I'm Not Poor. I'm Cheap.

It has recently come to my attention that I seem to portray myself as poor (although from all those dinners I went to in the summer, it seems hard to believe).

I'll be honest; when I was growing up, I was, by definition, poor.

I lived in a rough neighbourhood, in a crappy building and didn't always have food on my plate. The clothes on my back were either ten sizes too big for me or five sizes too small, simply because it was cheaper to buy clothes that I would grow into (or keep the clothes that I grew out of) than to buy me a whole new wardrobe every year.

My dad (who I saw on weekends) did his absolute best to financially support me. Unfortunately, my mom wasn't always honest with him with what she was spending the money that he gave her on. When the money should have been going towards new clothes for me, it was going to other things.

Things weren't always easy.

But, that's my past.

When I was 15, I got my first job. Since then, I've never been unemployed.

Working gave me a sense of responsibility. Purchasing something with money that I earned gave me a whole new appreciation on life. The first time I paid a bill, I was giddy. Simply because I was proud of myself for being able to pay for a cellphone bill, by myself, at the age of 15. With that sense of pride, I realised it was more important for me to save my money than to spend it on frivolous purchases. While my friends were spending their part-time job money on designer clothes, I was wearing no-name brands and saving up for school.

At 20, I moved out and started paying rent and other bills on my own.

At 23, I graduated from a four-year program and paid off my student loans a month later.

I'm now 26, debt-free and well on my way to being able to afford a home.

I would not be where I am now if I didn't believe in the importance of saving my money. Even though I have a full-time job now, I still don't wear designer labels. I almost never make a purchase if the item isn't on sale. I use coupons as much as possible. I never order the most expensive item on the menu and try to limit how much I drink; not only for the health benefits but because alcohol is the most overpriced thing you could purchase at a pub/restaurant.

If I'm saving up for a vacation/big purchase, I'm not afraid to say no when being invited out.

The bad habit I have is that I tell people, "I can't afford to."

I'm wrong. I can afford to. Just, at the moment, I do not think it would be financially wise for me to go out - when I'm not saving up for something, I would be happy to join you.

As such, I apologise to anyone who I've given the wrong impression to by saying, "I can't afford to."

What I'm not going to apologise for is using coupons and looking for deals.

Groupon has saved me a ton of money. As have coupons. It doesn't make sense to me to pay full-price for something when I don't have to. So, if to you, that means I'm poor, so be it. But, I'm not poor. I'm cheap. I'm so cheap that I'm laughing all the way to the bank.

Are you afraid of using coupons because people can be judgmental?

How do you save your money?

Things Our Parents Didn't Have to Worry About

The other day, a parent was telling me that they had to scold their child for their inappropriate use of Instagram. They also had to reprimand them for their use of Facebook. 

That got me thinking, parents have so much more to deal with than they did when we were kids. 

Here's a bunch of things my parents didn't have to worry about when I was a kid:

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Cellphones

When I was ten, no one had a cellphone. If a friend wanted to talk to me, they'd call my house. Simple. Now it seems like every other ten year old has a cellphone. And if they don't have one, they want one. You're ten. What could you possibly need a cellphone for?

Expensive Toys

The most expensive toy I ever wanted was a Furby. My dad thought they were ridiculous and wouldn't get me one, so I saved up and bought myself one for a whole $50 then never played with it ever again. That was a lot of money to me then. Who am I kidding? That's still a lot of money to me. But, now kids are asking for things like the PS4 and the XBox One, for a whole $499. $499?? Get out of here!

Safety

Don't get me wrong, safety of your child should be of utmost importance no matter what decade you were born in. But, it seems like parents worry now more than ever.

I started taking public transportation by myself when I was nine. I asked my dad if he would have let me take it by myself if I were nine now and his answer was no. 

When did things change?

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Ha, this took me a second to understand.

Faster Download Speeds

When I first got internet, it used the phone line. When I would connect to the internet, it would make a terrible high pitched alien sound. I loved it. Even though it took about ten minutes to connect, I was so excited to have internet, I didn't care. Now, if it takes a whole 20 seconds to connect to the internet, kids start complaining and tell their parents they need to upgrade their internet. 

Get on that, mom and dad. 

Cyber Bullying

This one is serious and it makes me sad. Since I didn't have internet until after the age of ten, I didn't have to worry about this as a child. Neither did my parents. But now, parents do have to worry about it. Cyber bullying can happen to any child at any age. 

Kids can be cruel.

Parents need to carefully monitor what their children are doing on their internet and should have regular conversations with them about it. Although they don't want their child to be cyber bullied, they don't want their child to be the cyber bully either. 

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Maybe they're just copying Kevin Federline's kids..
That's not a good thing.

Starbucks

I need to end this off on a lighter note. But, I'm also totally serious. As I was writing this, I saw a kid, who I swear was only ten or eleven, with a cup of Starbucks in her hand. Um, what? First off, I hope there's no caffeine in that. Second off, is that what kids are spending their allowance money on now? I didn't even know about Starbucks until I was in my late teens. I was too busy saving up for that Furby!

What did your parents not have to worry about that they'd have to worry about now?

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