Was your family poor growing up?

[chicana]

first off I would like to say that my mom grew up very poor. My grandma had to raise 8 kids on her own, on disability with a jr high education. her husband had kids with my grandma's sister. So he was back and forth between families until baby #8 was born. Then my grandma was done with him. You would think my mom would have learned to be frugal, but she had so many credit cards it was unbelievable. Needless to say I did not grow up poor, but middle class. My mom and dad divorced when I was in 6th grade. But my mom did all she could to raise my brother and I. Financially she did a very good job. We never had to wear hand me downs. I can say that I grew up not going without. My mom never couponed, I think just because she didn't know how to do it right.
I have 5 kids and don't want them to go without, so I coupon. I do buy my kids clothes from the second hand store but they also understand that it is much cheaper and they can get more outfits. Although I also buy them new clothes, the clearance racks are the first place I hit in the stores. I coupon so my kids can play sports, so we can do things like take vacations, go to Disneyland, hit water parks and other amusement parks, and go to summer camps. Amongst other things this is the main reason why I coupon

[lovemara]

Semi Poor. It was just my mom and me. Though I don't remember it, I know there was a time when we lived in her car, then upgraded to a hotel room at the hotel where she had started waitressing. I mostly grew up on ham sandwiches and tuna fish (neither of which will I eat anymore ;) ). By the time I was in high school, she was able to purchase a condo and we lived a little better.

I don't think my upbringing bears much influence on why I coupon. Though my mom KNOWS tough times, she refuses to coupon now. I coupon because it's part of my core-personality which is to be practical and frugal. I stockpile a little not because I need to know that there is plenty, but because I'm paying the lowest price so I get as much as I can at THAT price. DH and I make a pretty decent living, but people are usually surprised to find out that we make as much as we do because we don't flaunt it. I'm fortunate enough to have friends with kids older than mine so I can buy their kids clothes (nice, high-end stuff too). I don't buy second hand clothes to be cheap, but because my kids are HARD on clothes and I don't see the purpose in paying full price for something that my kid will ruin in 3 minutes flat, lol!! I like knowing that I'm saving money over here so that I can use it/save it/spend it in a way that I CHOOSE over there, ya know?

[padmelupin]

We were quite poor, but no one in my small town believed that because my parents own their own business, which is rather high-end retail.

They decided they wanted to raise their kids in a small town, so moved there when I was 2. They took a $20k/year paycut to move, and they were pretty poor before the move.

I don't remember going without any necessities (thank God for good friends and hand-me-downs) but we rarely had all the WANTS that kids have. Mom couponed a fair bit in the early years.

By the time I was in high school, we were comfortable. Now, I'd say my parents are upper-middle class.