[reecejackox]

I would say somewhere in between rich and poor , not overly rich but no overly poor.

[Nicky91]

in middle i guess, not rich but also not very poor


from my mom's side i have a bit of a successful relative (he's no longer among us) and someone famous (also no longer among us)


Cor Dillen, one uncle of my mom he was a powerful businessman for Philips, introduced color television for first time to South America

Coen Dillen, another uncle of my mom, he was a top goalscoring footballer for PSV Eindhoven and Brabantia (one of our formerly famous local football teams) he has the record in dutch competition most goals (43) in one season

[SherzyK]

[Livia]

I was born working class, my Mum was in the rag trade and my Dad was a soldier, then a paramedic. It didn't occur to my brother and I that there wasn't much money around, we thought we were rich. My parents took us to loads of places, when I look back they were places that didn't cost much, but we loved it. I can honestly say i wouldn't change one moment of my childhood.

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Livia

I was born working class, my Mum was in the rag trade and my Dad was a soldier, then a paramedic. It didn't occur to my brother and I that there wasn't much money around, we thought we were rich. My parents took us to loads of places, when I look back they were places that didn't cost much, but we loved it. I can honestly say i wouldn't change one moment of my childhood.

oh wow, that sounds like one good fun and loving childhood Livia xx

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

oh wow, that sounds like one good fun and loving childhood Livia xx

It was Nicky, and all my family lived in the same street in east London, grandparents, aunties and uncles, cousins... it was like a village. I was very lucky.

[Tony Montana]

In the middle.

Wish I grew up filthy rich tho

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Livia

It was Nicky, and all my family lived in the same street in east London, grandparents, aunties and uncles, cousins... it was like a village. I was very lucky.

same for me, i might not have had many friends in my childhood, but i had a very happy fun childhood

i Always had a thing for gardening, even when i was a small kid, 5 or 6 yrs old, already helping my family put new plants in the ground, or clean the soil around from any weeds

also with a Nintendo 64, i had goldeneye, i did play multiplayer with either my dad or my nan

or Disney tetris which also was fun my dad also was really loving that game, wanting to get the highest score everytime lol

[Cal.]

Just working class really. My dads a baker and my mams a nurse.

Wouldn’t change my family set up for the world though. I know rich people with incredibly unhappy family lives for instance.

[Kazanne]

Started off really poor, my dad was a soldier,i didn't know my mom she took off when I was about 3/4 have a few vague memories of her but nothing much,my dad re-married ,my step mom adopted my brother and I and from there on in I think we were quite well off,we owned our own house,had nice clothes,plenty to eat, holidays,great Christmasses,so I think were quite well off,my step mom is a gem could not wish for a better mom,and nana, Dads passed away now,but all in all apart from those early days I think I had a great childhood.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

same for me, i might not have had many friends in my childhood, but i had a very happy fun childhood

i Always had a thing for gardening, even when i was a small kid, 5 or 6 yrs old, already helping my family put new plants in the ground, or clean the soil around from any weeds

also with a Nintendo 64, i had goldeneye, i did play multiplayer with either my dad or my nan

or Disney tetris which also was fun my dad also was really loving that game, wanting to get the highest score everytime lol

That all sounds like fun, Nicky. I didn't have loads of friends either, I was a pretty solitary child, books were my thing, I was a great reader.

My Dad was always murder to play games with. If I ever beat him, I beat him fair and square because he'd never give us an easy ride because we were kids. I remember beating him at chess once. And only once!

[Marsh.]

Really poor. We could only afford the one maid and she was never quick enough.

[LeatherTrumpet]

I was dragged up in the mean streets of East Kilbride near Glasgow, amid street gangs like the Tongs, Cumbie, Toi and Fleeto. You had to have your wits about you are you would get slashed by a razor

Course me mam and dad were middle class luminaries of the local Light Opera Society so i never got that involved as i was at Sunday School and Scouts and 7 nights of Oaklahoma as they could never geta babysitter

[bitontheslide]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

I was dragged up in the mean streets of East Kilbride near Glasgow, amid street gangs like the Tongs, Cumbie, Toi and Fleeto. You had to have your wits about you are you would get slashed by a razor

Course me mam and dad were middle class luminaries of the local Light Opera Society so i never got that involved as i was at Sunday School and Scouts and 7 nights of Oaklahoma as they could never geta babysitter

ahh polo mint city

i had several run ins with the cumbie

[LeatherTrumpet]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

ahh polo mint city

i had several run ins with the cumbie

It was all the talk of the 70s a a kid in EK

"big fight down at the park tonight between the Cumbie and The Baltic Fleet"

It was that or throwing stones at the Catholic School pupils at lunchtime

[Livia]

I once had a fleeting romance with a guy from Coatbridge..... I refuse to believe East Kilbride was worse...

[Toy Soldier]

Firmly middle-income although my dad was ABYSMAL with money (always has been, I assume always will be...) and so when my mum went off the deep end when I was in my teens (alcoholism), we ended up in a bizarre situation where we lived in a lovely house where absolutely everything was bloody broken and "too expensive to fix" even though the household income was more than double what mine is now . At one point the tap on the bath was broken and we had to run baths with a hose from the bathroom sink. FOR TWO YEARS! And my dad always had crappy cars that broke down constantly, but then would shell out like Ł400 constantly on impulse buys like sound systems and various "fad" tech like DVD recorders (not the kind in a computer - attached to the TV to replace VCR! I literally don't know ANYONE else who ever had one of these and it cost hundreds of pounds... and was useless...). Likewise, we always had plenty of good quality / expensive food in the fridge, but the kitchen cupboards were falling off the hinges and you had to manually drain the dishwasher at the end with a bucket.

They both still worked and the income was the same as ever but my mum was the one who spent money on practical things (like household repairs) and she basically just stopped caring and spent the vast majority of her time in her bedroom when not at work...

It was a confusing time .

[Livia]

That's crazy and mixed up, TS. I didn't know anyone with a dishwasher when I was a kid, even a broken one. Do you have a good relationship with your parents now? Is that too personal...?

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Livia

That's crazy and mixed up, TS. I didn't know anyone with a dishwasher when I was a kid, even a broken one.

Exactly! We had a dishwasher when I was 6 - so that's 1991. No one I knew had one, they were extortionate and cost a fortune to run, but it was "A New Thing!" so that meant my dad had to buy one .

Originally Posted by Livia

Do you have a good relationship with your parents now? Is that too personal...?

They separated when I was 18 and that was even stranger, as my mum lost her career and was on disability, living in a pretty rough area and my dad lived in a brand new bachelor flat kitted out with gadgets because he was a 50 year old man with a good income living like a teenager . So I bounced back and forward twice a week between a grotty council flat at the weekends (all my friends still lived around where my mum was) and a kitted out flat during the week (...because it was just a nicer place to live...) until I moved away for Uni.

My mum died (liver failure; it never got better) 5 years ago. I get on fine with my dad. He semi-retired at 55, moved into a literal granny-flat where he planned to live out his days, THEN he met a woman 4 years older than me and now they're married and live in a very nice, well maintained house that she bought them with her divorce money from her first marriage and they live off HER middle-income and his pension... he blatantly just needs someone to take care of him when it comes to practical stuff. But she's young so when he's properly elderly, he's her problem now!


I swear I had THE most vanilla childhood up until I was about 12 and then it went full on soap opera .

[Livia]

Bloody hell... that does read like a screenplay. And you turned out reasonably normal. I mean, how??

[Underscore]

in the middle when I was born then we got rich

used to go on one holiday a year until I was about 10 mainly to Greece/Spain etc then we started going on around 2 family holidays per year to more exotic places such as the Caribbean. I don't know where it all switched

[AnnieK]

Up till the age of 11 we seemed loaded. I went to primary school in a rough area where most people were on benefits and had loads of kids but we were the typical 2.4 kid family, mum and dad worked, had a mortgage, we had a car, went on holidays (always in the UK but the best holidays), we went to Alton Towers and Blackpool at least once a year etc etc and I thought we were proper rich.

Then, I got a scholarship at a Grammar School and realised just how not rich we were. Some of the kids I went to school with were obscenely well off.

Loved my childhood and the only thing I would have changed is my brother for a sister

[Alf]

I've never had two Ha'pennies to rub together, I've always been on the bones of me arse!

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Livia

And you turned out reasonably normal. I mean, how??

Did I...?

In all seriousness though, I barely left my room from about age 12 - 15 other than for school, and then when I discovered "socialising" I went from "always in my room" to "always in my room, or out of the house". I didn't spend any time at all with my family and tbh I still have some hermit-tendencies to this day... I need a decent amount of time on my own to keep my head straight, because I spend my entire early teens more-or-less alone. I was also absolutely abysmal at interpersonal relationships when I met my wife and it took her years to knock me into shape . I'm still a work in progress .

[Wizard.]

Unemployed single mother so... extremely poor! Although I never felt poor, it wasn't until I grew up that I realised we were.