What were your "wow we're poor" or "wow we are well off" moments when you were a kid?
Scroll to see replies
Original post by StrangeBanana
This is a bed:
This is a duvet:
This is a duvet:
Thank you soOooOo much for that passive-aggressive representation!
I was about to apologise because I read a few pages further and realised what you meant, but no, you have to be condescending.
Original post by Mojojojo
Thank you soOooOo much for that passive-aggressive representation!
I was about to apologise because I read a few pages further and realised what you meant, but no, you have to be condescending.
I was about to apologise because I read a few pages further and realised what you meant, but no, you have to be condescending.
lmao who doesn't know the difference between a bed and a duvet in the first place
Original post by uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh
lmao who doesn't know the difference between a bed and a duvet in the first place
I don't think it's that they didn't know the difference, it just sounded a bit odd. You have a duvet on a bed anyway, so to have 'a duvet instead of a bed' makes it sound like you had something they didn't know about. It was just wording, don't be so rude.
The majority of people on here probably sleep on a bed of £50 notes.
Class is something I'm obsessed about.
My parents earn ~£25,000 per year (my mum doesn't work).
Yet both their parents are/were pretty well off, and we're all pretty middle-class and "cultured" in person. My mum is related to aristocrats who lost most of their money, whereas my dad is related to working-class people who didn't go to university, but his dad became a banker and made quite a lot of money (not millions). Thanks to inheritance, we're moving to a big(ish) house (estimated at around £650,000) close to the center of a city which is home to an Oxbridge university.
I went to an alright school, originally messed up my A-Levels due to depression and stuff, but re-sat them and I'm now at a Russel Group uni where I'm entitled to the full grant + bursary, and I'm on track for at least a 2:1, maybe a first (unless typing all this somehow jinxes it).
What does that make me? Average by feckin British standards I suppose...
My parents earn ~£25,000 per year (my mum doesn't work).
Yet both their parents are/were pretty well off, and we're all pretty middle-class and "cultured" in person. My mum is related to aristocrats who lost most of their money, whereas my dad is related to working-class people who didn't go to university, but his dad became a banker and made quite a lot of money (not millions). Thanks to inheritance, we're moving to a big(ish) house (estimated at around £650,000) close to the center of a city which is home to an Oxbridge university.
I went to an alright school, originally messed up my A-Levels due to depression and stuff, but re-sat them and I'm now at a Russel Group uni where I'm entitled to the full grant + bursary, and I'm on track for at least a 2:1, maybe a first (unless typing all this somehow jinxes it).
What does that make me? Average by feckin British standards I suppose...
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by JamesTheCool
Class is something I'm obsessed about.
My parents earn ~£25,000 per year (my mum doesn't work).
Yet both their parents are/were pretty well off, and we're all pretty middle-class and "cultured" in person. My mum is related to aristocrats who lost most of their money, whereas my dad is related to working-class people who didn't go to university but became bankers and made a lot of money. Thanks to inheritance, we're moving to a big(ish) house (estimated at around £650,000) close to the centre of a city which contains one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
I went to an alright school, originally messed up my A-Levels due to depression and stuff, but re-sat them and I'm now at a Russel Group uni where I'm entitled to the full grant + bursary, and I'm on track for at least a 2:1, maybe a first.
What does that make me? Average by feckin British standards I suppose...
My parents earn ~£25,000 per year (my mum doesn't work).
Yet both their parents are/were pretty well off, and we're all pretty middle-class and "cultured" in person. My mum is related to aristocrats who lost most of their money, whereas my dad is related to working-class people who didn't go to university but became bankers and made a lot of money. Thanks to inheritance, we're moving to a big(ish) house (estimated at around £650,000) close to the centre of a city which contains one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
I went to an alright school, originally messed up my A-Levels due to depression and stuff, but re-sat them and I'm now at a Russel Group uni where I'm entitled to the full grant + bursary, and I'm on track for at least a 2:1, maybe a first.
What does that make me? Average by feckin British standards I suppose...
That's pretty epic.
When we didn't have a fridge or a landline phone (or mobile phones), and my school would ask me what my parents' number was and I had to say we don't have a phone. Also, in primary school for some reason every week we had to bring our dinner money in cash in an envelope and hand it in class and it would go weeks without me bringing mine in because my parents were trying to find the money. It was kind of unfair how embarrassing it was that at the hand in time I wouldn't have it and got told off for it in front of everyone.
We weren't poor, but we weren't extremely well off.
We had a nice house and never had problems when it came to things like food and clothes, and I used to get some nice things for christmas/my birthday but I never really liked asking them for the latest clothes and toys and things.
So I never really thought we were poor, but we weren't rich or anything like that.
We had a nice house and never had problems when it came to things like food and clothes, and I used to get some nice things for christmas/my birthday but I never really liked asking them for the latest clothes and toys and things.
So I never really thought we were poor, but we weren't rich or anything like that.
Original post by Per
When we didn't have a fridge or a landline phone (or mobile phones), and my school would ask me what my parents' number was and I had to say we don't have a phone. Also, in primary school for some reason every week we had to bring our dinner money in cash in an envelope and hand it in class and it would go weeks without me bringing mine in because my parents were trying to find the money. It was kind of unfair how embarrassing it was that at the hand in time I wouldn't have it and got told off for it in front of everyone.
Wow, pretty shocking they would tell you off in front of other students. I think my schools were pretty good tbh, even though they were just normal public schools.
A few years ago, when my mother passed away.
Ok, I knew I wasn't THAT poor. But growing up my parents always said, "Oh we can't afford that", "Oh we can't go on holiday, we spent all our savings on your school" (I didn't grow up in the UK and went to a private school), "Oh that is too expensive", "Oh we have to save up to send you as an international student to the UK".
Then I got a chance to look up my mum's savings account and it was just a shy over £2m
Ok, I knew I wasn't THAT poor. But growing up my parents always said, "Oh we can't afford that", "Oh we can't go on holiday, we spent all our savings on your school" (I didn't grow up in the UK and went to a private school), "Oh that is too expensive", "Oh we have to save up to send you as an international student to the UK".
Then I got a chance to look up my mum's savings account and it was just a shy over £2m
I guess you could say I've been fortunate most of my life in most aspects.
Grandparents, one side was a well known lawyer and a teacher, the other side owned factories that produced cement, re-bars and bricks.
Parents, both are very well known lawyers.
Money wasn't really an issue as both grandparents had fairly big homes and my parents owned a semi-detached, a big deal in Singapore where 90% of the population live in "council flats" and all of them had cars, my parents each had fairly nice ones too. Multi-car households in Singapore is still quite rare these days.
Parents never really bought me a lot of stuff unlike for my elder brother and younger sister whom they each spoiled. They would always just give me money and say buy whatever I wanted as they generally had no idea what I really wanted I suppose as I generally never told anyone directly that I wanted something. Problem was the moment money came to my hands it only went to the bank. My late grandad (father's dad) understood me better and knew much much more about me and when there was something he thought I wanted he would always buy it instead of giving me the money to buy it.
Holidays? I went to England every year with my granddad and once a month we'd go on a road trip to various parts of Malaysia where he would go to collect rent and meet up with friends. Would follow my parents on the once a year family holiday which was mostly in Asia. The other grandparents was your typical money-minded Chinese family where everything came down to how well you performed in school.
When I was 7 I came into contact with what you could say as my first real encounter of poverty.
During my years in Singapore I was always aware the position of privilege we had due to our wealth levels, I unlike my 2 siblings never was into the branded stuff and I wasn't your usual rich spoilt kid as I wasn't either of the parents' favourite. Generally preferred receiving money rather than having something given to me and would always save it as for some reason or another I always had it in my head I needed to have lots of money saved up in case some day my parents kicked me out I would have enough money to make it to America which used to be what every boy in the 80s in Singapore yearned for is to go to America and make it big there.
Unfortunately the day I got kicked out from home came a lot sooner than expected, it wasn't your usual kick out but more of hey you don't like it here in the house and we don't like you here so we have a solution, we are sending you to England. Therefore boarding school it was for me at 13. During boarding school, there were many whom I realized were significantly wealthier and many who were there on bursaries who were almost on the breadline. There would be those who at the weekends would have a Rolls Royce or Range Rover wait for them while there would be a few who would make their way to the rail station. I didn't have anywhere to go so usually stayed back during the weekends and spent time with the school staff, chief was the guy who did maintenance as he had a welding machine, an air brush and lots of other power tools for wood and metal working.
One of the "I'm so poor moments" I went home with a classmate one Easter, the mother came in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce to get us both and it wasn't any normal Rolls Royce, it was the same kind the Queen uses. Their house was huge, it had 20 bedrooms and set on 100 acres of land. Their house has a helipad, a barn for 20 horses, a warehouse where his stepfather kept his collection of classic and vintage cars, there were 90 of those and an indoor olympic size swimming pool. . Both that warehouse and barn had a climate control system, I had never knew previously that people had heating for their carpark or garages previously. Absolute pity, despite all the money spent on him he never really did anything useful with his life and died from a drug-overdose at 21. I still keep in touch with his mother though she no longer lives in that house.
Grandparents, one side was a well known lawyer and a teacher, the other side owned factories that produced cement, re-bars and bricks.
Parents, both are very well known lawyers.
Money wasn't really an issue as both grandparents had fairly big homes and my parents owned a semi-detached, a big deal in Singapore where 90% of the population live in "council flats" and all of them had cars, my parents each had fairly nice ones too. Multi-car households in Singapore is still quite rare these days.
Parents never really bought me a lot of stuff unlike for my elder brother and younger sister whom they each spoiled. They would always just give me money and say buy whatever I wanted as they generally had no idea what I really wanted I suppose as I generally never told anyone directly that I wanted something. Problem was the moment money came to my hands it only went to the bank. My late grandad (father's dad) understood me better and knew much much more about me and when there was something he thought I wanted he would always buy it instead of giving me the money to buy it.
Holidays? I went to England every year with my granddad and once a month we'd go on a road trip to various parts of Malaysia where he would go to collect rent and meet up with friends. Would follow my parents on the once a year family holiday which was mostly in Asia. The other grandparents was your typical money-minded Chinese family where everything came down to how well you performed in school.
When I was 7 I came into contact with what you could say as my first real encounter of poverty.
Spoiler
During my years in Singapore I was always aware the position of privilege we had due to our wealth levels, I unlike my 2 siblings never was into the branded stuff and I wasn't your usual rich spoilt kid as I wasn't either of the parents' favourite. Generally preferred receiving money rather than having something given to me and would always save it as for some reason or another I always had it in my head I needed to have lots of money saved up in case some day my parents kicked me out I would have enough money to make it to America which used to be what every boy in the 80s in Singapore yearned for is to go to America and make it big there.
Unfortunately the day I got kicked out from home came a lot sooner than expected, it wasn't your usual kick out but more of hey you don't like it here in the house and we don't like you here so we have a solution, we are sending you to England. Therefore boarding school it was for me at 13. During boarding school, there were many whom I realized were significantly wealthier and many who were there on bursaries who were almost on the breadline. There would be those who at the weekends would have a Rolls Royce or Range Rover wait for them while there would be a few who would make their way to the rail station. I didn't have anywhere to go so usually stayed back during the weekends and spent time with the school staff, chief was the guy who did maintenance as he had a welding machine, an air brush and lots of other power tools for wood and metal working.
One of the "I'm so poor moments" I went home with a classmate one Easter, the mother came in a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce to get us both and it wasn't any normal Rolls Royce, it was the same kind the Queen uses. Their house was huge, it had 20 bedrooms and set on 100 acres of land. Their house has a helipad, a barn for 20 horses, a warehouse where his stepfather kept his collection of classic and vintage cars, there were 90 of those and an indoor olympic size swimming pool. . Both that warehouse and barn had a climate control system, I had never knew previously that people had heating for their carpark or garages previously. Absolute pity, despite all the money spent on him he never really did anything useful with his life and died from a drug-overdose at 21. I still keep in touch with his mother though she no longer lives in that house.
Original post by Londonboy1234
I wonder how many of the people that are slyly bragging about their families wealth are actually 'well off'. I mean, I know people who's parents scrub supermarket floors for a living and live in three story houses and drive Audis.
Are you sure it isn't just the banker loaning them money that is well off? I'd define someone as "well off" if they own their house. If they have a mortgage I'd hardly call them 'well off'.
Are you sure it isn't just the banker loaning them money that is well off? I'd define someone as "well off" if they own their house. If they have a mortgage I'd hardly call them 'well off'.
I hope you don't mean me :O
Well I wasn't trying to brag anyway. And for your last bit my parents own two houses outright and I (virtually, have a small mortgage) own one.
I wouldn't say my family was ever poor, more just comfortably not the most well off. I didn't have any of the stuff my friends had, which was the most obvious indicator to me ...
Original post by Londonboy1234
I wonder how many of the people that are slyly bragging about their families wealth are actually 'well off'. I mean, I know people who's parents scrub supermarket floors for a living and live in three story houses and drive Audis.
Are you sure it isn't just the banker loaning them money that is well off? I'd define someone as "well off" if they own their house. If they have a mortgage I'd hardly call them 'well off'.
Are you sure it isn't just the banker loaning them money that is well off? I'd define someone as "well off" if they own their house. If they have a mortgage I'd hardly call them 'well off'.
A lot of it is about secure long-term comfort. The middle classes may be mortgaged up to the hilt (as were my parents for many years until they very gradually cleared them) but so long as they have secure good incomes, the children of the holders of large mortgaged properties in nice areas will enjoy a distinctly higher living standard than those elsewhere (assuming continuity), not least because of access to better schools. The educational system in the state sector is set up to provide better quality education to the nicer neighbourhoods.
So whilst your theory is right in absolute financial terms, it isn't true that having a big mortgage is not better than not having one.
Original post by Per
When we didn't have a fridge or a landline phone (or mobile phones), and my school would ask me what my parents' number was and I had to say we don't have a phone. Also, in primary school for some reason every week we had to bring our dinner money in cash in an envelope and hand it in class and it would go weeks without me bringing mine in because my parents were trying to find the money. It was kind of unfair how embarrassing it was that at the hand in time I wouldn't have it and got told off for it in front of everyone.
Were you not entitled to free school meals out of interest? Or did your parents not apply for them?
Your post is interesting, because many people say there are 'no real poor' any more, eg, that even poor people have flatscreen TVs, mobile phones, decent food, etc. A number of posts in the thread challenge this assumption.
Out of interest with the disparity that has been seen within the thread in terms of financial security, why do people think this is? Why do some families make more than enough and others don't? I as discussing it with my dad last night :P.
It was confusing for me, because my entire extended family is rich and my mum was rich, but when my parents divorced after my dad bankrupted us, we had nothing. So i had a posh manners, posh voice, and my mum had some really nice furniture, some of which se sold, but the majority of my wadrobe is second hand, this year at christmas i was freaked out by the amount of stuff we had because of an inheritance when a relative died. I've never been on holiday with my family, our stuff like microwaves and washers always break because they are the cheapest thing availible.
We are not so bad now, but when i was a kid we lived of spaghetti bolognase and whatever was cheap, i couldnt go to friends houses because of petrol money and i owned three pairs of shoes, school shoes, pe trainers and home trainers. They got replaced once a year.
We are not so bad now, but when i was a kid we lived of spaghetti bolognase and whatever was cheap, i couldnt go to friends houses because of petrol money and i owned three pairs of shoes, school shoes, pe trainers and home trainers. They got replaced once a year.
When I was younger I always got what I wanted, my dad made sure I had branded clothes and way too many toys that I would never play with, we would go to the beach often (never abroad though) and eat our regularly. Then when I was about 9 I realised we were poor when I overheard conversations between my mum and her husband about money and we haven't had money since. Even though we had little money I still never went without, I always got new clothes, food on the table, a warm bed etc. My mum would go without so that me and my brother could have everything we wanted/needed. At Christmas I would easily get £500 spent on me (and also my brother) I'm not sure how rich or not my dad is but he seems to be okay while my mum is struggling working 2 jobs just to make ends meet.
When my now ex boyfriend walked into my house he was like ''wow this is like a palace compared to mine'' I live in an ex council house... and after visiting his house numerous times it is safe to say that although they have more money then we do I have a lot nicer house than he does.
Reading this thread has made me realise that I wasn't as poor as I thought or maybe I was just lucky.
When my now ex boyfriend walked into my house he was like ''wow this is like a palace compared to mine'' I live in an ex council house... and after visiting his house numerous times it is safe to say that although they have more money then we do I have a lot nicer house than he does.
Reading this thread has made me realise that I wasn't as poor as I thought or maybe I was just lucky.
(edited 9 years ago)
My parents are unemployed and receive money and help from the state (more specifically the taxpayer) and I do not feel like we are lacking anything (we are a family of 8)
There is always food to eat, hot water and all the essentials as well as money for us to afford other things.
I think the main difference is that my parents know how to budget and do not spend it on things that they should not be spending it on and don't take out a loan that they can't pay back, and even though due to their disability they are unemployed, their time working hard before had induced a strong work ethic in me which is why I have been working from a young age (and keeping all the money to myself unless I want to buy someone presents)
I am also going to University this September without having to pay anything upfront although I have been saving.
There is always food to eat, hot water and all the essentials as well as money for us to afford other things.
I think the main difference is that my parents know how to budget and do not spend it on things that they should not be spending it on and don't take out a loan that they can't pay back, and even though due to their disability they are unemployed, their time working hard before had induced a strong work ethic in me which is why I have been working from a young age (and keeping all the money to myself unless I want to buy someone presents)
I am also going to University this September without having to pay anything upfront although I have been saving.
Original post by Tyrion_Lannister
At Christmas my parents would easily spend over £600 on me, one year I got an XBOX 360 with a kinect, several games, a designer bag, as well as countless other presents. They had to put them in 2 rooms because they wouldn't fit in 1. I got paid £100 per GCSE I got and would regularly get expensive perfumes and makeup bought for me.
Wow I feel like an ******* typing that
Wow I feel like an ******* typing that
You must be uber smart with a fancy degree then
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Post Your Favourite Inspirational Quotes :)
- Motivational Quotes - Let's Get Studying
- Nat 5 going to highers
- The Same Picture of Ainsley Harriott Every Day
- Am I allowed to book a hotel room and get condoms at 15?
- TSR Community Awards 2023 - NOMINATIONS NOW CLOSED
- New Thread Experience Testing Thread
- Othello
- Kingston foundation art offer
- GCSE English Literature Study Group 2023-2024
- ~ Aston/Plymouth Optometry Interview ~
- Any high-achievers willing to share revision techniques for GCSEs?
- AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (8702/1) - 17th May [Exam Chat]
- How are your GCSE’s going?
- Plagiarism Q5 AQA Eng Lang Paper 1
- Atkins Online Assessment
- AQA GCSE Religious Studies Paper 1 (8062/ 11-17) - 15th May 2023 [Exam Chat]
- AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 8702/2 - 8 Jun 2022 [Exam Chat]
- Admiral quotes not appearing?
- Have a list on what is planned on being imported to react from ST2
Latest
Trending
Last reply 3 days ago
If you could instantly become fluent in any foreign language which one would it be?Last reply 3 months ago
About the NCUK IFY Program for university Studies in the UKTrending
Last reply 3 days ago
If you could instantly become fluent in any foreign language which one would it be?Last reply 3 months ago
About the NCUK IFY Program for university Studies in the UK
