Ever Been Poor?
Discussion
I'm sure many PHers are aware that they are perceived as being a little too high and mighty by some of the other (:vomit: ;)) car enthusiast sites, mainly because it is felt that everyone on here laughs if you haven't got a car that cost at least £50k.
Now, I know the above isn't true, but there is certainly some money about on here. So, there must be some great rags-to-riches stories too I reckon? I find it very inspiring to read about people who had nothing and turned things around - it also often makes grim reading for those who complain about their lot in life and do nothing.
The hero (heroine I suppose) in my family is probably my mum. My family were [b]extremely[/b] poor two generations ago. Then, when I was born we had nothing, including a home, but my mum slowly turned things around despite being a single parent. Now she has done well for herself and me.
Whilst I was at school I did every job, some pretty sh1tty, you can imagine - two paper rounds 6 days a week for £10/week, McDonalds, Tesco coffee shop (cleaning tables, etc.), the local chippy (peeling spuds, etc.), the local greengrocers and WHSmiths. All good character building stuff. :hehe:
I suppose I first realised everyone wasn't like me when I went to University and experienced the Viz 'Student Gwwannnt' phenomenon where some other students had brand new BMWs, Impreza Turbos, etc. and spent their parent's money like water. In the meantime I had two jobs during term-time and self-financed through University, including working every day of every summer and Easter holiday for four years! Finally I got my degree and a good job, before finally moving on to found Cantarus with some partners.
So, that's me, but I know that's pretty weak stuff compared to what others have been through - I was lucky enough to have no challenges with illness or disability in myself or close family. I'd love to hear some inspiring stories and please don't let modesty get in the way of telling the facts - this kind of story needs to be told and read IMHO...
Now, I know the above isn't true, but there is certainly some money about on here. So, there must be some great rags-to-riches stories too I reckon? I find it very inspiring to read about people who had nothing and turned things around - it also often makes grim reading for those who complain about their lot in life and do nothing.
The hero (heroine I suppose) in my family is probably my mum. My family were [b]extremely[/b] poor two generations ago. Then, when I was born we had nothing, including a home, but my mum slowly turned things around despite being a single parent. Now she has done well for herself and me.
Whilst I was at school I did every job, some pretty sh1tty, you can imagine - two paper rounds 6 days a week for £10/week, McDonalds, Tesco coffee shop (cleaning tables, etc.), the local chippy (peeling spuds, etc.), the local greengrocers and WHSmiths. All good character building stuff. :hehe:
I suppose I first realised everyone wasn't like me when I went to University and experienced the Viz 'Student Gwwannnt' phenomenon where some other students had brand new BMWs, Impreza Turbos, etc. and spent their parent's money like water. In the meantime I had two jobs during term-time and self-financed through University, including working every day of every summer and Easter holiday for four years! Finally I got my degree and a good job, before finally moving on to found Cantarus with some partners.
So, that's me, but I know that's pretty weak stuff compared to what others have been through - I was lucky enough to have no challenges with illness or disability in myself or close family. I'd love to hear some inspiring stories and please don't let modesty get in the way of telling the facts - this kind of story needs to be told and read IMHO...
Wouldn't say I was poor, but I am definately struggling to meet bills just now having just finished Uni on friday.
I know what you mean about some students. Most of my class mates work t least 15hr/week and have had to give up weekend fun for the last 2 years. Then I meet some students at the more established Unis who have brand new Cooper S's, BMW's etc and yet still moan that they can't afford stuff!
My Grandad told me that everyone he knew was amazed when they had carpet fitted in their home, it was unheard of at the time.
I know what you mean about some students. Most of my class mates work t least 15hr/week and have had to give up weekend fun for the last 2 years. Then I meet some students at the more established Unis who have brand new Cooper S's, BMW's etc and yet still moan that they can't afford stuff!
My Grandad told me that everyone he knew was amazed when they had carpet fitted in their home, it was unheard of at the time.
I droped out of Uni in 91 with no degree and no job, ended up on an IT trainee scheme for £50 pw and now am a SW dev team leader (with BSc SW eng), decent car, nice house etc.
Lifes not all about cash tho, where moving to NZ which will cost us and we'll earn less, but hopefully have a better life.
Also had as much fun in a brown 1.1 metro at 18/20 than just about any other car
Lifes not all about cash tho, where moving to NZ which will cost us and we'll earn less, but hopefully have a better life.
Also had as much fun in a brown 1.1 metro at 18/20 than just about any other car
I've never been poor, but my paternal grandparents were solid working class Northern people. My Grandad was a weaver by trade and they lived in a back-to-back terraced house all their lives, but they were ambitious for my Dad and supported him in qualifying as a chartered accountant. That put him into the position to have a successful business career. My mother's family was more middle class (her father was a headmaster) and she became a teacher.
My parents were ambitious for my brothers and for me We all went to private school and to university (2 Cambridge, 1 Durham and one London) and three of us went onto good careers. The other one has been p*ssing around for much of the last twelve years and has not got himself sorted out even in his early 30s.
If there is a moral here it is that being brought up without all the advantages doesn't prevent you from doing well and being brought up with all the advantages doesn't prevent you from doing badly.
My parents were ambitious for my brothers and for me We all went to private school and to university (2 Cambridge, 1 Durham and one London) and three of us went onto good careers. The other one has been p*ssing around for much of the last twelve years and has not got himself sorted out even in his early 30s.
If there is a moral here it is that being brought up without all the advantages doesn't prevent you from doing well and being brought up with all the advantages doesn't prevent you from doing badly.
Yes. Lived in a mobile home (trailer trash! ), charity shop clothes, no telly, very few toys, the lot. Mum and Dad worked their way up and bought their first house when Dad was 52.
Don't recall feeling terribly hard done by or unloved for the lack of 'stuff'. Shows how things have changed in a short space of time - nowadays if someone said their kids got their first Christmas pressies at age 7, it would be on the evening news.
), charity shop clothes, no telly, very few toys, the lot. Mum and Dad worked their way up and bought their first house when Dad was 52. Don't recall feeling terribly hard done by or unloved for the lack of 'stuff'. Shows how things have changed in a short space of time - nowadays if someone said their kids got their first Christmas pressies at age 7, it would be on the evening news.
Yep. I've been "poor". My parents were perfectly well off but my student years taught me the meaning of having no money. Then the first years of working, getting experience, needing to move South to find work - and finding at the end of every month my bank account had just a little less in it - sliding slowly into debt...not "poor"...kind of "going downhill" - I hated it.
The situation required drastic measures - which it got. Goodbye ex. Goodbye flat. Goodbye most things, frankly. Very, very aggressive "Hello" to my career.
Interestingly when it became time to start my own business I was unafraid of not earning any money for a couple of years - I'd already, by then, decided I'd never be in that awful situation again and had built up the "buffer" necessary to make decisions myself - instead of having the bank or anyone else foist decisions on me.
Can't say I'm "wealthy" now. But the wife and I are more than comfortable.
I have huge respect for the great many people who had it worse than me and still turned it around - I know how bloody hard it is.
The situation required drastic measures - which it got. Goodbye ex. Goodbye flat. Goodbye most things, frankly. Very, very aggressive "Hello" to my career.
Interestingly when it became time to start my own business I was unafraid of not earning any money for a couple of years - I'd already, by then, decided I'd never be in that awful situation again and had built up the "buffer" necessary to make decisions myself - instead of having the bank or anyone else foist decisions on me.
Can't say I'm "wealthy" now. But the wife and I are more than comfortable.
I have huge respect for the great many people who had it worse than me and still turned it around - I know how bloody hard it is.
grew up in humble 3 bed semi in m/cr
as a kid I was loaded as I used to:
Garden/Wasing Cars/Painting, any odd jobs
sold tons of 'acid' badges at school
buy & sell old golf clubs sets via local paper
carol singing
guy faulkes
trick or treat (for about a month before and after!)
When going on holiday (to crappy caravan in saltburn) dad used to double whatever money I'd earn, so always had money in my pocket.
Now I earn around £38-45k, and poorest I've ever been, spend far beyond my means!!!
Gold brothers (soft porn/birmingham fc etc..) started with nothing. Not sure, but I think Philip Green (Arcadia) was poor when younger. Alan Sugar was poor growing up. I agree, these kind of people really inspire me. People who inherit just give me the green eyed-monster!!!
as a kid I was loaded as I used to:
Garden/Wasing Cars/Painting, any odd jobs
sold tons of 'acid' badges at school
buy & sell old golf clubs sets via local paper
carol singing
guy faulkes
trick or treat (for about a month before and after!)
When going on holiday (to crappy caravan in saltburn) dad used to double whatever money I'd earn, so always had money in my pocket.
Now I earn around £38-45k, and poorest I've ever been, spend far beyond my means!!!
Gold brothers (soft porn/birmingham fc etc..) started with nothing. Not sure, but I think Philip Green (Arcadia) was poor when younger. Alan Sugar was poor growing up. I agree, these kind of people really inspire me. People who inherit just give me the green eyed-monster!!!
Yep, I was so skint a Uni, I went allotment burgling just to eat! My parents gave me £20 a week wine money
I'm so skint, my jeep has an exploded gearbox and I can't be bothered to fix it because it's got an empty fuel tank which I can't afford to fill! Nevermind, the beach is merely a walk up the road and the surf's up today. I do have a load of money in the pipes, I just can't really be bothered to deal with it. I'm starting my career in september and I'd rather go without than do a shitty job at the bottom of an irrelevant foodchain.
It does suck and I'm properly poor but I have loads of time to read/play the piano/surf/freewheel WITHOUT BEING ON BENEFITS EITHER.
>> Edited by love machine on Tuesday 24th May 14:48
I'm so skint, my jeep has an exploded gearbox and I can't be bothered to fix it because it's got an empty fuel tank which I can't afford to fill! Nevermind, the beach is merely a walk up the road and the surf's up today. I do have a load of money in the pipes, I just can't really be bothered to deal with it. I'm starting my career in september and I'd rather go without than do a shitty job at the bottom of an irrelevant foodchain.
It does suck and I'm properly poor but I have loads of time to read/play the piano/surf/freewheel WITHOUT BEING ON BENEFITS EITHER.
>> Edited by love machine on Tuesday 24th May 14:48
Was writing a long potted history but thought sod it. Yes I earn above Nat average. Yes I think that I work my nuts off but am relatively poor. Yes it’s going to change soon when I will have about 5x the monthly disposable due to changes in my personal life. For the first time in my life I can see that in, hopefully, about 6mths time I’ll be able to afford the toys I’ve worked like stink to get and only thought would be mine in another 10 years.
It amazes me to walk through cities seeing people with bags full of ‘non essential’ shopping, knowing that even earning the wage I do I have just had to defer buying a £35 donggel for the computer! That either makes me feel poor or reminds me that my mortgage is my only debt depending on mood.
It amazes me to walk through cities seeing people with bags full of ‘non essential’ shopping, knowing that even earning the wage I do I have just had to defer buying a £35 donggel for the computer! That either makes me feel poor or reminds me that my mortgage is my only debt depending on mood.
rich1231 said:
I don't and wouldnt feel comfortable sharing my background on a web forum, I expect many others are in the same boat. And this thread will end up like the Monty Python Sketch "WE was so poor etc
I do expect, to some extent, that, like myself, that the majority of PHers have never truly been "poor". Yes we've been skint - had some hard times - but its not like any of us had to rely on subsistence farming some godforsaken, drought ridden square of land on the edge of a desert.
Selmer said:
Yep. And it's bloody awful.
I feel for all those decent people confined to rough council estates by virtue of being dealt a shite hand.
When I first got married we had a rancid bedsit. As we had a baby, the local authority offered us a council house in one of the (then) roughest dives in Teesside. We didn't know anybody but we moved in anyway.
Now I still see a few of those people, and they've never progressed. Some of them create their own confinement...
I suppose I'm putting my boot in here, as I've never really been 'poor' as such, but I would say that I'm good with money whilst a lot of people aren't, and as a result they end up worse off than me.
I am completely unaffected by advertising, fashion and 'newness'. I don't take out loans or sign financial agreements. I don't have a credit card.
If I don't have it, I don't spend it, which is one of the many reasons why, right now, I don't have a car.
I stare in slack-jawed amazement at these people brainwashed by Yes Car Credit into thinking a car's only any good if it's new. That kind of thinking means that people get fleeced by the megaton, cars go without basic maintainance, and it's seen as normal to be either in the black or in the red. I personally have always been in the green, and I've got a lot less money than the credit card brigade.
Same goes for all the young graduates desperate for a foothold on the housing ladder, as if a live-in asset and a millstone of a mortgage is more important, when you're 21, than a life and a job.
I also believe in paying for quality, which is why I go for style rather than fashion. If I can't afford to go on a really nice holiday every year, I'll save up and go on one every few years, whilst some people feel they absolutely have to go away every summer for a dismal two weeks in a shithole in the Balaerics or something and always come back with the same complaints. Not worth it! If it's a choice between a brand new base-model Kia or a second-hand Mercedes, it's patently obvious what I'm going to buy.
I am completely unaffected by advertising, fashion and 'newness'. I don't take out loans or sign financial agreements. I don't have a credit card.
If I don't have it, I don't spend it, which is one of the many reasons why, right now, I don't have a car.
I stare in slack-jawed amazement at these people brainwashed by Yes Car Credit into thinking a car's only any good if it's new. That kind of thinking means that people get fleeced by the megaton, cars go without basic maintainance, and it's seen as normal to be either in the black or in the red. I personally have always been in the green, and I've got a lot less money than the credit card brigade.
Same goes for all the young graduates desperate for a foothold on the housing ladder, as if a live-in asset and a millstone of a mortgage is more important, when you're 21, than a life and a job.
I also believe in paying for quality, which is why I go for style rather than fashion. If I can't afford to go on a really nice holiday every year, I'll save up and go on one every few years, whilst some people feel they absolutely have to go away every summer for a dismal two weeks in a shithole in the Balaerics or something and always come back with the same complaints. Not worth it! If it's a choice between a brand new base-model Kia or a second-hand Mercedes, it's patently obvious what I'm going to buy.
My parents split up when I was 6, which left my mother with 3 small kids to feed, no job, no skills, and no house. She got a flat, my father refused to pay the massive sum of £6 per week maintenance(!), so my mother went to college and trained as a teacher. We survived on her student grant, and it was tough - it has left a lasting impresion on me for many reasons - I even use to take coppers out of my mother's purse, hoping sahe wouldn't notice, save them up and give them back to her when she needed to buy some bread or spuds. (No, I never spent any on myself 
)
I can remember being cold on many Sunday nights, because her money came in on Monday, and we didn't have a shilling for the gas meter.
We once had boiled potatoes and curry powder mixed with water, for tea, because that ws all that was in the pantry.
My brother and I used to go out at night and head off to the farm fields near where we lived, to dig up peas and potatoes to eat.
I never had a bike or any form of music player when i was young.
Still, things improved a bit when my mum got a job, but I was poor all the way through Uni, survived on a student grant and nothing else ( couldn't get part time jobs because everyone was unemployed in my home town).
Now I'm a middle-aged doctor, and I still haven't got any money, because I spend it all!
) I can remember being cold on many Sunday nights, because her money came in on Monday, and we didn't have a shilling for the gas meter.
We once had boiled potatoes and curry powder mixed with water, for tea, because that ws all that was in the pantry.
My brother and I used to go out at night and head off to the farm fields near where we lived, to dig up peas and potatoes to eat.
I never had a bike or any form of music player when i was young.
Still, things improved a bit when my mum got a job, but I was poor all the way through Uni, survived on a student grant and nothing else ( couldn't get part time jobs because everyone was unemployed in my home town).
Now I'm a middle-aged doctor, and I still haven't got any money, because I spend it all!
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