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Home > The reason I am Frugal Today: A Little Background

The reason I am Frugal Today: A Little Background

January 14th, 2005 at 07:41 pm

I was raised by my grandparents and mother in what was considered an untraditional home in the 50's and early 60's. My father was not in the picture from the time I was 3. My mother moved in with my grandparents so that she could work and my grandmother could take care of me and my baby sister. My grandfather and mom both worked Mon-Fri. My mom also worked at the local movie theater on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to make ends meet. Most of what my Mom made was paid to my grandmother for room,board and child care.

I never felt poor or deprived but I always knew there was not much money. We lived frugally on one floor of a two story home that my grandfather owned. He rented the other floor to relatives. We were fed well but there was never more than a weeks worth of food in the house. One portion of food was put on your plate and there were rarely seconds. A treat each week was 1 qt. of soda that we shared and once in a while we had chips. My mom and grandfather took the city bus to work. Neither owned a car until I was 14 and they purchased used cars for cash. We heated with the old coal stove. They washed clothing by hand and hung it outside all year round and this was in NY. I was raised wearing hand me down clothes. My first bicycle was given to me by a neighbor when I was 15 after her daughter had gotten a new one. We had few toys. Christmas gifts were usually 2 pieces of clothing that we needed and one toy. We always had stockings full of oranges and nuts!

On the other hand, my sister and I saw every movie imaginable 3-6 times a weekend because Mom had to take us to work with her on the weekends to give grandma a break! Mom and grandma saw that we went to a private Catholic High School because it was family tradition. They rented a camp on a beautiful Saratoga Lake every summer for about two months.


Yes they were frugal so that they could save for the things that they felt were important! Their luxuries for my sister and I were private High school and getting us out of the city for summers.

If either of them had lost their jobs, we would have been poor. I don't think they had much saved for a rainy day! I think that is why I have been such a saver all my life. I have always wanted to live frugally because of the way they raised me; however I wanted to always have plenty in the bank to fall back on so that my family would never live on the edge!

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