What are some experiences that you can only have growing up poor?

My husband grew up dirt poor. They used to chain the dog to the power meter so the electric company couldn't come shut the power off.
— s0undslikepuget_

Realizing years later when eating dinner with your siblings and parents that your parents were lying when said they weren't hungry while watching you and your siblings have dinner.
— RetainedByLucifer

Sorting from a bag of hand-me down clothes the ones that actually fit.
— MarsNirgal

Having to pay for groceries with an actual Food stamp. We didn't have EBT cards back then. That shit was fucking degrading.
— ThurgoodLeroyJenkins

Believing whole heartedly in Santa Claus because you're thinking in your head "there's no way my dad could afford to buy me that"
— roachmastah

Playing with your dad's toys. Not only because we were poor when I was young, but also because my dad was like 17 when I was 2. Still a kid himself. He had tons of hot wheels and I loved to play with them.
— YouNerdAssRetard

Growing up rural poor you have friends nine months out of the year when you see them at school. When school is out you can't visit anyone because it's too far and your family can't drive you because it's too much time/money. It's amazing how much friendships change when you disappear that long.
— marcusjohnston

* Snobby kids asking you why you always wear the same clothes * Looking under vending machines for change for the laundromat * Your sink perpetually smelling like tuna water because canned tuna is the only protein your family can afford * Entertaining yourself for hours with one small Lego playset and your mom's bathroom accessories (although I guess the only real limit is your imagination) * Having a Pokemon deck comprised entirely of common duplicates from your friends * Your bike being too small for you and having patches all over the tires * Finishing every school lunch, even the fish sticks and coleslaw
— -TracerBullet

The year my folks split up, when school was out for the summer, mom would drop off my sister and I (aged 6 and 9) at the public pool on her way to work because daycare/babysitters were absolutely unaffordable. We always had one tuna salad sandwich to split for lunch. Decades later neither of us can eat tuna salad. Or McDonalds - too many cold dumpster burgers. Got my first restaurant job at 13. Two years later mom kicked me out of the house for keeping $22.00 of my own paycheck because I wanted to buy my 9th grade yearbook. I finished 9th grade living in a tent in the woods. Bought my first pair of brand new, never be worn by anybody else, blue jeans at 17 with my first payroll check from the Army. But I learned a lot too. Ive learned how to fix things because professional repairs or replacements are costly. Ive learned that I can get by with very, very little, which makes me appreciate what I do have. I can keep an incredibly accurate running total cost of the groceries in my cart. Most importantly, I learned that there is no shame in being poor, and I know how to recognize the signs in other people, especially children, and try to do what I can without embarrassing anyone involved.
— Cheftard

Don't know if this is a shared experience, but I grew up to be extremely uncomfortable spending money on things - especially things for myself. Even just shopping for clothes makes me unbelievably anxious.
— oaksid

Mustard sandwiches. Literal sugar water for a sweet drink. Doing homework by a flashlight because bills weren't paid. Filling up a rusty pickup truck bed with water to use as a pool. I could go on. U til I was 8, my family was in absolute poverty. When I was 8, within two weeks of each other both my parents landed different jobs at different chemical plants. Both were for 60k. This was 1990. It was like we won the lottery. We jumped and rejoiced and cried and embraced. One of my fondest memories.
— 5meterhammer

Going to the thrift shop in preparation of getting 'new' clothes for the school year because you outgrew your current clothes. Dumpster diving for bike parts to build your own bike.
— loganlogwood

Getting water from your neighbors hose pipe. Skipping school because of no clean clothes. Going to a hotel because there's a band on your house keeping you from getting in. Not going to the dentist, and not always having a tooth brush
— Kukantiz

Second hand clothes and hand me downs, tokens for school lunch, jacket potatoes and beans for weeks on end, shoes with holes in them that let in rain water... The list is endless. I know my Mum always did her best though and I will always love her for that.
— Baskerville666

Saving Kool-Aide points and Marlboro Miles and Camel Cash. I had a Kool Aide skateboard, Kool Aide t-shirt, Kool Aide painters cap and a Kool Aide video game.
— PunchBeard

When I was 8 my mother died. My father, who had been absent, took me in and I ended up with him, my step-mother and her daughter. We lived in a 2 room shack with no running water, but we had electricity and a pot-belly stove for warmth in Arkansas. It was cramped and horrible. I lived on fried potatoes and hot dogs and jug water. I took showers at the local campground which were horrifying and grueling for a kid---the walls were liberally covered in bugs, stick bugs, spiders, beetles, etc. We ate the same cheap meals over and over, we rationed our water. We did laundry once a week and pissed/shat in a bucket. It was horrible. Once I visited a cousin for a week and returned to find the bucket over-flowing. My dad forced me to drag it out to dump, while it sloshed over my hands. That is only one of many reasons I left him to die several states away. I can still feel his old, stale piss slosh onto my skin. That is fucking unforgivable. He did worse later, but basically it piles up. Don't humiliate and fuck over your kids and expect them to forgive you.
— emptysee

Top 10 Answers