Ever feel like poor white trash?

[hsm6kids]

We also live in a single wide, hoping to make it a double soon....lol.....I was at a home school group meeting once and over heard one of the mothers complaining that they bought a brand new double wide to put on their acreage so they could live in it while their custom home was being built...She was appalled that anyone might find out they were living in a trailer, I was thinking oooooh double wide, how fancy, can't wait to get me one of those. LOL.

[HRAAB]

 

Wife beater. I just never.

[KidsHappen]

Okay, I have to ask what is apparently a dumb question. What is a "wife-beater"?!? And where did such a term originate - for an item of clothing??? I must be really out of it.

 

It is a white, men's tank top. It is supposed to be worn as a t-shirt under another shirt but rarely is. It is usually the only shirt worn, generally by men that would be considered low class. I have no idea where it originated but I know it has been in use for at least 20 years.

 

ETA: It is the A-shirt described in this wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeveless_shirt

 

Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wifebeater

 

Still looking for origin.

Edited August 8, 2010 by KidsHappen

[Georgiana Daniels]

We also live in a single wide, hoping to make it a double soon....lol.....I was at a home school group meeting once and over heard one of the mothers complaining that they bought a brand new double wide to put on their acreage so they could live in it while their custom home was being built...She was appalled that anyone might find out they were living in a trailer, I was thinking oooooh double wide, how fancy, can't wait to get me one of those. LOL.

 

Yes, I totally understand this! I get the impression some of the moms that we know are appalled that we live in a trailer. In a park. God willing, we will sell before the decade is out and get into a double!!!!

[Greta]

Thank you all for explaining this to me. I guess I could have googled. But somehow it's more fun to ask you ladies!

 

I think I'm going to have to go with the term A-shirt, personally, or maybe just plain old "tank top". Seems less . . . problematic.

 

Hard to imagine where I would be without the things I have learned on this board! :lol:

[jazzyfizzle]

Absolutely.

 

 

Sweetie, you are the Queen of your Doublewide. :cheers2:

 

 

 

I've had a 'possum on my porch too. :D I will look for the photo.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I have a freezer on my front porch, does that count?

 

Me too. Just until the second hand appliance guy picks it up. Not that it really makes any difference to the aesthetic value of my porch.

 

Yes, I often feel like the picture of the stereotypical poor person. Then I read something in Latin and feel better.

[Crimson Wife]

Yes, I often feel like the picture of the stereotypical poor person. Then I read something in Latin and feel better.

 

:lol:

[jazzyfizzle]

Me too.

 

Yes, I often feel like the picture of the stereotypical poor person. Then I read something in Latin and feel better.

 

 

:lol::lol:

 

 

 

Here is my little visitor- he even posed cute in the basket.

 

[Retired]

well I know longer feel like poor white trash. I got over feeling inferior.

Background raised in deep south, small town, that we never left area, so for 18 years I lived in 10 miles radius (dad Vietnam PT SD)

 

Home 1971 double wide by the the time I left home in 1988.

 

I had fell through the bathroom floor (literally) stepped out of tub one night leg went through floor! After that night we covered said hole with a rug from Bill's dollar store.

 

By spring of 1987 we had a hole right in the front door again it was covered up. We my DH came to pick me for the first time. We had previously meet somewhere for our dates but I got the nerve to let him see how I lived.

 

Oh we also had broken down cars all over the yard.

 

We had a couch that had mice living in it so we burned the couch.

 

We went a spell without interior plumbing but the outside hose still worked. So I bath outside.

 

I could go on and on.

 

Well my dad sat in his old recliner, yelled for DH to come in, but didn't' tell him to watch his step. Oh yeah, his leg went through the floor:lol:

 

I am laughing now but I was so embarrassed back then.

 

Well fast forward 23 years. My DH and I are comfortable middle class and our kids have never wanted for anything.

 

Well we decided our son needed some life lessons similar to our upbringing.

 

So instead of a good used car, my DH found a fixer truck for $650 that he has to rebuild himself. My DH has been taking him to salvage yard and everything. (They got in road ready and running this week)

 

My lovely 17yo went to his first salvage yard this summer. My DH was laughing so hard when my kid just stood and looked so shocked and said it looked like a nuclear fall-out.

 

Well to be honest my yard use to look like a nuclear fall-out.

 

I tell you what my parents didn't have a lot but my mom made sure we were at school, she took us to the library all the time, we were taken to church, and they did the best they could.

 

My parents now live in a 1973 single wide, that doesn't look much better than what I grew up in, but they are happy. They want take money from DH and I. My siblings and I have offered to pay for a nicer place for them to live.

 

My parents are happier than any of my more wealthier or more educated friends or acquaintances.

 

My kids see the difference. I just point to my parents when I tell my kid materialism doesn't make somebody happy.

 

 

WOW! Sorry I wrote so much, the label really took be back to my youth.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Cafelattee

[Cricket]

I don't think anyone should be called "trash".

 

Did you know there's a cookbook called White Trash Cooking ? Strange!

 

Yes! I believe my parents even bought it. :lol: My mom loves the white trash tomato sandwich--two pieces of white bread with lots of mayo and slices of tomato in the middle, then eat it while standing over the kitchen sink while the juice runs down your arm. Yum!

[Jean in Newcastle]

Caffelattee, your post was a powerful one. I'm glad that you no longer feel like trash and I'm glad that your parents are so content and happy.

 

I had to laugh at going through the floor, though. I went through our rotting deck a couple of months ago and got my leg stuck. We had to call a neighbor to break me out. . .! I keep starting a deck fund but the money kept getting diverted to more urgent needs.

[Renee in NC]

Caffelattee, your post was a powerful one. I'm glad that you no longer feel like trash and I'm glad that your parents are so content and happy.

 

I had to laugh at going through the floor, though. I went through our rotting deck a couple of months ago and got my leg stuck. We had to call a neighbor to break me out. . .! I keep starting a deck fund but the money kept getting diverted to more urgent needs.

 

Going through the floor is one of my fears right now. I *don't* think it will happen, because the top layer of plywood is still solid. The two layers underneath are bad! When the floors would get soft, my grandfather would just throw down a layer of plywood over top of the old.

[TXMary2]

When I leave the house wearing no makeup or in clothes I have been painting in I feel like I am being looked at that way. Also, when I drive my mom's car that has bumper stickers all over it I feel that way- which is why I try to drive in our car when my mother wants me to go somewhere with her. LOL Also, when ds 6 dresses himself and I let him leave the house that way I feel like that. But, whatever that is life.

[runmiarun]

Every day and I thrive on it. It means I'm surviving and not dead yet. I grew up thinking it was a bad thing but now, I realize so much more.

[Carrie12345]

Well... I have a "real" house. And my real house is sided with T1-11. And my T1-11 is primed on the front, and faded old paint on the back. And the front is growing mushrooms. Is that trashy enough? :lol:

 

We had started to paint when we realized a giant section was severely damaged. It didn't make sense to waste time and money painting something we needed to replace. But now that we've put the money together to fix it, we're hoping to do an addition. It'd be crazy to fix it, paint it, and then mess it up in the building process! So we have mushrooms.

 

I'm just glad you really can't see our house from the road, b/c I'm surrounded by purdy McMansions. :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh, and the grass in the front yard doesn't match. I had decided to tackle landscaping on my own, and never really thought about different grass types. :001_huh:

[Chelle in MO]

My brother has a toilet in his front yard. Does that count?

 

Not only does that count, but I'm pretty sure he gets extra points for it!

 

;)

[Teachin'Mine]

Do you ridicule other people? Do you swear at your children? Do you make racial/ethnic slurs? Do you steal from others every chance you can? Do you disrespect yourself or others by your language and or behaviour? Do you drink and use drugs? Do you care about being well educated whether by self education or formal schooling? If you answered no to all the above and yes to the last you might be impoverished but honey you are not trash. Trash has nothing to do with money or class but in how you treat yourself and others. I know more well to do trash than you can imagine. They are boorish, rude and crass with a vile sense of entitlement that worsens as their pile of worldly goods grows. You might be many things in this world but you are not white trash.

 

:iagree:

 

Also, if you call God your Father and recognize Him as King, then you are a princess. :)

[MommaOfThree]

You are so not alone!

I feel this way sometimes too, most of my clothes right now are big on me & being held up with safety pins (afraid to alter because then I'll just gain the weight back).

 

I just got the kids new socks and that's my splurge for the month ...

[asta]

Yes! I believe my parents even bought it. :lol: My mom loves the white trash tomato sandwich--two pieces of white bread with lots of mayo and slices of tomato in the middle, then eat it while standing over the kitchen sink while the juice runs down your arm. Yum!

 

I grew up eating these.

 

 

a

[Laurie4b]

Absolutely.

 

 

Sweetie, you are the Queen of your Doublewide. :cheers2:

 

 

 

I've had a 'possum on my porch too. :D I will look for the photo.

 

Did you eat it? If you didn't, it doesn't count.

http://www.bertc.com/subfive/recipes/possum.htm

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/628/Baked-Possum84305.shtml

[meet me in paris]

Faygo is a brand of cheap pop. It might just be a Midwest thing. It comes in all sorts of teeth rotting, internal organ staining "flavors." The most popular being Grape, Orange and Red.

 

:lol: I love that "red" is a flavor.

[hana]

Did you eat it? If you didn't, it doesn't count.

 

 

lol

[hsmom3tn]

:lol: I love that "red" is a flavor.

 

:lol::lol::lol:

If I had a drink right now, I would have spit it all over my computer. :lol:

[mrbmom77]

I guess sometimes I don't really notice until we are at the store and then I think, "Oh NO! How could we have left the house like this!" :lol:

 

Me, too. Just Friday we ran to Wally world and saw some friends from church. Then I realize my daughter is in an old, too-big, stained up T-shirt. She's 11 and still can't seem to eat without getting it all over her face - and I don't always remember to check before we go to the store.

 

We live in a single-wide, parked all wonkey-jawed on my grandmother's land, and the yard is usually overgrown. My grandmother makes planters of random things like the old sink I tried to throw out when I remodeled the kids' bath. :tongue_smilie:

 

We're hicks - but they'll be well-educated hicks, dadgumit!

 

Does anyone else have Reba's voice in their head? "But Fancy was-a my name..."

[Entropymama]

Well, then, call it just plain trash?:lol: I knew what she meant. Maybe we should come up with a new label (cause I hate calling anyone "trash").

 

I think I will call myself "economically challenged"!:tongue_smilie:

 

Economically Challenged low-melatonin marginally cultured?

 

:lol:

 

At times. My big splurge lately for the kids have been a 25 cent coke out of the machine at the grocery store. We don't have ice cream trips (or even ice cream at home, for that matter). We are eating lots of Ramen, rice and beans, etc. I do try to remind myself to be grateful for what I have. That my kids get a thrill from very simple gestures. We are having pudding tonight with cool whip and bananas and they can't wait. There have times recently that I think we are happier now with the very simple things than we ever were when DH was making 2x as much.

 

Something that helps is keeping myself up.. I try to put on a little make-up, get some sun every few days and keep my hair fixed. My clothes don't feel as crappy when I make an effort to iron them properly and maybe put on a little jewelry.

 

The same goes for my house. I try to keep it clean, light candles to make it smell cozy and keep it uncluttered. We don't have expensive furniture, but when beds are made and things are straight it looks loads better.

 

Try to take pride in what you have. Don't be so hard on yourself. :grouphug:

 

:iagree: A clean, organized house with food in the fridge and books on the shelves is a rich home. I feel pretty trashy some days but putting on a little make up helps. Oh, and taking a shower. That helps too. :tongue_smilie:

 

ummm,,yes...... I live in an affluent neighborhood where people think it ok to throw our perfectly good stuff.... We call it shopping at curbys....

 

One place, I got a double stroller and two nice single strollers (must have had twins) . Leter, I sold them for $50 (double) and $20 each. :D

 

so yes, I continually feel like white trash....

 

Robin in NJ

 

We live in an affluent neighborhood, too. We got in for cheap rent. It's sometimes strange to hear the neighbors talk about their trips and such. Whole different world.

[Murphy101]

I have a neighbor (fellow homeschooling mom) who ONLY stops by when I'm not wearing a bra. So, typically, I see her coming up the walk and I'm running to the laundry room to put bra on. Yesterday I actually had the girls corralled. Like an idiot I told her, "Wow! I think that this is the first time you have ever come over when I was wearing a bra ALREADY!" :001_huh:

 

I was thinking, "YAY, ME!!" She just laughed.

 

At least I finally got tha fridge off of my front porch.

 

Thank you, Freecycle!

 

:lol: well at least you haven't flashed the books at the neighbor boys selling scout popcorn. Everytime I am awake enough to double check that my shirt is buttoned after breastfeeding a baby to sleep, i have a "yay me!" moment. :D

 

 

Not only does that count, but I'm pretty sure he gets extra points for it!

 

;)

 

 

You know, those old toilets make a really cute planter for geraniums... Or better yet, the center fountain piece for a koi pond!

[*Inna*]

Economically Challenged low-melatonin marginally cultured?

Snort! :lol:

[jazzyfizzle]

LOL No way did we eat him. He was just a little fellow. :lol:

 

He wasn't sure what to make of his picture being taken. :D

[jazzyfizzle]

:lol: well at least you haven't flashed the books at the neighbor boys selling scout popcorn. Everytime I am awake enough to double check that my shirt is buttoned after breastfeeding a baby to sleep, i have a "yay me!" moment. :D

 

 

 

 

 

You know, those old toilets make a really cute planter for geraniums... Or better yet, the center fountain piece for a koi pond!

 

 

Yes! Or for putting on the lot line facing your forsythia hacking neighbors!

[Mynyel]

Woot! I got through all the posts and...

 

 

I SOOO want to live next to all of you!!!

 

We all need to go shopping together... that would be an absolute blast!

 

TY for making me feel better, I won't feel as bad going out in my tank top and flip flops and more :)

[DawnM]

If you live in America, have the opportunity to eat every day, have a car, get to have choices in your life.....you are richer than 90% of the world's population.

 

No, I don't feel poor.

[scubamama]

At my IL's we crank up the song, "Redneck Woman" and sing along with pride.

Hand me downs rock

I can shoot well.

So can my kids - with a BB gun

I enjoy telling So Cal aquaintances that how we "recycled" where I'm from - we shot em up and then recycled

Some family does live in a trailer...and I like it!

We bought a fixer here in a nice area - friends come over to see and then tell me we're crazy to do it ourselves.

I cook from scratch, can and sew.

I miss the country!

[scubamama]

I forgot to add that I once threw out the trash and a possum had crawled into the can...I hit it dead on with the trash bag. It hissed and I screamed...then I got my camera too!

I let it go. It looked so pathetic with potato peels on it's head. It's hard to look imtimidating with veggies as a hat.

[Baseball mom]

Yep I feel that way alot.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Trashy people can wear designer clothes and have fancy degrees hanging on the wall of their fancy McMansions.

 

Chin up, sweetie! :grouphug:

 

Oh yeah I know alot of trashy people that are way better off financially than us. They may have big houses full of nice new furniture and wear designer clothes, drive nice new vehicles and take lots of vacations but their attitude is trashy.

 

We often decorate in "early attic" or "modern poverty".

 

 

Our house is decorated like this. Nothing matches and some of it is really old. But hey we aren't sitting on the floor ;)

 

Faygo is a brand of cheap pop. It might just be a Midwest thing. It comes in all sorts of teeth rotting, internal organ staining "flavors." The most popular being Grape, Orange and Red.

 

Peach is good :tongue_smilie:

 

Yes! I believe my parents even bought it. :lol: My mom loves the white trash tomato sandwich--two pieces of white bread with lots of mayo and slices of tomato in the middle, then eat it while standing over the kitchen sink while the juice runs down your arm. Yum!

 

I love tomato sandwiches :drool5:

[heart'sjoy]

"Lord, teach me to number my blessings aright." quote from an earlier poster

 

I get the "I wish's..." too. My lovely neighbor 80+ has loved on my kids and me even on days when I didn't see so much that was lovable.

[coffeegal]

Yes! I believe my parents even bought it. :lol: My mom loves the white trash tomato sandwich--two pieces of white bread with lots of mayo and slices of tomato in the middle, then eat it while standing over the kitchen sink while the juice runs down your arm. Yum!

 

Tomato sandwiches... made with fresh tomatos picked from the garden out back... a touch of salt...:001_wub: Banana sandwiches are good, too. :D

[unsinkable]

Tomato sandwiches... made with fresh tomatos picked from the garden out back... a touch of salt...:001_wub: Banana sandwiches are good, too. :D

 

My dad said they were so poor, on a good day they could count on a jam sandwich...

 

That's where you take 2 pieces of bread, JAM them together, and eat it.

[mo2]

This isn't disparage against those that may be labeled or think they are labeled :)

 

I was at the grocery store with my kids. The two olders were wearing their karate uniforms still as it was after practice.

My little was barefoot and in a umbrella stroller.

I was wearing a tanktop (wifebeater for lack of a better description I hate that name but to use a common term) with my nursing bra straps peeking out and my hair in a pony tail.

 

We were at check out and ds2 got out of his stroller and was messing around, again he was barefoot, my daughter was trying to heard him while I was checking out.

 

Then to top it all off I paid with food stamps and knew I was going home to my doublewide.:glare:

 

No point to this really but sometimes I just feel like poor white trash....anyone else ever feel this way?

 

 

Yes. That's all, just....yes.

[DarlaS]

 

Does anyone else have Reba's voice in their head? "But Fancy was-a my name..."

 

I heard that the other morning while waiting for my chiropractor appt. I immediately thought of this thread. :D (Technically, I live in a "double wide" too--and the yard needs mowing right now. Do I qualify? :lol:)

[Melinda in VT]

You mean like the time I arrived at a hospital in a foreign country with my 6yo dressed only in shorts (no shoes, no shirt) and four diapers for my 6mo? And we ended up staying there for two days? And I didn't speak the language and didn't have a Spanish/English dictionary? And I had no way to reach my husband--and he didn't know where I was? And I had no car? And no money? And the doctors were very suspicious of all the bruises on my very, very pale 6yo's legs? (He was wearing shorts, we were on vacation, and he'd been tripping over tree roots on our hikes.)

 

Um, no. I've never felt like that. :lol:

 

(And yes, I'm darn sure there are doctors in Costa Rica who are still talking about the crazy American lady. And I totally understand why they would.)

[DarlaS]

I forgot to add that I once threw out the trash and a possum had crawled into the can...I hit it dead on with the trash bag. It hissed and I screamed...then I got my camera too!

I let it go. It looked so pathetic with potato peels on it's head. It's hard to look imtimidating with veggies as a hat.

 

Well, if you didn't clobber it with a baseball bat, you're just not that much of a redneck. :D

[Tree House Academy]

Well...there are times I feel like "trash" but usually it is due to something my kids do in public and perhaps me having to chase them down or scold them in public. We are not even close to "poor" now (thanks to my husband working and God's grace!), but I grew up very poor and I do remember mold on my bathroom shower, the linoleum pulling off the floor, a window air conditioning in the kitchen during the hottest part of the summer (the only air we had in the house), old couches that were ugly as sin, but all we could afford, and so on. We did food stamps when my older son was born. Oddly enough, we had money (from student loans) - more money for housing and such when we were on food stamps than we did when we weren't.

 

Oh, the good ol' days. :(

[Gooblink]

You mean like the time I arrived at a hospital in a foreign country with my 6yo dressed only in shorts (no shoes, no shirt) and four diapers for my 6mo? And we ended up staying there for two days? And I didn't speak the language and didn't have a Spanish/English dictionary? And I had no way to reach my husband--and he didn't know where I was? And I had no car? And no money? And the doctors were very suspicious of all the bruises on my very, very pale 6yo's legs? (He was wearing shorts, we were on vacation, and he'd been tripping over tree roots on our hikes.)

 

Um, no. I've never felt like that. :lol:

 

(And yes, I'm darn sure there are doctors in Costa Rica who are still talking about the crazy American lady. And I totally understand why they would.)

 

Horrors! You're laughing about it now, I'm happy to see. :) But, that sounds like quite a nightmare!