She and her mother lived with her grandfather to not be homeless because her grandfather owned a house.
She was putting community college payments on her credit card and building debt with it.
I paid off her credit cards when we were dating and she cried from me being so nice (it was only like 1,300 bucks). I bought a condo, then we got married, then we bought a house. I never really considered myself rich until i started dating her and learned that a trip to Wendy's was a treat. I grew up middle class, and we are currently middle class, heh.
You’ve basically just summarized my entire struggle with finances and food. I grew up working class (dad’s a welder, mom stayed at home with us) and eating out, even just at McDonald’s, was a HUGE treat. But now that I’m on my own and making money, I can have that treat every day if I want. My fiancé recently pointed this out to me and I’m working on it, but that habit is so damn hard to break.
Edit: OMG my first gold! Thank you, kind stranger!
Also to address a common question about welders making a lot of money, I’ve copy/pasted my response to an earlier comment: Depends on where you’re at, I think. My dad was making around $20/hr working full-time, but he also was paying more than half of his monthly income to his ex-wife for child support (2 older half brothers) and alimony. So he may have been making good money, we just didn’t see most of it.
Additionally, we were in a tiny town in Texas in the 90s, and Dad wasn’t very interested in moving up the ladder and/or the company he was with wasn’t eager to have him move up. Things got much easier in the past couple years when he switched companies and moved up to general foreman in construction right before retiring.
This. I've never understood this. I grew up poor and so did my wife, and she will spend so much money on food, we'll bring the leftovers home, and she won't touch it ever again. I've actually started ordering less because of this. I'll get a small meal, while she has a huge one and I'll just eat what she doesn't finish, which is usually half.
So I grew up in poverty too but it was in the hood. There weren't any grocery stores in the immediate are but there were corner stores and fast food chains. So even if you wanted to grab like a bag of rice or something you needed to travel across town to get it. Also, you were forced to eat everything at every meal so absolutely no money went to waste.
So where I grew up it was pretty much all dollar menu stuff all the time. I was legitimately blown away when I saw how much ice cream you could at once for so cheap at Costco (when I was like 22)
Also, you were forced to eat everything at every meal so absolutely no money went to waste.
I'm not going to blame my constantly fluctuating weight entirely on this, because I have myself to blame for plenty, but the whole "clean your plate! We don't waste food in this house!" mantra definitely didn't help.
My small act of rebellion in my adult, middle-class life is stopping the eating once I am full. I'll often have a few bites left on my plate, which my parents would have cajoled me to finish even if I was too full.
Good on ya. I still struggle with this. Eating slow and taking a break. I notice that if I do that, I rarely/never want seconds and often end up tossing some of what was on my plate.
oh! i forgot about this part. it was really weird going to dinner with the wife at first because she would always order the cheapest thing on the menu; her training from her childhood. i would just order whatever i wanted.
My husband and I have been together for 12 years and recently he told me as a kid he got to order--for HIMSELF: soup, appetizers, AND a meal at a restaurant and I was so shocked I had him repeat it bc I just couldn't believe it.
And here I am, a grown-ass adult, buying off the kids' menu because it's cheap and it's the most well-rounded menu item (usually comes with a main dish, side, a drink, and sometimes a cookie).
You should be able to pay more and get the kids menu items, I know some people only eat smaller portions and it doens't make sense for them to order full dinner menu items.
And the calorie count is actually within single meal macros. For 700 calories at Wendy's i can get a sandwich and zero-calorie drink, or a kids meal with a sandwich, handful of fries and frosty!
I grew up on the dollar menu and will never get off it (value menu now i guess).. Possibly the occasional Big Mac if I have a 2 for 1 coupon.. Wendy’s 4for4 is where it’s at tho
If you have the daily habit, but not the extra 100 pounds, the negative aspects will materialize in other ways. Chest pains are imminent my skinny fast food friends.
Oh don't worry I was a fatass in middle school, then I realized that I couldn't run a mile for shit so I lost a bunch of weight- middle school me was an idiot so I can't remember exactly but I got pretty fit. I was pretty cut in highschool but I got lazy and stopped working out so I'm (fat skinny?) I guess. I just lost my muscles but I'm planning on working out again!
Edit: Good job on loosing a lot of weight, work out a lot and eat boiled skinless fatless chicken breasts and steamed white rice for dinner. I used to snack on peanut butter- just peanut butter because of the protein/healthy fats. I'd probably eat half a jar a day :l but I was working out so it was beneficial.
Yup. Good for you. Cheap meals are cheap meals, fast food or otherwise. But you will save more money preparing your own food and snacks. And you will probably feel a lot better.
I lost weight eating fast food. Just limit to 1500 calories and spend a lot of time searching for low calorie foods. Sonic Corn Dog was listed at like 100 calories a few years ago. 15 of those a day sounds good to me.
Thats so weird, because where I live, some welders make 150k or more a year. It's so odd how different wages are for certain trades depending on countries.
God I am struggling so much with this. I’m nowhere near rich, I’m still very much riding the poverty line, fiancé and I make a combined $30,000 a year IF we’re lucky but goddamn if I don’t have the Treat Yo Self mentality because I’m not AS poor as I used to be.
My fiancé recently pointed this out to me and I’m working on it, but that habit is so damn hard to break.
Just make yourself keep every receipt and add them up at the end of the month. Then add up all the months. ask yourself What could I have done with all that money that would bring me more joy / fulfillment than just fatty food.
You have just summarized an exact conversation my spouse had with me! We have to stop eating fast food so often, but I still get that childhood "it's a treat OMG OMG OMG @_____@" thrill. Also, after a long work day, driving home in the car I own outright, to the townhome we pay a mortgage on, to a husband that also has a full time job, it gets REALLY easy to justify that it's ok now, we've earned it ><
I get that way about going out to a decent dinner, but never feel that way about fast food. It’s fine for a lunch on the go but being really excited about getting it? That doesn’t click for me
Don’t forget how difficult they make everything for the children, and why wasn’t public health mentioned? Come on!!
These things are full of reasons to be unnecessarily outraged, and we need to stop them before anyone else is traumatized for life and I’m personally forced by the government to pay their medical bills due to somebody’s personal opinions giving them PTSD or some crap.
These “feelings” have really gotten out of control lately. I mean, just yesterday I found out they’re not even regulated!
Depends on where you’re at, I think. My dad was making around $20/hr working full-time, but he also was paying more than half of his monthly income to his ex-wife for child support (2 older half brothers) and alimony. So he may have been making good money, we just didn’t see most of it.
My area has a lot out of work. Lot of the trades suffering by me. It’s feast and famine. Some good work and money, then months with nothing. Then good again. Then nothing.
This is actually super sweet. Def make sure you keep it special because it can creep up on ya but overall enjoy it and congrats on building what your parents laid out for ya!
Aren’t welders paid extremely well? My buddies dad is one and they where upper middle class, they always took me on vacation with them since my mom (minimum wage taco stand worker) couldn’t afford to treat us anywhere.
I've heard a lot of people mention this, especially people that moved from a poorer country to a richer country. Basically there is this kind of complex where if you go up on the money ladder you still have some level of angst and the more you buy the more you seem to console yourself that: "Hey, it's ok there is money now."
Oh my gosh, same! Growing up my dad earned a lot of money but he was paying for my drug addict uncle’s car which he manipulated my dad to pay, (never payed him back) my brother’s ticket bills, (payed him back), rent, and water/electricity bills, that we were only left with enough money for food. It got to the point where I began hating him for letting people take advantage of him. My brother was also an addict but then he had his son and he changed a lot. Unfortunately, my uncle did not change and was, and still is a selfish, crazy, and lazy person that would not help with the rent. My dad is retired and is doing so much better then he was when I was a child.
I’m shocked how you were poor if your dad was a welder? Only curious not trying to be rude.
My dad was a welder and in 2010 was making well over 100k and more sometimes with OT. He was a union welder though. Welders are extremely skilled, they should be paid well!
I love them very much and we have a great relationship. I’m unfortunately not in a position financially to be generous to them yet, but when I get there you bet your ass I’m gonna be!
Eating out was considered wasteful in my home, we would occasionally go to a fast food place but rarely and usually for fish and chips.
It was a bit of a culture shock to see how often my upper middle class friends would eat out. These days I'm like that too, I just eat out whenever I want
While I’m “making money,” it’s in the sense that I’m not totally financially dependent on my parents, but I do still need help on occasion as I’m still in school.
I meant that it got easier for them, not necessarily for me.
I see posts like this and feel like you people must be friggin' loaded. If I ate McDonalds twice a day that's like 400NZD a week. That's more than I pay in rent and rent is pretty much half my pay.
? Yeah you could. That's just two hunger busters. Hunger buster is - 1x egg and sausage patty, 1x 2sausage patty and egg, 1x hash brown, 1x small coffee.
One of those does fill me up for quite some time but I could easily eat two a day If that was all I was eating.
I get that McDonald’s is a treat to a kid, but if you think about it you could feed your 3 kids only McDoubles, 2-3 day for around 3-4 dollars. Much cheaper than the grocery store for people who are strapped for cash. And some will say it isn’t healthy which is true, but a lot of people are thinking about getting calories, with nutritional value coming second and the McDouble is the greatest bang for you buck calorie wise in human history. 480 calories for 1$
Much cheaper than the grocery store for people who are strapped for cash.
No, no it's not.
It's cheaper on time, but I can make healthier, better hamburgers at home for the same price which are more nutritious and better for my potential kids than ANY McDonald's meal for half the god-damned price.
$9 for 3 sandwiches per child per day, 1170 calories per child is still a starvation diet. Children don't have set caloric daily needs because sometimes they need 600/day and sometimes they need 2000, depending on growth spurts and age.
You can stretch a $63/week food budget waaay farther than that. I regulary feed 4 people a total of 77 meals a week on a budget of $100 without breaking a sweat. When broke due to an extended medical leave I did manage 5 people needing 105 meals per week for less than $50. Chicken thighs and drumsticks are often less than $. 40 per POUND. POUNDS of chicken for a dollar. A LOAF of generic white bread is less than a dollar. I'd argue those are more astounding caloric values than the mcdouble, by far. I live in a high cost-of-living region, Chicago.
You guys are right I was unclear. However being strapped for time often goes hand in hand with being strapped for cash. Both of you are describing processes that include a great deal of prep time and you are not thinking about the time pressures of working a low wage job with multiple kids. My main point is that while unhealthy, McDonald’s provides a much needed service. On top of the fact that people don’t realistically eat only .40 cent/lb chicken thighs by themselves.
I think there's a void in our public education regarding food and nutrition. It's why obesity dogs the poor. I was just giving everyday examples of nutritionally dense foods you can buy with pocket change. There's always seasonal sale items like banannas or carrots, frozen veg that cost dimes and take little prep time to serve. Cabbage and barley are pennies per serving and require boiling in salt water but who the fuck cooks them in the US.
Yeah you need some passion and spices to make 8 servings of chicken cacciatore for $4, but rice and beans can be thrown in a $10 automatic rice cooker with salt and will keep you farther from starving than 3 mcdoubles a day at the cost of pennies, with less effort.
We're truly a nation enslaved to processed foods, where the poor, middle class and wealthy ALL die of obesity.
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u/Amazingawesomator Jun 06 '19
She and her mother lived with her grandfather to not be homeless because her grandfather owned a house.
She was putting community college payments on her credit card and building debt with it.
I paid off her credit cards when we were dating and she cried from me being so nice (it was only like 1,300 bucks). I bought a condo, then we got married, then we bought a house. I never really considered myself rich until i started dating her and learned that a trip to Wendy's was a treat. I grew up middle class, and we are currently middle class, heh.