https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 23 May 2026 14:45:38 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74544 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:15:29 +0000 betsyboop 74544@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were upper middle class - my dad is a doctor and my mom went back to work as an accountant mainly because she was bored. We didn't take crazy vacations every year but lived in a big house, had a second home in NYC, and my parents paid for my brother and I to go to private school.<br /> What's interesting is that my father grew up poor and my mom didn't, yet my dad is the one who spends liberally while my mom is very tight in terms of money management. And my husband didn't grow up as comfortably as I did but he spends more freely while I'm much more careful about spending. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74540 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:12:38 +0000 chopsuey 74540@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We grew up poor, food stamps, etc. But were middle class when I was in high school and beyond. Parents are doing really well now. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74522 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:06:28 +0000 joyjoy 74522@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When I was very young, we were probably lower middle class. My parents owned their home, but we rented out two of the four bedrooms. We often ate instant ramen or canned corned beef for meals (even leftovers of these items), but we always had food. My parents would take us to toy stores to play, then we would come home without buying anything. Life as I remember it wasn't *hard*, but it was definitely frugal. </p> <p>By the time I was in middle school, my parents made enough to send my brother and I to private school and take us on nice family vacations, but they never bought themselves nice things or cars. Once we hit high school, I would say my parents were upper middle class, and they started spoiling us. Nice vacations, fancy presents, new cars. I think they felt that they were making up for our younger years, but in the end, I think my brothers and I had a hard time learning to budget our money and pay our own bills because of how easy we had it right before we became independent. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74490 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:52:05 +0000 dnmommy 74490@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we were lower/middle class....my parents worked so hard to give us all that they could. it was hard since they're immigrants and didn't speak the language very well. my husband and i are better off because of our parents and can only hope to be able to help them when they retire. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74457 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:40:54 +0000 Cchoi4 74457@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were poor/lower middle class growing up and I definitely remember always worrying about $ as a kid. By the time I was in high school and college, things picked up and we were middle class. My dad still works (he's 65) and my parents still worry about retirement. </p> <p>Husband makes a good living so in terms of my immediate household, we're pretty comfortable. But I think it's very important to not give everything to your kids..make them work for it so they take responsibility for what they have. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74455 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:39:41 +0000 skibobrown 74455@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When I was little we were probably lower-middle class. Then my dad switched careers and we moved pretty quickly to upper middle class. My dad is a big saver, so even if he ultimately had assets that allowed us to live beyond an upper-middle class lifestyle, he just kept them in investments. I think that was a great strategy, and one that I hope to emulate. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74454 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:39:36 +0000 abbydabbydoodlebug 74454@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would say we were poor/lower middle class growing up. There were times when there was literally no food in the cupboard and my parents struggled every month to pay the mortgage. One year, my parents couldn't afford christmas presents, so one person from church gave them presents to give us. We did take trips, but my Dad was able to work while we traveled, and my Mom always packed food for like sandwiches instead of eating out. And we always drove, when it was cheap to drive! Lol.</p> <p>After we moved from upstate NY to TX it got A LOT better. My Dad's business doing really great and I would say my parents are middle class now. They have newer used cars and live in a newly built house with a pool. But my Dad is 65 and still working and probably will keep working for a while.</p> <p>DH and I are probably middle class-ish. We make just enough to pay bills, but we own a home, each have a car. We would have been alot better off, but with the recession, my DH"s job cut his pay by alot and we still haven't gotten it back up to what it was. So he had to buy food and stuff with his credit card for 6 months and made some other stupid decisions before I came along to stop him. :P He has gotten alot better now though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74449 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:37:07 +0000 HabesBabe 74449@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>9 months of the year, I was poor. My parents divorced before I was in school, and during the school year, I lived in CA with my mom. She stayed at home and we lived off my dad's alimony/child support. We shopped at thrift stores, occasionally had to go to food banks, and rarely went to restaurants or on vacations.</p> <p>During the summer, I lived with my dad and he was upper-middle class. Beach house vacations, weeklong trips to the Bahamas, new clothes, that sort of stuff. It was really weird to go back and forth between those two lifestyles now that I look back, but it made me appreciate what I had when I was with my dad, and it made me understand how hard my mom managed the money/household when I was with her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74445 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:33:34 +0000 Mrs. Pickle 74445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we were middle class. I always had everything I needed and some of what I wanted. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74438 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:28:07 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 74438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd say lower middle class. We always had enough, though. We're definitely in better shape now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74437 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:27:36 +0000 yoursilverlining 74437@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I grew up in a middle class family. My parents owned their own home, had 2 cars, we went on a vacation every year (usually to visit family, not outside of the US or a fancy vacation), my brother and I had private music lessons, we went out to eat about weekly, etc.</p> <p>My parents are now working class – poor.</p> <p>My husband and I, according to Wikipedia (lol) are Upper Middle Class/Professional Class, although I feel more middle range middle class. We definitely have a much higher household income than my parents had, but we also have greater monthly expenses. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74434 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:25:39 +0000 BSB 74434@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we were lower middle class. Like Highwire, my parents struggled financially because of poor budgeting and poor spending (my dad). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74423 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:19:13 +0000 DillonLion 74423@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Middle Class. Some times were better and some times were worse, but I don't think we ever moved out of that general area. </p> <p>My parents struggled financially but it wasn't because we didn't have enough, it was just poor budgeting, in my opinion. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74397 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:02:51 +0000 Maysprout 74397@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Middle maybe middle upper. They both worked in the public school system and my mom worked part time while growing up but were very smart with investing and kept shopping and monthly expenses to a minimum. We lived in a nice neighborhood and went on a vacation every year but they kept everything else to a minimum. Since they put away for our college since we were born we've all been able to get out debt free. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74394 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:00:50 +0000 Rubies 74394@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were lower-middle class. We weren't poor but my parents struggled. By the time I was in high school, our family was comfortable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74382 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:56:16 +0000 LuLu Mom 74382@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were mid/upper class, my parents worked extremely hard at their jobs to give us whatever we needed. We never took it for granted though, and all of us had jobs as soon as we were legally able to do so. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74377 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:54:06 +0000 MamaMoose 74377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I always thought we were upper middle class. Turns out, in the grand scheme of things, my parents are on the pretty wealthy end of things. Not like 1% wealthy, but very well off. I never really knew that because, a)most of the people we knew were the same socioeconomic status as us, and b) my parents didn't spend like crazy. We had a nice home, nice cars, nice vacations, and very expensive schooling. But those were the only splurges. My mom didn't buy fancy clothes and my dad didn't have all kinds of expensive man toys. My dad was raised by immigrants and was born right after the depression and they were POOR so he never felt comfortable spending frivilously. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74376 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:53:47 +0000 twinmama 74376@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd say my own family moved up in, but stayed in, the middle class as I got older. I remember being excited that we could finally buy real butter instead of margarine - lol! </p> <p>Hubby's family came from SE Asia when he was 4-ish, and from what he's told me, they were quite poor growing up. But by the time he was in high school, his parents were homeowners, and while the kids paid their own way, all 4 of his siblings went to college and are now homeowners themselves.</p> <p>I'd say we're in better financial shape than both our families of origin at this age, mostly due to my husband's job and his propensity for saving :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74366 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:49:57 +0000 ALittleP 74366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't know how the "classes" divide exactly but I think I probably was upper middle class. I went to private school through college. We traveled extensively overseas at least one international trip a year from as early as I can remember. They put all of us (3) kids through college and graduate school (if we chose). However, also my parents chose not to live in the largest house or drive the fanciest cars so that we could have the best education and the best experiences in life. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74363 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:49:30 +0000 hilsy85 74363@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think we were upper middle class growing up, in large part bc my parents waited 10 years to have kids so they were very financially secure. We're not waiting nearly as long but hopefully d's career will continue to do well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74359 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:47:02 +0000 mrsjazz 74359@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started out poor and then moved to working class. I'm one of four children of a single mother who hasn't finished college. When we were younger my mom was on welfare and WIC. My mom got a better job and things started looking up when I was in junior high, and got much better once my mom picked up a part-time night job. I didn't realize we had been poor until I was older. </p> <p>DH and I are middle class. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74357 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:45:32 +0000 lilteacherbee 74357@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I grew up in the middle class, maybe upper middle class? My mom stayed home and my dad is a nuclear engineer. I definitely didn't think we were rich, but we always had nice things, went on vacations, etc. A lot of my friends thought we were rich though, because my dad has his pilot's license and he has a 6-seater airplane, so we got to fly in our plane. However, he shared it with 2 other guys, so it wasn't like a private jet or anything haha.</p> <p> As a kid, we got pretty much what we wanted for birthdays and Christmas, but we definitely weren't spoiled. When I turned 15, I started working during the summers. My parents were really adamant about us learning responsibility. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74353 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:44:46 +0000 Modern Daisy 74353@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I grew up poor/lower middle class since my Mom didn't work and my Dad was supporting us and also paying alimony and child support to his ex wife. Even though he had a good job, they had to scrape by and my Mom made all of our clothes and we never went on vacation or out to eat at a restaurant.</p> <p>Then when I was about 8 years old my Dad's career really picked up and we started doing much better. He became a partner at his firm and eventually branched off and opened his own business. They are now in the 1%! </p> <p>So you could say that I come from an affluent family, but I know what it's like to be poor. The one thing I wish my parents did differently is hold off on spoiling me when they started to make it big. I definitely had money issues as a young adult because I had been spoiled and had to learn hard lessons about paying bills and saving money. </p> <p>I don't know WHAT you consider me and DH since we make good money, but living in NYC I feel like we're below the poverty line, lol!! We will most likely grow in our careers over time and start doing better, but I doubt we will catapult into the 1% like my Dad did. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74347 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:40:55 +0000 mrbee 74347@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I was middle-middle class, then fell to lower-middle/poor. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74345 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:40:03 +0000 heffalump 74345@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were upper middle class. My dad grew up poor and it was his goal to make good money for his family so we wouldn't go through what he did. My dad is a doctor so he made a good living, but every year varried, some were better then others. We never lived like we had a ton of money though. My parents bought a small house as their starter house and decided to stay because it was walking distance to good schools, neither of my parents are big shoppers, and we mostly spent money on taking vacations. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-you-grow-up-poor-middle-class-wealthy#post-74342 Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:34:06 +0000 Mrs. Bee 74342@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My parents came to America with the clothes on their backs and we were pretty darn poor. No toys or presents ever, picked up furniture off the street, shopped for clothes at swapmeets, bought discount food that was about to go bad. They worked hard and by the time I was in junior high, we were probably upper middle class.</p> <p>I've read that you're most likely to be in the same socioeconomic status that your parents were, and I'd be happy with that (but I will strive for more :)).</p> <p>Did you grow up poor, wealthy, somewhere in between? </p>