We were so poor that we had to eat our breakfast cereal with a fork so that we could re-use the milk.

We were so poor all we had to eat for supper was potato peeling soup. For breakfast, if we had it, we ate plain pancakes. School lunch was leftover breakfast pancakes we carried to school on a wire.

Winner.

We were so poor we couldn't afford to pay attention

Mom fed us lard sandwiches.

Most days we had taters and beans for lunch, and then had beans and taters for supper.

Was so poor growing up I could stand on a nickel and tell you if it was heads or tails....and that was while wearing boots.

We were so poor our third car only got washed once a month to save water for the in ground pool. Thats not the worst part if we wanted to go on vacation more than once a year we had to plan at least a month ahead of time or dad said the 1st class tickets would be too much. But the neighbors had it worse than us, they didn't even have cable in the tv in their bedrooms and only had two ponies for all 3 kids one summer.

Times sure were tough back then but we made do.

NO AC at all till I was 12, then it was just downstairs - no central air till after the fire in 97 I was 25, no heat in the attic, 3rd floor where my brother and I had out rooms till 97 either, got nippy up there
No cable tv till I was 12 either 5 channels till then LOL
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, home baked desserts - still havent ate a Twinkie LOL

I didnt get poor until I moved off to college. Me and a buddy Rented a house from a really nice old couple in N Louisiana. Had electricity, no heat or air, and they turned the water off in the winter to keep the pipes from freezing. My mom and dad came out for a few days during the fall - before they turned the water off, the first year we there. My dad had to use the bathroom. It was an early cold snap and we were getting a few snow flurries that day. When my dad came out of the bathroom, he said ?I know you boys are trying to make it on your own, but those playboy pinups on the wall aint keeping the snow out - or the rats. I am going to town and we are gonna get some sheet rock to put up in the bathroom to keep the snow and rats out of the bathroom.?

Turned out the bathroom wasnt really an issue in the winter, anyway - because there was no water from Dec to Mar. We took a kitchen chair and cut a hole in the bottom of it. Painted the chair orange so you could see it pretty good. Left it in the woods behind the house - the s**t chair. Sometimes, in a rush - if you couldnt find the chair - just had to make do. Took showers at the gym at school. If one of us ever actually got a date - dang sure never brought them to the house. I made that mistake once - ended that relationship.

Folks we rented the house from planted five acre truck patch back of the house. They told us we could eat anything from there we wanted - so we always had plenty to eat in the warm season and allowed the little bit of money we had to go further. You actually can live off Miller Ponies and watermelon.

Graduated college in Nov of 1977. You would think when you had a college degree, the standard of living would go up - I mean it was a pretty low standard. Nope. Moved into a tent. Set out traps on Sunday and would pick up traps and camp and head to town. By some miracle, I actually had a steady girlfriend. I would stay Friday night at her parents house and get showered and cleaned up, sell fur on Saturday, and head back out Sunday morning to set up camp and set out traps. Did that for three months. Made decent money. Those were the days

Married that gal ten months later in 1978. We are still together!

Sheila just asked me why I was cracking up reading stuff on the phone...I just couldn't answer her

My mom washed dishes with old pieces of bar soap.

I thought we were poor, found out later my parents were cheap. Got a new winter coat when I was eleven, it was so big I could still wear it as a senior.

Not a 1 upper, but it is true.

This was over 50 years ago.

My parents had a very nasty divorce/custody battle going on. My brother and I were sent to live with my grandparents and 3 uncles on Mom's side in Arkansas.

They were hillbillies and wouldn't of had life any other way.

No running water or electricity, there was a bathtub and an ice box though. Bath water was drawn from the well and heated on the wood stove or a fire outside. We also went from oldest to youngest. So with 3 older uncles I was the 4th one in the the bath water.
All of my clothes were old hand me downs and thrift store or yard sale buys.

We lived off of what we hunted , caught fishing and trapped and bartered for. We had fresh milk, butter ,cream, eggs,etc to barter for other goods with. We also ate a lot of road kill, If we went somewhere and there was an animal dead in the road on the way home that wasn't there on the way to wherever it got picked up. Coon, grinner, turtle, squirrel, rabbit, snake, it didn't much matter. I remember my grandfather putting salt and borax on a diller shell one time, I guarantee if he went through the trouble for that, it was in a Dutch oven in bbq sauce or cream of mushroom soup.

I was young (kindergarten -3rd grade ish) and I honestly thought that's how everyone lived because that was all I knew back then. It was great to be a young kid and live that kind of feral life.

I think every kid today should have to live a little bit of that

It makes me truly appreciate everything I have today.

We never had TV until I was in 5th grade. I never had a shower until I was out of high school. Only a bath tub. No AC until all us kids were out of the house. No heat up in the attic where brother and I slept. Water would freeze ans we would get snow on the inside of the north window.

My Grandad, born in 1895, lived with us off and on when I was young. I saw him, on more than one occasion, grab the little bacon grease crock on the back of the stove and make himself bacon grease sandwiches. He lived to over the age of 98.

We were so poor I had to share my sand box with the kitty.

We were so poor, we ate so many rabbits, everytime the dog barked, we would run under the porch

Yep even my wife laughed to teers.

lucky you were a boy