Growing Up Poor

andrewsw16

Shoes. How many of you remember getting your school shoes resoled instead of just buying new? I remember so many times the stitching on the front wearing out and the front 4 or 5 inches flapping down when I walked. [:D] Made a cool flapping sound. [:D] Also, after wearing a hole in the bottom, how many of you remember putting a couple of playing cards in side your shoe to cover the hole? I liked that method. Sometimes Mom would get a piece of cardboard and just cut out a full length liner, kind of like a Dr Scholls liner. You could get a couple more weeks out of a shoe that way, before going in and paying to have a new sole sewed on.
I never knew we were poor. [;)] Every kid I knew had shoes like that. We survived. [8D]

Sawz

That was a way of life for me. I'm thinking of taking a pair of danners in I cant stand the soles on and having them replaced. They are round knobs and collect mud and snow if you even look at it wrong.
Shoot I even remember having a pair of Cowboy boots in High school that had the sole flapping in the breeze. I just grabbed some epoxy and fixed them myself

CSI21

I am probably a little younger than you, we had worn out shoes but worked on them alittle different, duct tape and rubber cement, as our shoes were sneakers. We got clothing twice a year, Christmas and our birthday, My birthday is July 25, so we always just called it Christmas in July. The month of eating egg salad was the worst, I cant even smell it without wanting to throw up. But we all made it, sometimes you have to dig deep and overcome.

tomahawk

shoes?...you had shoes?[:0]

andrewsw16

Cardboard? Who could afford cardboard? [}:)][:D]

LaidbackDan

Shoes?
Shoes were for feet, only the rich kids had feet.

spasmcreek

just got new heels on a pair of boots last week

GuvamintCheese

I got a pet turtle once.....it was a painted rock.

Sawz

well if this is about being poor more than shoes..

I was so poor I couldn't afford to pay attention

edgecam

We always used duck tape and shoe goo, If your boots leaked you got to put bread bags or plastic grocery bags on your feet.

Topkick

I spent most of my youth barefoot.

I had to wear shoes in school, but barefoot for play and all weekend.

My shoes lasted until I outgrew them and my brother then got them.

remingtonoaks

quote:Originally posted by Sawz
well if this is about being poor more than shoes..

I was so poor I couldn't afford to pay attention


I see your economical situation hasn't changed[;)][:D]

1880texan

We were so poor that we painted our feet just to look like they were shoes.

jwb267

dad used one of thess. i still have it

kumatelives

hells bells fellers we was all poor growin up,thats what makes kids * teir own place.But as possum eatin hog killin stand by the oven when its cold poor as we was we was still better off than we are now with the king * at the reigns.just sayin

Bubba Jr.

We were so poor that if I hadn't been born a boy, I wouldn't have had anything to play with. [:0][:I][:D]










Thanks Rodney.[:D]

jimdeere

I, too, had one pair of shoes per year, purchased just before school started.
I must be making up for it, though. I presently have more shoes and boots than mrs.deere. And she has a bunch.
I just can't bring myself to throw away a pair of shoes.

timinpa

I sewed my brother's knee with a needle and thread in the bathtub, twice! Once he fell on a tree trunk, another time he tripped on a concrete block... we couldn't afford a Dr. either time, so I put the stitches. He still gets leg infections (cellulitis) because of it 15 years later.

For almost a year I ate mac and cheese we got for free from a trailer park's dumpster. Someone threw it away, we took it home. It had mouse chit in it, but we cooked it on a hot plate with just water (no milk or butter)... the electric came from an extention cord we ran from the neighbor's garage, and we though it was good.

I was poor and without parents most of my childhood, but we didn't honestly realize we were poor either. We just lived life and existed.

P.s. I don't reply to threads like these for sympathy, I worked for six years at placement facilities for juveniles teaching them that they need to work through things like this and move on.

I now own a home, a truck, several motorcycles, and have money in the bank to ensure that I never live poor again.

My point? I think growing up poor and having very little, builds character. From shoes to homes, clothes to a car, people without money appreciate it more.

Rosie

I have a pair of boots that are worn slick in the bottom and have been looking for a shoe repair shop to resole them simply because I like them. They are about 32 years old.

50-70RB

We were so poor we had to j___o__ the dog to feed the cat!!!

remingtonoaks

Big deal.... One year we were so poor that my mom didn't get her yearly new Lincoln Continental for her birthday[:(][:(]

bigboy12

We were so poor that stray dogs even stayed away from our house. We got one pair of shoes at the beginning of the school year. They were usually mail order from Montgomery Ward, Sears, or JC Penny. The soles were so thick that they would last all year. We lived on part of my Grandfather's farm and killed several hogs and steers every winter. Even though we did not have much, my Mom and Dad NEVER went on welfare. They always found legal and honorable ways to provide for us.

allen griggs

I remember getting the shoes resoled, many times.

Also that funny flapping sound the shoe made when the sole was loose.
I had forgotten that sound.

Waco Waltz

I guess I am not that old. All my shoes were the kinds that you really did not re soul. However I remember a pair lasting a good year and a half before needing a new pair. Shoes now days are lucky to last 8 months.

minitruck83

quote:Originally posted by Waco Waltz
I guess I am not that old. All my shoes were the kinds that you really did not re soul. However I remember a pair lasting a good year and a half before needing a new pair. Shoes now days are lucky to last 8 months.


Kids heck, I knew salesmen that wore holes in their shoes,
Somewhere in there, the composition of soles changed, and they started breaking across instead of wearing thin or coming loose.
Worse than a flapping sole was having the nails come through from the heel and tear your foot up, then keeping your weight off your heels while trying to walk in the rain with leather soled shoes. [V]


Allen

Bubba Jr.

This thread brought back a memory I had forgotten. Loose sole on right shoe, almost back to heel. Climbing the steps in the high school, flap catches on front lip of step, I go down in a heap. Pretty upper classman stops to help me pick up my books. As I glance up, her legs are spread just enough that I can make out white p.....s. Then I had trouble getting up and walking. [:I]

Some of the things that are stored in back of the warehouse of my mind are unusual to say the least. [:D]

rob223

I remember. I thought about that before too, we are such "throw it away and buy a new" one mind set now. Everything really is now. I was looking into having a engine rebuilt. I used to be able to use my Dad's place he had everything, the tools, hoist, the know how!!! When I asked, nobody wanted to do it. They said I could buy a crate motor for the trouble and they would install it. But everyone said the time and effort weren't worth it. I had a old girlfriend's sister one time whom was told she needed a new carburetor for her car. That they couldn't rebuild it, it was a throw away. I went and bought a kit and had it rebuilt and running like a champ quick and easy. I know the shop was just trying to get the most money out of her, but why lie?

TooBig

I remember every year they had the March of dimes drive and we had only one girl filled hers each years. Nobody else had the extra dimes to fill the little book.

We didn't have much but neither did the other kids so we didn't realized how bad it was. No social welfare just family to help out if they could and we made it. Thanks Mom and Dad

spasmcreek

shoe lathe...got two different styles of them...don't see them much anymore.... several diff sizes for each

select-fire

My Dad kept us in shoes and food on the table.

tacking1

My story is about baseballs.

We were not poor, we had food and clothes and a house. Just good rural folks in a small town in NC.

We played baseball every freaking day in the summer. we all got up, ate breakfast and those of us in the neighborhood that didn't have summer jobs played baseball.

When someone hit the ball in the bushes we stopped the game and went and got the ball. It was the ball and you had to have a ball to play. When that one wore out we pooled money and got another one. If Jimmy went out of town and happened to have The Ball...we were pissed. Didn't know any other option.

Now....my kids play baseball alot. I am around kids and baseball alot. The other day I was watching batting practice at the high school and the kids were whacking the baseballs all over the place. The coach had a bucket of balls and after a kid would hit, they would go pick up the balls.

I began to notice that the foul balls and home runs were too much trouble to look for(evidently). So I sat around until practice was over and walked around the field on the outside of the fence and picked up baseballs. 15 minutes later I bet I had 40 baseballs in a bag in my car. At about $3 a baseball thats a lot of money that the coach and players were not worried about.

It was very wild to think that in one generation I could go from living where The Ball was a luxury, to a ball becoming disposable.

I dunno, maybe this is silly...but there is a lesson here somewhere.

He Dog

I guess we must have been rich poor. I got a new pair of shoes at the beginning of the school year, and a new pair of Keds or Converse All Stars at the beginning of summer.

Jgreen

I didn't grow up poor, but my did grew up "poor", in the sense that there was no money. They did, in Europe, have money, but after the war, had squat.

I have heard this before from him, and the lessons learned were as follows:

1. Being poor sucks.
2. He was not a better person for being poor. He is a bitter person becuase he knew that there was better out there.
3. Physical work sucks.
4. He was not a better person for having worked phyiscal jobs when he was young, but it had to be done. The benefts were that it made him phyiscally stronger and gave him money to go to school.
5. Working means that you won't be poor.
6. Working at school means that you won't be poor, and won't have to work a phyiscal job.
7. Even if you don't work a phyiscal job, don't think that it's not work.

Jgreen

I should clarify, my dad isn't bitter now, but was pretty PO'd that he knew that there were nice things out there, nice places to go, etc., that he couldn't participate in becuase of the lack of money and the fact that he had to work.

The solution was to get himself to a position where he could enjoy those things.

Sorry dad!

rob223

Wiffle Ball, Lots and Lots of Wiffle Ball. I don't even know if they still make those?

quote:Originally posted by tacking1
My story is about baseballs.

We were not poor, we had food and clothes and a house. Just good rural folks in a small town in NC.

We played baseball every freaking day in the summer. we all got up, ate breakfast and those of us in the neighborhood that didn't have summer jobs played baseball.

When someone hit the ball in the bushes we stopped the game and went and got the ball. It was the ball and you had to have a ball to play. When that one wore out we pooled money and got another one. If Jimmy went out of town and happened to have The Ball...we were pissed. Didn't know any other option.

Now....my kids play baseball alot. I am around kids and baseball alot. The other day I was watching batting practice at the high school and the kids were whacking the baseballs all over the place. The coach had a bucket of balls and after a kid would hit, they would go pick up the balls.

I began to notice that the foul balls and home runs were too much trouble to look for(evidently). So I sat around until practice was over and walked around the field on the outside of the fence and picked up baseballs. 15 minutes later I bet I had 40 baseballs in a bag in my car. At about $3 a baseball thats a lot of money that the coach and players were not worried about.

It was very wild to think that in one generation I could go from living where The Ball was a luxury, to a ball becoming disposable.

I dunno, maybe this is silly...but there is a lesson here somewhere.

spasmcreek

there was a man in town who lived in a nice brick home, retired and had a relative give him a Lincoln town car every two years when relative got a new one...anytime someone brought up the prospect of an intangibles tax he was the one to scream the loudest..my heart pumped pizz for him

susie

Our "disposable" attitude toward physical things I do believe is what killed the American economy.

Yeah, I was poor (didn't know it) growing up. Didn't have indoor plumbing until I was 10 years old (1971).

I can remember when folks would buy something, if it was made in an Asian country it was "cheaply made and cheap to buy". No one did it. Yes, you might spend a little more for the higher quality American made product but you knew it would last forever.

Folks couldn't afford to replace a broken one every year, they needed it to last years and years and be fixable if it did break.

Slowly but surely we were herded into a everything is "disposable" mindset. This included not just things but people as well. Stood to reason that if you thought you would just replace it when it broke, buy the cheap one, no matter the quality.

America tried to compete but couldn't because the playing field wasn't even so we went out and copied the imitators and now produce cheap throw away goods. The problem is we still want to be paid for producing the high quality product. In this case trying to have our cake and eat it to is pounding nails in the coffin of this once great nation.

andrewsw16

That flapping sound of the worn out sole must be universal. I recently heard an old Bill Cosby story where even he talked about that. [:D] Flaaaaaaap, Flaaaaaap, Flaaaap. He thought it was convenient because he could pick up a penny on the sidewalk without bending over. [;)]

Oakie

I remember going to grants deptment store and getting 3 dollar fishhead sneakers two sizes to big so they would last three years. We ate alot of venison and hot dogs too. I guess that is why I dont eat hot dogs today. My father would kill s deer almost every other week during hunting season so we would have enough to eat. We also ate alot of rabbits and squirrels.I never forgot my roots and as wealthy as me and my sister became, we both live modestly[;)] I share with my friends and always appriciate everything I have.

317wc

I'm a lot you ger than most of you guys, I guess we were'nt really poor poor but we never had a lot of money growing up. I can remember having to wear no name brand shoes instead of Nikes, and yes I can remember being picked on for it, also, we could'nt afford Levi jeans so we wore generic and sometimes shopped at Salvation Army or Goodwill. We cut our own firewood instead of electric heating,and if I wanted something I had to work for it. More than once I can remember needing money for BoyScout trips and mowing grass, shoveling snow, sweeping sawdust at the local shops in order to afford the trip. It did work outfor the best I have a great family and a very real appreciation for everything my parents did for me.

kevind6

I grew up in a large, poor family. So every year when school started, shoes and clothing our next oldest sibling had worn the year before was passed down to us younger ones. My problem was the next three siblings older than me were all sisters! [:0]