What did you save money for as a child?

I saved like crazy as I was music mad at 12 and wanted a grundig reel to reel tape recorder. I got a paper round at 13 and was so chuffed the day I bought it. It cost £52 and took me a long time to save up for but worth it.

At 14 I had a Saturday job (£1 day) and borrowed money (plus Christmas/Birthday money) from Mum to buy a sheepskin jacket and paid her back 50p a week. Loved that coat and threw it out aged 30! Ps Had my ears pierced by a jeweller with a syringe/needle - sooooo painful almost left it at one ear like a pirate ?

As a child in the 40s and 50s, there wasn't much to spend my pocket money on, except books. My grandparents gave me 'book tallies', kind of junior book tokens which mounted up to the price of a book. I loved the local book shop. On the approach to Christmas, we had to save up to buy small items for family and friends, raiding
the nearest Woolworths for tiny bottles of 'Midnight in Paris' or 4711 Cologne for mum and aunties. Dad liked a bar of hazelnut chocolate!
Mamma7, I also had my ears pierced with a hypodermic, but it was my sister, a junior doctor who did it, quite painlessly, during a quiet time in A&E.

I used to get 6d .....I also ran errands for people and usually was given 2d ....and when I got to about 10 (in those days it was safe) I took the local shop owners dog for miles and miles of walkies...across fields, down to the river, the sea, all over the place ....they used to say he was exhausted when he came home ! so I had lots to save, some to spend and was always working on making more ! I saved for parents and brother's birthday and Christmas presents, presents for friends birthdays, we never had holidays, so no need to save for those and when I reached £1 saved it used to go into my little P O savings account ........ saving still, but had to start over as my late husband was a total spendthrift who never saved a penny, so all my savings had to go on house repairs and replacing things, (his pension was almost four times mine !) and when he died there was nothing in his bank account, so luckily I had enough for the funeral, and all the related costs .........AND now, I still have savings, BUT it somewhat angers me that should I need a care home, everything will be taken, and MORE to pay for those who never saved anything ...so, should I spend it, give it away or what .....decisions, decisions

Pocket money was for comics and presents for family. When I got a Sat job at 15 the money was for clothes that my mum wouldn't buy me.

I used to save my sixpence a day to put with 3 shillings my Mum gave me on a Saturday for pony riding lessons which were 6 shillings an hour. I also saved a bit out of my earnings all my life.

I got 6d a week pocket money From the day I started work, my wages were handed to my mother, until the day I got married. Mum bought my clothes , shoes and what she though I should have. I'm still not good at budgeting.

I remember saving pennies and ha'pennies in a money box in the shape of P.C. Plod, but I can't remember what I spent it on!
I know when I was 17 or 18 I had a Saturday job in Woolworth's and the money I earned each week was just enough to pay for a driving lesson.

Getting my ears pierced. Mum refused to let me get them done but at 15 I went out with a friend and did the dastardly deed! I breezed back in and announced to my mum “guess what’s different with me?” throwing my hair back in defiance! Her reply was “don’t come running to me when they start causing problems “ they did hurt from the syringe/needle thing and it was painful turning the sleepers each night- but I never let on!!

My savings were short term and seasonal - we had to save for holiday money, fireworks for Bonfire night, Christmas presents and family birthday presents. I always seemed to manage, due mostly to indulgent grandparents. When I got to 14, I paid weekly for a sewing machine from a neighbour's catalogue from my Saturday job money. DM did not approve of paying weekly, however she couldn't complain about something sensible like a sewing machine.

I got half a crown a week it never went up and was still getting it at 16. I saved for a doll after buying her I was walking through a shop with her unwrapped and another child pulled her little wig off.
A relation unknown to their parents bought some mice to breed and sell them and with the money buy a scooter. Imagine the fuss when the mice and all her babies were found in the garden shed. We never did find out what happened to them.

I picked fruit from the age of 12, babysat from the age of 13 and started my apprenticeship from the age of 14 years. My father who had a good job always made me save half the cost of things/clothes that I wanted and he matched it and paid the other half. I paid my mother 25% of what I earned from the apprenticeship but not the other jobs I had by the age of 15. I worked at the weekend at the baker, cleaned a hotel Sunday morning and worked 2-3 nights a week at the funfair. I earned really good money altogether, but my father never stopped his offer until I was fully qualified. I considered myself very lucky.

I was encouraged to buy PO savings stamps but also used to buy little story books published by School Friend and Girls Crystal magazines. Friend and I also used to buy pellets for her Dads gun so we could shoot at tin cans. Can’t believe a shop would sell these to a couple of 12 year olds.

I too got 1d for each year of my life. At a school sports day when I was 6, my mum won the parents' race, but another mother, loud and pushy, claimed she was the winner and took the prize bouquet. I saved and saved until I could buy her a begonia (like moggycuddler) and gave it to her in place of the 1st prize she should have been given. She put it in the garden each summer and brought it back inside before any frosts. It finally gave up the ghost when I was in my late thirties. I can't remember what it cost, but it can't have been much.

MerylStreep

bonfirebirthday

I saved my pocket money for the pick and mix in Woolworth's and my weekly magazine, 'Jack and Jill' and then 'Jackie'.

I didn’t know anyone who paid for ‘pick & mix’ everyone I knew pinched them ?

Hey, I worked on pick and mix as a Saturday girl when at college. I don't remember helping myself! Then I don't have a sweet tooth. Working in a curry house might have been different.

Four of us. Sixpence each. Saved up for 4 weeks and bought myself a box of chocolates.

Also saved to buy presents for family.

Saved for a transistor radio, a tennis racquet, and a sewing machine, in that order.

Have always saved up fot things. For home improvements too.

Our mortgage has been our only debt.

Platform shoes. Bought a pair, ran for a train, fell over and had the worst sprained ankle ever - mum had to take me to hospital for X-ray and I couldn’t walk on it for three weeks ?

I had 6d a week pocket money which went on sweets or comics. As soon as I had a Saturday job I saved for my first sewing machine which I bought from my Aunts Kays catalogue!

I don’t remember saving for anything - never had much pocket money at all. But I’d have saved like mad for a puppy if I’d ever thought I’d be allowed to have one. ?
It didn’t stop me being very careful with money when I was older, independent and needed to be very careful, though. There are advantages to being brought up skint!

Another who wanted a pony but knew it was never going to be possible so I saved up for the occasional riding lesson and spent my weekends there, helping out in exchange for the odd free ride. I eventually bought myself a horse for my 50th birthday. I bought my last one just before my 70th birthday so it's never too late to fulfil those dreams!