What are some things your family could have afforded, but didn't have?
As an upper level Boeing executive my Dad enabled us to afford just about anything, but both my parents were frugal and level headed. They were both raised in abject poverty. My Dad’s dad was a sheriff in a small Texas town, Mom’s folks were immigrants from Holland, dairy farmers.
Growing up we only had one phone line. I remember looking up a friend’s phone number in the phone book. Below her parent’s number was “Children’s line.” Blew my mind!
We only had 1 TV. I didn’t know of anyone who had more than 1. We watched TV as a family, and if we didn’t want to watch we went outside.
My first Girl Scout camping trip Mom wouldn’t get me a sleeping bag. I guess she thought it was more adventurous to have a sleeping roll. It was miserable! I guess I didn’t think to actually make the bed, and tried to use it as a sleeping bag. Spent the whole night, every night, pulling covers back on.
She finally broke down and got some sleeping bags…when she found them at a garage sale!
Those are the top three. I’m pretty sure there are a lot more, but I don’t remember them off the top of my head.
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Hockey membership. My dad wanted me to have all my teeth.
It would have been easier for Mom and Dad to afford 2 kids instead of 8! (Damn Catholics!)
Birth control.
They didn’t, and…. well, the rest is history.
There are many things I can think of. My parents were very comfortable but practical. My mom wasn’t into fancy handbags and designer shoes. She was more into LL Bean stuff. That’s just one example. We always took nice vacations. They didn’t throw money at me. They were solidly right in the middle with their behavior.
We always took nice vacations too.
Mom didn’t have a dishwasher but in those days most homes didn’t have one. I honestly was so content as a kid that it’s hard for me to answer this. My friends and I all had about the same amenities.
As far as vacations go, each year he had two weeks off. We’d rent a house a couple blocks from the ocean and boardwalk with all the rides and terrific food. Felt luxurious to me but they were just little frame houses. I never felt deprived. I have no feelings of ill will .
When I was eighteen dad told me that I would attend a university forty miles away. I was shocked he could afford that. There was no discussion. He simply stated it at the dinner table.
I never felt deprived without that stuff either. I never felt any ill will. Except for the sleeping bag shit!
@Dutchess_III I suffered with dad’s sleeping bag. I don’t know if they still make them, probably so, but it had a rubberized or rubber lining. I was in the Poconos Mountains in a tent that held six beds . It was freezing cold at night and I was sweating because of that stupid rubber sleeping bag liner. Combine that with huge mosquitos getting inside my mosquito netting and sucking at swimming lessons and I told my mother , “Im never going back again.” She said, “oh yes you are” and I said, “oh no I’m not” and I never did. Two weeks of Hell so she could romp with dad.
Add to this the fury I felt when the big, hateful “counselor” called me by my last name all the time.
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