Poverty rates look different depending on where and who you look at. But in the U.S., for instance, among people under 18, it’s 16.3% (3.7 percentage points higher than the country’s overall rate).
Interested in all the ways the lack of money shapes us, Reddit user CursedButHere made a post on the platform’s forum ‘Random Thoughts,’ asking everyone to describe the peculiar things they do because they grew up poor.
“I’m not talking about the usual things that everyone has heard of, like hoarding food or saving almost empty shampoo bottles,” they wrote. “I’m talking about the weird things nobody thinks about.”
To kickstart the discussion, the Redditor provided a personal example. “Mine is that even though I have a really good car that has never given me trouble, I only frequent the stores closest to me. I want to make sure if my car breaks down that I can easily walk home. If I have to go somewhere further like I do this week, then I am paranoid the whole way there and back that something will happen and I’ll have a really, really long walk ahead of me.” Below are the most upvoted replies that they’ve received.
When I make spaghetti, I pour the spaghetti sauce out, fill the jar with a little bit of water and shake the jar with the lid back on. Then pour the remaining mixture in the pot as well so none goes to waste. Something I learnt from my mum, and it was my favourite part because shaking the jar became a game.
It might not sound that unusual but I walk everywhere even though I can afford the bus. Doesn’t matter how tired I am, I’ll still walk because it feels wrong to spend money frivolously that I might need someday.
I specifically throw some things away that are still useful because i had to save everything as a kid. I feel guilty every time i do it, and i have to force myself to do it.
My mom still washes out and reuses zip lock bags, and my dad had a drawer full of dead batteries that had enough juice in them to make a flashlight useless.
Dilute fruit juices. My mom would dilute a quart of oj or fruit punch to a half gallon to stretch it between all my siblings and cousins that lived with us. To this day, bottles of fruit juice are too strong for me and I’ll water them down.
I don’t eat the last of anything. The last biscuit in the packet, or the last slice of bread in the loaf. There is generally a pile of various single items of food in packets etc around the place.
When I was growing up, we couldn’t eat the last as there was always someone else who might need it more. Either my brother or one of my sisters coming home from work, or one of my parents when they were in…
Taking the last was selfish, and being selfish was the very worst thing anyone could be when we never had much…
I count my blessings/ accomplishments. What I count is more reflective of my poor upbringing. “I have a car!” Or a driver’s license. Or a bank account. I haven’t dug for change in ages. I don’t know to the penny what is in my bank account. And now that I have a house, “That floorboard is mine.” Like mine mine. I came from no family in town, dead or absent parents, renting a quarter of an attic for $60 bucks a month with no car and no bank account and student loans. And every once in a while it hits me that this ordinary stuff I do or have was some past me’s out of reach. So I guess the weird thing I do is sit and stare in awe of the journey. And think, “I can buy ice cream.”.
I often swaddle myself in the blanket in bed and I think it’s because it used to keep most of the ants and other bugs out when I was sleeping.
I don’t eat the last of anything. I’ll only use half the mayo I want because I don’t want to get in trouble for using it all.
Oh boy… For reference growing up poor was about 45+ years ago.
* Unfortunately I still rush on the toilet. For many years we didn’t have running water so the toilet was an “outhouse”. Let me tell you there is nothing like -30 degree temps to motivate you to get your job done quickly. In the summer it was thousands of flies. So you just never took your time. Yes, this has taken its toll on me physically.
* I’m paranoid about losing access to water so if the weather says there is a storm coming I fill the bathtub with cold water as well some buckets so I can take a rudimentary bath and dump water in the back of the toilet to flush it.
* I always have a small wood stove and some firewood on hand so I have 100% certainty that I can boil water and/or cook food on top of it if I need to. This also doubles to keep the place above freezing if the electricity goes out for a long time. You don’t want your pipes to freeze (and you end up without running water again).
* I hang my clothes to dry indoors with only a few exceptions (like bed sheets) because the dryer is so expensive to run. Note that I could run the dryer 24 hours a day and still afford my electricity bill, but I could never bring myself to use it except when I have to.
* I never eat canned foods. Canned foods were cheap and so every meal was a canned vegetable, potatoes (also cheap), and then some protein (usually fish because we could catch that ourselves and it was free). We never went hungry, but I buy fresh vegetables and nice cuts of meat for myself now. I still long for fresh fish though.
* I do all my own vehicle maintenance. I bought a motorcycle in 1992 for $600 and to learn auto mechanics I stripped it right down to the frame, head off, valves out, carbs completely disassembled, etc. and then put it all back together. My time is now valuable and I know it is really stupid to do my own work, but after decades of doing it because I had to, I can’t seem to bring myself to pay someone else to do it.
I could probably keep going, but at some point this turns into a therapy session.
Dilute dish soap.
Growing up we always had one bottle of liquid dish soap and another that was 1 part soap to 1 or 2 parts water. I went all the way through my college years thinking all dish soap was concentrated.
My mom always made a huge deal about how expensive shoes were. I have only recently realized how that has followed me. I need a new pair. My current reeboks are 7 yrs old. Zero traction. No holes, but one damp surface and I’ll be on my tush.
I can never have enough in my savings account to make me feel safe. I don’t trust the future and take all precautions I can whilst I have money. I nest up on dry foods. And I get irrationally tense when my partner uses up the last of something and doesn’t replenish it straight up.
I still find having my own washer and dryer a luxury. I can come home and immediately toss dirty clothes in a washer, not scrounge for quarters all week. If it’s chilly out I can put my clothes in the dryer instead of the oven to get warm.
Lock doors anytime I’m walking away from it. I can literally be going from the back door, to the backyard and if I can’t see the door, I’ll lock it.
For the longest time, I wouldn’t go to the doctor or dentist until I absolutely had to. Didn’t get regular cleanings until I was in my 20s because my parents didn’t have a dental plan (and their teeth prove it–okay, my teeth prove it).
I am constantly staring at the ground because that’s how I got my allowance as a kid; change I found on the street.
It’s habitual and I’m trying to break it.
Not eating strawberries. I always have it in my head they are pretentious. I finally made the connection that my parents didn’t buy them much cus they were expensive.
Anytime I make a big purchase, I’m pretty sure I’m going to get arrested or something.
Going on a trip in anything but a car, then renting a car, a hotel, paying to visit things, and going out to eat, just feels somewhat luxurious.
Still, I will be miserly and try to find the best rates for everything that I can. But I’ve learned enough to know, somethings too cheap, there is a catch. So, I do avoid the bottom tier of pricing.
Pretty much anything I buy in the grocery store, it’s by going on sale prices. If it’s not on sale, it’s not in the cart, unless I find a cheaper alternative.
I’m 52 and my 25 year old buddy gave me so much c**p for trying to cheap out buying Doritos. My 16 year old wanted a small bag of Doritos with this Saturday night dinner. Well, the small bag was $2.99. Way too much for a 2 serving bag. But the regular size bag was not on sale. It was $5. But it’s a better value than the $2.99 bag. But it wasn’t on sale. Who’s got that much money to spend on chips that aren’t on sale? It’s just ridiculous to pay that much for junk food.
I bought them anyway, because I knew it’s what the son wanted. But I get so much c**p for worrying about the price of Doritos.
I forget that “going to the doctor” is a thing. Whenever I describe an ailment or minor injury, people ask if I got any antibiotics, or stitches, or the like, and I’m always just like… No?..
I never bring up cost when going anywhere ,dinner vacay etc ,I got it! If I invited you I would never expect you to pay for anything even if you have more money then me I just want to have fun,something that never happened much when I was young price tag on fun!!
I have an odd thing I consider a luxury.
Hand towels and kitchen towels. I probably have 50 of each. Overkill, I know.
But growing up we never, not ever, had a hand towel for drying your hands in the bathroom. It was ‘just wipe them on your jeans or dress’. In the kitchen, it was the same. Not a single hand towel for kitchen or bath–ever.
Bath towels, we were each assigned our own (six kids) and they got washed once a month. So disgusting. If you really wanted to p**s off a sibling, use their bath towel.
So I also have a ridiculous number of luxurious bath towels, bath sheets. High quality ones and yes, it feels so luxurious and I feel rich!
I never throw away clothes, and I rarely buy new ones.
I wouldn’t say I grew up poor, but my mother took mine and my siblings paychecks. So we never got to use them ourselves. She would use this to fuel her shopping addiction. I got to spend my money the way I wanted to when I was 24. I had no means of getting away before that. And even before that, I took my appearance very seriously. It was my main means of survival.
I have a hierarchy for clothes now. Outside and public wear, Indoor and pyjama wear, make in to new clothes, make in to rags.
I also mend my clothes, fix broken seams, patch torn pockets, replace buttons, etc. I also do this with my husbands clothes, but he is more willing to throw away garments than to put me through work to fix it… unless he likes the item alot.
Just the boring stuff I heard for 2 decades. Turn those lights out when you leave the room. Close the door your letting the ac out or the cold in. But I added to it & also unplug stuff i barely ever use.
Have an anxiety attack when there’s a knock at my door, it comes from having to hide when bailiffs would turn up to my house when I was a kid.
Every bit of leftovers go in the fridge, and I eat them, usually for breakfast or lunch the next day.
Nothing goes to waste. Ever. Every container is scraped clean before going in the trash.
My weird thing is that I associate bananas with poverty to this day.
Back story is that trying to make ends meet somehow my dad was doing some night shifts in a grocery store unloading trucks with fruits and veggies. He was allowed to take for free a couple of crashed or otherwise unsellable pieces every now and then, which were mostly bananas. This was quite a treat back then. But now I cannot eat them without thinking of the poverty we lived in..
For the longest time, if I had to go to a restaurant, I wouldn’t get drinks, ever.
Now I live in a place where water from the sink isn’t drinkable at all so if I am really thirsty I may get a bottle of water.
I’m so used to a cold house that I turn on the heating only a handful of times a year, even though I can afford to do it whenever I need to.
Shoe cleaning day.
Being a poor kid in NY, in the 80’s and early 90’s… that was tough for MANY reasons.
As an adult, I really appreciate what I have now, especially having shoes that I purchase new, for me, AND they fit my feet. If they were $5, or if they are 5 years old, I keep them clean.
Shoe cleaning was something I did since I was very young, trying to clean up the handmedowns as best as possible, gluing up loose bits with Elmer’s Glue, being yelled at and hit for wasting Q-Tips and bleach on my shoes, because I knew I’d be stuck with them until my toes poked through or they fell apart completely.
Maybe not unusual, but definitely a poor kid habit.
The only way i could cook as a young teen was with a microwave, so once microwave meals got boring i started experimenting, per se. pasta, eggs, even certain meats if you nuke them long enough, and more. *everything* i ate was microwaved. tough times and not-so-tasty meals were had…
God! Having a reliable car is a must for me too.
My dad was a mechanic & always drove old beaters that broke down all the time when I was a kid, it’s left me very paranoid as far as cars go lol.
I refuse to take out the trash. Not because I’m lazy. But trash bags are a dime a piece. I hate literally throwing money away. So that thing will he busting at the seams before it goes out the door.
I check prices of everything and sometimes will choose a brand I don’t like as much to save even a few cents.
I reuse teabags. Not save for the next day or anything like that… but if I have tea and want a second cup, I’ll reuse the same tea bag.
I keep my underwear until they’re not even distinguishable as underwear. The waistband it still fine! Drives my girlfriend nuts.
Open presents without ripping the wrapping paper and reuse.
