Last week I learned that for the first 10 years of my life, my family was below

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Jul 18, 2024
1:20:51pm

Jeff Spicoli All-American

Last week I learned that for the first 10 years of my life, my family was below

the poverty line.

I had no idea. But now when I look back it makes sense.

We drank powdered milk, I had reduced and some years had free school lunch, we never went on vacation, the ONLY time we ate at a restaurant or ordered pizza was birthdays. And when we did order pizza, everyone got one slice.

I didn't know this at the time but there were two times where my parents came within 2-3 weeks of losing our house.

Things improved as I got older.

This message has been modified

Originally posted on Jul 18, 2024 at 1:20:51pm

Message modified by Jeff Spicoli on Jul 18, 2024 at 1:31:54pm

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Jeff Spicoli

Bio page: Jeff Spicoli
Joined: Feb 13, 2004
Last login: Aug 31, 2024
Total posts: 35,758 (201 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

Last week I learned that for the first 10 years of my life, my family was below

Jul 18, 1:20pm

Freaking wealthy CBers

TNT

Jul 18, 1:22pm

Luxury

mbs6

Jul 18, 1:32pm

I didn't know that one can of Campbell's tomato soup wasn't meant to feed 7

VB2

Jul 18, 4:10pm

But we had love and we were happy

44C

Jul 18, 4:53pm

Are you my sibling?

BillyGoat

Jul 18, 1:22pm

I was just referring to powdered milk didn’t read the rest that stuff was gross

BillyGoat

Jul 18, 1:23pm

Not true. When TNT was on his mission

TNT

Jul 18, 1:24pm

Toughest 4 months of your life.

gangbusters

Jul 18, 1:27pm

Are you implying TNT was sent home?

TNT

Jul 18, 1:34pm

No. That he absconded.

gangbusters

Jul 18, 1:35pm

That sounds like an Honor Code violation

TNT

Jul 18, 1:37pm

Well we know it wasn't for Pon Farr participation.

Emmett Fitz-Hume

Jul 18, 1:42pm

Major kudos to your parents for not allowing the kids to feel the squeeze.

Roko's Basilisk

Jul 18, 1:24pm

We lived like that too, only we were more middle class. Turns out my parents

BlueFever

Jul 18, 1:29pm

We were well below the poverty line when I was a kid and we lost our home

cougarblue

Jul 18, 1:29pm

That was my wife's family. True story she shares: In Kindergarten she was asked

tevye

Jul 18, 1:30pm

Wouldn’t surprise me to learn most young lds families are living below the line.

MormonThug

Jul 18, 1:31pm

But they live in big homes and drive nice cars

TNT

Jul 18, 1:32pm

Homer Simpson has the solution -

Zoobieman

Jul 18, 1:56pm

Probably true until 30 or more years ago. Now families smaller and 2 incomes

NYC and Japan

Jul 18, 9:32pm

My family was exactly the same way. My youngest siblings grew up in a totally different home culture.

Jul 18, 1:33pm

I remember eating boiled wheat for dinner pretty regularly. Also

Acorn

Jul 18, 1:44pm

We called that “wheat mush”. Ate it for breakfast.

Jul 18, 1:46pm

We called it "cracked wheat" and also ate it for breakfast.

Jul 18, 1:54pm

Same. It was my job to grind it by hand the night before.

Jul 18, 2:07pm

Grains = cooked wheat, ground = gruel

Himni

Jul 18, 2:28pm

I feel for your Dad....that is some hard living. He must have been a good man.

Cthack1

Jul 18, 3:15pm

For us kids, it wasn’t that bad. My mom taught us that

Acorn

Jul 18, 3:32pm

I remember your mom. Please tell her thank you for brightening everybody's day. The ASB wasn't an easy building to be in

Jul 18, 4:19pm

Oats cooked in water: great. Rice cooked in water: great. Wheat? Gross.

Jul 18, 4:11pm

Sounds like you had a great father

AZ Coug

Jul 18, 10:00pm

My parents called it whole wheat cereal to make it sound like it was normal 😂

7FootRussian

Jul 19, 12:00am

My grandpa gave grandma 3 choices to where my dad could be born

bald man

Jul 18, 1:47pm

Seriously one of the better threads on CB.

Jul 18, 1:51pm

We never went hungry or had to have powdered milk

NaturalNeuralNet

Jul 18, 1:52pm

I guess we were on the poor side growing up

Jul 18, 1:56pm

I cut up my old garden hose into various sizes just in case they come in handy.

ochobeeguy

Jul 18, 2:25pm

We also fail to realize how much living standards have improved since then

Himni

Jul 18, 2:25pm

You might be my brother

Saxa

Jul 18, 2:16pm

I think I still don't like milk this day because of growing up with powdered.

ochobeeguy

Jul 18, 2:28pm

Bless your parents for never giving up and never letting you know you were poor. I am sure they are great people

BYU Grounds

Jul 18, 2:29pm

Well, it was well before the 70's but we lived in a house that had a coal/wood burning furnace for heat. It was down in

lightmann

Jul 18, 2:39pm

Really good people here on CB. Appreciate your stories and admire your

Bullrider

Jul 18, 2:45pm

What era did you grow up in? Were you still happy as a kid? I hope so, I wasn’t

Coug-Ida

Jul 18, 2:55pm

Realized when filling out FAFSA that my family lived below poverty my entire life.

Soupie

Jul 18, 3:20pm

LOL, I realized just the opposite. I didn't think we were poor but I realized we were upper middle class. My parents...

BYU Grounds

Jul 18, 3:34pm

I was in the same boat. Deseret was the primary brand of good we consumed.

Jul 18, 3:34pm

Thanks for sharing. My parents argued about money all the time throughout my

Yucatan

Jul 18, 4:11pm

Same. I have many stories: only eating cereal for birthdays, duct-taping cleats.

Boring

Jul 18, 4:23pm

My experience growing up was a cousin to that: middle-class parents who were

Jul 18, 4:34pm

We were anywhere from upper lower class to middle class, depending on my Dad’s

Forest Green

Jul 18, 5:07pm

My parents would do half powdered milk and half whole milk. They quit after several years and went straight powdered bc

BYU Grounds

Jul 18, 5:57pm

My family was very similar

Jul 18, 9:04pm

Where in W WA?

lightmann

Jul 19, 11:19am

RE: Where in W WA?

Jul 19, 3:59pm

I grew up 50 miles west of Centralia, Raymond. For us, hopping in the car and going to Centralia/Chehalis was a trip to

lightmann

Jul 20, 6:05pm

Yardbirds!

Jul 22, 9:26am

These comments resonate

Craner64

Jul 19, 2:12pm

Mr. vice president, is that you?

Incentivize

Jul 19, 2:51pm

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