10+ Ways I Could Tell The Rich Kids From The Poor Kids

As I have written about previously, I grew up poor. And I could tell when one off my friends was “rich”. Looking back now, they were just middle class. I was the poor one.

Some of the memories from the 80s/early 90s, I have blocked out, but some came to the surface recently:

• Holes in shoes. Using duct tape to repair them
• Empty fridge. I got in a strange habit of rearranging the existing food (usually mustard, milk, apples) to make it look like there was more food than there was. I did this the other day. My husband asked what I was doing. Then I realized I had gone back to that time when food was scarce.
• We couldn’t get new school clothes. If we did, it was from Salvation Army or Kmart.
• My father washing plastic wrap, after using it so he could reuse it
• Staying home when classmates were going on summer vacation. The school I went to did a lot of field trips, so I was able to travel a little like to Boston, NYC, etc.
• Getting made fun of in school for not having the right clothes
• Because we couldn’t afford a computer or word processor, I used an old typewriter to type my school papers.
• Taking hand me downs from neighbors and family. One year we got…