your story actually sounds a chit ton like mine homie, except I traded your Philly for Austin, TX. Brb my place was broken in to and robbed multiple times, had to sell weed to pay rent, etc. Best memories ever. Mad respect for making it in Philly. I lived in NJ, up near NYC for a bit and hated it. Left pretty quick. Only been to philly a couple times and never found a reason to hang around.

For my parents, it was more of "endure being poor now, we'll be rich once these shares/time shares/dodgy investments give us a 300% return"

My mother literally went to the market, listen to gossip of buying these shares that has gone up 300%, buy it at its peak, then sell when everyone complains it has gone down. Didn't understand chit when young, but now when I look at it, its the most retarded thing ever.

Was not well off up until I was about 16.

No going out for dinner, no toys, no lunch money, parents always upset and stressed. Family friends telling me my parents were going through a really tough time and about to go bankrupt etc. Other than that, pretty normal I'd say, it was more or less just watching people come to school with the newest stuff, and they'd have money to spend on lunch, and I didn't.

Line Edit: still had a playstation 2 though, and a gameboy, only things I ever had as a kid though, also, always got fed, never skipped a single meal I don't think, mum's an absolute angel.

23 now and dad's about to buy a jet lmao.

I don't think being poor and being middle class are too different at all, basically just a mental thing when you're there.

Living with excess money is incredibly different though, I dunno how different it would be if I earned it, definitely infinitely better.
But I can't bring chit up around my friends anymore about having a bad day or being worried about something cause they look at me and say "you've got it fukking easy, fukk off".

People also look at me different now, especially friends, they get jealous much easier, they also constantly put me down for random chit, or always try to one up me with some random chit.
eg. Dad gave me an 80k car and then my friend stopped driving his car around and instead took his dads out which was nicer than mine lmao. Petty chit like that to try and compete or some bullchit.

I admire the way in which you were able to climb out of the mire, but there's no reason to be jelly at the people who move society forward.

Settle down there, Dr. Evil. ;p

you can be "poor" in the first world and still have a better quality life than 99% of third world....perspective boyos.

Grew up in east la , dirt poor, food stamps and all that , don't like thinking about it so I don't have to remember (srs)...


all I can say is me and my family are fortunate to be where we are today through hard work and dedication (no mayweather )

You learn very bad things about money, saving, priorities. You never know when the lights will go out, when you got no water, when you gotta move again because of eviction. Borrowing money you cant pay back. Getting sick and tired of food stamps food. Clothes are always used and old. Shoes never fit. Constantly hungry. Having to hustle at a really early age. I was living as an adult (had to grow up fast) by the time I was 12. Lots of things in my memory are blank because my mind has blocked out my traumas.

edit: most of the responses itt are not poor people, they are just not well off. I lived below the poverty line.

As a kid I never knew where I was sleeping month to month. Didn't have a phone or tv at times. All food came from the food bank for a while. It motivated me later in life to not **** around too much.

Know those feels. I was breaking into cars when I was 12. No pride in it - at that age it didn't seem like a bad thing to do.

Struggle struggle better off than most my peers, realize when their parents die they'll retire. There's no helping hand for me. Couldn't afford college because my parents earned too much but they ducked with money. Brb their parents saved for their college but they didn't try to save for me. Gotta wait till like 26 for financial aidbased on my own income.

By the time I hit 26 I'll be back to earning too much for financial aid. I'm NOT paying full price for college.

at least they werent asking you for money at 18 and onward

Can't speak on not having electricity, water, or shelter, I have had times where I had to make the food I had on me last, though. Then there's silly non-essential chit like not being able to afford cool chit you want to get your hands on, but that's not important.

McDonalds was a treat srs


but it could be worse, my ex has a degenerate mother who till this day continues to leave in Welfare and pop out kids (12 and counting; she is only 39, fat and has not worked in over 10 years). Her siblings don't have a stable place to stay, eat cheap junk/candy for dinner every day. They all live and sleep in ONE bedroom.

Some people just have the odds against them since birth.

That's good man. I wish more poor people planned like that. It would help lift them out of poverty over time.If you're about to use some affluent bull****, save it. Nothing is worse than upper middle class/upper class suburbanites who talk about how they understand the way poor people think.

Well my mom was a single parent so no dad, no siblings to play with. I lived in a house that was so run-down that when we moved out, the city immediately put it up to be condemned.

My grandma lived with us and smoked like a chimney so the formerly white walls were stained so bad with nicotine that when you moved a picture an inch, you could see the original paint color.

My house was so disgusting that i only had maybe a total of 5 friends over growing up-Didn't know who I could trust to not go and run their mouths to everyone.

(serious) There was a huge hole in the ceiling of our back porch so it rained into the house. My mom would put big 50 gallon trash cans out to catch the rain-and the water beetles that came with the rain.

All the carpets were stained from dog pee ,but they didnt have money to have them cleaned all the time so-you better have worn your shoes in the house.

Every time there was a tornado my mom and grandma would start praying because they said if one came close enough our house would blow away like matchsticks. Not the most comforting thing for an 8 year old to hear when tornado sirens are blaring.

Any time I went to a friends house I would lay awake at night and just take in the smell (usually smelled like gain laundry detergent? idk but there is definitely a "rich person" smell) and look up at the clean flat ceiling and wonder when I'd ever get to live in a house like that. Most of these were just normal houses.

Probably because of jealousy/sadness over our house not smelling "rich/aka gain-ish" lol I still am kind of put-off if I walk into someones house and it smells this way. Subconsciously I think maybe they are too good to be friends with me


Even though we were poor as fuk my mom still had a credit card and bought me all new and stylish clothes. She had like 40k of debt after all that.


My mom tried the best she could and struggled with bipolar disorder . Never beat me or any crazy ****-just lived in a really nasty place. She finally got psychological help a few years back and is now a really clean person and is the best grandma ever to our children. If you saw her you would never think she used to let her kid live in filth.




oh and I turned out pretty normal despite my username lol


also, i am in college now and the number one motivator for me to keep going is so that we can be wealthy (in my mind 75k a year) and my kids not have to want for anything.
They have it pretty good now even though we are poverty-level poor since we budget and are frugal- but Once you have grown up in poverty you want as far away from it as possible.

Stressful srs.
Lived in vietnam when I was a kid, stressed about money since I was like 6. Parents fight all the time about money, dad blames mom saying she spends too much, mom blames dad saying he's a loser and can't support his family.
At six whenever my dad gets paid I would memorize the amount he was paid and thought about how long it would last us. Often had to eat plain rice and fish sauce.
Mom would go buy a new bar of soap and dad would see soap while taking a shower and flip out cuz the soap is more expensive than the brand we used to use and they'd fight.
Ashamed when hanging out with friends because all of them knew my house is the only one in the whole street that doesn't have pluming or toilet and we have to chit on a piece of paper, and they would make fun and not play with me cuz i poor.
Brb a neighbors kids birthday party and wasn't invited cuz kid knows I can't afford presents.
Dad got sick and was in extreme pain, got admitted in the hospital but he woke up during post surgery and climbed out the window to go home so we could avoid the bill

Honestly I don't remember, I grew up in like a shack in India (roof made out of leaves and chit, with chickens running around), I would go with my grandpa to deliver milk to random houses early in the morning, grandma would milk the cows at like 4AM. Moved to the US when I was 6, now make 85k/yr.....that feel when you think about where I would have been if my parents didn't come to the US, fuarrrrkkk

Lying on a king size at the Wyndham grand currently, while my puerto rican hbb gf is listening to salsa music and drinking wine....how crazy things could have ended up

lmao at ANYONE that grew up in the US thinking that they were "poor." If you were absolutely homeless growing up, sure you could make the argument. But if your family had housing, food, car, etc. you were not poor in relative terms.

We were low end of middle class growing up, mom was 18 and dad was 19 when they had me, pops had to join the military so we lived alright since we were on military bases. After he got discharged he had to take a job at wal mart as a mechanic (I was 10-13) so those were probably the most broke we were as a family.

brb wanted terminator game got terminator action figure for christmas
brb kid made fun of my brooks shoes in class
brb never got to go to a barber shop (post pops military life) until I was 18.

It's very painful, especially when your single parent is struggling to take care of you.

Now that I have money, if I just imagine no money it's not that big of a deal, but there's an entirely different and incredibly depressing feeling you get growing up in poverty. It's horrible and more than just 'not having money'.

TV dinners
rice
bologna sandwich
shower every other day, not everyday (but I was a kid, and didn't give a **** about my hygiene rofl)

My family was poor when I was little. Never had chit, but I couldn't miss having stuff because I never had it.

Read OP's definition of poor. "People who's dads were warehouse/construction workers," aka jobs that make around 50k per year.

mom raised me and my brother basically alone to get away from an abusive dad

on < 30k/year since she isnt proficient in english

tons of self-pitying growing up etc.

didnt have my own room till i was 18, slept on the couch

never had a summer to enjoy, i was working to help my fam since i was a freshman

not much traveling done, couldnt afford

couldnt go out with friends because no money to pay for things

rice and beans almost everyday

stress would cause arguments between mom and dad

i could go on forever

Growing up poor?

Having the same clothes in elementary school for 4 years straight, and kids making fun of you for it. The only nice clothes I had were for picture day. Kids would say "you live in a three story pizza box", but these same people would beg for my help on hw. I didn't get internet until I was in sophomore year of high school. I didn't have a phone until I was a freshman. Everyday at night I would eat the same thing, and my mom would always wake me up in the mornings to get to school in time for breakfast (which was free because I was poor). Every year we would get to the offices of the school district as soon as the time to turn in the paperwork for free lunch was up. I never threw my food around unlike the other kids who would throw most of it in the trash because it was "nasty". My dad would cut my hair all the time instead of us (my siblings) going to the salon.

I reused my school supplies over and over. I used everything until I couldn't anymore. Many times the richer kids would threaten to beat me up if I actually had one good thing. I remember one day I had my first pair of jordans, and the kid who flunked twice asked me to take them off or he would kick my ass. I didn't, and he would try to take them every day.

The only form of entertainment I had was public television. I would watch reruns over and over. When I was bored I would play outside or go to the public library to checkout a book. I had no gaming systems, and I had no myspace when most the other kids did. Whenever my gf in jr high asked me for my phone number I told her I either had lost my phone or it was broken. Everytime we had a day where all the kids would take their toys...they would take their scale model cars, their porcelain dolls, their PSPs, and I would take my .99 cheap Hot Wheels toys. When we had a kite flying day, everyone had nice kites. Mine was a cheap one that broke in less than 5 minutes.

My parents would always argue about money, I would wake up all the time with nightmares about people shouting. I gradually formed a general distrust in people. I was cynical of most all people. However, I knew to value those who actually stuck through and didn't care about how I was different. I have good skills when it comes to reading people and seeing through facades. I had to, I dealt with that chit all my life.

That's what it is like growing up poor.

That feel when u get yogurt from food bank and it's not expired

My wife grew up in a similar fashion to a lot of you all with some sexual misconduct with some family members involved. I think a lot of the disconnect we have stems from our upbringings being polar opposite. It seems you don't forget anything that happens when you grow up like that either.

Alcohol from 13 upwards