20 Things I Did Growing Up Poor That I Still Do Today, as a Black Woman

My granddaughter caught me washing out a bread bag at the sink and told me I don't have to do that anymore. She's right. I still do it. This is twenty frugal habits from growing up poor that I never put down, and an honest accounting of which ones are still paying me and which ones quit. I start with the savings club my mother was in, the one she called the hand, because five women putting in the same money every Friday is how we got our stove, and you can still run one today if you know how to tell a real one from the pyramid version going around with a pretty name. From there it's the senior rate nobody thinks to ask the water department for, my mother's rule about the front door and why she was righter than she knew, the envelopes in the top drawer with the words written on them in pencil, the grease can, the sale paper, the freezer, my own hair, and the mending your grandmother did without thinking about it. I'll also tell you where I disagree with my own upbringing. I don't sit in a cold house to save money and I won't tell you to. I pay somebody to do my feet and I'm not sorry. And I stopped walking into thrift stores on faith about ten years ago, because that habit quit paying and nobody sent a letter about it. A lot of what you're owed is sitting there unclaimed, and asking is not begging. You paid into it. Tell me in the comments what your mother or your grandmother did that you still catch yourself doing at the sink. Where to check: Lifeline Support for Affordable Communications How to Qualify - Universal Service Administrative Company A real or fake savings club? Social Security History The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act I'm not a financial adviser. This video is general information from my own experience and the official sources above. Rules and amounts change every year and differ from state to state, so confirm anything with the agency before you act on it.