otlski
Gold Member
I'm 76 raised by parents that went thru the great depression . . . that is were frugality comes from around here.
My Dad is 80, my Mom is 77. Both were raised in immigrant families during the great depression as well. I was fortunate to know both sets of grandparents growing up and saw their depression era sensibilities passed on to my parents. Being raised by them, I got a lot of that trait as well. It was further reinforced in the mid 70s when my father was starting his own business. Times were lean. Every year our gardens got bigger to supply more and more of our food. We learned to can. One Christmas my parents sat us down to explain that there would be no gifts that year; we understood. <The business did very well in the years afterwards>.
My wife had almost the same experience except her family never lacked for money; but still were frugal because of the depression. I am fortunate to make good money, so money has never been a big concern, but my two children were raised in a similar vein. They thought that they were lacking all the latest clothes, sneakers, (later) cell phones, fast internet, etc. but both now are on their own with college degrees and no loan debt, good jobs, houses/apartments, reliable cars, and have carved out decent lives.