We all have different experiences growing up. But what life is like for children depends greatly on where they live and how much money their family makes or has.
While money isn’t everything, it makes a huge difference in things and opportunities kids do and do not have. Many families enjoy experiences such as summer camp, family vacations, and their favorite name-brand products. Meanwhile, poor children don’t share that lifestyle. They often have to settle for off-brand and second-hand goods. They hardly ever go on vacations, and their families have to struggle to make ends meet.
On Twitter, one user asked people to “Tell me you grew up poor, without telling me you grew up poor.”
Tell me you grew up poor, without telling me you grew up poor. I'll go first. We used plain bread as hot dog buns and for dessert… margarine & cinnamon on bread. 😋
— Trevor Donovan (@TrevDon) May 17, 2021
And the responses he got back were illuminating.
1.
At one point we lived in this shack with no running water. We had an outhouse, carried water from a community well, and bathed in a round metal washtub in the middle of the kitchen. This photo was taken several years later, but it didn't look much better at the time. pic.twitter.com/DJnV2KlViX
— Kayleen (@kayleenholt) May 17, 2021
2.
My parents dumpster diving at the mall for birthday presents for us.
— Blue Wave Collective@🏡✊🏿 (@BlueWaveCollect) May 18, 2021
3.
My mother washed aluminum foil.
— Tony Montana (@TMo4Cards) May 17, 2021
4.
Plain bread was hot dog, hamburger buns, garlic bread and yes, cinnamon toast. Our house was so cold my mom would turn the oven on and lay our clothes on the hot door to warm them up. It was country poor, I didn’t know I was poor 😂
— PrettyMisinfo (@AKSMT18) May 17, 2021
5.
You can look at pictures of my 2 older brothers and me at the same ages (we’re each separated by 3 years) and we are all wearing the same outfits. As the youngest I was wearing 70’s kids clothes in the late 80’s. I finally drew the line at purple corduroy pants 😬
— Jon (@jhavers9) May 17, 2021
6.
In college one time I had $20 to feed myself and my two kids. Got one of those industrial sized cans if chili. We had chili, chili dogs, taco salad and can’t remember how we used it the other days but we made it till the next $20.
— OmaResists! 🌊 🌊 (@SouthernOmaEng) May 18, 2021
7. (Actually, I loved this cereal. Go figure)
This was the cereal I ate because it was approved by WIC… Very nasty 🤮 pic.twitter.com/jzdtG2wLVX
— LA-Tiere (@LuvLaTiere) May 17, 2021
8.
When summer came, my mom cut the legs off our pants to make them shorts and stuffed the cut off parts to make pillows.
— Dr. Catherine Lane (@MathEdProfLane) May 18, 2021
9.
My parents added stories & jokes to make struggle meals special.
My dad coached HS basketball. One of the lunch ladies was a family friend. She'd save leftover cafeteria food for us. Chipped noodles & beef = "Krazy noodles," a favorite since (Dad claimed) it was made by clowns.— Caitlin Smith, PhD (she/her) (@CSqueequeg) May 18, 2021
10.
I remember when food stamps were different colors …. Based on denomination pic.twitter.com/kj3oYhVOSK
— Endora (@Nurse_Leonora) May 17, 2021
11.
The only cheese we could get was the government commodities cheese 🧀 ( which made delicious grilled cheese sandwiches 🥪🧀 BTW ) and the peanut butter that came with the commodities made yummy cookies pic.twitter.com/cnG7KXvn2x
— Bella👊🏻MS💪🏻Strong (@CallMeBella_74) May 17, 2021
12.
We cut open the toothpaste to get every last drop out of the tube.
— Deanna King (@CynicalMother) May 18, 2021
13.
Packages of socks and underwear and other necessities wrapped up under the Christmas tree 🎄 Funny thing was, I thought those were the standard Christmas gifts until I got married and my husband was like, what’s with the socks and underwear for Christmas? 🤪
— Calabria 🌊🗽 (@Calabria630) May 17, 2021
14.
Co-worker was crying because she was afraid her power would be shut off bc she couldn't pay. "Let me see that bill," I said. "Oh hon, that's a blue notice. You don't have to pay a BLUE NOTICE. You're gonna get a brown notice and a white postcard before they shut you off."
— sourbob (@sourbob) May 18, 2021
15.
Lol, same! Also, Sloppy Joe’s & Hamburger Helper were a staple in our house & I thought everyone put things on layaway…it was the norm to me. 🙂🙃
— Jen (@luckyjen1128) May 17, 2021
Do you have your own growing-up poor story? Let us know in the comments, and please be so kind as to pass this story along to your friends and family?
