They did a magnificent job, and if either of them drank, smoked or gambled, we could well have ended up living off handouts from The Smith Family at some point, but as it was, Dad’s Newstart was just enough to pay the bills and Mum’s Family Allowance went into a savings account, which we used for a once-a-year holiday in a caravan park somewhere exotic like Frankston, Toowoomba or Muswellbrook.
To keep us happy at Christmas, the Family Allowance fund also afforded my brother and I one brand-name item of clothing a year. I always chose an item of surfwear with as many tags on the inside as possible so I could cut them off and sew them onto other items of clothing Mum had made. One year I ended up sporting a pair of faux Billabong school shorts all the way to June before one of the other kids at school helpfully pointed out the fact I’d sewed the label on upside down.
Times weren’t always tough though, so it did shock me a little that when our family finances got a little better and we could afford a holiday to Fiji, mum still insisted on making us all matching purple parachute silk tracksuits. She and Dad thought they were really comfortable on the plane, but from a distance we looked as if Prince had gone skydiving and landed haphazardly on the Armenian Special Olympics team.
I phoned mum the other day and asked her why she still insisted on making clothes for us, even after money stopped being such an issue. I also grilled her on her one-brand-named-item-of-clothing-per-year policy.
Me: Hey Mum, do you remember how when we were little, you used to make our clothes? I always thought it was because we were poor, but it kind of dawned on me that we went on a holiday to Fiji once, so we can’t have been that poor all the time. Was it because we were poor, or because you liked making clothes?
Top Comments
I love this psot so much! It made me LOL haha and I dont often say LOL!!
I grew up in a trendy area, and had cool clothes, but even though my parents could afford to buy me nice clothes and things, I wasnt just ever allowed to get stuff! Only when i needed clothes did we go out and shop and my mum for some reason always layby'd! It wasnt a money issue, I think she wanted us to wait it! And we had to wait until birthdays for things!
I like my children to be dressed nicely! The clothes dont need to be name brand things or expensive, I just like them to look cool, so when they need clothes we go and get stuff! My kids are 10months and 5 years tho so the brand name thing isnt really an issue yet! I remeber even at age 4 my brother was obsessed with having brand name clothes! my nan sewed a quicksilver label on target jeans once and he said "nice try nan, these are not the real thing!" He is still super vain and has no money cos he hardly works and thinks everyone should just buy him nice things, but he is a stoner! noone wants to buy a stoner bassike t shirts dude! get a job!
No!
I was in desperate need of a kuta lines jumper & a pair of Oakley's.
I got over it....I'm still a bit cut up about not getting a Barbie camper though. :)