Did you grow up in a frugal family?

[Lostsoul33]

Definetely not! I know that my family experienced some hard times when I was growing up but I never saw them cut any corners on food, clothing etc. My dad was out of work due to a sickness and yet I was still walking around with designer clothes. I find that a bit hard to figure out. My parents have also expressed that my kids will need to be dressed in designer clothes someday so that they're not teased. Um...I'm a Walmart kinda gal so not a lot of chance in that happening. A couple of items maybe but I won't be buying them everything in designer clothing.

[contrary1]

Absolutely. I didn't know until I moved out that people could BUY canned fruit & jam, etc. I thought everyone had a cupboard with glass jars of gorgeous fruits & veggies ........ I also thought everyone sewed, knit and was otherwise creative. My dad could make anything we could describe.........from furniture to some very odd items.
My grandparents on both sides were also frugal folks. Interestingly, I have one sister & she was raised right along side me............she is the oposite of frugal to a fault. Can't save a dime even if someone gives her the dime.
Can't understand it!

[jodi]

My family was not frugal, but not spend-thrifty either. We always had enough. We would wear clothes from Sears or Penney, although not the expensive name brands. My mom usually bought brand name foods, although we did garden, both for enjoyment and to cut costs. But we only ever had one car. We never had to keep up with the Joneses. I take my attitude a lot from my parents - some things are worth spending money on if they are important to you (i.e. family vacations, entertainment) but others aren't. It's just a matter of priortizing your money to best meet your personal wants/needs.

[cercis]

Yes and no.

We lived in a small town so some of the frugal-ness was just location (I know that sounds strange, but if designer clothes aren't available, you don't have them).

JCPenney was designer clothes for kids in my school. Eventually Izod and then Guess were the big things - but even then no one expected people to have more than 1 or 2 items.

But we all had cars. You couldn't get anywhere without a car, so all the kids had beaters.

My mom did can and my dad did grow a huge garden (3 actually, one at home, one at the farm and one at his aunt's). My grandmother canned and made her own jelly. But neither of them taught me to can. That's something I'm going to have to teach myself.

But, we always had plenty of clothes. We always had a new car. We went out to eat fairly regularly. We didn't worry about saving electricity, etc.

[Snoopy2645]

Yes definetely we went threw different times but after I was about 6 & my dad started a business my mom was always tight because with a business all the money went right back into it. I think they were only truly poor once after I was born & thats when my dad got blinded in one eye & couldnt work for awhile. He worked for a bad company at the time too that didnt want to pay for disability without a fight & Things were tight but I was little & didnt really know at the time. Only looking back & I kinda see how bad they were but it was nice that we didnt realize it KWIM> ANd at times when my dads business was really taking off we never had a new car it was always & I mean always a used station wagon!!


We always had kmart clothes but when I hit about 13 & wanted designer clothes I had to buy them myself with babysitting money. ANd my brother & sister both worked too & we all bought our own cars & stuff.

Another example is like last night I took my kids to disney on ice & when my mom took us to stuff like that once in awhile we would get 1 pop to split nothing more nothing less!! Well after last night I can see why they wanted $5 a pop & $10 for a bag of cotton candy now I understand why my mom wouldnt let us buy anything as kids at that stuff!!! I told the kids last night I would buy them cotton candy at walmart afterwards if they really wanted it LOL

And I thank my mom all the time for teaching me to be frugal!!

[BCHGRL]

Yes and No.

Until I was 15, we lived in an 800 sq ft house because it was paid for. We moved into a 2400 sq ft home then. The vehicles we drove were either used or driven for a decade or more. However, my mom, still to this day, is big on name brand. We always had nice clothes and plenty of food, but thanks to my dad we were frugal on the bigger things. But there was no savings either.

In other words, frugal on big stuff, not frugal on small stuff.

I've never had a problem driving an older vehicle because it is what I was used to growing up. However, I've had to unlearn some of my mom's not-so-frugal habits, such as to buy cards at the dollar store rather than buying every card from HallMark, and how to save some portion of my income.


I love my parents, but I try to be opposite, not always frugal on big stuff but always frugal on small stuff.

[PrincessPerky]

I grew up thinking I was spoiled, I had what I wanted, but then I never wanted designer clothes!

Part of it was no TV, and by the time I had comercials all the time I knew there were better things to spend money on, and I knew my parents worked enough hours for what we did have, no reason to pester them. And oddly enough I was libertarian enough not to feel any of the stuff was 'deserved'.

I suppose if I looked back I could find corners to cut and splurges to make. But I can do that now in my house.

[Ima saver]

Yes I did. My father died before I was 10 and there was no money coming in. My mother had never worked before (born in 1907) so it took her a while to find a job making $20 a week. We skimpted on everything and I got a job when I was 12. I had to buy all my own clothes, shoes, school supplies, etc. from then on. I learned how to save money cause I saw how worried my mother was about money. She drove the same car for next 15 years.

[miclason]

I don't think my Mom could have grasped the meaning of the word, even if you had shown it to her in a dictionary or something...Father was into avoiding conflict, so he gave in to anything she/us wanted...the times when we didn't have money (during the war, for example), we had to make do without luxuries, but it was understood that this was just a temporary thing, not a way of living- my parent's motto might have been "spend it while you have it, you can't take it with you anyway"...so (trying) to be frugal is really an up-hill battle for me!
...what's weird is that my grandmother was very good about handling money, but, somehow, that didn't get passed over to my Mom...

[Ima saver]

I don't think you can "pass" this frugal thing on. I have a daughter that I never hear from unless she needs money. Since I finally quit giving it to her after many many years, I never hear from her anymore. (she was adopted, so maybe it was not in her genes)

[PRICEPLUS]

Neccessity made us so. We just did not have the money to be any other way!

[locolorenzo24]

Mostly yes, but I never wanted for neccesities....
The big-ticket things, I never had...used to go over to my friend's house to play on the Nintendo...etc....
My dad ran his own real-estate business, so most of the cash went towards that. But he made enough to pay support, buy a car for me as my first, and send me to school His half....
Mom always had a big thing about appearances, but I never cared as much...I'd gladly go to school in clothes with holes because I honestly didn't care..Still don't! (But I dress to impress the families I work with....)
We usually ate in, eating out only for special occasions or if we were out shopping for things at the mall 1/2 hour north.

[frugalfarmwife]

This is a very interesting topic for me, my parents were absolute opposites in frugality. Mom pinched a penny until it screamed only to have dad go buy another brand new suit. We had one of the nicest houses in town, new cars, even an airplane and a lot in Florida, yet mom was constantly calling and begging them not to turn the electric/phone off, begging the bank for a few extra days to make the house payment. God love the woman, she kept this hidden from us, she even worked overnight in a factory and went to formal dinners with the high and mighty in town.

I SO respect this woman! When my dad left he left her with all the bills and two kids still at home, this woman over the course of 27 years has gone from the debt he left her to a net value of 300,000, lives on her SS checks and still shops for bargians, but she drives a nice car! (AND DESERVES IT!)

Now hubby was raised with the "we'll handle it tomorrow" attitude, when his father died there wasn't even any money for a funeral. A few years ago his mother came into a good chunk of money but due to no education in finances she's now in deep financial trouble, I'm TRYING to help her learn to plug the leaks but until she quits paying the bills for the other sons and their wives it's not going to happen!

Now hubby and I had our fun young and now are really buckled down and working on upping the farm income and reducing the mortgage.

kj

[nanamom]

My Mom was frugal by necessity, Dad never gave her much money. He ws generous when it made him look good, often helping people out at work. We never wanted for anything. Mom sewed everything even our coats so that helped. Thye saved for our education and weddings and were generous there (that had to be tough, there were 5 of us) I tried to raise kids that know the value of money. DH wasn't raised that way and he is adament that our little one learn it early and often. He is a walking example of what not to teach your kids financially and knows it. His parents were the opposite of frugal unless they were in a bad mood. Now they spoil grandkids (or try, we don't let them do much for ours)

[Ima saver]

After my dad died, we had no money coming in, til then we were ok. I remember my favorite food was steak. Once in a great while, we would buy one. Mom would cut the meat off the bone and give it to me, and she would just chew on the bone. she said she liked that best but now I know it was cause we were so poor. Money was all she thought and worried about.

[flash]

Yes, I grew up well below the poverty line. DH bought my first "store bought" clothing. He had never heard of "homemade" bread! He grew up ultra wealthy, so took awhile to adjust to each other.

[Ima saver]

I have a very close friend who is 53. She grew up with no running water and no electricity. Now this was in the 60's, so it wasn't that far back. I never had to do without that. (except when we get blizzards) Her father was just lazy and made practically no money.

[BillsGirl]

2 words "Hell No"

My dad always said I have it not spend it now! he spoiled us well more me than the others.... he did thatr because his FIL was a bastard with his money still holds every dime his 3 children wait by his bed for him to die so they can cash in!!! THATS SICK!!! My MIL is the same way!

[cercis]

Ima, my mom will be 59. She had no indoor bathroom until she was in highschool. They had running water in the kitchen.

Grandpa was a coal miner sometimes and a migrant picker other times (they moved back and forth from Oklahoma to California). My mom lived with her grandmother a good portion of the time so she could have a bath without having to carry the water and she could have a job.

My grandfather never learned to read. My grandmother never made it past 6th grade.

They weren't lazy, they just did the best they had (I'm not saying your friend's dad wasn't lazy).

I think that growing up like that is part of the reason my mom wasn't more frugal. She finally had the chance to have "things". When my dad married my mom, he did a lot of work on my grandparents house for free, including adding the permanent bathroom. She told me she ate homemade bread all her life and was soo excited to be able to afford soft, white bread from the store. She can't understand how I can prefer chewier breads (which are not necessarily more frugal).

[Ima saver]

My mother grew up in a house with no running water or electricity also, but that was 90 years ago. I was shocked to meet someone who lived like that back in the sixities. One thing I have learned about the area I live in, it is so rural that they did not even get telephones until the mid 50's.
My husband's parents were very frugal, buying a fixer up house and only having one vehicle for 15 years at a time. However, he (fil) was able to retire at age 45.