Did you grow up in a frugal family?

[flash]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

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]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

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]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

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]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

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]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

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.

[cercis]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

Oh yeah, this was a rural area. I remember my grandmother being on a party line for her phone well into the 1980s. She also got 3-4 channels (depending on the cloud cover) and last I heard, that area still didn't have cable.

When I was a kid, the town had a post office, a general store, a baptist church and a headstart (which was in the 2 room school my mom attended for k-8). Outside of town, there were at least 2 other churches. So, it's rural, but it isn't exactly boonies. The general store and headstart are now closed. The townpeople turned the headstart into a community center and do pie suppers, etc there. Of course, most of the people in the town and the church are related to me (my mom's sibs, their kids and grandkids and my mom's cousins and aunts and uncles).

It was a town built around coal mining. When the coal mines closed, the town started dying. It's sad.

[elcheapo]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

Heck no my mother could spend money faster than my father could make it. I vowed never to be like that

[Ima saver]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

Good for you elcheapo. I never saw my mother buy herself anything. She made do with what she had and taught us to do the same.

[Lostsoul33]

Re: Did you grow up in a frugal family?

My mother spends money quite freely too. She always has. If she wants something, she just goes out and gets it. She doesn't even price around. I am much different from that. If I want something, I think about it for a few days. If it's a bit ticket item, I search around and read the reviews. Actually my entire family is made up of impulse shoppers. It's a hard mindset for me to change but I am aware of it and definetely don't want to be an impulse shopper.