Being one of seven children times were tough for my husband , he was the youngest of the seven in this family there are six boys and one girl. This meant that there were three boys in one room two in another and his sister had a room of her own. If they wanted anything they earned money by doing chores in the house and such luxuries as a beef burger was heard of till my husband was thirteen. And a visit to Wimpy was a life changing occurrence on the annual family holiday.
Holiday was a time when the whole of the family trooped down to the post office to withdraw some money for their holiday spends. They had saved a proportion of their money each week in anticipation of the items they might buy on holiday.
When my husband needed some football boots he had to save up by doing not only his chores but also taking on a paper round as well as not buying sweets. He didn't go without sweets he barted with his siblings and took on some of there household chores.
The boots he had spotted weren't new they were second hand and several sizes too big the boots were fifty pence. It took a while to save up for them his situation compounded by seeing the boots everyday on his way to and from school.
But with the hard work of his saving paid off and he was able to purchase the boots and then his dream of joining the local football team was fulfilled. He didn't make it into being a professional footballer but his saving and determination enabled other dreams to come to fruition.
Christmas was a very frugal time as his older siblings grew and went out to work they saved to give their younger siblings a worthwhile Christmas . This had a knock on effect on the parents it allowed them to use the extra money that wasn't being spent on Christmas gifts to be put into the house instead either on the mortgage or house improvements.
Saving money has a domino effect through families , friends and society and that includes myself would you believe. In my teenage years I was raised within a single parent household and money was tight, sometimes I had to eat the cats coley and have boiled egg in ryvita just to survive. So when I met my husband who had just lost his mother to cancer in his teens, he went to work. He helped me to save by giving me his old items allowing me to use the money to buy my school books.
I also got a part time cleaning to put myself through school as well and all good things come to those who wait and save.
Saving has changed since myself and my husband grew up in the 70s,80s and we are now focused on teaching our son how to save money in readiness for such necessities as food in his university years. Granted this is four years off but so the process begins our son has taken the step if taking food technology at school, I am sure in turn he will pass his money saving skills on to his own family.
This post is an entry into theTots100/Roosterbank Pocket Money Competition”
