Gransnet forums

Chat

What did you save money for as a child?

(95 Posts)
Sago Tue 06-Apr-21 09:59:36

When I was about 13 I was convinced that pierced ears would change my life..

I would become beautiful, gain respect from the older girls at school and be able to conquer anything or anyone.

My mother viewed pierced ears as the gateway to a life of debauchary so this needed careful planning.

I saved frantically and hid my stash as my mother was in the habit of taking my money.
The next step was to wait until my mother had her annual trip abroad with her friend.

I stayed with my cousins who had a live of bliss compared to mine, the appointment was booked and my excitement was off the scale.
I awoke that morning thinking that my life would never be the same again.

I headed off after lying to my guardians and convincing them my mother had permitted it, the deed was done, I walked back feeling 10 foot tall and saw the world through the eyes of modern girl with holes in her ears.

My joy was short lived as I b@@@@@@d it all up by putting cheap market stall earrings in before I should have done, I had two scabby ears, my mother found out and punished me for an eternity.

I think the cost was about £4 minus the cheap market stall earrings and the copious amounts of TCP I was getting through.

I should have bought the Brutus jeans..

Calendargirl Tue 06-Apr-21 10:05:38

We didn’t get pocket money. Any money we were given for birthdays or Christmas was put straightaway into our Trustee Savings Bank account.

It was always viewed as important to have ‘savings’.

When I had a Saturday job in a greengrocer’s shop, I still saved some, I’m sure, but also bought clothes and shoes.

We were definitely brought up with the view that you didn’t fritter money away.

timetogo2016 Tue 06-Apr-21 10:07:35

I saved my pocket money to send to my brother who was in boarding school.
That was 50 plus years ago,and he would always tell people what i did up to the day he died.

tanith Tue 06-Apr-21 10:17:50

I wasn't ever given pocket money there were 5 of us so I guess there was never enough to go round. I was occasionally given sixpence for sweets but I don’t remember saving for anything till I went to work at 15 then it was for a skiing trip with another girl from work.

Redhead56 Tue 06-Apr-21 10:18:51

There was no such thing as saving when I was growing up. When my dad got paid we got a treat a penny or an Arrow toffee bar or something like that. If we wanted money we went potato picking when in season at a nearby farm. If we went to our grans house and got a threepenny bit. Our mum took it off us especially hard times when dads factory was on strike. The 1960s were not glorious to us as children they were inpoverished times. The best thing about those days were where we lived out playing all day.

Beswitched Tue 06-Apr-21 10:19:11

I would save my money for Enid Blyton books. I was absolutely addicted.

Callistemon Tue 06-Apr-21 10:25:49

I kept saving for a pony but I never saved enough.
Goodness knows where I would have kept this pony - in the back garden with Dad's shed for a stable.

Does anyone remember taking money into school and we would get a Post Office savings stamp to put in a book then they were paid into a PO savings account?

Charleygirl5 Tue 06-Apr-21 10:28:02

I was made to save but I also bought Enid Blyton books. I learned to read from an early age.

When I was around 15 I had a holiday job for 4 weeks paying me £2 week which went towards clothes. I remember my mother saying she was not taking any for housekeeping.

Redhead56 Tue 06-Apr-21 10:32:05

I got PO saving stamps when I got a Saturday job

Blondiescot Tue 06-Apr-21 11:27:05

I also saved for a pony - every xmas and every birthday, I would look out my bedroom window, convinced that one day, that pony would be there, but it never happened.

tiredoldwoman Tue 06-Apr-21 11:30:22

A Sindy doll . My daughter found her and gave her to her own wee daughter who scalped her and scribbled on her face - poor old Sindy , she was safe and happy in her suitcase !

grandmajet Tue 06-Apr-21 11:31:11

From when I was small my parents put any money I was given into a post office savings account. I had about £40 by the time I was 10. Then we moved from Croydon to just outside Plymouth. I made friends with another pony- mad girl and we hatched a plan. There was a building site near us and a couple had bought the patch behind their house to avoid it being built on. We approached them and they said we could have it for grazing, for free! We then told our parents. I had money for my half, we had a big shed in the garden for a stable. Guess what? They agreed! We had a pony, a bike and many, many hours of pleasure exploring the lanes and countryside. I know how lucky I was.

Shinamae Tue 06-Apr-21 11:34:20

Callistemon

I kept saving for a pony but I never saved enough.
Goodness knows where I would have kept this pony - in the back garden with Dad's shed for a stable.

Does anyone remember taking money into school and we would get a Post Office savings stamp to put in a book then they were paid into a PO savings account?

If it’s the same one I’m thinking of the blue one had Prince Charles on and the green one had Princess Anne on, but I can’t remember the amounts they were for....

cornergran Tue 06-Apr-21 11:37:13

The very little pocket money I received was part saved with the rest used to buy books. As a teenager, still at school, I earned some money on a Saturday, a third went into my saving account, a third was contributed to the household and as much as I could from the remaining third was saved until I had enough for a coat I coveted which was far too expensive for my parent's budget. They contributed some I paid the rest. That coat was truly valued.

Pantglas2 Tue 06-Apr-21 11:42:07

I saved for nothing! I always have and still do - the thought of having nothing saved would make me ill now and as a very young child, I always had a couple of pennies hidden away!

My parents gave us (4) sixpence each to go on a trip and I alone came home with a penny leftover whereas my brothers would have spent theirs before getting on the coach!

I have one friend who doesn’t have a bean saved although she’s always earned good money - it doesn’t bother her but I worry on her behalf (how daft am I?)

Grannynannywanny Tue 06-Apr-21 11:44:36

I wasn’t given regular pocket money as such. The occasional 3d or sixpence that came my way went straight into my piggy bank and saved to spend during our annual summer holiday to visit my maternal grandparents in Ireland.

The nearest farm to my grandparents had a tiny shop in a porch on the gable end of their house. I spent most of my money there on penny lucky bags.

silverlining48 Tue 06-Apr-21 11:49:59

Used to get 6 old pence, couldn’t do much with that in those days so was working on Saturdays from 12 or 13 in cafes or shops. Saved up fir a second hand dansette record player before leaving school at 15. Have always saved and am glad I did because the little pension I get wouldn’t cover bills now .

Grandma70s Tue 06-Apr-21 11:52:25

I did put money in the Post Office, but I don’t remember saving for anything in particular. I had a penny for each year of my life - thus I got a shilling a week when I was twelve. I spent it on books and sweets. When sweets were still rationed I bought Horlicks tablets, which I think didn’t count as sweets, so weren’t rationed. When sweet rationing ended when I was about 13, I was off to Mr Mattingley’s like a shot, buying all the liquorice comfits and mint imperials I could afford. ( I have very good teeth still, by the way.)

Puzzler61 Tue 06-Apr-21 11:53:01

A pony.
I was never going to achieve it with a shilling a week but it didn’t put me off.
My sister let a woman from a traveller family pierce her ears (DS was aged 16 and working). My mum was furious.

EllanVannin Tue 06-Apr-21 11:55:01

I got a fortune grin a shilling a week. Sixpence of that had to go into a savings book at the post office. This was in 1950 when I was ten. Brother had to do the same when he was 10 also.
At 12, I did pea-picking and fruit-picking at the local farm and got 1/6, so coupled with pocket money I had to put more in the savings as I was getting 2/6 a week which was really a lot in the 50's.

I can't for the life of me remember what happened to that savings book as it wouldn't be valid now. It would have been in the house after parents died and it was my brother who'd gone through all the paperwork etc. Before decimalisation too.

bonfirebirthday Tue 06-Apr-21 11:56:03

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

silverlining48 Tue 06-Apr-21 11:56:18

I always knew I was short changed puzzler and grandma70s. You was proper spoiled! smile

EllanVannin Tue 06-Apr-21 11:56:24

Story of my life---working for nothing ! grin Muggins.

greenlady102 Tue 06-Apr-21 12:00:38

mainly for books and to spend at the seaside on holidays but once....for a penknife! My mum didn't want me to have one so she said I had to save up for it myself and could buy one on our holiday to Littlehampton where there was a tobacco and pipe shop that also sold loads of knives... I pestered Dad to take me and Mum was fairly cross when she found out because she thought I would have forgotten or spent the money on something else....all Dad said is "you should have seen the one she wanted to buy" smile

Kate1949 Tue 06-Apr-21 12:09:46

We had a shop on the corner of our street, a sort of haberdashery type shop. She had a 'club'. She would give you a card and you could pay her a penny or whatever when you wanted to. She would mark it on your card. We would save to buy our mum something for Mother's Day, usually an ornament which, looking back, were usually awful!