# What's The Poorest You Have Ever Been?



## Hullahopper (May 24, 2004)

Back around my college days (early 80's) I was dirt poor. How poor you ask? I'm talking about having to make a $10 bill stretch out for a week worth of food! I sure remember buying a ton of chicken pot pies when they would go on sale for 2 for a dollar. Heck, Hamburger Helper was considered "fine dining" for me back then. LOL! What was you favorite "poor man" food?


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

The day my wife and I got married, at the JP office, we went to Taco Bueno to celebrate. A few weeks later our commode stopped up and we had to dig in the couches and back seat of the cars to get enough change to buy a plunger to unstop the commode.


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## teeroy (Oct 1, 2009)

My parents got divorced in 1992 or 93. My dad made good money but moved out and into the living quarters in his body shop. 

We were on food stamps for a while. We were so poor we shopped at Food King (run down grocery store on Texas City's east end). I was young. I didn't know the difference. Mom worked at the warehouse at American National in Galveston.


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## Category6 (Nov 21, 2007)

cheese sandwiches and ramen noodles. I actually still eat cheese sandwiches now and again, but I learned that the cheap cost of ramen noodles is far outweighed by the cost of 3 rolls of toilet paper required the next day.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

Spent many a dinner with a Mustard sandwich. All you can eat Pancakes night at iHOP was a big event not to be missed.


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## fmlyfisher (Apr 29, 2013)

When my wife and I first got married we figured out we could both eat on about 20 bucks a weeks if we stayed with spaghetti and stew using deer meat. For a solid 6 months that's all we ate, to this day I'll starve before I a plate of spaghetti again!! Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## stpdiver (Sep 20, 2006)

I grew up in a small fishing town in Massachusetts. Mom worked as a fish cutter. Was no food stamps at the time, we lived off government surplus food and what ever Mom brought home from work. But everyone around us lived the same way so we never though it was that bad.


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## Cudkilla (Nov 5, 2004)

While in college, we'd go to HEB to window shop whenever we got depressed. Even though we could not afford to buy anything. Also because it was warmer than our apartment during winter. We'd be thinking: 'someday we will be able to afford this tub of bluebell, bacon etc.'


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## floppodog (Dec 19, 2012)

*I've never been poor*

In 88' the gov-ment was breaking up Ma Bell and I got laid off. I sold the boat, sold the truck and bought a beater to drive. Took 2 minimum wage jobs to make payments on the house. Tight times but survived. Today I have the same wife and kids. Added a few grandkids along the way. All is good.

p.s. even managed to retire.


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## The1ThatGotAway (Jun 24, 2009)

As a young boy we lived across the street from a baseball park. The floor in the house, which was on blocks, had given way in my room. The toilet didn't work, we used the bathroom in 5 gallon buckets. Mom left, dad was truck driver and was never home. I got a job cutting the grass at the baseball parks so I could have a key to the concession stand. That way I could heat up one of those frozen burritos every now and then so I could have dinner. House was infested with roaches and rats, even killed an opossum in the kitchen one night with a butcher knife.

It was way worse than it sounds and I hardly ever tell the story. But I obtained a lot of useful skills being dirt poor that I use now to make a pretty good living.


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## cwbycrshr (May 23, 2013)

Pawned many an item back in college, never was able to get some back:headknock. Ramen was also a staple along with Beenie Weenies and Veinna Sausages. Somehow I still managed to go out to the bar every Tuesday and Thursday. The bad part is that my family was upper middle class. I was just to prideful to call and ask for help.


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## bluefin (Aug 16, 2005)

Like a lot of folks I was pretty poor in college. Top Ramen for sure. Learned that McD's would toss out any unsold burgers at midnite so hit them up before they made it to the dumpster.
Another time was when I started my business. I was $25k in debt and using one credit card to pay another while driving a car w/ no A/C. 
Big life lessons learned. I feel sorry for anyone who's never been poor. They will never know how good they have it.


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## Jamaica Cove (Apr 2, 2008)

Ramen noodles and $0.25 tuna and bread from the thrift bakery with expired dates. Also, got a wok at a garage sale and became a vegetarian not by choice for many months. When able to scrap up $4.50 extra, I would buy Shiner long neck returnable bottle case-was the cheapest beer except for Texas Pride (when Shiner was not considered 'cool' by the yuppies).

That's one of the reasons I'm mad at the Gummint social programs-I survived w/o Gummint help and am darn mad to see dirty rotten scum buying steaks at the grocery with their Lone Star cards.


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## Hullahopper (May 24, 2004)

Had a good buddy of mine who's favorite line was "Oh, I got plenty of beer money, I just don't got any rent money"


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## teamgafftop1 (Aug 30, 2010)

I guess we were poor growing up but so was everyone else so you didn't really give it any thought. But, I always knew that I got enough to eat because when I asked my dad for more at dinner he always said "You've had enough". 

Anytime you got a chance to pick up a job somewhere, you took it. The folks at the chicken houses would call for "catchers" and some of us would get a ride over there. We would catch chickens for the truck for a few dollars and a free lunch. Guess what lunch was?

Working tobacco was awful but we didn't know any better. Picking off tobacco worms, then breaking it and making bundles, and finally, climbing up the walls of the tobacco barns to hang it for drying. All for a few dollars a day. 

There was always some sort of job for the child labor pool but we did it, never complained, and usually got to keep a little for a comic book and a Slim Jim. The Good 'Ole Days.


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## HTownBoi281 (May 13, 2006)

Back when I was a youngin'. My family always owned some kind of business and not all of them were successful. I remember back when my parents owned a sewing company making clothes for JC Penny and Dillards, we'd work there day and night living and sleeping in the shop trying to keep up with production and a lot of time all we had to eat was white rice and soy sauce cause Dillards and them all paid next to nothing for every garment we made and they only paid at the end of the month with was just enough to get the bills paid and a lil extra for groceries. Sometimes it was profitable but most of the time it sucked!!

Mannnnn...........so glad we're no longer in that line of business!! I'm surprised we even stayed open for almost 10 years. My parents still have 2 of the sewing machines from that business to keep as a reminder.


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## Bozo (Jun 16, 2004)

Lets just say that I've used scavenged ketchup packs to sqeeze on my ramen noodles to make sketti when times where good when I moved out on my own. I don' speak of the bad times.


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## bg (May 21, 2004)

When I was 16, my mother moved in with her boyfriend and left my girlfriend and me in the shell house (dried and drywall, no floors, not a real kitchen, no A/C or heat but it did have one working bathroom) because I told her I didn't want to move. She did pay the mortgage but everything else was on me, utilities, food, gas, etc. Somehow I managed to still graduate high school (in the 3rd quarter of my class) and support us both on minimum wage, but I'm still not sure how.

Growing up, we ate a a lot of mac & cheese and had the power, water, phone, etc. cut off pretty often after my parents got divorced.

Since I've had a family of my own, we've almost lost our house one time but I've always managed to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table (sometimes it was beans and rice for months) and the utilities turned on. We've been poor in money but always had what we needed and were rich in family.


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Pic of me in college...


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

teamgafftop1 said:


> Anytime you got a chance to pick up a job somewhere, you took it. The folks at the chicken houses would call for "catchers" and some of us would get a ride over there. We would catch chickens for the truck for a few dollars and a free lunch. Guess what lunch was?


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## MarkU (Jun 3, 2013)

For about 2 years. I had 2 "meat days" a week. Rest of the time was noodles, and mac and cheese (mixed with water, not milk). I worked my butt off, and went to college full time. I told my wife one of my meat day stories. Made her cry. I bought a frozen banquet chicken. Put it on the oven, and fell asleep. Woke up the house was full of smoke. I ate as much as I could off that chicken. It was black and burnt almost to the bones.


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## JFolm (Apr 22, 2012)

Growing up I had utilities cut off, no food for dinner, parents had checks bouncing. 


I told myself I wouldn't let that happen to my son. I will let him be poor in college.


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## redspeck (Jul 3, 2012)

Mom raised 4 kids all by her self. I remember always eating eggs, potatoes, rice, beans and weenies all the time. I cut grass to make my money, I had a yard that I would cut and make $40 every week during the summer. Not bad for being 12-17 years old.


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## Court (Jul 16, 2011)

College days for sure-On a good month I would have about 25 cents left in my account-Back in the days when we had nickel beer night.


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## Johnboat (Jun 7, 2004)

*Have y'all notice this about height and foot sizes*

Most guys my age had size 9,10, maybe 11 feet and few were really 6 footers.

But the kids are all at least size 12 feet and the boys can easy get to 6 feet and the girls can easy get to 5'8" or taller also with big feet.

I know its a combination of genetics and diet, but have you noticed this. Not many dads have a son who is shorter with smaller feet.


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

1st real job when I was 21, after finding out I was gonna be a father and wed and was welcomed to the reality of the real world, payed 10k for a year of hard labor in a factory. Minimum wage then was $5.15 or so. 

I thank God daily for the blessings he has bestowed on me and my family...


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## Category6 (Nov 21, 2007)

Johnboat said:


> Most guys my age had size 9,10, maybe 11 feet and few were really 6 footers.
> 
> But the kids are all at least size 12 feet and the boys can easy get to 6 feet and the girls can easy get to 5'8" or taller also with big feet.
> 
> I know its a combination of genetics and diet, but have you noticed this. Not many dads have a son who is shorter with smaller feet.


That was kinda out of left field, but I guess I can connect the dots since my 17 y.o. son is eating about half my pay check every week. He's actually a couple inches shorter than me, but he weighs around 40# more and has size 14 feet. I also recently had the emotional misfortune of viewing his pecker and he has me beat handily, I can't really decide whether I'm proud or PO'd.


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## flatscat1 (Jun 2, 2005)

All of your stories share a common theme: 

Regardless of your hardships, personal circumstances, the lot in life you were dealt.....with hard work and sacrifice you all have succeeded. Many of you have done pretty darned well I suspect. 

Congratulations for not giving up, for being responsible and taking control. I wish more people today (who have it much better than the lot of you) would put forth such an effort.


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## KIKO (Oct 24, 2006)

I grew up being a migrant farm worker, which most would consider poverty, but I have never felt poor. I thank God and my parents for giving me a roof, something to wear, for finding a way to have the fridge at home filled of food and teaching me work ethic. We never went hungry. 

During my college years, I had more disposable income that at any other time in my life. I paid my way by working and also buying and reselling anything from watermelons to automobiles. Anything I could make a buck on as long as it was legal. 

I measure poverty by the amount of money you owe vs. your assets. I sure feel more pressure now that I have debt from my house and autos.


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## BertS (May 21, 2004)

some things should never be said.


I agree with flatscat, on hardships and hard work, and some others that while being monetarily poor, didn't mean you were poor in life.


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## JFolm (Apr 22, 2012)

Keep in mind,

Broke is a financial situation. Poor is a mental state.


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## trodery (Sep 13, 2006)

My dad and mother got divorced when I was 2 and my mother got custody of me, at the age of 3 while playing in mom's front yard in Wichita Falls my dad kidnapped me (best thing that ever happened to me). We moved around a lot, I suppose we were really in hiding. We moved to Oregon and then later Oklahoma at eh age of 4 (1967) my dad and I came to Houston on a Greyhound bus, we had twenty cents and two suitcases, no car, no house, nothing other than each other the 20 cents and a few clothes.

My dad had a friend here in Houston that took us in and let us stay there. That friend of my dad owned a trucking company and dad went back to driving a truck and leaving me with the friends wife while he was gone. Dad hated the fact that he was leaving me without him being around so he took a different job managing a trucking company. With dad's new job also came an apartment above the office that we moved into, we still didn't have a car but at least we had a place of our own to live in. Most every evening we walked to the same Mexican restaurant to eat dinner, it was a couple miles away. On the way back home we would walk past a little beer join that also sold groceries, we would go in, pick up whatever few items we could carry and then walk home. It was rough for a couple years but my dad lovingly cared for me the best he could. In retrospect, it was probably the best bonding that we could have ever done!

Sometimes while dad was managing that trucking company he would drive a truck on weekends to make extra money for us and he would always drag me along with him, now here it is nearly 50 years later and because of what I learned as a small child I'm still in the trucking business. My dad died in 2001 before he had the chance to see me make Vice President in the trucking business but I know he is looking down from heaven with a smile on his face proud of what him and I accomplished together.

I remember being poor, I didn't like it at all but it sure taught me some wonderful life lessons that are absolutely invaluable.


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## djwag94 (Nov 19, 2009)

I thought I was rich when the Marine Corps told me my basic pay was $102.30 a month!:biggrin:


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Born during the heart of the Depression... Dad drug us all over Texas and Oklahoma..anywhere he could find work of any kind. Funny though..never thought about us being poor because everybody else was in the same shape. Always had food to eat though...and family held together...so guess it was just a lesson learned. I sure don't throw around no money now though..unless somebody is really hurting..LOL

Old proverb,,,,

_"Use it up...
Wear it out...
Make it do...
Or do without "_


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## redspeck (Jul 3, 2012)

trodery said:


> My dad and mother got divorced when I was 2 and my mother got custody of me, at the age of 3 while playing in mom's front yard in Wichita Falls my dad kidnapped me (best thing that ever happened to me). We moved around a lot, I suppose we were really in hiding. We moved to Oregon and then later Oklahoma at eh age of 4 (1967) my dad and I came to Houston on a Greyhound bus, we had twenty cents and two suitcases, no car, no house, nothing other than each other the 20 cents and a few clothes.
> 
> My dad had a friend here in Houston that took us in and let us stay there. That friend of my dad owned a trucking company and dad went back to driving a truck and leaving me with the friends wife while he was gone. Dad hated the fact that he was leaving me without him being around so he took a different job managing a trucking company. With dad's new job also came an apartment above the office that we moved into, we still didn't have a car but at least we had a place of our own to live in. Most every evening we walked to the same Mexican restaurant to eat dinner, it was a couple miles away. On the way back home we would walk past a little beer join that also sold groceries, we would go in, pick up whatever few items we could carry and then walk home. It was rough for a couple years but my dad lovingly cared for me the best he could. In retrospect, it was probably the best bonding that we could have ever done!
> 
> ...


Good story!


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

redspeck said:


> Good story!


 X2 Trod, excellent post!


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## KeeperTX (Jul 8, 2013)

I'd rather not go into details about that time in my life. Yet I will say that when we were at our lowest point economically, we were the richest in our hearts. And God has brought us thru it all.


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Right out of school I was broke and seriously considered buying a new Dodge! Friends and relatives quickly talked me out of it though!


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

DCAVA said:


> 1st real job when I was 21, after finding out I was gonna be a father and wed and was welcomed to the reality of the real world, payed 10k for a year of hard labor in a factory. Minimum wage then was $5.15 or so.
> 
> I thank God daily for the blessings he has bestowed on me and my family...


Minimum wage was $3.35 in 91' when you were 21.


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## BertS (May 21, 2004)

Harbormaster said:


> Right out of school I was broke and seriously considered buying a new Dodge! Friends and relatives quickly talked me out of it though!


thank goodness you got a job, and got a Ford........otherwise, you might have turned into a rodeo clown.


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## DCAVA (Aug 5, 2013)

sotexhookset said:


> Minimum wage was $3.35 in 91' when you were 21.


Dang, then that is what it was, tough times for sure. I worked my way up in that factory, learned to run every machine in each dept.. Got promoted to QC inspector after 2 years. Seven years into the job, I was offered the Plant Manager position; I took it and was going to night school in the evenings. I put my x-wife thru college as I worked my tail off to make ends meat.

The thought process was, after u graduate from college, I will attend full time to finish my degree, well, after buying a home and car pymts. and other debt. I was never able to finish college.

After 12 yrs of the manufacturing gig, I grew tired and weary, especially since I was on a fixed salary. I took a month or so off, and went into car sales. The best thing I have ever done in my life, the rest is history.....


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

.


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## Spirit (Nov 19, 2008)

When I was married to my first husband. He refused to work, blew all the money I made before I could even pay the bills. We could never pay the rent or utilities. I had too much pride to call my parents and tell them I had no food and no money. I was too terrified of him to leave. When it was down to living in a weekly rate motel and eating off the same can of green beans for three days because there was nothing else to eat and no money to buy more, I finally got enough courage to leave in the middle of the night and swore I'd never allow myself to sink in a pit like that again. 

Of course that wasn't the end of it. He wouldn't let go, said he promised God he wouldn't let me divorce him. I told him he couldn't promise God what another person would or wouldn't do. Had no idea at the time he meant he'd kill us both if I didn't come back, but the letters he wrote to our parents and the judge laid out his true plans. He only succeeded with half his plan, he's buried in Lancaster, TX.


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## Wade Fisher (May 22, 2006)

Back in '83 when I got out of the service.

Reagan had just changed the rules so I wasn't eligible for unemployment, having just given up a perfectly good job, according to Ronnie.

Took me a month to find a job. Until then, I crashed on a buddies couch and only ate rice once a day. Basically one of those "If it cost a nickel to [email protected]#!, I'd of had to puke" times in my life.


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## SharkBait >*)\\\><( (May 16, 2012)

poor, i dont think anyone who has access to the internet can claim they are.....poor and starvation go hand and hand..i lived a few years with the clothes on my back, but i was never poor.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

sotexhookset said:


> Minimum wage was $3.35 in 91' when you were 21.


When I wuz 21...minimum wage was $1.00/hour... Try living on that...:biggrin:

Course when I was that age I had just graduated from college...had my license..and was making a fabulous $100.00 a week...60 hours one week..72 hours the next week..8 to 6 Monday thru Saturday...9 to 9 every other Sunday...Sure enjoyed those every other Sundays off... Nobody counted the hours you worked back then...and I was living high on the hog...LOL


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## haparks (Apr 12, 2006)

when all i had was ramen to eat


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

haparks said:


> when all i had was ramen to eat


Henry...convicted chicken thieves dont eat Ramen!


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## douglasgilbert (Feb 22, 2008)

*Poor stories*

When I was a kid my Mom me eat cereal with a fork so there would be milk for the babies.


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## poppadawg (Aug 10, 2007)

There seems to be a direct correlation with the depth of poverty one is in and the amount of ramen noodles consumed. I had no idea Ramen noodles were so destructive.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

poppadawg said:


> There seems to be a direct correlation with the depth of poverty one is in and the amount of ramen noodles consumed. I had no idea Ramen noodles were so destructive.


LOL.. Too true, Dawg..and with 47% of the population in 'poverty'..seems like it might be a good idea to buy a few shares of Ramen Noodles stock..:biggrin:


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## Category6 (Nov 21, 2007)

Tortuga said:


> When I wuz 21...minimum wage was $1.00/hour... Try living on that...:biggrin:
> 
> Course when I was that age I had just graduated from college...had my license..and was making a fabulous $100.00 a week...60 hours one week..72 hours the next week..etc Nobody counted the hours you worked back then...and I was living high on the hog...LOL


That dollar had the same purchasing power then as around $9.00 now, which means the people trying to live on minimum wage currently have to do it with about 20% less money than you did back then which is crazy to think about. But no worries, we can still afford to fill up shipping containers with freshly printed cash and send it overseas to rebuild foreign countries filled with people that hate us while the Chinese smile and wring their hands and the value of a dollar gets eroded a little more.


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## Hullahopper (May 24, 2004)

Tortuga said:


> Born during the heart of the Depression... Dad drug us all over Texas and Oklahoma..anywhere he could find work of any kind. Funny though..never thought about us being poor because everybody else was in the same shape. Always had food to eat though...and family held together...so guess it was just a lesson learned. I sure don't throw around no money now though..unless somebody is really hurting..LOL
> 
> Old proverb,,,,
> 
> ...


Gem,

My dad was probably born the same year you were (or very close to it). Like many folks back then, they lived in a rural area in East Texas between Tyler and Longview. Before he passed away I had a good visit at the nursing home one day with him and he told me as a child he knew every berry bush and fruit tree within a couple of miles of his house and knew just when the fruit would ripen. Every other Sunday was "meat day" which was a fried chicken fresh from the hen house. The rest of the meals were from what his family grew in the garden (turnips, butter beans, black eye peas, okra, tomatoes, etc.) except on those lucky days he and his dad went squirrel and rabbit hunting.


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## flatscat1 (Jun 2, 2005)

Category5 said:


> That dollar had the same purchasing power then as around $9.00 now, which means the people trying to live on minimum wage currently have to do it with about 20% less money than you did back then which is crazy to think about. But no worries, we can still afford to fill up shipping containers with freshly printed cash and send it overseas to rebuild foreign countries filled with people that hate us while the Chinese smile and wring their hands and the value of a dollar gets eroded a little more.


Sell our country to the Chinese, use proceeds to "give away" billions in handouts (not Raman Noodles mind you, fresh produce, meats, cokes, apartments, cash...) to those often unwilling to work, sacrifice or even attempt to be self sufficient. Being broke and breeding is now a profession yielding more income than making minimum wage, and you don't have to live on Raman Noodles.


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## redspeck (Jul 3, 2012)

Do ya'll remember a gallon of milk was in a cardboard box, like the half gallons are today. I remember dropping one in the kitchen. Talk about milk everywhere! Moms was so mad at me, didn't have the money for anymore.


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## 3rdbarnottoodeep (May 1, 2009)

I was so poor and my credit so bad, the stores wouldn't take my cash.


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

Spirit said:


> When I was married to my first husband. He refused to work, blew all the money I made before I could even pay the bills. We could never pay the rent or utilities. I had too much pride to call my parents and tell them I had no food and no money. I was too terrified of him to leave. When it was down to living in a weekly rate motel and eating off the same can of green beans for three days because there was nothing else to eat and no money to buy more, I finally got enough courage to leave in the middle of the night and swore I'd never allow myself to sink in a pit like that again.
> 
> Of course that wasn't the end of it. He wouldn't let go, said he promised God he wouldn't let me divorce him. I told him he couldn't promise God what another person would or wouldn't do. Had no idea at the time he meant he'd kill us both if I didn't come back, but the letters he wrote to our parents and the judge laid out his true plans. He only succeeded with half his plan, he's buried in Lancaster, TX.


That's not good at all. Glad you got away and started a new family. And good riddence to that weak pos that pushed you around.


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## Jamaica Cove (Apr 2, 2008)

redspeck said:


> Do ya'll remember a gallon of milk was in a cardboard box, like the half gallons are today. I remember dropping one in the kitchen. Talk about milk everywhere! Moms was so mad at me, didn't have the money for anymore.


 I remember powdered milk in a box, mom took some of the powdered milk and would use the old 'real' milk container to try to fool us. The powdered milk looked like cloudy water and tasted like water-was terrible, but hey, that's what ya got or nothing, so we drank it. Never on welfare, never on unemployment-people didn't do that-only the really poor did. Sadly, that isn't how it works today-the 'poor' live better than hard-working families-all thanks to the soft-hearted 'libs' that haven't a clue.


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## sweenyite (Feb 22, 2009)

When I was a kid, we were so poor that when we went to KFC we licked other peoples' fingers.


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## arogler (Feb 11, 2014)

I remember making "milk" out of powdered non-dairy coffee creamer. And we had a truck with a wire coat hanger holding the passenger door shut, and my older brother always wanting to sit in the middle not by the window.


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## Pasadena1944 (Mar 20, 2010)

Tortuga said:


> When I wuz 21...minimum wage was $1.00/hour... Try living on that...:biggrin:
> 
> Course when I was that age I had just graduated from college...had my license..and was making a fabulous $100.00 a week...60 hours one week..72 hours the next week..8 to 6 Monday thru Saturday...9 to 9 every other Sunday...Sure enjoyed those every other Sundays off... Nobody counted the hours you worked back then...and I was living high on the hog...LOL


I lived on$1.25 an hour with a new wife....But I wouldn't really call it living...


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## kneekap (Nov 13, 2012)

The neighborhood where I grew up was so poor the drug dealers
wouldn't even come there!


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## 98aggie77566 (Jul 7, 2009)

Poorest my wife and I have been was in college...sort of a right of passage in my opinion.

Lots of Ramen Soup, Hamburger Helper and Mac-n-Cheese.

I can remember going to the grocery store one day....buddy and I were going to grill chicken for the girls. We were going all out that day and living like rich folks!! They specifically requested "white meat". We looked at prices on said "white meat" and successfully convinced them that thighs were in fact white meat. LOL!

Made we want to graduate as quickly as possible for sure.


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## OnedayScratch (May 23, 2012)

Previous marriage. Cuz we both had are heads up our own butts.

Didn't realize I didn't have a pot to pizz in before that.

My now bride is a thousand times smarter than I. I found that pot in the corner 4 years ago now.


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## Porky (Nov 1, 2006)

There were no ramen noodles(60 &70's), so rice & beans flavored with salt pork was a staple along with pasta,greens and other cheap eats like skirt & flank steak, chicken wings before the fajita & hot wing craze jacked up the prices.
For an treat you could get King Oscar Kippered snacks for 21 cents a can at Safeway, the other day I saw them for over 2 dollars a can.
I still eat rice & beans.


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## glenbo (Apr 9, 2010)

I was living in Phoenix a few years after getting out of the Army, lost my job when owner sold the business. Went on unemployment finally, after about 6 weeks of looking for something in my line of work. UE was $92 a week, rent was $350 a month. I went 2 weeks once on a large watermelon and a bunch of celery. Never had a weight problem then. Finally found a good job, saved every penny, and got out of there and won't ever go back.


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## 24Buds (Dec 5, 2008)

I was broke when I moved to San Diego while I was in the Navy. Yep, service members with kids in Cali are poor.


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## poppadawg (Aug 10, 2007)

sweenyite said:


> When I was a kid, we were so poor that when we went to KFC we licked other peoples' fingers.


 That wasnt my finger


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

sweenyite said:


> When I was a kid, we were so poor that when we went to KFC we licked other peoples' fingers.





poppadawg said:


> That wasnt my finger


Always thought that boy had a little sugar in his tank sad3sm


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## GSMAN (May 22, 2004)

*Ramen noodles*

Poorest I have been was in college. You could buy 4 or 5 boxes of macaroni and cheese for a buck when they would go on sale. A little milk/water and a touch of butter and dinner was served. Ramen noodles weren't around back then.



poppadawg said:


> There seems to be a direct correlation with the depth of poverty one is in and the amount of ramen noodles consumed. I had no idea Ramen noodles were so destructive.


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## baytownboy (Jul 24, 2009)

Back in early 40â€™s in Pelly Texas, now know as Baytown, I would take my baths in a no. 5 wash tub in the kitchen. Mom would boil water on our stove and pour into the tub with cold water. We had no toilet, just and old wood outhouse approx 100 feet from our house. We had no showers or bath tubs. Did not have a telephone either. We had a ice box for our cold food. 
My step-dad made $50.00 a month and we had to do with that.
We had an old shot-gun house that housed my grand dad and grand ma, uncle, aunt, and my mom and step-dad. We ate in the kitchen and outside on the back porch or front porch. We did not have electricity for a long time, only coal oil and white gas lanterns. The old house had a tin roof so every time it rain, I wanted to pee, so momma kept a big slop jar on the back porch! Most of the time I slept in the screened in front porch on a camping cot.
Many a day I had manaise and sugar sandwiches or catsup and sugar sandwiches. There was a Humble Oil gas station in front of our house that closed at 10:00 every night, and sometime I would slip out and take a drinking straw and ice pick with me and open the old Coca-Cola sliding machine, poke a hole in the cap and drink the â€œgood stuffâ€ for a treat. I walked to school every day rain shine sleet or snow. Only wore shoes in the winter time. I went barefooted until I started the 10th grade . The only new clothes I got were hand me downs from my cousin.


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## FINNFOWLER (Sep 2, 2004)

In college and lived on my own. Faux Mac-n-Cheese with faux ranch style beans were my main source of food.


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## cwbycrshr (May 23, 2013)

I recall my godfather telling me stories of growing up right after the great depression. That man saved every little thing he found because he could use it for something around the ranch. 

He was one of the few survivors of the USS California in PH. He had to swim under water and come up for air in patches of water that where not on fire from the oil and gas. As he swam along, out of instinct, he was filling his pockets and trousers with 30mm brass to re-sale as scrap! 

To this day his oldest grandson has one of those 30mm pieces of brass on his mantel that he carved a dragon into.


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## JOHNNY QUEST (Mar 6, 2006)

There was a time I in my life that I was without options. Flat broke cheap run down apartment. Eviction notices, monthly. That's when I found male dancing at í ½í¸‰ LaBare. Soon just because of my chiseled body and phenomenal looks I was Rollin in the women and greenbacks. Thats when the cougar trapped me. I spent 10 years on an old woman. í ½í¸¢ then I found a real job. I was able to escape and make a life for myself. I climbed the ladder and just recently surpassed the 6 figure mark. Life is good.


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## hoosierplugger (May 24, 2004)

In 1985 I remember once putting $.32 worth of gas in my car


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

When I met Stacy, she was the buffet girl at the Nassau Bay Hilton. The Hilton buffet was one of my regular places to get a decent meal for a bargain. 

I finally talked her into marrying me the next year and for our wedding, I cooked. We got married on a Saturday, and I started cooking that Thursday. There used to be a Mrs. Baird's bread place right on the Freeway that had day old bread for practically free. Sandwiches were a staple back then. I wouldn't trade those times for anything, but it's nice not having to check the bank account anymore to go grocery shopping. 

My first big raise was from $40 a week to $1 an hour. Percentage wise, that was one of the biggest jumps in income ever. For several years, Dad would find us a big job to do for the Christmas break in school. That was cool too, because we went from working after school and part time hours to full time hours for 3 weeks. Big money just when you needed it.


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

98aggie77566 said:


> Poorest my wife and I have been was in college...sort of a right of passage in my opinion.
> 
> Lots of Ramen Soup, Hamburger Helper and Mac-n-Cheese.
> 
> ...


Right of passage was right for many of us. But I didn't graduate either so oh well. Spend many a dollar on late night rotisserie chickens from heb back then. Could get one with day old loaf of French bread after nine pm for $1.50. Could make two or three meals easily. Ate a lot of conchitas (Mexican macaroni and cheese- fideo, cumin, chiles and water (Velveeta cheese when lucky) as well but I really liked that stuff. Still do. Was lucky to always have deer meat in the freezer though. Not from a paid lease back then either. :texasflag


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## huntnetime (Jul 23, 2004)

We stopped on the side of the highway, cut 3 branches off of a pine tree, duct taped them together and that was our Christmas tree that year. We didn't have a lot of money, but we had a lot of love.  I try to preach that to people I know. Money isn't everything.


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

hoosierplugger said:


> In 1985 I remember once putting $.32 worth of gas in my car


I remember gas wars in the 50's when 32 cents would buy 2 gallons of gas.


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## carryyourbooks (Feb 13, 2009)

I was homeless back in 1995 for about 6 months. That's where I found Jesus too. God gave me a good kick in the *** back then which was exacly what I needed.


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## Mont (Nov 17, 1998)

huntnetime said:


> We stopped on the side of the highway, cut 3 branches off of a pine tree, duct taped them together and that was our Christmas tree that year. We didn't have a lot of money, but we had a lot of love.  I try to preach that to people I know. Money isn't everything.


Funny you mentioned that. Either the first or second year we were married, I got our tree for free the day before Christmas. Stacy decorated it all up and we had a tree the next morning. Christmas has always been special to her. Our house gets transformed the day after Thanksgiving every year.


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## State_Vet (Oct 10, 2006)

Private in the Army, married a woman with kids (long story) dead broke, fed the new family c-rations when time got tightwhich was often.


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## sweenyite (Feb 22, 2009)

Blk Jck 224 said:


> Always thought that boy had a little sugar in his tank sad3sm


 Uh- no. That's an old joke.


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## sweenyite (Feb 22, 2009)

E-1 in the navy. Living aboard ship. No bills, no car, no phone. Didn't make much but it was all weekend money. Then I met my first wife. By the time I was an E-4 with a wife and a baby, I had to work at The Home Depot to supplement my military pay.


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## V-Bottom (Jun 16, 2007)

Eating pecans out of the back yard ...thats all I had!!


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## sweenyite (Feb 22, 2009)

V-Bottom said:


> Eating pecans out of the back yard ...thats all I had!!


 and cussing the squirrels! :biggrin:


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

sweenyite said:


> and cussing the squirrels! :biggrin:


Quote:
Originally Posted by V-Bottom View Post
Eating pecans out of the back yard ...thats all I had!!

If you had a pellet gun, you could have had pecan encrusted squirrel.


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## Bayscout22 (Aug 9, 2007)

I was once so poor I sold a quart of blood for $11. If you let them put the blood back in and only sold the plasma, you only got $8, but you could do it again the next week.


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## Waymore (Jul 6, 2011)

We were so poor back in the 50's , all we had for a toilet was a wooden outhouse and had to wipe with a monkey ward or a sears and rowbuck catalog. Sometimes a corn cob did the job. We had no heat in the house, except a potbelly stove in the kitchen, and when mom put us in bed, the covers were so heavy I couldn't turn over! Aw the good old days!!!


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Mont said:


> Funny you mentioned that. Either the first or second year we were married, I got our tree for free the day before Christmas. Stacy decorated it all up and we had a tree the next morning. Christmas has always been special to her. Our house gets transformed the day after Thanksgiving every year.


That's funny, Mont.. Brought to mind a now departed best friend of mine when we got married. They were from Ohio and we lived in the same project apartments.. Bill was Polish...and somehow convinced his wife that it was an old polish custom not to put up your Christmas tree until Christmas eve...so they went shopping for a tree every Dec. 24. Course the pickings were pretty slim on the trees by then but I doubt he ever paid more than a buck for any of them..and they did end up with some of the crappiest looking Christmas trees you could imagine.. Dunno if she ever did catch on to his lie...but he and we got a kick out of it..:biggrin:


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## OnedayScratch (May 23, 2012)

redspeck said:


> Do ya'll remember a gallon of milk was in a cardboard box, like the half gallons are today. I remember dropping one in the kitchen. Talk about milk everywhere! Moms was so mad at me, didn't have the money for anymore.


My mom would buy Carnation instant milk. I never knew any better...matter of fact, when I'd go over to someone's house and they offered me milk, I'd taste it with a grimace.

Those were the days.....


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

Carnation was tasty. Strawberry all day long then the chocolate and vanilla. I never thought of it as a "frugle" breakfast but I guess so but we had six kids to feed so I'm sure it was.


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## Hookem-Guy81 (Apr 3, 2013)

I was in college and found out the $2,500 I had saved from Birthday and Christmas and from working at Newton's Marina at Watergate and other jobs in High School was not enough to get me all the way through. I ended up pawning my Senior class ring, sold a Winchester Model 12 for $150, and my car, a 1969 Chevy Nova. Started riding the shuttle bus, and had to take a job at Marshall Ford Marina on Lake Travis. There were times I had no food and no money. I made a lot of good friends for life too though and we all helped each other out.


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## BullyARed (Jun 19, 2010)

$20 in my pocket with a couple pairs of tropical clothes and one pair of shoes in Winter 1975 in Boston just six months after I left Vietnam at barely 19 by myself with limited English and a will to survive. Basically homeless. Could have not gotten to where I am here now without USA. Thanks USA.


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## Baffin Bay (Jul 26, 2011)

None of these stories sound poor to me. When I was at Aggieland I received 20 bucks a week and I was a heavy drinker and smoker,,,I would have to steal Raman Noodles from my roommates.


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## okmajek (May 29, 2012)

I wore my sisters clothes for picture day....


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## d50h (Dec 2, 2005)

I had to use a fork with my cereal so I could pass down the bowl of milk to my sister


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## HTownBoi281 (May 13, 2006)

okmajek said:


> I wore my sisters clothes for picture day....


I hope your sister was a tom boy in school................


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## Bull Red (Mar 17, 2010)

Made my 1st trip to Vegas at 21. Went with my boss. I was only going to be there for the weekend, then come back and demobilize our jobsite the following week and get my ROF (lay off) and final 2 checks. So I took all my cash with me (bad idea #1). On the plane ride my boss taps me on the shoulder and hands me my final check. He says "I didn't want you to have to cut your trip short so I laid you off". (Oh great, now I don't have a job!) I got out to Vegas and was greeted by my Dad. He and my boss were friends so they decided to surprise me. Dad reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out my income tax return check. (Holy chit, now I have every penny to my name on me.... 21 years old and in Vegas!) Well I had an awesome time, met a really cute waitress from the 4 Queens and managed to spend ALL of my money. (Its weird but it just didn't seem that important in the moment.) Then I flew back to Hobby and reality set in. I had $38 in my wallet and no job. To make matters even worse, my flight was delayed and got in after midnight. I didn't have a ride since a friend had dropped me off at the airport to save on parking. I lived in Pasadena at the time and the taxi ride cost me $20! So then I took my unemployed arse over to the Waffle House and bought a $0.50 cup of coffee and grabbed the free newspaper to check the want ads. As luck would have it a company was hiring for a shutdown that started the very next day. I put $5 gas in my car, went down there, got hired and started that night working 7-12s on night shift. The job was a nasty one but I was glad to have it. Meanwhile I went to the store, bought a loaf of bread, a pkg of bologna, a bag of pinto beans and a bag of potatoes. Put my last few bucks in the tank so I could get to and from work. After working there a week I talked them into giving me a $100 draw against my 1st check. I continued to work there long enough to make back all the money I had lost in Vegas. I got broke a time or 2 beyond that, but never because of anything I had any control over. I learned my lesson on gambling away all my money. It hasn't happened again and never will.


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## RLwhaler (Sep 10, 2005)

College days.....2 jobs.

Ramen noodles.....Betcha I've got more recipes on ramen that Capt Dave would be proud of.:biggrin:


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## driftfish20 (May 13, 2006)

trodery said:


> My dad and mother got divorced when I was 2 and my mother got custody of me, at the age of 3 while playing in mom's front yard in Wichita Falls my dad kidnapped me (best thing that ever happened to me). We moved around a lot, I suppose we were really in hiding. We moved to Oregon and then later Oklahoma at eh age of 4 (1967) my dad and I came to Houston on a Greyhound bus, we had twenty cents and two suitcases, no car, no house, nothing other than each other the 20 cents and a few clothes.
> 
> My dad had a friend here in Houston that took us in and let us stay there. That friend of my dad owned a trucking company and dad went back to driving a truck and leaving me with the friends wife while he was gone. Dad hated the fact that he was leaving me without him being around so he took a different job managing a trucking company. With dad's new job also came an apartment above the office that we moved into, we still didn't have a car but at least we had a place of our own to live in. Most every evening we walked to the same Mexican restaurant to eat dinner, it was a couple miles away. On the way back home we would walk past a little beer join that also sold groceries, we would go in, pick up whatever few items we could carry and then walk home. It was rough for a couple years but my dad lovingly cared for me the best he could. In retrospect, it was probably the best bonding that we could have ever done!
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing this, Terry!


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## Captmphillips (Jul 6, 2010)

back in the late 80's I lived on about $600 a month but my rent was $200 a month


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## TranTheMan (Aug 17, 2009)

Worked full time while in college and always two jobs during the summers. I decided it was not "cost effective" to stay longer in school, so for my last semester I took all 22 hours that I had left to graduate -- got a BSEE in seven semesters. A friend mentioned that I needed a button shirt for job interviews because all I had was tattered T-shirts and jeans bought from Goodwill. Bought a new shirt and got myself a job with a power company :wink:! 
I drove home right after the final tests because I could not afford the cap and gown - no big deal. But what I had was less than $50 saved for gas, so I bought a loaf of bread and a gallon of water as food for the trip, which was from central Missouri to the upper part of New York, in a '68 Volks during mid December. It took 36 hours! All behind me now.


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## Captmphillips (Jul 6, 2010)

the only things i cared about was if the bills were paid and if my lab Duke was fed


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## OnedayScratch (May 23, 2012)

okmajek said:


> I wore my sisters clothes for picture day....


Winner!


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## nsterns (Nov 17, 2011)

We were so poor we ate rice for breakfast, drank a gallon of water for lunch and swelled up for dinner!!


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## Flyingvranch (Mar 10, 2014)

When I was in my twenties many years ago I was literally starving. I would walk into McDonalds and mill around like I was waiting on an order or something and snatch the ketchup packets and slip them in my pockets. I would go around the back or into the bathroom and eat ketchup to survive. My parents would and could have easily fed me but I was too dumb and proud to do that so as a result I lived on ketchup for a good while.


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## Chase4556 (Aug 26, 2008)

Stupidly, mine was not to long ago.

In 2010, as an E1 in the Army, a month after getting to Savannah I blew all of my money one evening(pay day) at the strip club with my buddies. Drinking will make you do stupid stuff. The next day I had no money, and no plan. I was living in the barracks on base and just walked to work on monday so I didn't waste gas. That afternoon, I got the shotgun I had brought with me to Georgia out of the arms room, and went and shot a deer. No, it was not deer season. Took that deer to my sergeants and he let me use his knives to skin it and bone it out. Borrowed his crock pot, and he handed me a bag of beans. Thats what I ate for the following 2 weeks until payday hit.

He made me replace the bag of beans, and I learned a very valuable lesson.... withdraw cash before going to the strip club, and leave the debit card at home.


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## Spotted Hawg (Apr 15, 2006)

As a kid I would walk to town picking up coke bottles from the side of the road to turn in so I could go to the Rialto for the Saturday morning movie. Admission was a quarter, small cup of coke was a dime, and a candy bar was a nickel, sometimes could not afford the refreshments. One time I found an unopened bottle of RC and it had a 25 cent sticker under the cap "Score !" I know I know I was being selfish keeping all that for myself but hey I was like 7 years old! We always had a big garden and ate a lot of wild game & fish, we were happy never poor.:texasflag


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## Texican89 (Oct 27, 2009)

Let's see as an infant in Mexico we had no running water, Adobe brick house, outhouse, candles for light, and my father still used a horse to plow the fields. We always had food and I managed to survive so I guess we weren't too poor.








My uncle still farms in old Mexico.


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## kinja (May 21, 2004)

14 yrs old in early 1984. It's been up ever since.


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## StinkBait (May 31, 2004)

We were poor growing up, had I not been born a boy I would have had nothing to play with.


Sent from my iPhone6 using TapatalkPro


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## essayons75 (May 15, 2006)

I guess when I was in college I lived high-on-the-hog. I had potted meat sandwiches. I could make 3 sandwiches from one small can. If there was mayo it was gourmet!


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## HoustonKid (Dec 29, 2005)

Mid to late 80's. Too young to do anything about it but realized when I grew up, I was not going to live like that and I have not.


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## spike404 (Sep 13, 2010)

Did not even go through the posts. Why should I? The first liar doesn't stand a chance.


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## kweber (Sep 20, 2005)

every young person should live off minimum wage for at least 6mos...
we'd have have a better society because of it.
been broke a couple times between good times...
smarter now.


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## SharkBait >*)\\\><( (May 16, 2012)

Texican89 said:


> Let's see as an infant in Mexico we had no running water, Adobe brick house, outhouse, candles for light, and my father still used a horse to plow the fields. We always had food and I managed to survive so I guess we weren't too poor.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


this puts a smile on my face, i have found in countries where people worry about the day to day things(food, water, shelter, and family) people tend to be happier.. i personally dont think having or not having possessions makes someone poor or rich. you can have nothing and still be far from poor as long as you have true family..
i lost my good job after my wife just had our second child months ago, she ended up in surgery several times over several months..i couldn't work because of the two kids, and taking care of her..even on a reduced income we are living better off than most of the world, not to mention the family time has been invaluable..our son's new thing is sticking out his tongue and giggling. im glad i didn't miss that time working for pieces of paper..
i may have less money at the moment but i feel like a rich man living a rich life, i dont gauge my success or happiness in $$$$$$$$$$$$$


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## okmajek (May 29, 2012)

OnedayScratch said:


> Winner!


Man that sucked. . My mom said your so cute no one will
Notice,, that didn't help at all . My older sisters got dibs
On new clothes and money spent. I had to rely on my
Good looks !!


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

Money is nice but it also causes stress. I have a food friend that is the happiest guy I know. He is 60, makes $12/hr, never watches the news, (only hunting and fishing shows) and still dips a can of snuff a day and drinks a 12 pak of beer at night.


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## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

When I was 9 my dad passed away from Cancer. Mom had to work 2 jobs just to make ends meet. I would babysit my 2 younger sisters after school and on weekends. Learned to change cloth diapers pretty quick. :biggrin: We lived in a 1 bedroom apt and the laundry was out around back so I would hand wash them since we only did clothes when we had a full load. When my Daughter and Grandkids came along it was pampers only in the house 
Many meals of noodles, soup and such.
I wouldnt say poor, but the life lessons I learned were priceless.
Mom taught me values I still rely on to this day.


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## P (Nov 18, 2012)

bigfishtx said:


> Money is nice but it also causes stress. I have a food friend that is the happiest guy I know. He is 60, makes $12/hr, never watches the news, (only hunting and fishing shows) and still dips a can of snuff a day and drinks a 12 pak of beer at night.


Guess im on the right track but sure would like to know what that JJ Watt kinda money feels like lol


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## poppadawg (Aug 10, 2007)

Poverty teaches us that poverty suxs


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## bigfishtx (Jul 17, 2007)

poppadawg said:


> Poverty teaches us that poverty suxs


Yep....biggest fear after yuou make some money is not having any.

If you have never had it, you don't know what you are missing


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## freespool (Oct 1, 2005)

fmlyfisher said:


> When my wife and I first got married we figured out we could both eat on about 20 bucks a weeks if we stayed with spaghetti and stew using deer meat. For a solid 6 months that's all we ate, to this day I'll starve before I a plate of spaghetti again!! Lol
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 In my late teens early twenties I would eat spaghetti a lot along with ramen noodles due to being broke. Can't stand either to this day.


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## Superman70 (Aug 13, 2014)

I guess that I have been truly blessed. I've never done without the things that I needed. Daddy did teach us that work makes a man. Hauled hay from the time that I could drag a bail of hay. Picked beans for 2 dollars a bushel. Trapped furs in the winter. Hauled pulp wood when I was 16 and 17 after school and on weekends from daylight till dark for 50 bucks. There was always someone that needed something done once they found out that I didn't care what the job was as long as it payed. I guess its a bonus to be country. Average 130 now without a degree.


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## lite-liner (Mar 15, 2005)

HAHAHAHAH, I could write a book on suburban homelessness & addiction.
there are a number of reasons I dont, as it was 6 years brought on entirely by my own decisions.
I grew up in an average family with all the cool stuff a kid in the '70's liked, but endo'd into hell around '80. GOD & the love of a good woman is what brought me around in 1991. It's pretty hard to look back sometimes, living on $7/day
anybody ever take a bath in a city park pond @ 2am? because you had to?
Ice chest in your back seat full of food, not beer, & a tent in the trunk?
the night shift cops in your town know you on a first name basis?
certainly not born into a bad situation, but I created one, & I learned a lot.

poverty is awesome if you survive it. no better incentive.


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

lite-liner said:


> HAHAHAHAH, I could write a book on suburban homelessness & addiction.
> there are a number of reasons I dont, as it was 6 years brought on entirely by my own decisions.
> I grew up in an average family with all the cool stuff a kid in the '70's liked, but endo'd into hell around '80. GOD & the love of a good woman is what brought me around in 1991. It's pretty hard to look back sometimes, living on $7/day
> anybody ever take a bath in a city park pond @ 2am? because you had to?
> ...


Glad things worked out for you.


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