Social Class growing up?

[Caoineag]

Poor. We had some middle class values (because my parents grew up middle class) and I thought the differences between me and everyone else was just because I was weird. I couldn't wait to get a job so I could help out and afford food whenever I wanted it. Looking back I think my parents did quite well on such a small income.

I had it pounded into my head that the only way I was going to get anywhere in life was to educate myself and get into and pay for college all on my own. Fortunately I managed that and am definitely middle class now. The advantage of starting so low is that I feel like a success in life. My husband who started out upper middle class won't feel successful till he is on par with his parents or above.

[MonkeyMama]

I'd say pretty squarely middle middle class.

[simpleyme]

we never owned a house rarely paid rent, we lived on job sites in trailers and tents ,dad would get jobs that included housing
we would weed the landlords garden and he would let us have food so we ate pretty good really
both my parents smoked,we had no phone , I only remember getting new clothes for school one time
Mom left him then we were on section 8 and welfare till I moved out at 14 and at 18 I bought my own house. poor no more ;-)

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Jeffrey said he would add 2 more options upper middle and lower middle which I think is all that is needed right?

[Ima saver]

Definately poor. Father died when i was nine and income stopped for several years. The VA gave us (3 people) $25 a month to live on. Mother had never worked and it took several years for her to find a job making $22 a week for us to live on. All bills were paid first before we bought food. Mother did own her house free and clear. I got a job at age 12 to buy my own clothes and school supplies.

[pearlieq]

Poor when I was very young, lower middle class through most of my childhood, and moving into regular middle class toward the end of high school. My mom was smart and resourceful and was able to move up as a single mother.

DH was raised lower middle class and it stayed the same thoughout his whole childhood. It was a little easier for him because his town was predominantly lower middle/working class whereas I grew up in a decidedly upper middle class town and always felt poor. I had to get away from my hometown before I realized how warped my perspective was.

DH and I are now upper middle class, but I'm not really sure at what point one makes the jump to "wealthy".

[inneedofhelp]

I grew up very poor. Our family had boughts of homelessness and eating in soup kitchens. I became "middle class" after college when i started earning a better living.

[mnpqrd]

Poor...growing up I never owned a toy; my parents never bought me a candy, cookie, or cake; never tasted beef, cheese, butter; never heard of birthday; no electricity so no fridge, TV, AC even though temp was 90-100F most of the times; lived with spiders, crickets, ants, rats, and cockroaches. We used a small oil lamp for light. If we were lucky we would get a few hours of electricity per day for a few days during New Years. Besides no electricity we had no clean water and of course no indoor plumping. Rain water from the roof was saved in a concrete-water-tank for year-round use for cooking and drinking. Often there were lots of bugs/worms/mosquitos jumping and swimming in the tank. Mildew grew in the tank but it wasn't easy to clean because we had nothing to transfer the water to so we cleaned it before rain season started. We had an outhouse and it was scary to use it at night. These still haunt me in my sleep.

[mommyof4]

Poor...growing up I never owned a toy; my parents never bought me a candy, cookie, or cake; never tasted beef, cheese, butter; never heard of birthday; no electricity so no fridge, TV, AC even though temp was 90-100F most of the times; lived with spiders, crickets, ants, rats, and cockroaches. We used a small oil lamp for light. If we were lucky we would get a few hours of electricity per day for a few days during New Years. Besides no electricity we had no clean water and of course no indoor plumping. Rain water from the roof was saved in a concrete-water-tank for year-round use for cooking and drinking. Often there were lots of bugs/worms/mosquitos jumping and swimming in the tank. Mildew grew in the tank but it wasn't easy to clean because we had nothing to transfer the water to so we cleaned it before rain season started. We had an outhouse and it was scary to use it at night. These still haunt me in my sleep.

Where did you live, if I can ask?

[Snave]

Middle class growing up. My parents are probably now considered upper middle as my fathers business has gotten better financially. But, when we were younger we were a middle class family.

[arthurb999]

Poor...growing up I never owned a toy; my parents never bought me a candy, cookie, or cake; never tasted beef, cheese, butter; never heard of birthday; no electricity so no fridge, TV, AC even though temp was 90-100F most of the times; lived with spiders, crickets, ants, rats, and cockroaches. We used a small oil lamp for light. If we were lucky we would get a few hours of electricity per day for a few days during New Years. Besides no electricity we had no clean water and of course no indoor plumping. Rain water from the roof was saved in a concrete-water-tank for year-round use for cooking and drinking. Often there were lots of bugs/worms/mosquitos jumping and swimming in the tank. Mildew grew in the tank but it wasn't easy to clean because we had nothing to transfer the water to so we cleaned it before rain season started. We had an outhouse and it was scary to use it at night. These still haunt me in my sleep.

Wow... i guess I have a different definition of poor...

[Phenomenal Woman]

My Parents divorced when I was young which made the differences in social class very apparent to me.

My dad earned pretty good income and had the big house, cars, RV’s, boat, vacations and etc. My mom on the other hand was a stay at home mom with severe manic depression illness (Bipolar). The post divorce ended up being an extremely hard journey in life for awhile. I chose to stay with my mom where we practically moved every few months and did go through some pretty tough times like finding a place to sleep. Mom, during her bad days would date men who were the wrong type of people to hang with. It was so obvious what I was missing out on like basic needs such as not always having a full meal, not always seeing my mom because she was out job hunting or working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet. I also had no specific daily routine which was unlike most of my peers(No curfew, bedtime and etc.) and Ireally stood out in society like in schools, parks and etc with my clothes and etc. We did the best we can and practically are soul mates because our relationship was very intense and without a doubt filled with strong love.

I eventfully had to leave my mom for a short while and lived with my dad, overnight I had moved into a big home with abundance in food, health care, frequent clothes shopping, haircuts and etc. along with abundance of rules that came with living in the house. It was hard having rules all the time when I was used to being alone and having no rules prior to living there.

With divorces and mixed family being more common today, I am pretty sure there are people out there like me who will experience abrupt life style changes without much choice.

[zakity]

We were poor to lower middle class. We usually made just enough to not qualify for food stamps and such.

[zetta]

My mother grew up in a lower-middle class family, and they had some tough times when my grandmother was hospitalized multiple times for many months for major depression and the bills ran past the insurance lifetime cap. You can still see the influence of those times in the way that she approaches money, and that in turn has influenced the little voice in the back of my head whenever I make a purchase.

My parents were middle class when I was in elementary school. My dad became a stockbroker when I was 12, and over the course of my high school years, his earnings increased to upper middle class levels. My high school was lower middle and middle middle class, and I went to university with a lot of upper middle students. Now my dad is in the wealthy range, although culturally I'm not sure where he would fit. When they divorced a few years ago, my mom's half was enough that she does not have to work.

Seeing such a range around me has made me curious about where the transitions are and what the major attitude differences are.

I'd say DH and I are upper middle now.

[Cylenchar]

I think part of social class is the perception based on what area you live in, for instance, my family was probably upper middle. However, my high school was definitly upper class (aka new bmw's or better on your 16th birthday and I drove an old beat up plymoth caravan). So relative to them, I was much poorer, and it showed.