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What were your "wow we're poor" or "wow we are well off" moments when you were a kid?

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My first "wow we're well off" moment came the first time I went on holiday to India, when I was around six years old. Once you actually see the reality that some people are having to live in there, it's impossible not to appreciate what you've got - even if by Western standards you consider yourself to be poor.

But aside from that one, I had a "wow we're well off" moment when my mum was trying to pressurise me to go on the school ski trip, and I didn't want to. And a few days later I heard my dad talking to his friend, who said that his son (same age as me) had been pleading to be allowed to go on his school's ski trip. And he told my dad that he didn't know how to explain to his son that he couldn't go, because they didn't have that kind of money, as opposed to not being "allowed" to go on the ski trip, as though it's something bad.
Original post by Juichiro
Ah, Lannisters. :rolleyes:


Got all the gold of Casterly Rock
Wow I really wasn't expecting this thread to get so many responses and now I feel bad because I can't keep up and reply to everyone D:
Well I thought my family were fairly average but then I realised we were a bit above average I guess. Not extremely well off or anything, but when I was on holiday in Hawaii, we got a limo to and from the airport during our stay as a treat before we flew over to Los Angeles for the rest of the holiday. So it was nice getting a limo instead of a taxi and all and I was really happy about it. When I told my friends they just scowled. 'You went to bloody Hawaii and California, and you go abroad every time we get time off school and you go to Belgium once a month, you should be used to limos considering your family's lifestyle!'.

It was then I realised my friend's were not as fortunate as I was. But the way they spoke to me hurt, my family were not rich at all, we just spent our money on travelling because that was fun and we enjoy it. I've seen most of Europe and 27 of the United States and it's been brilliant. I don't get designer clothes or anything, I work part time as I don't get any money from my parents except from birthday and xmas. I pay for everything I have, the holidays are the only thing my parents pay for. In addition to this my parents work their arses off. They work 70 hours a week each, the least they deserve is holidays around the world and getting a limo on one occasion as a treat/for fun should not be classed as snobby :/ I always remember being alone with my sister after school from the age of 12 purely from my parents long work hours. I never had anyone at home to cook dinner for me, I did all the jobs as well. But I'm happy and doing jobs and being alone is a small price to pay for the nice trips we had :3

I think it's because the town I live in is relatively poor and living in a large nice looking 4 bed house is a rarity here (mostly council houses and flats in my town) when I know it's pretty common in other areas to have large 5-6 bed houses with large garden's etc

I just hate how I get scrutinised for being rich when I am nowhere near it, just because my family don't sit on their arses and claim benefits (no offence to anybody who does, I understand some families need them, I just have a few of friends whose parents claim benefits and don't even attempt to work etc) it doesn't mean you can put my family down :/

But I enjoy my lifestyle, I have all the latest games consoles (ps4 etc), high end makeup and skincare, lots of nice clothes, expensive gadgets, dslr cameras, all sorts! But that's all been paid for by me, it's not been handed to me on a silver plate, and I think it's important for some people to realise you only get nice things if you work hard :3 I hate my part time job but I do it anyway so I can be happy outside of work and school :smile:

Long post haha, I just didn't know how to phrase certain things =.=
Original post by tehFrance
Father, when I lived with him it was clear that we weren't poor, I attended a private school and we had properties in the South of France and Italy as well as the main property in Neuilly along with the yacht, nice cars. He worked hard since he was a teenager while he had me to not only raise myself but to build a successful business, one that operates across Europe, his family were middle class and helped him out somewhat with raising me and slightly financially at the start of his business which he has more than repaid them for.

Mother, comes from a wealthy family, has the nice house and cars yet couldn't afford to send me to private school so I went to a state school, I didn't get a lot from her, I asked for little aside from affection which she wouldn't display and I resented not only her but her idiot husband and my **** half-brother. She's well off through family and despite the high paying job she squandered the majority which left me wanting to go back home. If anything she was asset rich but cash poor unlike my father who was both.

When I went to uni I got a house paid for me, a car and AMEX for unlimited spending as well as an allowance. I since dropped out, start my own business with financial backing from my father and I'm running a successful business which is increasingly expanding.

I'd say that in my family, I experienced both sides of the coin although not to the extremes others had in terms of poorness but still had an experience.

Edit: Seeing the jokes about wine through a tap, you guys laugh but that would awesome to have, I'm going to look into it :colone:


I'd best position myself long on some vintage wine companies if you're getting that tap installed :wink:.
Some of the posts in this thread are really sad

Like when you can't afford to heat your house, you know there's a problem in this country. I'm not a communist, but then there are kids complaining about "using the NHS" :rolleyes: Get a grip
I remember living in a paper bag and having to get up half an hour before I went to bed to go work at the cotton mill, where I would be charged £5 an hour to be whipped by the overseer

we didn't have much, but we was happy
Original post by yo radical one
I remember living in a paper bag and having to get up half an hour before I went to bed to go work at the cotton mill, where I would be charged £5 an hour to be whipped by the overseer

we didn't have much, but we was happy


Monty python for the win!

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Andy98
Monty python for the win!

Posted from TSR Mobile


Fuarrrkkkk

busted :colondollar:

That was so good
I thought I was poor because my family lived in a small house.

Then my parents explained mortgages to me and how most people don't and never will own 'their' house.
Original post by yo radical one
Fuarrrkkkk

busted :colondollar:

That was so good


I watched them live. Well mostly. I was debating whether to continue the sketch or not

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What were your "wow we're poor"


Awww... My Ben & Jerry is finished. :frown:

or "wow we are well off"


Yayy!!! There's another one in the freezer. :biggrin:
I realised I was well off when I brought my first Saloon Car.

No poverty hatchbacks for me, I saved up and brought a Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDi Sport with my £28k salary at 19 years of age :smile:
Original post by SeamanStaines
I realised I was well off when I brought my first Saloon Car.

No poverty hatchbacks for me, I saved up and brought a Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TDi Sport with my £28k salary at 19 years of age :smile:

So you're not well off at all then? :holmes:
Original post by SophieSmall
Oh yes our heating bills went down SO much after we moved into a council house, our old house had really high ceilings and crap insulation. **** was expensive.


Don't we know it?! :rolleyes: New house is so much better. :smile:
Original post by Rainbow Student
Don't we know it?! :rolleyes: New house is so much better. :smile:


Can't really say the same about ours we moved house because we couldn't afford the heating and there were MAJOR mold problems on the walls and coming up through the floors. Moved to the new house and for the first while it seemed better as heating bills went down (could still barely afford it but could put it on maybe an hour a day in winter) but then our new house started to bleed mold, so much stuff got ruined. A lot of council houses just seem to be in disrepair and landlords basically told us there is sod all they can do about it. Doesn't help I have asthma so I get sick constantly in the wet months.
It's always fluctuated for me as due to circumstances my dad couldn't work a regular job and so he plays poker for a living. When I was younger luck was on his side a fair amount and we weren't exactly rich but I had all I needed and quite a few luxuries on top, I'd say we were sort of upper middle class. Now his luck has turned and we're more lower middle class now - really low. I don't go without any necessities however as my dad is Indian and in his culture the kids really do come first so any money my parents have they spend on me and my siblings, plus my dad works pretty much all the time which helps.
Original post by tehFrance
So you're not well off at all then? :holmes:

£28 grand a year is enough to live like a king as a single man
Some jealous rebels in school blew up my death star and my master told me we couldn't afford a new one so I only got 2/3 of a replacement and the weapons systems were only just fully operational before they blew the new one up as well smh
Original post by SophieSmall
Can't really say the same about ours we moved house because we couldn't afford the heating and there were MAJOR mold problems on the walls and coming up through the floors. Moved to the new house and for the first while it seemed better as heating bills went down (could still barely afford it but could put it on maybe an hour a day in winter) but then our new house started to bleed mold, so much stuff got ruined. A lot of council houses just seem to be in disrepair and landlords basically told us there is sod all they can do about it. Doesn't help I have asthma so I get sick constantly in the wet months.


Oh dear! See, we have the opposite situation (the inverse to what you just said). See, we live in a private rent house which has had hardly any repairs done to it (because our landlord is too greedy and useless to sign anything) and we have moldiness too. My sister is asthmatic so thanks to the mold in her bedroom, she's had 3 chest infections in about 3 months. My sister has not had it easy. Maybe she's not a child but it's a bit wrong when she has asthma problems and chest infections because of her bedroom, has an extractor fan nearly fall on her head and nearly have her sibling (me) become hospitalised by having our dining room door fall off its hinge a minute after I left the dining table. If I'd sat there an extra minute I'd be concussed. And it smashed a crack in the table (it's glass). We had no loft insulation, (that's one thing the landlord did repair), our main fuse box that powered the whole house didn't meet standard/legal requirements and didn't even have enough amps to work the shower, (power cuts!), there's the £60 a week thing I mentioned before and our house has been infested with ants and flies and it's been burgled (we live in a street with druggies too). Yet our landlord has the nerve to ask us to stay as tenants. **** him! He only wants our money.

But the new house is more spacious, clean, adequate and nice, it's owned by the council, it's in a friendly neighbourhood (we've spoke to the neighbours already!), in a lower-crime-rate-area, and it's only an extra 14 miles to college by car anyway and the town centre is massive, laden with shops, has stuff going on and is nicer than here, so we're sorted. :smile: My (ex) bf is on about moving there too because he's from there and I was obviously excited, but we're not together anymore so I guess I'll just "see him around" and be cool-headed about it. Meh. But everything else is great! We'll be saving at least £100 a month, (and the rest), and we'll be safer and happier. :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)

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