The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor

[Bill Rini]

#5. You Develop a Taste for Shitty Food

#4. Extra Money Has to Be Spent Right Goddamn Now!

#3. You Want to Go Overboard on Gift-Giving

#2. You Become an Obsessive Bean-Counter

#1. You Only Spend with the Short Term in Mind

Interesting/Funny take on why poor people grow up with certain habits. Go read the entire post on:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-st...owing-up-poor/

It's actually pretty funny and insightful.

Can you think of more?

#6 Spending more on cheap alternatives than what you would have spent getting what you wanted.

Folks who buy a crappy car for $10,000 and then, slowly, dump another $20,000 into it over the next several years adding ridiculous accessories like spinning rims, stereos that can be heard hundreds of miles away, and racing tires. Eventually what they end up with is a car that they can resell for about $12,000 despite having dumped $30,000 into it.

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[English_Bob]

I know an old guy who grew up poor (my Dad)... And he is the stingiest man ever... but only with himself.

Every now and again, he'll dump a thousand pounds into his three kids' bank accounts, for no other reason than he 'doesn't know what to do with it'. I know what he should do with it... he should spend it on himself.

But when I visit him, I make a mental note of what crappy, piece-of-shit junk he has lying around. It's always the same story. He buys cheap because he thinks he's saving money. For example, he wears sandals most of the time (not flip flops). But he would rarely spend more than 200 baht on a pair. Within a few weeks the straps would break and he'd fix them with superglue. Then the soles would start separating and he'd fix them too. He'd spend hours and hours gluing and fixing these ugly-ass sandals, holding them together with clothes pegs and tape while the glue dried.

One day I showed up at his house with a pair of Timberland sandals - soft leather, rugged build and quality fastenings. I think they cost about 2k... the price of ten pairs of his normal shoes... But 3 years later, he's still wearing them and they look great!

Last Christmas, I replaced the patio furniture which was sagging and uncomfortable (and a little dangerous). He's chuffed to bits with the new ones, but he could have bought them himself two years ago instead of the crappy ones he bought.

I was looking at his computer last time I was down there. He was deleting files because he was running out of memory space. How the fuck does anyone have a computer with less memory space than my mobile phone?! And it's a desktop, not a laptop!

Still... at least I've got some good ideas for presents now.

[Bill Rini]

Somewhat related to what EB was saying about his dad:

Something I've noticed with women buying clothes. There seems to be no middle-ground between the kind of crap you can buy at JJ's and the most expensive brands money can buy. In other words, people seem to be comfortable buying 300 baht shoes once a month (because 300 baht shoes rarely last more than 2 or 3 months) unless they have enough to afford an $800 pair of Jimmy Choo's (which they'll buy even if it's the last $800 in their bank account - see #4).

They'll never spend 3000 baht on a lessor brand shoes like Clark's that look good and will last them 3 or more years, which brings the amortized cost of ownership to less than the 300 baht a month they're paying for cheap shoes that fall apart after a few wearings (closely related to #1).

For me, it's the opposite. It looks like I own a lot of shoes but it's because I buy quality and my shoes last a long time. I'm looking at the shoes sitting in my closet right now and several pair are over 7 years old. I usually only get rid of shoes when I'm moving and it is more expensive to ship them than it is to replace them.

I don't know, it was sort of a lesson I picked up when I used to work with a guy who came from "old" money. The kind of money where several Kennedy's attended his wedding sort of thing.

But, he only owned like five suits (we were both stockbrokers so suit and tie was mandatory dress at work). They were all Brook's Brothers suits though. He took care of them like you wouldn't believe and in the years that we knew each other he never purchased a new suit. And you couldn't tell the suits were years old. They looked almost as good as a brand new suit.

But one of the things that sort of was a "aha" moment for me was his watch. He had a vintage Rolex watch. I assumed he purchased a vintage watch but he told me that it was a gift from his father. He said his father had bought it before he was born and wore it until his son was old enough to appreciate it.

I started thinking about what the total cost of ownership of that watch must be. The watch was a good 25+ years old. Assuming his dad spent $5,000 on the watch, that's like $200 a year. How many people spend $200 a year buying crappy watches that wear out in just a few years or go out of fashion?

Not only that, the watch was probably worth more than $5,000 today because it was a vintage watch. So basically his dad and him have owned the watch for $0. In fact, they've made money.

I'm not suggesting that everyone go out and buy $5,000 watches or anything but it's just a different attitude about money. I can't see paying $2,000 for a Louis Vuitton bag but I can see paying a few hundred bucks for a quality leather bag that will last 10+ years. It makes much more sense than buying a new bag every year for 10 years and spending more on those cheap bags than the one really nice one.

For me, the lesson was, buy the best quality that you can afford (even if you have to save up for it) and then take really, really good care of it. You'll spend less over the long-run and it'll still look much nicer than the multiple cheap versions you buy.

[beej]

You can mother fucking hustle.

[kaunitz]

Folks who buy a crappy car for $10,000 and then, slowly, dump another $20,000 into it over the next several years adding ridiculous accessories like spinning rims, stereos that can be heard hundreds of miles away, and racing tires. Eventually what they end up with is a car that they can resell for about $12,000 despite having dumped $30,000 into it.

A very common picture in Central Europe at least during the 70's to 90's. Today mainly observed with youngsters and - mainly Turkish - immigrants.

[kaunitz]

For me, the lesson was, buy the best quality that you can afford (even if you have to save up for it) and then take really, really good care of it. You'll spend less over the long-run and it'll still look much nicer than the multiple cheap versions you buy.

Fully agreed, but there are exceptions: About 20 years ago, I bought some fake "PUMA" polo shirts smuggled into Syria via Lebanon and having been produced I don't know where for, as we say, an apple and an egg. These things, up to today, are not worn out or torn, the sewing is perfect and I dare saying that their quality is far better than the original. But I know, this rather is the exception than the rule!

Four years ago or so, I bought leather sandals for about 2,000 Baht and they lasted until last December, when the soles broke. The top still looked very nice but this does not help once there is no sole anymore. I only used them in Thailand and only when we went out but I have to admit that they went wet several times. So my sweet wifey bought me Crocs instead and I have an idea that they might last a bit longer

[Bill Rini]

So my sweet wifey bought me Crocs instead and I have an idea that they might last a bit longer

Unfortunately, the rubber they're made out of will decay long before they'll ever be fashionable :-)

[Stramash]

Unfortunately, the rubber they're made out of will decay long before they'll ever be fashionable :-)

*comeback of the week award*

[Teddy]

Unfortunately, the rubber they're made out of will decay long before they'll ever be fashionable :-)

.....Zing!

[Japamerican]

.....Zing!

Hi, Teddy. How are you?