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Thread: Were your parents super cheap?

  1. #16
    Smartie Canuck greentires4me's Avatar
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    For me I was never loved I was always given stuff...like A-tracks or records or first cassette tape player with Fm/am radio or first CD stereo then the first discman or brand new bikes over the years or just brand new shoes/cleats for soccer: basketball.

    But when it came to clothes I was always bought something too small or too large from zellers or sears or the bay or eatons. When I started puberty early everyone made fun of me my mom never allowed me to wear proper bras until I was 15. Lots of crappy sports bras and they were cheap remember so they rip or tear easily.

    My sister on the other hand didn’t start puberty early but my mom would give her all my clothes except for bras like la senza or la vie en rose.

    I was always used as cheap labour if my dad couldn’t fix it then it was my turn I have only electrocuted myself like 12 times as a kid to a young adult.

    My parents were well off but it seemed my mom would always put my dad into debt!

    I never learned how to save money or how to pay my debts or balance a check book or do my taxes. Which were all a learning curve at 18 when I moved provinces when my mother kicked me out of the house. Yet my sister is allowed to live my mom and she is 27. Make sense of that!

    Anyway like at Christmas my mom always tells me if I don’t believe in Santa she is taking all the presents back I am 33 years old I was told at 9 there was no such thing slimy person! So I pretend as much as possible.

    My dad died in 2015 when I moved into the building now he bought me a brand new 1080p LED tv and he said he forever pay for my cellphone.

    Now that he is gone my mom is highly pissed off all the time at me!


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  2. #17
    Smart Canuck Linda Evans's Avatar
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    i dont remember them being cheap....but when i was 10 my dad died & things seemed alot different, we ate alot more "thrifty" meals like stews, everything was home made, mum was a great cook. i never asked for much, always was able to buy the latest LP or new outfit for first day of school. after i left home at 16 i didnt really see alot of my mum...things were difficult between us. but when i got married we seemed to start over & one thing we had in common was....thrift stores & yard sales. ;-)

  3. #18
    Smart Canuck MillieH's Avatar
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    We were really poor.. I grew up in a house with no furnace, electricity or running water.. we had a coal stove and then eventually an oil stove.. we also didn't have enough to eat.. in the winter the windows had a white snow like stuff on them inside.. we would blow on them to melt it so we could see outside. What you had sounds like luxury to me lol. The things your parents did seems to stem from not having the money to do it and would have kept them from having the lights turned out. These days many do what they couldn't do but charge it and live in a lifetime of debt. It sounds like they didn't have a alot of money and lived within their means. I'm a big fan of living below our means.
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  4. #19
    Canadian Genius anisa's Avatar
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    My parents were cheap!
    Both had government jobs, and were more than happy stashing away any and all extra money into various properties and interests they had. "Extra money" meaning we were given eff all, so my parents could do as they pleased.

    Not even a thank you for looking after my brother, and doing all the chores. No outings, no treats, no toys, no extras.

    The kicker... they were/are crappy parents. Mom has no maternal instincts whatsoever. She is horrible with my kids, even though she only sees them once a year. Both of them were narcissistic control freaks who are obsessed with how people view them.

    You would think decades would bring them some maturity and humility. Nope, only gotten worse!
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  5. #20
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    No, my parents weren't cheap at all. On the contrary, they spent as fast as they earned it. In a time when most mothers stayed at home, mine was working full time as a waitress, and at night too, because the tips were so good. My father had a good paying job working for the railroad, and if it wasn't for the defined benefit pension he was forced to contribute to, he would have been destitute when he was forced to retire for medical reasons at 57. On the positive side, he had little debt.

    I remember my parents comparing themselves to the neighbors, and they (my parents) couldn't figure out how they had so little in terms of assets when, with their combined incomes, they earned more money then the neighbors. On the other hand, they didn't look at how they could have more by saving a little bit of money. My mother died young in 1976, but in hindsight, the 80s and 90s were pretty good when it came to investing and saving money.
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  6. #21
    Canadian Guru Midnightly's Avatar
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    my parents were house poor..they both worked full time, both drove so 2 cars in the driveway(well 1 car 1 truck) but all extra money went into the house.. instead of a family holiday..they installed wood flooring, or extended the patio deck, did back yard work, replaced the fencing or appliances.. i never knew there was such things as summer day camps growing up, or that those guides you'd get at the pool were classes you could actually take..my parents were frugal because they were on a fairly tight budget, we never had excess food in the house, but we never went hungry, we never had bandaids in the house (which is surprising since my dad was very accident prone) our bandaid was a piece of paper towel and tape (usually packing tape since it was cheaper then scotch tape)

    i spent my summers watching movies mostly (i was well known at the video store and the 5 movies 5 days $5) my parent's said we'd have a family vacation to disneyland when my older sister was 10.. then it became when i was 10.. now it's.. when the grandchild is 10 (she's 10 and a half.. and we still haven't gone)

    my childhood has effected how i am raising my child.. we live on a budget, but i have made it a point to put her in fun activities.. to do things with her that my parents never did with me.. and yes! we do have bandaids in the house! real ones! not just packing tape and paper towel!
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  7. #22
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    I don't think my parents were cheap, more on the frugal side. I'm definitely more of a bargain hunter than they are :D
    When I was young, I would usually be cold, so I would wrap myself up in a blanket and try to trap the heat when the furnace came on.
    No Cable TV (at the time they didn't believe in it, they have it now)
    No brand name clothes (I think this has more to do with the fact that neither of my parents have any real fashion sense, I myself only started dressing better in my 30's. Also my mum never wore make up and when I attempt to put makeup I usually look like I just punched myself in the eyes.)
    We went on a lot of vacations though, travelling was something that the whole family enjoyed.

    I was picked on as a kid but I think it had more to do with my personality not meshing well with the other children. Although I didn't have a lavish lifestyle as a child, I do believe picking up some of the frugal choices my parents showed me in my youth has played a large role in me becoming the financially responsible adult I am today.
    Last edited by liquidpill; Thu, Jul 19th, 2018 at 06:03 PM.
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  8. #23
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    No. Not at all. My parents made huge sacrifices for us.
    My Dad went through the war in Holland when he was a boy and lost his mother when he was 10. He was a dairy farmer in Canada and raised 5 girls. My mother stayed at home with us and did some babysitting at home after I started school. Everything we ate was home-cooked. A lot of it was grown in our garden or came from the farm. Mom sewed or knit most of our clothes, including barbie and doll clothes.
    We weren't given everything we wanted, which brought out our creativity and resourcefulness. My sisters and I had a lot of fun playing together! We didn't have cable either, but we were pretty satisfied with our few channels and only watched a few favourite shows.
    We didn't have air conditioning. I still don't. We spent a lot of time either outside or playing in the basement during the summer. I don't remember being cold. My mother always knit cardigans and slippers for us to wear in the house if we were.
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  9. #24
    CaToonie juliemadden's Avatar
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    Mine were but they had plenty of money to go around our close family. This left me feeling deprived my whole life and now i'm a shopoholic.

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  10. #25
    guitar nut darwinsmistake's Avatar
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    same as others here not cheap but poor
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  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brad View Post
    Mine were. I'm curious to see if anybody else's parents were cheap when you were growing up, and what kind of things they did to save money. Here's some ways mine were cheap:

    -Heat was kept very low in winter, if I complained I was cold I was just told to layer up. We had no a/c.
    -My mom would cook very large batches of whatever she was cooking and we had to eat it over the next few days.
    -My parents never threw anything out, because "you never know what you might need". Our house was full of crap we didn't use.
    -I had to walk to school, even when it was really cold or raining. This wasn't a big deal when I was in elementary school cause it was only a 5 min walk, but high school was a 40 minute walk. In fact our car barely moved, it would only get driven like once a week.
    -They put old blankets over the couch/sofas so as to not wear them out.
    -I had to take very quick showers or my parents would bang on the door and threaten to turn the hot water off.
    -I wanted a dog and a cat but we didn't get them cause my parents said they were too expensive to maintain.
    -No cable tv.
    -No vacations, ever.
    -I never did any kind of after school activities or clubs cause they all cost money. I badly wanted to do karate but my parents wouldn't pay for it.
    -We never ate out, not even fast food. My mom would let me get something from McDonald's like 3 or 4 times per year, it made me so happy.
    -I had much fewer toys/electronics than all my friends. In fact almost all my toys were gifts from relatives, not bought by my parents.
    -All my clothes came from the cheapest stores, eg Biway, Zellers. When the other kids were wearing Nikes or Reeboks I was wearing "Champion's Choice". I got made fun of a lot for it.
    -We never had any visitors over cause it was expensive to entertain. In fact my parents had no friends, I suspect their cheapness is why.
    -My parents never donated a dime to any kind of charity or helped anyone out.

    To be fair my parents were not well off, but I think most of the things they did to save money didn't really save much.

    Can anybody relate to any of this?
    Well, I'm familiar with 50% of this list. I can't say it made any harm to me.

  12. #27
    CaToonie juliemadden's Avatar
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    Same here, i can relate. It left me feeling deprived. I still have a problem saving money 20 yrs later

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  13. #28
    Smart Canuck frugal50's Avatar
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    my parents were very generous and giving
    big family dinners
    we were never denied anything
    vacations, toys, nice clothes.. etc
    i turned out to be the super saver and very frugal.
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  14. #29
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    My parents were frivolous.

    My Grandparents, who taught me amazing life skills, were amazing. I wish my parents took more of their knowledge.

    I am not a pro, but I can hear a problem with a car. I know how to sew, budget, design and save. I also am generous with my knowledge to teach others.

    My knowledge does not stop there. I dated an Engineer(JC) for 18 months and dated a financial analysts for way too long after that.

    I am grateful for what I learned from them.


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    Last edited by vino_er_coach; Sat, Oct 24th, 2020 at 12:36 AM.
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  15. #30
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    My parents are frugal with some things i.e. mending, repairing things and then direct their extra savings to better quality items for their hobbies/sports/travel.
    My Grandparents - one set had a farm and my Grandma also worked ft as a nurse. My Grandad liked to splurge on tractors
    - the other set were quite frugal. My Grandmother sewed and crafted all of the gifts they gave. They used coupons etc.
    My Grandmother put her weekly "grocery savings" away in a can, which eventually made it into savings and finally into dividend paying stocks. When she passed away, her grocery savings had grown to a value of 1 million.
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