There’s a difference between the meaning of poor and poverty. When I was a child, a lot of people were poor. That didn’t mean we were homeless or starving, but it did mean that money was scarce.
For me, that meant wearing hand me down clothes until I could earn enough money babysitting to purchase a new sweater. It meant making a choice between buying a candy bar at the movies, or riding the bus home on a cold wintry day. Economy meals at my house often consisted of “variety meats” (hearts, livers, kidneys) baked beans, or meatless spaghetti. I never ate a restaurant meal until I was thirteen. The heat was turned off at night in the winter, and if you wanted hot water for a bath, you had to go to the basement and make a fire with coal and kindling wood in the little water heater. The telephone was on a party line, so that the neighbors could listen to all of our conversations. There were hundreds of ways to economize, and our family knew them all.
You would think that once I graduated from college, married, and had a decent income, I would lose my frugal habits. But if money was scarce as a child, you never get over comparing prices at restaurants and grocery stores, clipping coupons, buying clothes only on sale, and waiting to buy a car until you’ve saved up enough cash every decade or so. A half eaten Thanksgiving turkey can never be thrown out unless every scrap of meat is cleaned from the carcass for use in casseroles & sandwiches. There are endless ways to pinch pennies.
My husband was born on a farm during the depression, and although he, too, always had a roof over his head and plenty to eat, cash was a problem. His mother sewed shirts from feed sacks, and he went barefoot in the summer. Consequently, we both are on the same page when it comes to economizing.
My husband was born on a farm during the depression, and although he, too, always had a roof over his head and plenty to eat, cash was a problem. His mother sewed shirts from feed sacks, and he went barefoot in the summer. Consequently, we both are on the same page when it comes to economizing.
Growing up poor sounds sad, but it’s actually an advantage to learn how to “make do.” with what you have. It gets you through job losses, unexpected health care costs, and other financial upheavals that most of us experience. It also enables you to give more generously to the people you care about and the causes you believe in. As my husband and I sit on the front porch every evening,, enjoying our retirement home and mostly home cooked meals, we don’t regret the money we didn’t spend.
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