Growing Up in a Poverty Mindset Household

Motel hotel...

I had only stayed in low cost motels all my life and when I went on a band trip and we stayed in a nice hotel I was weirded out. Why was the room so big? Why was the bathroom clean? Why was there no moldy donuts in the vending machine?

Fancy soap?

If I ever got fancy perfume or soap because I thought it was nice and had a lovely smell, I would be pointed to the soap section in dollar tree and be told it is just soap and does the same as the nice kind.

Appliances that don't work quite right-

Dishwashers that leave what I call "cup boogers" of dried food and an oven that always burnt the edges of cakes. Always nice when I bake now and I know the cake won't burn in weird places.

Fancy food isn't actually all that fancy-

Fancy eating for us was going to Tellinis. That is not nice compared to meeting people who constantly eat a Char and Steakhouses.

Real fireplace

No easy gas turn on. If you are going to have a fireplace you better be out there gathering wood to put it on. I personally like this better anyways. Real wood smell for the win!

Stocking stuffers?

When I heard people who spent more money on Christmas got stockings full of random little gifts, that was wild to me. I got a kinda nice gift from Santa and a few other okay gifts from Walmart. Stockings were just decor, they were definitely not stuffed!

Milk and Bread

Bread was kept in the freezer so that you didn't have to buy it every week and milk buys were annoying because of how it would go bad quickly. We would be told to make sure to drink milk because it wasn't bought just to go bad.

Free or Cheap activities-

Anything like walks or free events. As soon as anything started asking for paid ticket that were too high, no more. When the botanical gardens in my area started charging too much, there was less frequent visits.

Swimsuits-

Changing out and buying new swimsuits is nice to be able to change the style. I would want a new one and be told my old one is still fine until it rips.

Backpacks-

Other kids would get a new backpack every year. I remember using the same backpack for several years until the books fell through.

Dolls-

I loved dolls and always wanted to expand my collection. Would only be done shopping at the thrift store hoping to come across a good low cost find.

Do it yourself-

All the times my Dad did not hire any workers and fixed several things himself. He dug the yard up to fix a water line and the neighbors gawked at him for doing it all one man job.

Keep it!

Used to keep things stored a lot because suddenly later would have a use for it and not have to buy another of what it is. I would keep a lot because of this while my OCD spouse would tell me to toss some things.

Flowers just die though-

I love flowers and buying them, but would only have fakes. I buy real flowers now every week because of how much I love them and didn't get to have many where I grew up besides when someone gifted me some.

Paint it yourself-

Need to repaint something? Well time to get the painter tape and be careful not to paint over something you shouldn't because the whole family is coming together to repaint the walls!