Do you come from a frugal family?

[Early Bird]

I do. Sorta.

My father (now deceased) was 'pennywise and pound foolish.' He'd talk the salesman down $50 on an appliance purchase. But he'd pay $300 to have a TV repaired. The TV could have been replaced for $300.

But, on my mother's side:

* My comfortably-off batchelor uncle shops at Aldi. And cooks at home.
* My mom (deceased) really enjoyed outlet shopping.
* One aunt (deceased) scoured thrift stores for interesting needlework.
* And another aunt -- the youngest, but the Queen of 2ndhand shopping -- has got some amazing bargains at her local flea market. In fact, I've heard that her grown daughter has quite a successful business on ebay!

[seadream]

My Mom taught me all I know about smart shopping and being frugal

[Lori Biever-Launder]

My parents have always been frugal. They have paid cash for both of their homes. My dad looks like a homeless guy with a couple of cents in his pocket when he could probably pay cash for a couple of new cars and not even miss the $!

[annieacid]

My family is not particularly frugal. My parents had a lot of money problems while I was growing up, which is why I decided I wanted to learn to save save save! My dad doesn't understand the inclination, and he's always trying to keep up with the Jones's. Plus he bets at the racetrack.

Don't get me wrong, my parents are good people, and my mom taught me a little bit about the value of money, but most of my frugal-ness came from research I have done myself.

[SewCrafty]

I grew up in a frugal family, though we never knew it. Mom learned to can from my grandmother and how to cook for a large family. I honestly don't know how my mom did it. There were 9 of us including my parents and when I was young my dad only made about $50 a week. We never lacked for anything and never felt poor. We always had nice clothes to wear and plenty of food on the table.

My parents bought their home for $500 in 1963 (I think, mom correct me if I'm wrong) and it was in such sad shape, dad was in there fixing it while the elderly couple they purchased it from was still living there. Over the years, he gutted it room by room and rebuilt it completely himself with the help of my oldest brother.

So yes, I do come from a frugal family, but like I said we didn't know it then, it was just a way of life.

[Michelle]

I sure do.

[waterlover]

Nooooo! My parents lived way beyond their means and my mother still does. For the last year I have been working with her and she has started to track her spending and I have set her up on a budget. Whether she does anything about it I don't know. Its a start. She is almost 70 and has to work to maintain her lifestyle.

My parents, relatives that lived locally and all their friends had expensive houses and cars, but had a hard time putting food on the table. Most of her friends still live beyond their means.

I was 11 when I started babysitting to pay for my own clothes etc. Which I'm thankful for because it instilled in me good work ethics and taught me the value of money. But I had to teach myself. I would go to the local thrift store to buy my clothes. How I started to shop at thrift stores or who told me about thrift stores, I don't remember.

Well I could go on and on about this but I'll stop right here.

[duckduckgoose007]

Got some of it wrong Deed...The $500 was the down payment & we got a private mortgage for total of $6500 @ 6%.

We found out later that the Real Estate Lady & her partner received $1500 of that money. If we had cash we could have just paid $5000 to the old couple who sold it. Of course that was after the fact.

Also a year later we borrowed $1000 more from the same person who gave us the mortgage in the beginning...this was for the Furnace Dad put in.

Took us about 15 years to pay off this mortgage. Of course all this time I had to find money to pay for all the repairs Dad was doing.

I think that about covers it.

PS...Still haven't figured out how we did it

[KimSecret]

My mom & dad divorced when I was 5. Dad only spent money on himself After the divorce, she was single, raising 2 kids and yrs later had 2 more (out of wedlock) so was then a single, non working mom of 4! My mother was VERY frugal and Ive learned a lot from her. I am not as frugal as she was (is)...guess b/c I had to be when I was young, but Im trying

[YankeeMom]

My mom taught me some pretty good frugal tips in the kitchen. It was a necessity with 6 kids and only one income.
In areas of shopping & debt though, she showed me exactly what NOT to do

[bg]

My father was frugal prior to marrying my mother. He followed the envelope system. My mother's family consists of packrats. Things were always accumulated and never tossed, because one never knew when you might need it. Thus, there were closets filled with clothes that no one wore, and an attic filled with stuff that was worth nothing nor meant anything to anyone.

While growing up with my parents, it was always feast or famine, and it started to bug me.

As a teenager, I just got increasingly annoyed with my parent's inability to stay home and cook when there was no money instead of driving for miles on end to a restaurant and spending tons of money (or worse, putting it on a credit card).

My parents have always had debt, and I resented living that type of lifestyle (with creditors calling, losing family friends over debt, etc).

After I left my parent's house and moved in with my (now) husband, I began to become more frugal. It took me a while to get away from the mindset of partying every night, to realizing the importance of staying home and cooking a home cooked meal from scratch.

[annieacid]

Originally posted by bg
My parents have always had debt, and I resented living that type of lifestyle (with creditors calling, losing family friends over debt, etc).

I have to say I felt the same way with my parents. I realize it was partially not their fault, but I still felt so crappy when I had to stay home from a high school dance because my tuition wasn't paid (my Catholic School excluded the kids whose tuituon wasn't up to date from attending dances - as if it was our fault).

I understand now that they were in a tight spot, but my dad could have quit going to the racetrack for a bit, and being so stubborn about some things (sometimes he refuses to pay a bill because he's angry at the company, so creditors would always call).

[DawnM]

Yes, out of necessity. My DF passed away when I was 5 and my brother 9. My DM had to support and raise us alone. She always watched her pennies but I don't remember ever really feeling deprived and I never once heard her complain about her situation. There were many lessons on priorities that I learned. She worked hard to keep our house and food on the table, and a loving home to grow up in .... and helped support her own parents who were retired from the ministry. I'm just happy that now that DM is in her 80's, we're able to assist her in any way she needs.

DH's family was frugal out of necessity as well... but for a different reason - they had 5 children, 4 boys who had healthy appetites.

[Michele Annette]

When my parents were young they were frugal. I used to love the delicious cheap meals they used to come up with. I still make them today. But as time moved on dad got a much higher paying job and even though he saved and invested a lot of money, my parents also spent a lot of money. New cars, pool, etc. They are now back to being frugal once more because my brother, SIL and neice live with them. Mom doesn't work because of physical problems she's having at the moment so there is only my Dad's income. My brother works, but he isn't required to pay rent (don't ask ). My SIL goes to school full time for two days a week,but doesn't work otherwise. So my parents have to be frugal. I feel a rant coming on so I'm stopping here.