Social Class growing up?

[MonkeyMama]

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

True. IT was striking to me how the middle class lived when we moved to a much lower cost of living area. I mean it was pretty intense culture shock for me, for many years. We only moved 2 hours away, but back home was more "no money left over after you pay the rent" if you made six figures. Though most the middle class lived pretty frugally and tended to splurge on travel, eating out, etc. I am convinced electronic gadgets is the unofficial measure of class in the Bay Area. Out here I Would meet administrative assistants who make $30k/year who wanted to chat about their diamonds and vacation homes. IT was like bizarro world. I knew I had assimilated about 6 years in when a friend whined about her $1300 monthly rent on a HOUSE, and I sympathized. LOL. A few hours later, it just hit me. I was like, what? $1300? What's so bad about that? But yeah, we have assimilated to the extremely lower cost of living. (Good luck renting a closet for $1300 back home, which was my frame of reference the first 25 years of my life).

Anyway, my father grew up working poor (his parents did not finish much school - maybe up to 4th grade). My mother grew up very middle class, but her parents had been poor. (The Depression and all). So, my parents were always both extremely motivated (to get an education, etc.) and to live frugally and well below their means. IT definitely affected who they were and how they raised us.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Monkeymama, me too! I can't believe when people whine about any rent or mortgage below $2k for a house. I think that's a 1-2 bedroom condo rental price minimum. I am in sticker shock over the deals.

But then I realized I grew up in a $20k home. Section 8 housing type thing. Plus I know what it's like growing up with the catchment water and boiling it before use. But it's not like my neighbors were rich.

[mnpqrd]

Where did you live, if I can ask?

Third World country in Asia

[disneysteve]

Third World country in Asia

"Poor" has a very different meaning in the US than it does in much of the rest of the world. What most of us consider poor would be considered quite well-off by millions of people around the world. If you have a roof over your head, shoes on your feet and indoor plumbing, that puts you ahead of millions of others. It is all a matter of perspective. Most Americans don't have a clue what "poor" really looks like.

[skylovessea]

I voted middle class, because that's how my parents lived. In reality, we were poor. Looking back I realized that mom & dad used the house equity for cash (alot!), relied on my grandparents to help with food/bills when dad's union was on strike, bought cars from my grandparents (I'm assuming at a great discount), liens on the house for sewer payments, payment plans with every conceivable vendor. But at the same time we always had cable tv, went on vacations, had new clothes, new toys, dad's beer, mom's cigarettes, People magazines, etc.

This sounds a lot like what I thought to myself when I voted. My parents tried their best to make me happy (as the only child living in the house--I had half brothers and sister)

In reality, they had a lot of debt, had to stretch meals and disguise them as "fancy homecooked meals", and got most of my clothes and toys at thrift stores or from friends/family.

As I got older I realized that they were putting on a show but it was all with the best intentions. I'm happy for what they did in a way, but at the same time, it falsely taught me that it's "okay" to spend money whenever you want even if you don't have it. I now have the same problems they did (although I do realize that it's not only their fault--it's also mine.)

[simpleyme]

It is all a matter of perspective. Most Americans don't have a clue what "poor" really looks like.

so true my grandmother has told me they were starving and went out into the farmers field and dug up old rotting soft turnips to eat, and were dang happy to have them

my great aunt tells of her mom making biscuits out of bug infested flour and feeding them to the children as their was nothing else to eat ,they would eat the corn feed that was meant for the chickens she would dampen it add a egg and cook it up
many of my relatives tell of having only one chickenthat laid just one egg a day and they would feed the egg to the most sickly child in the family in hopes of making that child stronger ( grandpa jo got his butt kicked by grandma for eating the babies egg one day )

mom always fed us we were never hungry or cold but we never had anything new and rarely received presents or school supplies, we never did any school activities, field trips or anything that cost money as we simply had no money I remember in home ec the teacher giving me bad grades for not bringing supplies to make a tote bag there was just no way I could ,I finally went to my grandmas house and she dug through her sewing supplies so i would not fail the class, she did not have the exact things but close enough to get me a passing grade

[Caoineag]

Most Americans don't have a clue what "poor" really looks like.

I agree that most don't but there are still plenty of people that go hungry. When I was a teen, I finally met people poorer than me and they had periods where they were lucky if they got one meal a day. I am sure their parents had more "stuff" than a third world country person but I am betting those children would have gladly traded that for more food. Poverty is when you can't afford basic necessities and I consider food a basic necessity. Poor as we use it here in the US is simply working class who can't afford any luxuries and more importantly are one step from poverty.

[pearlieq]

I remember in home ec the teacher giving me bad grades for not bringing supplies to make a tote bag

That kind of stuff bugs the heck out of me. I went through it too, on a smaller scale. From about junior high on, computers were becoming more commonplace and teachers started insisting on us turning in all reports typed.

That was fine for most of the kids in my affluent town, who had home computers, but if you didn't you were in trouble. Some of my teachers were very reasonable about it, others were real jerks. They would insist that you could use the library computers, which was wonderful, except if you couldn't stay after school to use them. My mom was single and she had to work. I had to take the bus home, otherwise I would be stuck at the school until she could pick me up around 6:00pm, which wasn't allowed. So we wound up having to try to use the town library on nights and weekends which made things unnecessarily difficult.

We finally got a computer my sophomore year of high school, but until then it was really a source of stress. I thought it was quite insensitive of the teachers. We're talking about the early 90's--computers were somewhat common, but it wasn't a reasonable expectation to assume all kids had access to one.

[Goldy1]

Middle class.

[mnpqrd]

"Poor" has a very different meaning in the US than it does in much of the rest of the world. What most of us consider poor would be considered quite well-off by millions of people around the world. If you have a roof over your head, shoes on your feet and indoor plumbing, that puts you ahead of millions of others. It is all a matter of perspective. Most Americans don't have a clue what "poor" really looks like.

Agree. When I first saw the American jail shown on TV I was very surprised. It was much better than the condition I grew up in because the prisoners had access to TV, electricity, clean water, and meat meals.

[arthurb999]

I can't believe i considered myself poor after reading some of these... we always had a house, food, clothes, TV, a car, etc. I guess compared to where I am now... it seems poor... but it certainly was not.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Definitely. I was poor for the US, and what we lived in was definitely poorer than most. With an outhouse, wood to boil water, etc. But we weren't nearly as poor as what I've seen in 3rd world countries.

I had food, not great but food. And I had clothes. I had so much more than even my mom and grandparents. We had electricity and running water most of the time.

[Uneventoast]

There is poor and then there is Appalachia poor and most of my life was Appalachia poor. I will say that growing up in America only a very small percentage of our population is actually poor. The poor is America are much better off than most of the world. I grew up poor, at times we would not have food on the table if it wasn't for the local church or government food program. To this day I hate American processed cheese like Kraft singles because it reminds me of the blocks of cheese we use to get.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

uneventoast, I know that block of cheese and it wasn't bad.

[Goldy1]

Yes I read something about how a man from another country would be a teacher and make about $5 a month. He lives in the USA now and it said how he went to buy an icecream and it cost here what he made in a month. That stuck with me immensely.