Rich or Poor

Did you grow up rich or poor, or somewhere in the middle?
I think we were fairly poor. I remember certain things that made me think that things were not easy to come by, but maybe that was just a sign of the times...

Re: Rich or Poor

My parents were poor, I grew up in a two up, two down house with an outside toilet.

Re: Rich or Poor

I think we had very little in the very early days of my childhood.

I remember Dad working 6 days a week, and Mum having 2 jobs as well.
Then one day Dad left his employer and started on his own - he worked in plastics, designing and making prototypes of things.

I was only a kid at the time, so didn't understand all the ins and outs, but as Dad got busier and busier and started employing people, we moved out of our council house and were able to have nicer things.

Over the years, the stress got to him though, and he had a heart attack.
In those days they kept you in hospital for ages, he was in for 6 weeks.
Thankfully, he survived.

About 25 years later though, he had another one, a big one, and this one was the last. He died in 1997.

Re: Rich or Poor

My parents struggled to manage, especially during the war years.

I do remember being taken to second hand shops to try to find a coat for the winter. Every penny was precious in those days.

Re: Rich or Poor

We also had an outside toilet..... brrrr it was cold in winter!

Re: Rich or Poor

I grew up in the 60's and I think we were fairly poor. Both parents worked, all clothes were hand me downs or made by my Mum on her one luxury item, her trusty sewing machine.

Nan knitted all our woolies. I remember I was married with kids before my Mum got a washing machine.

But we were lucky with housing, we had a 2 bedroomed parlour type council house on a post war estate so we were a lot better off than many.

Re: Rich or Poor

Oh Dear, I'm the odd one out When we lived on Mull we did ok but when we moved to the Mainland we lived in my Grandparents big home, It was the Dower House to Balhousie Castle and was massive. We (sisters & me) were sent to private school, and money was never a problem. After we all grew up and left, the house was sold as my grandparents had both died and mum and dad were rattling around in this great big house, so they moved to a smaller bungalow..

Re: Rich or Poor

My Dad was a mechanical engineer, tool maker. Money was 'tight'. I remember Dragon saying to me one day when I asked for something "you can have it, when Nelson gets his other eye back".

Re: Rich or Poor

Lots of interesting stories.....

I was in town in the winter to go to school and on the farm for the summer. We had an outside toilet on the farm. We used that all hours of the night. Never afraid of anything like animals or people at night. We felt safe back then.

I remember the flies around those seats...we didn't worry too much about it, just flipped those panties down and sat on the flies, never thinking a thing about it, , wouldn't be so comfy doing that now tho.

Re: Rich or Poor

I suppose we were financially poor but life for children was somehow richer. I think a lot of parents struggled just after the war years.