We were so poor in the 70's...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grew up in an upper middle class family, but can still relate to a lot of this...couponing with mom, cars that we drove until they died (and dad somehow managed to resurrect them time and time again before the final death) and most of all, hand me downs for everything! I was the oldest so my hand me downs came from the neighbors. Clothes, shoes, Halloween costumes (or else my mom made them out of bedsheets and felt scraps), bikes...my two favorite hand me down items were a bright yellow banana seat bike and a purple and white striped one piece romper that I wore all summer and then brought to school to use as my gym clothes.

Your bike sounds awesome -- mine was purple and I loved it.

[Anonymous]

Lived in the midwest where we had very hot summers. We never turned on the AC until July, if that. Recruited neighborhood children to help with yard work, and they were rewarded with popcicles. Being a single mom was hard in the 60s and 70s. If it weren't for my grandparents, we would have never had new clothes!

[Anonymous]

Powdered milk. I also remember my mom melting and boiling snow one winter to give my baby brother a bath.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fast food and KFC was a treat -once or twice a year.

No public meltdowns. Ever.

What would happen to you if you had a public meltdown? How did they train you not to do this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fast food and KFC was a treat -once or twice a year.

No public meltdowns. Ever.

What would happen to you if you had a public meltdown? How did they train you not to do this?

The LOOK.

[Anonymous]

Macaroni in a bowl with butter and ketchup stirred through it. We loved it!

[Anonymous]

I often look around my house and think that my 70s childhood was more like growing up in the 30s than growing up today.

That may in part be because your parents DID grow up in the 30s. (Well, mine did anyway--they were a little older than the other 70s parents.) Mom and Dad both worked, and we weren't really poor, but we sure lived frugally. My parents' mindset was formed when people really did do without a lot, and waste was not an option.

[Anonymous]

I remember the 70s:

One black and white tv, all library books, and Tang. Lots of Tang for breakfast and dinner. Oh plus 5 outfits for each day of the week. Just 5.

You could afford Tang? That was a once- or twice-a-week treat for us. Just one glass, the little juice size, at breakfast, made with half the recommended amount of powder. And usually it was the grocery store generic tang equivalent.

[Anonymous]

We took President Carter seriously when he told us in the wintertime to set the thermostat at 62 during the day, 55 at night. And that 62 room was just the smallest room in the house where we watched tv. The rest of the house was 55 all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fast food and KFC was a treat -once or twice a year.

No public meltdowns. Ever.



What would happen to you if you had a public meltdown? How did they train you not to do this?


The LOOK.

Yep.

Also the knowledge that we would have to leave immediately, there would be no talking on the ride home, we'd be punished when we got there, and we'd just have to come back the next day and do whatever errand it was we were doing again.

[Anonymous]

Our car was so beat up that it died when we were on the Taco Bell drive through. We paid at the first window and the car died before we reached the second window.

So we pushed the car aside..walked up to the second window and picked up our order.

sold the junk for $25 and we rejoiced at our sudden windfall...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We took President Carter seriously when he told us in the wintertime to set the thermostat at 62 during the day, 55 at night. And that 62 room was just the smallest room in the house where we watched tv. The rest of the house was 55 all the time.

OMG -- yes! We wore sweaters and down vests in the house. My dad refused to turn up the thermostat. He rarely traveled for work, but when he did, mom cranked up the heat. Woo-hoo -- when's the luau?

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised no one mentioned government cheese. I loved those 5 lb blocks of cheese.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah - the cheese! What a memory Those blocks were huge - I remember the plain white plastic wrapper with black lettering. Do you?

[Anonymous]

Shared a bed with 2 sisters until I was 8 and someone bought us a trundle; then my younger sister and I slept head to toe in the trundle part until I inherited a twin bed from my grandma when I was 11.

My dad tried to make new soap out of the little bits of leftover soap bars.

Never had a haircut until I was in seventh grade and my aunt took me out for my first one. In high school my sister and I learned how to cut our own hair from an issue of Seventeen.

Had only hand-me-down clothes until I started babysitting and could buy new things for myself.

Never went to the dentist -- the first time I remember was right before I went off to college (I think because that was mandatory).

We went on 4 vacations throughout my entire childhood, and one of those was a 4 day weekend and another was to attend my uncle's wedding in a different state. All road trips, of course. I first went on a plane at age 18, when my uncle bought me a ticket home from college for Thanksgiving.

On the other hand we were never hungry and had a roof over our heads. And I always got a present for my birthday and presents for Christmas. So while I knew we weren't rich, it certainly didn't feel like we were poor, not by any stretch. And especially not in comparison to how my parents grew up in the 40s and 50s.