{"id":429,"date":"2016-06-14T15:38:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T19:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=429"},"modified":"2016-06-14T16:11:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T20:11:27","slug":"buying-on-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=429","title":{"rendered":"BUYING ON TIME"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"IMG_0254\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Mama and Daddy in the yard of the house they finally bought–November 1958<\/h2>\n

My family was poor in my growing up time, but we did not really see ourselves as poor, since we always knew people worse off than us–sometimes much worse off.\u00a0 True, we seldom had anything beyond basic needs.\u00a0 No birthday gifts, and often no Christmas gifts either.\u00a0 Shoes for kids were not in the budget unless it was cold weather.\u00a0 Mama\u2019s kitchen staples were flour, meal, sugar, lard, canned condensed milk, dried beans, potatoes, and margarine.\u00a0 We almost never had crackers, peanut butter, cookies, fruit, or fresh milk.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t store things needing refrigeration, since we had none.\u00a0 But during gardening season, we had all kinds of fresh vegetables that we raised.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing that was good about poor families back then is that they usually had no debts and no big monthly bills.\u00a0 Our rent was usually $20 or less because Daddy simply would not rent anything more expensive.\u00a0 The electric bill, after we began renting houses connected to power,\u00a0 was maybe $4, because all we had using electricity were lights, a radio sometimes, and an iron.\u00a0 Back then, anyone borrowing money was looked down on.\u00a0 About the worst thing you could say about a person was,\u201cHe owes everybody in the country.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t spend money we don\u2019t have,\u201d our folks frequently said when we heard of someone in debt.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

There were exceptions to that rule.\u00a0 If one of us got sick enough for a doctor–and that had to be pretty sick–then the doctor\u2019s bill was charged until the next paycheck.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t go to a doctor until I was sixteen.\u00a0 Daddy didn\u2019t believe in dentists except for pulling permanent teeth that were hurting–baby teeth HE pulled.\u00a0 The second exception was groceries.\u00a0 Daddy insisted on shopping at a mom and pop store where he could \u201cput it on the bill.\u201d\u00a0 He rarely paid the bill in full, so it would gradually climb to levels Mama could not tolerate.\u00a0 At $150 or so she would find a job at one of the mills, if one was to be had, and pay it off herself.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure Daddy sometimes owed for whiskey, but there was fortunately a limit on how much his drinking pals would lend for that, and whiskey dealers didn\u2019t extend credit.\u00a0 Even if they had, Mama refused to pay for whiskey.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the fifties and sixties lots of things began to change.\u00a0 People we knew began to buy houses, instead of renting.\u00a0 People were saying, \u201cHouse payments are less than I was paying for rent, so why keep throwing away money on somebody else\u2019s house?\u201d\u00a0 The same people were buying washing machines, electric stoves, and refrigerators too, and paying for them \u201con time.\u201d Finally, Mama found a house that was affordable and convinced Daddy to apply for a mortgage.\u00a0 Sure enough, the payments were about the same as rent. Then, by buying on time, she began getting, one at a time, the modern conveniences other people were enjoying. I think she got her refrigerator after I left home for college.\u00a0 Then she got Daddy to put in an \u201cindoor toilet\u201d on the back porch.\u00a0 Eventually, she added a \u201cwarm morning\u201d heater, a water heater, a mixer, measuring cups and spoons, and casserole dishes.\u00a0 When I came home from college I was amazed at each visit how things had changed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On one of my holiday visits, Mama was trying to sell Daddy on the notion of a freezer chest.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re on sale at Frakers,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Daddy replied, \u201cDealers got Cadillacs on sale too, but that don\u2019t mean I\u2019m buying.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWith a freezer we could eat out of the garden all year long,\u201d she said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Daddy snorted.\u00a0 \u201cI can buy from the grocery store all year long too.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot as good as garden stuff.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGood enough for me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThink of all the money you could save on groceries,\u201d Mama persisted.\u00a0 \u201cThe freezer would pay for itself.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGood!\u201d said Daddy.\u00a0 \u201cWhen it pays itself off, you let me know, and I\u2019ll borrow a truck and go pick it up.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Daddy was so proud of that comeback that he told it for months every time we had visitors, however, he eventually gave in and he got to enjoy the garden all year long.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Mama and Daddy in the yard of the house they finally bought–November 1958 My family was poor in my growing up time, but we did not really see ourselves as poor, since we always knew people worse off than us–sometimes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}