As an upper level Boeing executive my Dad enabled us to afford just about anything, but both my parents were frugal and level headed. They were both raised in abject poverty. My Dad’s dad was a sheriff in a small Texas town, Mom’s folks were immigrants from Holland, dairy farmers.

Growing up we only had one phone line. I remember looking up a friend’s phone number in the phone book. Below her parent’s number was “Children’s line.” Blew my mind!

We only had 1 TV. I didn’t know of anyone who had more than 1. We watched TV as a family, and if we didn’t want to watch we went outside.

My first Girl Scout camping trip Mom wouldn’t get me a sleeping bag. I guess she thought it was more adventurous to have a sleeping roll. It was miserable! I guess I didn’t think to actually make the bed, and tried to use it as a sleeping bag. Spent the whole night, every night, pulling covers back on.
She finally broke down and got some sleeping bags…when she found them at a garage sale!

Those are the top three. I’m pretty sure there are a lot more, but I don’t remember them off the top of my head.