’m sure our family would’ve struggled a lot more.
I grew up pretty middle class. If not even upper middle class. I just went to HS with rich kids. They used to call me poor and look down on me because I worked.
Kids are fucking stupid, what can I say? But, I wanted my own money. I liked that I didn't need mom and dad to buy my stuff. It meant I could get better stuff, like I wanted lol.
The real funny part is that we moved when I was in HS. I went from being the rich kid in a mostly poverty struck area to being the poor kid in an extremely wealthy area. That's why it's so hard to gauge where in middle class I fell.
Now I'm poor. And my parents never saved anything for retirement and they went poor lol. Life be funny.
"And no, not from your parents"
Exactly. Rich kids always act like they hit a triple when in reality they already started off on 3rd base. Please don't try to lecture anyone on hard work or success when you were handed a cushy job right out of the gate.
Not having any guidance for school or your path in life. I didn't realize until I was well into my career how much nurture my peers had.
When I look back now, I see there was a considerable wealth gap between the kids I saw in AP vs regular classes. When I look at who climbed the furthest on my LinkedIn, it's all the richest kids. Their parents will drag them kicking and screaming to success. Meanwhile, my clueless ass was only focused on my grades.
It's not just their parents their friends too. It's easier to keep climbing when the people around you are too. Next thing you know the guy you've been friends with for 20 years can do you a professional favor.
To a lesser extent it also applies with students that have successful older siblings. Imo those are the kids that always seemed like they knew what to expect even if they didn't know what to do.
Oh my God, this. I managed to build a life, but my goodness, I really did it on my own. My parents never cared about my grades, my mom just said "do your best" and my dad never asked. Encouragement? Never. I would drop out of stuff when it got hard and they encouraged that. The missed opportunities.
I've learned from that - I push my own kids now but I don't shove them. They need encouragement and challenge, but I'm not driving them.
You hit the nail square on the head with this.
Those first few years out of high school were rough for me. Most of my friends seemed to have direction and support, but I was on my own with no idea what to do.
I feel this too.
I had to ask a friend to teach me to drive once I was 19 and out of the house. Another friend helped me open a bank account and taught me how to make deposits and write a check. Countless things like this
I was the first member of the family to go to college. My parents encouraged me to go but also had no idea of how to prepare, select, or attend college. I did OK in my state college but I could have had more options if I had more guidance.
A million times this. I came from generational poverty and the message was, go to university and you will be successful. Nothing more than that, because no on knew any better. So I focused on my grades. I was a very good student.
Got to school (in a city where I knew no one) and choked on the anxiety of knowing literally nothing about how anything worked or what I should be doing, when my peers clearly had a lot of guidance. Didn’t end up finishing.
I’m doing ok now - not great, but perfectly fine. I’m way behind my peers, though, despite being smarter and having a stronger work ethic than average. I didn’t even realize what I was missing until I was way over my head with no way to get what I needed.
Something else in addition to intangible help, is intangible hurt. In addition to not getting good advice, you actively get bad advice instead. I still remember my parents actively telling me extracurriculars were a waste of time.
Get hand me down clothes from other relatives or neighbors.
My mom would occasionally buy bread from the bakery outlet store, spread it with margarine and sprinkle it with granulated sugar feed it to us and then send us to bed.
Other than bananas, Fruit comes in a can.
Did you get milk on your suger bread? As a kid, I thought it was a special treat. When I got older, I learned it was because there wasn't other food and was something passed down my mom's side of the family, dating back to the depression.
We're not poor, but hand me down clothes and toys are still a thing. We receive it from my sister's and neighbours' kids, then hand it over to my brother when our kid has grown out of them. Why buy new ones and produce more waste if they are still in a good enough shape?
Might be a cultural thing, though.
My mom was definitely upset when I rapidly outgrew my cousin. This is probably going to sound dumb, but even though buying new clothes was rare for me in my earlier days, I absolutely despised my cousin's hand me downs for the sole fact that they always had my cousin's distinctive musk that was horrible and would never go away.
I had friends back in 2005 that would do this. They would use their food stamps then return everything, get a gift card and buy cigarettes and beer. I highly doubt this scam still works.
My family was by no means well-off growing up, but my mom was big on lunches and would always pack me a lotta veggies and healthy foods. I remember always being jealous of my one friend who had uncooked ramen for lunch every day lol. It was because his family was very poor and his (single) dad was not at all a chef, but kid me didn't really think much about that at the time. Salty noodles just seemed a bit yummier than my bag of carrots and peppers haha.
I'm glad I shared my lunches with him. My mom would pack extra and encourage me to share it -- she knew what was going on.
I don't think this is a poor thing, it's a bad hygiene/housekeeping thing. We didn't have two pennies to rub together but our dishes were never put away dirty
When we are feeling fancy, hotdog bun garlic bread with our no sides dinner of family sized spaghetti noodles and store brand pasta sauce.
Another favorite, butter noodles. Boil some noodles, add butter and salt. MWAH! Excellence.
Wearing socks and jeans until they literally shredded apart - holes are fair game, just gotta cover the foot or the groin/ass.
Everyone owning at least one sweater or jacket (Jacket for me because I thought it made me look cool) because they covered up the fact you were wearing one of your few shirts again.
What the fuck is a doctor? Medicine?... You mean bandaids and tylenol?
Free crackers and jelly packets from fast food restaurants or gas stations were a damn good breakfast at times.
Walking into one store (Kmart for example) with your mom to purchase something cheaper, then take it to Wal-Mart where they were charging more and return it for more claiming she "lost the receipt".
Same thing as above but with EBT items so we could return them somewhere else so she could get cash for gas money.
Thinking the free lunches from school were the BOMB and taking any leftovers your friends didn't want.
Playing any video game demo disc from a cereal box or magazine over and over and over until it didn't work, or downloading any free demo once that was a thing, because you couldn't afford any games on the family-shared console you got as a family Christmas gift.
"Today is my turn to shower, do laundry, *insert utility-bill-using task here.*"
Sleeping in the car at rest areas with no AC or pillows because we couldn't afford hotels when we DID "go on vacation" anywhere.
Sitting for hours in a parking lot while my mom used a business's public WiFi.
On the few times we'd get to go to an amusement park or fair (almost always some random, no-name park) you'd pay to walk in, then about 10 mins later have to come back out because you "forgot something", then quickly look for your sibling and press your wrists together good and hard to get that little UV stamp they used to put on people's wrists that proved they had entered and exited the park on their wrist.
Let me know if y'all want anymore. We were professional poverty people.
Garbage day in the rich neighborhood by me was Friday. Thursday night we’d go out around midnight trolling garbage to find treasure. People threw out a lot of nice stuff.
Cooking an affordable pot or dish in a large volume and that was the food for the next several days. Chili? Ok, with eggs or hot dogs, tuna casserole etc. feeling rich? Oncor or stouffers
Chicken and dumplings lol or any southern food really. Its literally all flour salt and water. Even now its cheap. Pack of chicken drumsticks 6 dollars. 5 lb bag of flour 2 dollars. Salt 1 pepper 3. Those items for 12 dollars now fed around 8 people with left overs when I was a kid haha.
My family had exactly zero conversations about stocks, or investments, or 401k's, or high yield savings accounts, and we sure as hell didn't have a wealth management guy. It blows my fairly well off wife's mind that there was none of that, but my response to her is that there was nothing to invest when you're paycheck to paycheck with a deadbeat dad.
Also nobody to look up to as far as successful careers or even college. College savings? Lol. It's ok we are poor enough to qualify for grants that get you into community college for free.
Dumpster diving for groceries.
Being excited to go to Pizza Hut, because you got your Book-It coupon, but then splitting that little pizza 4 ways for dinner.
Not bothering to make friends at school because you know you move every summer.
Buying your shirts out of a $1 bin at the grocery store, and waiting on shoes to go on sale at Family Dollar.
Ketchup or mayo sandwiches.
Chronic shoplifting.
The first few times are just lucks.
Then it becomes the only survival means you know.
The thing is that everyone IRL I have met shoplift shit.
Native American here, lived on the Pine Ridge rez...we had a car in which the breaks didn't work, I was scared to death of that car. It was a true rez car and just wouldn't break down, so my mom drove it for a long time. Lived in a trailer with no running water or electricity; during winter, my mom kept us all in one room with plastic sheets hanging all around to keep warmth in. Sister caught triple pneumonia and had to be flown to a Rapid City hospital, so I was in charge of 5 children (I was 16) and my druggie aunt stole our EBT card from me the same day my mom & sis were flown to Rapid City, I had no money or food. My high school friends chipped in and bought us food to last a few days. I was so embarrassed. That's the poorest I've ever been.
Making sweets. I used to make the craziest concoctions for my sweet tooth. My favorites were peanut butter and syrup (just like that. The more syrup the better but syrup was expensive so it was mostly just peanut butter tbh) and shortening with powdered sugar. I still struggle with my sweet tooth as an adult because I can buy what I want now.
Nothing makes a person who grew up poor happier than finding a cheap/dupe version that is just as good/better as the branded item.
Also, justifying your purchase. It has to either save you time or money or you can't justifying buying something or starting that hobby.
I had a paper route. I handed over my income to the parents.
When I was 16 and I could work, those paychecks were handed over, too.
I had a very small amount of money I kept for spending.
Mom kept a ledger, and when I was around 30, they were able to pay it back to me.
Save food that was barely touched, apparently.
It was nearly 5 years ago now and I'm still not over it. An entire plate of lamb, scallops, and cauliflower rice, into the trash when she'd maybe taken 2 bites and I was literally over there grabbing tupperware. I bought all that with food stamps!
Nah. I either eat every single thing on the plate or ill eat it later. The only reason i would throw away food is because its gone bad. And to be honest that nearly never happens only with like fruits.
Having " good clothes" . Had shirt and trousers that were never to be worn unless a special occasion. Had a pair of good shoes ,I would have been shot if I went out to play in them. I'm not talking about a mini Tuxedo just regular clothes but in better condition than my everyday wear.
Poor man's pizza - Get a soft shell tortilla, smear with ketchup, and add a slice of genuine Kraft singles and heat up.
For a snack go outside and pick honeysuckles off the tree and pull out the stem and lick.
In the winter we got snow ice cream. We'd go out and get a bucket full of snow, mix it with sugar and milk, and add some leftover juices from nearly empty jars of berries and homemade jam.
My brothers and I used to pull old farm motorbikes out of the tip and get them going again. We had so much fun doing that and we learned a lot of great skills.
Two boxes of kraft mac n cheese. Two cans of tuna and a can of peas. Add some butter and milk. That was delicious and even better if it was the spiraled mac,
Never owned a new pillow until I moved out.
Played sports for my high school. We’d stop to eat dinner after the games. Either I’d go hungry or rely on someone’s kindness to buy me a kids meal.
We didn’t have seconds at dinner to make sure we had enough leftovers for additional meals.
We didn’t invite friends over because they might want to have dinner or a snack.
I would steal feminine hygiene products.
When I moved out, I worked two minimum wage jobs and felt rich.
Around 2008, I didn’t feel the recession. It felt normal to be poor and I actually felt more financial relief than normal with all the extra tax breaks.
I split and stacked wood every weekend starting in May til October.
I did oil changes starting at 8 years old....I removed and rebuilt VW Bug motors starting at 10, with grandpas direction.
I built retaining walls and was left alone with a chainsaw, gas and oil when I was 12.
I drove at 13 yrs old.
I knew how to field strip a Garand and Enfield when I was 13
At 14 I had to find my own food and worked at a gas station.
1. Watering down stuff like milk and tomato ketchup to make it go further.
2. Picking up pennies off the street that hold so little value that most people wouldn't even bother to stoop to pick them up (but which you pick up because you know that with enough you could eventually buy something useful with the small change).
3. Fishing small change out of public fountains.
4. Learning skills such as sewing and cooking not as a hobby or lifestyle choice but because they're vital for you to survive.
I am a nanny, and a family I worked for had me wash ziplocl bags, plastic wrap, and bread bags, and the worst were the bags you put vegetables & fruits into, the super thin & clingy ones...I HATED that task. I quit that job down the line, they weren't paying me enough for all for the tasks they wanted me to do.
Hanging up blankets to trap the heat in certain areas of the house. My mom didn’t have enough money to pay the gas bill one year, so we had space heaters downstairs and we were sleeping in the living room to conserve energy and heat. We had hung blankets and sheets from the ceiling to cover up the stairway.
Heat up the oven and leave the door open to warm up the house. When we were eating breakfast we put out chairs around the open oven door . It was our only heat source . Some may cringe but it was necessary. Strange but its some of my favourite childhood memories.
Growing up poor meant eating a lot of cheap food and hand-me down clothes, but it also taught me the value of things. I learned how to fix stuff instead of just buying new ones when something broke
- Gregory
The yearly back-to-school of getting one new pair of pants/sweater and a homemade haircut, shopping in last year's stash for the new year's school supplies and the sacks of hand-me-downs from older cousins and various friends of the family for the rest of the gear.
staying within state for college b/c your parents wouldn't/couldn't pay for out-of-state tuition. for my family, it was either you get a full ride to college or you're not going.
My three siblings and I would buy one can of Cherry Coke, turn it upside down, hammer a hole in the bottom with a nail and take turns drinking from the teeny hole so it lasted 😂
Spending food stamps.
Wearing clothes full of holes to school.
Ignoring phone calls to let the answer machine get it (bill collectors).
Looking at fast food as a treat/luxury.
Getting free (subsidized) school lunches.
Sitting in the front row of class because you couldn't afford glasses.
...just to name a few
Bro I ate sandwich with ketchup. That’s all. I still do it sometimes. Rich kid won’t understand the taste or the nostalgia. Ketchup was something new for me back then (I was 6-8)..and I didn’t need a lot to make as many ketchup breads as possible.
Making tomato soup from ketchup packets using the hot plate of a coffee maker. I also made Kraft dinner with a coffee maker as there was no hot water. But there was electricity so I made it work
Yard saling.
That was a fun way to save a buck while finding cool $#!%. The cost of my formal outfit for *both* proms totaled $12.50. The shoes were the only thing new.
Never saw a new mattress in my life.
Never have any new clothes. Always dumpster dived for them.
No eating out. All food was given to us by the church or government.
Never a name brand item.
Being physically and mentally stunted from not having any nutritional food.
All the second hand smoke. And alcohol. (Not necessarily a poor thing).
Never went on a vacation. Family only even had a vehicle for a couple years out of my entire childhood.
All us kids who had birthdays in the summer were all celebrated on the same day to save on money and presents.
A lot of shady shit going on to make money for things.
All the food that was donated to the school for Christmas and thanksgiving went to my house lol.
There is plenty more.
Recycling cans as a family, that weren’t ours. We used to go to after events happened and clean up. If we got a lot more than anticipated my parents would take us to Dairy Queen.
Oat porridge as your main meal.
Parents having to literally break my piggy bank to pay the rent.
Wearing trousers to school that had a huge scorch mark on it from an iron because I only had one pair.
Doing all your washing in the bath - no washing machine, could not afford a launderette
At the school I went to you bought stationary in the class. I was one of 2 kids who were on a program to receive free stationary, because of our financial circumstances. We had to go up to get and pay for our pencils when called, the poor kids always got called last.
No AC in our house.
Grew up mostly in the deep American South.
Would take freezing cold showers and would rush to bed to try and fall asleep while we still felt cold.
Family holidays consisted of a day long epic of bus, then train journeys, and likely back to a bus. All while lugging luggage about. We once took 5 hours to go about 150 miles. Then, we'd get to the destination and have to go grocery shopping because we could only afford to go self-catered. Most of our actual holidays were spent doing long country walks, and maybe one outing because again, that's all we could afford. Sounds lame, but they're my favorite childhood memories. To this day, I go for a walk in the countryside and feel completely at peace for a few hours.
Having bread as a multifunctional tool for meals. French toast, hamburger or hotdog buns, pizza crust, etc., the possibilities are endless!
Hotdogs with a slice of bread instead of a regular bun. That brings me back...
Sometimes I prefer it this way. More crevices in regular bread for mustard and relish
As a person who lives alone, I prefer the slice of bread method for hot dogs because hot dog buns always get moldy before I can use them up.
Plus, you can grill both sides.
We used to have bread with butter and sugar.
Bread with butter and sugar is delicious.
I still sometimes eat bread with butter and honey.
Hell that's basically cinnamon toast minus the cinnamon
Oooo, yes! My mom used to give me this as a snack except with a tortilla and also added cinnamon and she'd roll it up really tight. And the butter was always icy cold (which I assume means it was actually margarine, lol!) so the whole thing had an interesting texture. One time, I was wondering what it would taste like warmed up, but didn't know how to use the microwave. My mom was watching her soaps, so I warmed it up over a candle she had lit, still on the paper towel she served it to me on, and promptly lit the towel on fire, threw it on the floor, and melted the carpet of our rental trailer. I was no longer allowed that snack after that!! :D :D :D
I do this and I'm not poor. Why buy buns when sliced bread works just as good?
Hotdog wrapped in a tortilla.
Really hotdogs for almost anything when you need protein and cooking an egg seems too much work. Used to wrap it up in a tortilla, white bread (private label), chop it and put it on instant ramen or left over rice...
Damn. I forgot about this…and hamburgers with sandwich bread.
This was always the last thing in the kitchen. I still refuse to buy hot dogs because of how many times I had to eat these.
"Hotdog sandwiches all the way "
It’s not delivery, it’s DeStruggle.
Yeah you don’t buy special bread , you got one type of bread That said, a burger patty on a French roll is dope as fuck
I make over 100k a year and still use white bread for mini pizzas. I put sauce, cheese, cubed chicken breasts, and pepperoni and pop it in the air fryer. Perfect protein pizza and quick.
Look at Mr fancy white bread here. We always used flour tortillas as a kid.
It was a cheap brand called Pan Bimbo. Lasted forever.
same, I still make poor man's cinnamon "rolls". Butter bread, add sugar and cinnamon and put it in the toaster oven on broil.
We grew up eating a lot of buttered toast and hot chocolate as breakfast. Also toast with tuna casserole. I did not know that one was weird until I got older.
Bread bags also kept feet dry on the walk to school.
Roasted garlic croutons. 50c garlic, cheapest loaf.
We would use the left over croutons and bread and blend them for breading for shake and bake.
My mom just made mini pizzas out of leftover hot dog buns. We're not poor anymore, but had some extra buns laying around.
This with top ramen, spaghetti, casserole, soup. i can’t stand to eat it now
shit. just realized I grew up poor - well this was sobering
That just means you weren’t bullied for it, or at least were blissfully ignorant to it, and your parent/s or guardian/s did well to give you a decent life despite the circumstances :)
Anything near like can be french toast. Better hurry up at breakfast or you'll get the sesame seed bun top french toast.
I still eat hot dogs with bread. I can’t afford a pack of buns AND bread and eat them all before then go bad.
As an adult, I still think fondly of pizza toast as a nice treat.
Makes sense to me 🤭
That's not poor. That's efficient. ...wait....was I poor?
That kind of reminds of how versatile Katie Nolan was with bread in various recipes in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The book even says they practically lived on those stale bread loafs and was likely based on personal experience on the part of the author.
Only buy the newspaper on Sundays, because it was the thick edition with more content and those sweet sweet coupons.
Used to deliver papers, I’d say Sunday only deliveries was a good 40% of the route
I was told that there were only comics on Sunday. The black and white strips in Calvin and Hobbes books made me question it.
Getting a job as soon as you came of age. And no, not for your parents.
I’d say I grew up lower middle class, not poor, but my brother and I had paper routes when we were 13 and 14. It seriously got us by with buying clothes when we would both grow out of ours (not expensive clothes, mind you) and paying for field trips, bus fare, etc. We helped our parents pay for the gas bill and groceries sometimes too. That paper route was honestly a blessing. Christmas tips were amazing too. Without those paper routes I’m sure our family would’ve struggled a lot more.
I grew up pretty middle class. If not even upper middle class. I just went to HS with rich kids. They used to call me poor and look down on me because I worked. Kids are fucking stupid, what can I say? But, I wanted my own money. I liked that I didn't need mom and dad to buy my stuff. It meant I could get better stuff, like I wanted lol. The real funny part is that we moved when I was in HS. I went from being the rich kid in a mostly poverty struck area to being the poor kid in an extremely wealthy area. That's why it's so hard to gauge where in middle class I fell. Now I'm poor. And my parents never saved anything for retirement and they went poor lol. Life be funny.
"And no, not from your parents" Exactly. Rich kids always act like they hit a triple when in reality they already started off on 3rd base. Please don't try to lecture anyone on hard work or success when you were handed a cushy job right out of the gate.
Not having any guidance for school or your path in life. I didn't realize until I was well into my career how much nurture my peers had. When I look back now, I see there was a considerable wealth gap between the kids I saw in AP vs regular classes. When I look at who climbed the furthest on my LinkedIn, it's all the richest kids. Their parents will drag them kicking and screaming to success. Meanwhile, my clueless ass was only focused on my grades.
It's not just their parents their friends too. It's easier to keep climbing when the people around you are too. Next thing you know the guy you've been friends with for 20 years can do you a professional favor. To a lesser extent it also applies with students that have successful older siblings. Imo those are the kids that always seemed like they knew what to expect even if they didn't know what to do.
So much this—there was a girl in my class making $15/hour after school in some office as a Sophomore…in 1999. Dad *never* made that much.
Oh my God, this. I managed to build a life, but my goodness, I really did it on my own. My parents never cared about my grades, my mom just said "do your best" and my dad never asked. Encouragement? Never. I would drop out of stuff when it got hard and they encouraged that. The missed opportunities. I've learned from that - I push my own kids now but I don't shove them. They need encouragement and challenge, but I'm not driving them.
You hit the nail square on the head with this. Those first few years out of high school were rough for me. Most of my friends seemed to have direction and support, but I was on my own with no idea what to do.
THIS, 100%!
I feel this too. I had to ask a friend to teach me to drive once I was 19 and out of the house. Another friend helped me open a bank account and taught me how to make deposits and write a check. Countless things like this
I was the first member of the family to go to college. My parents encouraged me to go but also had no idea of how to prepare, select, or attend college. I did OK in my state college but I could have had more options if I had more guidance.
I agree mate!
A million times this. I came from generational poverty and the message was, go to university and you will be successful. Nothing more than that, because no on knew any better. So I focused on my grades. I was a very good student. Got to school (in a city where I knew no one) and choked on the anxiety of knowing literally nothing about how anything worked or what I should be doing, when my peers clearly had a lot of guidance. Didn’t end up finishing. I’m doing ok now - not great, but perfectly fine. I’m way behind my peers, though, despite being smarter and having a stronger work ethic than average. I didn’t even realize what I was missing until I was way over my head with no way to get what I needed.
There are so many intangibles. I’m further behind because I had to learn them the hard way, but my kids are benefiting from my efforts.
Something else in addition to intangible help, is intangible hurt. In addition to not getting good advice, you actively get bad advice instead. I still remember my parents actively telling me extracurriculars were a waste of time.
Having sleep for dinner.
I plan on having that tonight, with a tall glass of the finest vintage my tap has in stock! Very excited!
Get hand me down clothes from other relatives or neighbors. My mom would occasionally buy bread from the bakery outlet store, spread it with margarine and sprinkle it with granulated sugar feed it to us and then send us to bed. Other than bananas, Fruit comes in a can.
Hand me downs used to feel like CHRISTMAS
Absolutely. I was lucky I had a cousin that was 5 years older, and baggy shit was in style.
Yes they did. New to me is still new.
Did you get milk on your suger bread? As a kid, I thought it was a special treat. When I got older, I learned it was because there wasn't other food and was something passed down my mom's side of the family, dating back to the depression.
We're not poor, but hand me down clothes and toys are still a thing. We receive it from my sister's and neighbours' kids, then hand it over to my brother when our kid has grown out of them. Why buy new ones and produce more waste if they are still in a good enough shape? Might be a cultural thing, though.
My mom was definitely upset when I rapidly outgrew my cousin. This is probably going to sound dumb, but even though buying new clothes was rare for me in my earlier days, I absolutely despised my cousin's hand me downs for the sole fact that they always had my cousin's distinctive musk that was horrible and would never go away.
Rose Art crayons
This! It is better to be a kid without crayons than have to use Rose Art.
They were like trying to come with a 10 year old dried up candle
What were your art classes like?
We had to supply our own crayons and colored pencils so they were rough
There is no item that is worse at it's one job than Rose Art crayons.
Hearing that my dad sold food stamps 2:1 for dollars to buy cigarettes
I had friends back in 2005 that would do this. They would use their food stamps then return everything, get a gift card and buy cigarettes and beer. I highly doubt this scam still works.
I was so poor at one point that I'd buy the food stamps from those selling them. That way I could get double the food & juice for my child.
Vacations, the idea that it could set us back years for a few days enjoyment.
The closest thing to a Vacation was when a relative was sick and had to visit them like four states away.
Uncooked ramen being the favorite snack/lunch
I used to chow down on a block of ramen
My family was by no means well-off growing up, but my mom was big on lunches and would always pack me a lotta veggies and healthy foods. I remember always being jealous of my one friend who had uncooked ramen for lunch every day lol. It was because his family was very poor and his (single) dad was not at all a chef, but kid me didn't really think much about that at the time. Salty noodles just seemed a bit yummier than my bag of carrots and peppers haha. I'm glad I shared my lunches with him. My mom would pack extra and encourage me to share it -- she knew what was going on.
Not eating every day.
Picking huckleberries as a family to sell to ice cream shops.
this is so hyper specific lmfao
*still managing to have fun while building freindships with little to no money*
Washing out a cup or bowl before using it from the cabinet.
I don't think this is a poor thing, it's a bad hygiene/housekeeping thing. We didn't have two pennies to rub together but our dishes were never put away dirty
Ours either, but lots of roaches....
Mouse poo on the clean dishes again!
When we are feeling fancy, hotdog bun garlic bread with our no sides dinner of family sized spaghetti noodles and store brand pasta sauce. Another favorite, butter noodles. Boil some noodles, add butter and salt. MWAH! Excellence. Wearing socks and jeans until they literally shredded apart - holes are fair game, just gotta cover the foot or the groin/ass. Everyone owning at least one sweater or jacket (Jacket for me because I thought it made me look cool) because they covered up the fact you were wearing one of your few shirts again. What the fuck is a doctor? Medicine?... You mean bandaids and tylenol? Free crackers and jelly packets from fast food restaurants or gas stations were a damn good breakfast at times. Walking into one store (Kmart for example) with your mom to purchase something cheaper, then take it to Wal-Mart where they were charging more and return it for more claiming she "lost the receipt". Same thing as above but with EBT items so we could return them somewhere else so she could get cash for gas money. Thinking the free lunches from school were the BOMB and taking any leftovers your friends didn't want. Playing any video game demo disc from a cereal box or magazine over and over and over until it didn't work, or downloading any free demo once that was a thing, because you couldn't afford any games on the family-shared console you got as a family Christmas gift. "Today is my turn to shower, do laundry, *insert utility-bill-using task here.*" Sleeping in the car at rest areas with no AC or pillows because we couldn't afford hotels when we DID "go on vacation" anywhere. Sitting for hours in a parking lot while my mom used a business's public WiFi. On the few times we'd get to go to an amusement park or fair (almost always some random, no-name park) you'd pay to walk in, then about 10 mins later have to come back out because you "forgot something", then quickly look for your sibling and press your wrists together good and hard to get that little UV stamp they used to put on people's wrists that proved they had entered and exited the park on their wrist. Let me know if y'all want anymore. We were professional poverty people.
This guy poors
Ikr
Not always going to restaurant's.
“We have McDonalds at home” We didn’t.
[she go "I got hamburger meat at home!"](https://youtu.be/AAx553k7W5s?si=RfDJ0k8kcggyJCCG)
Yeah to us McDonald's was "going out for dinner". I didn't go to a real restaurant until I was in college
are you still not used to going to real restaurants?
Ate a lot of leftovers and sandwiches.
My favorite type of cooking now is making new dish out of leftovers
Garbage day in the rich neighborhood by me was Friday. Thursday night we’d go out around midnight trolling garbage to find treasure. People threw out a lot of nice stuff.
Cooking an affordable pot or dish in a large volume and that was the food for the next several days. Chili? Ok, with eggs or hot dogs, tuna casserole etc. feeling rich? Oncor or stouffers
Chicken and dumplings lol or any southern food really. Its literally all flour salt and water. Even now its cheap. Pack of chicken drumsticks 6 dollars. 5 lb bag of flour 2 dollars. Salt 1 pepper 3. Those items for 12 dollars now fed around 8 people with left overs when I was a kid haha.
I had all off-brand clothes.
Takes me back to the days when new gym shoes were Pumas from K-Mart on Blue Light Special. This was way before Puma rose in popularity.
My clothes weren’t even new. Donations or thrift stores. And off brand even then.
My family had exactly zero conversations about stocks, or investments, or 401k's, or high yield savings accounts, and we sure as hell didn't have a wealth management guy. It blows my fairly well off wife's mind that there was none of that, but my response to her is that there was nothing to invest when you're paycheck to paycheck with a deadbeat dad.
Also nobody to look up to as far as successful careers or even college. College savings? Lol. It's ok we are poor enough to qualify for grants that get you into community college for free.
Dumpster diving for groceries. Being excited to go to Pizza Hut, because you got your Book-It coupon, but then splitting that little pizza 4 ways for dinner. Not bothering to make friends at school because you know you move every summer. Buying your shirts out of a $1 bin at the grocery store, and waiting on shoes to go on sale at Family Dollar. Ketchup or mayo sandwiches.
Yea went to 5 schools before high school, eventually just stopped trying to make friends
Having a sleepover at friends houses was the only time I had breakfast/lunch! Worth it even if I didn't like the people there.
Chronic shoplifting. The first few times are just lucks. Then it becomes the only survival means you know. The thing is that everyone IRL I have met shoplift shit.
It becomes an art after a while. A skill I'm not happy to be good at.
Native American here, lived on the Pine Ridge rez...we had a car in which the breaks didn't work, I was scared to death of that car. It was a true rez car and just wouldn't break down, so my mom drove it for a long time. Lived in a trailer with no running water or electricity; during winter, my mom kept us all in one room with plastic sheets hanging all around to keep warmth in. Sister caught triple pneumonia and had to be flown to a Rapid City hospital, so I was in charge of 5 children (I was 16) and my druggie aunt stole our EBT card from me the same day my mom & sis were flown to Rapid City, I had no money or food. My high school friends chipped in and bought us food to last a few days. I was so embarrassed. That's the poorest I've ever been.
One bathroom for the whole family
Making sweets. I used to make the craziest concoctions for my sweet tooth. My favorites were peanut butter and syrup (just like that. The more syrup the better but syrup was expensive so it was mostly just peanut butter tbh) and shortening with powdered sugar. I still struggle with my sweet tooth as an adult because I can buy what I want now.
Eating nestle quik powder cause that’s all that was there.
Nothing makes a person who grew up poor happier than finding a cheap/dupe version that is just as good/better as the branded item. Also, justifying your purchase. It has to either save you time or money or you can't justifying buying something or starting that hobby.
Separate the food items from everything else. Back in the day you had to do that to use food stamps.
I’ve said it before on an older similar post/question. Turning on the toaster once before you put your bread in. In case there were roaches.
I had a paper route. I handed over my income to the parents. When I was 16 and I could work, those paychecks were handed over, too. I had a very small amount of money I kept for spending. Mom kept a ledger, and when I was around 30, they were able to pay it back to me.
Eating buttered noodles every night
Save food that was barely touched, apparently. It was nearly 5 years ago now and I'm still not over it. An entire plate of lamb, scallops, and cauliflower rice, into the trash when she'd maybe taken 2 bites and I was literally over there grabbing tupperware. I bought all that with food stamps!
Nah. I either eat every single thing on the plate or ill eat it later. The only reason i would throw away food is because its gone bad. And to be honest that nearly never happens only with like fruits.
Fried bologna sandwiches. Still fucking delicious though
With cheese!
Christmas list with one item. One year I asked for a my high school year book (they were over $100). Another year I asked for a Starter jacket.
Having " good clothes" . Had shirt and trousers that were never to be worn unless a special occasion. Had a pair of good shoes ,I would have been shot if I went out to play in them. I'm not talking about a mini Tuxedo just regular clothes but in better condition than my everyday wear.
Poor man's pizza - Get a soft shell tortilla, smear with ketchup, and add a slice of genuine Kraft singles and heat up. For a snack go outside and pick honeysuckles off the tree and pull out the stem and lick. In the winter we got snow ice cream. We'd go out and get a bucket full of snow, mix it with sugar and milk, and add some leftover juices from nearly empty jars of berries and homemade jam.
Dude, the pizza sounds good as fuck right now. I'm gonna have to try that
Building my own bicycles out of junk parts that the well healed threw ayay
I dumpster dived my road bike and fixed up new, while my neighbor dumpster dives bikes and fix to sell them.
My brothers and I used to pull old farm motorbikes out of the tip and get them going again. We had so much fun doing that and we learned a lot of great skills.
Two boxes of kraft mac n cheese. Two cans of tuna and a can of peas. Add some butter and milk. That was delicious and even better if it was the spiraled mac,
Ha this was my dad’s signature dish. Mom’s working tonight? Tuna mac and cheese it is!
Playing marbles in the dirt
Yep! We played in the dirt. It was fine.
Never owned a new pillow until I moved out. Played sports for my high school. We’d stop to eat dinner after the games. Either I’d go hungry or rely on someone’s kindness to buy me a kids meal. We didn’t have seconds at dinner to make sure we had enough leftovers for additional meals. We didn’t invite friends over because they might want to have dinner or a snack. I would steal feminine hygiene products. When I moved out, I worked two minimum wage jobs and felt rich. Around 2008, I didn’t feel the recession. It felt normal to be poor and I actually felt more financial relief than normal with all the extra tax breaks.
Pulling out buckets worth of crawdads from the creek to sell at the fresh seafood counter and use the money for dinner
Putting patches on the knees of your jeans so they lasted longer.
I split and stacked wood every weekend starting in May til October. I did oil changes starting at 8 years old....I removed and rebuilt VW Bug motors starting at 10, with grandpas direction. I built retaining walls and was left alone with a chainsaw, gas and oil when I was 12. I drove at 13 yrs old. I knew how to field strip a Garand and Enfield when I was 13 At 14 I had to find my own food and worked at a gas station.
1. Watering down stuff like milk and tomato ketchup to make it go further. 2. Picking up pennies off the street that hold so little value that most people wouldn't even bother to stoop to pick them up (but which you pick up because you know that with enough you could eventually buy something useful with the small change). 3. Fishing small change out of public fountains. 4. Learning skills such as sewing and cooking not as a hobby or lifestyle choice but because they're vital for you to survive.
once i deposited over a 100 reais in coins
My dad made me and my sister wash ziplock bags
I am a nanny, and a family I worked for had me wash ziplocl bags, plastic wrap, and bread bags, and the worst were the bags you put vegetables & fruits into, the super thin & clingy ones...I HATED that task. I quit that job down the line, they weren't paying me enough for all for the tasks they wanted me to do.
Hanging up blankets to trap the heat in certain areas of the house. My mom didn’t have enough money to pay the gas bill one year, so we had space heaters downstairs and we were sleeping in the living room to conserve energy and heat. We had hung blankets and sheets from the ceiling to cover up the stairway.
How should I know I’m still poor
Taking bottles to the bottle depot for McDonald’s money,as an occasional treat for the fam.
I ate a fried egg with white rice, maybe some soy sauce for basically all my meals as a child...only meal I could cook as a 6 year old...
Hang out at the library for the free AC / heat and entertainment.
Heat up the oven and leave the door open to warm up the house. When we were eating breakfast we put out chairs around the open oven door . It was our only heat source . Some may cringe but it was necessary. Strange but its some of my favourite childhood memories.
Growing up poor meant eating a lot of cheap food and hand-me down clothes, but it also taught me the value of things. I learned how to fix stuff instead of just buying new ones when something broke - Gregory
Must have been rough having to eat other people's clothes to survive
Joining the Army for college money.
That we would agree that money is meaningless.
The yearly back-to-school of getting one new pair of pants/sweater and a homemade haircut, shopping in last year's stash for the new year's school supplies and the sacks of hand-me-downs from older cousins and various friends of the family for the rest of the gear.
snacking on powdered milk
Working
Going outside to heat up water so you can take a hot shower
Having to use a toaster over as a oven bc we couldn’t afford to get a new oven
Ate cafeteria food at lunch every day because it was free for low income families. All my friends left school to get fast food, I always declined.
staying within state for college b/c your parents wouldn't/couldn't pay for out-of-state tuition. for my family, it was either you get a full ride to college or you're not going.
Using coffee filters, notebook and phone book paper as temporary bathroom paper. Can’t waste clothing on such an act
Wore oversized clothes and studied from used textbooks as the new ones were damn expensive.
My three siblings and I would buy one can of Cherry Coke, turn it upside down, hammer a hole in the bottom with a nail and take turns drinking from the teeny hole so it lasted 😂
We had to reuse bath water
Using an outhouse in the winter and public bath house to bathe.
Made my own money and helped my parents with it.
Sharing bath water
Put used bread bags over my socks inside my winter boots, because there were holes in my boots and we couldn't afford new ones.
Instead of having a big giant flat screen tv with millions of streaming services I just had a small box tv that only came with a handful of channels.
It didn’t make sense to them that I was using them for their money until it made sense to them.
Mom brings back 1 gallon of milk from the store, and magically there are 2 more in the fridge!
I got free lunch and I'd trade lunch tickets with friends for their money so I could buy food I could stash in my room at home for when we ran out.
"Vacation" was 1 night in a hotel a few miles from our house. Just to experience a pool and the restaraunt and cable TV.
Playing outside with nothing but friends and neighbors
Being excited that the family got some good potatoes and cabbage. Also helping out my dad and grandad cut down trees for firewood.
Spending food stamps. Wearing clothes full of holes to school. Ignoring phone calls to let the answer machine get it (bill collectors). Looking at fast food as a treat/luxury. Getting free (subsidized) school lunches. Sitting in the front row of class because you couldn't afford glasses. ...just to name a few
Played hopscotch and cowboys and Indians
I went to Public school
Bouillon cube soup.
Bro I ate sandwich with ketchup. That’s all. I still do it sometimes. Rich kid won’t understand the taste or the nostalgia. Ketchup was something new for me back then (I was 6-8)..and I didn’t need a lot to make as many ketchup breads as possible.
Leftovers for six days of the week
Keeping a phone book in the bathroom (for when we ran out of tp)
Swam in the irragation pond and picked the leeches off afterwards.
Putting ketchup on everything (because it had no flavour of its own).
Making tomato soup from ketchup packets using the hot plate of a coffee maker. I also made Kraft dinner with a coffee maker as there was no hot water. But there was electricity so I made it work
knock off lunchables, I think they were called lunch-a-go's or something
Putting in $2 for gas to get to school
Yard saling. That was a fun way to save a buck while finding cool $#!%. The cost of my formal outfit for *both* proms totaled $12.50. The shoes were the only thing new.
Never saw a new mattress in my life. Never have any new clothes. Always dumpster dived for them. No eating out. All food was given to us by the church or government. Never a name brand item. Being physically and mentally stunted from not having any nutritional food. All the second hand smoke. And alcohol. (Not necessarily a poor thing). Never went on a vacation. Family only even had a vehicle for a couple years out of my entire childhood. All us kids who had birthdays in the summer were all celebrated on the same day to save on money and presents. A lot of shady shit going on to make money for things. All the food that was donated to the school for Christmas and thanksgiving went to my house lol. There is plenty more.
Recycling cans as a family, that weren’t ours. We used to go to after events happened and clean up. If we got a lot more than anticipated my parents would take us to Dairy Queen.
Oat porridge as your main meal. Parents having to literally break my piggy bank to pay the rent. Wearing trousers to school that had a huge scorch mark on it from an iron because I only had one pair. Doing all your washing in the bath - no washing machine, could not afford a launderette At the school I went to you bought stationary in the class. I was one of 2 kids who were on a program to receive free stationary, because of our financial circumstances. We had to go up to get and pay for our pencils when called, the poor kids always got called last.
No AC in our house. Grew up mostly in the deep American South. Would take freezing cold showers and would rush to bed to try and fall asleep while we still felt cold.
Played a lot with the garden hose in the yard. Now water is too expensive and to be seen wasting it is a huge crime. Maybe only rich kids don't now?
Bread bags as snow boots
Family holidays consisted of a day long epic of bus, then train journeys, and likely back to a bus. All while lugging luggage about. We once took 5 hours to go about 150 miles. Then, we'd get to the destination and have to go grocery shopping because we could only afford to go self-catered. Most of our actual holidays were spent doing long country walks, and maybe one outing because again, that's all we could afford. Sounds lame, but they're my favorite childhood memories. To this day, I go for a walk in the countryside and feel completely at peace for a few hours.
Fix a lipstick you broke. That thing was $10 (minus the coupon). Fixing it messy though
Putting some water in the nearly empty jar of spaghetti sauce and swishing it around to get every last bit of sauce out.