How I Spent My Allowance

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ninj

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@Mendalla and I started a discussion on another thread about buying 45 rpm records back in the day, and it sparked a memory of getting a dollar a week to go nuts with. I usually ended up at Woolworths and always found something I wanted. Once, my best friend and I decided it would be a fine luxury to blow the works (she had her own dollar) and get a hot roast beef sandwich at a restaurant. It was worth it. Later, a dollar would buy a '45 at the record store, so that's what my allowance went for (the first being the Beatles). A dollar was not much even then, but I was a lazy, unenterprising thing and passed up many chances to earn more... Forget the raspberry picking.
Saving was out of the question!

I acknowledge that I was lucky.

So if you were lucky enough to have spending money growing up....

What did you spend it on?

If you didn't get an allowance, how did you improvise your wants?

And to take it further, should you choose; what would you spend it on now, allowing for inflation of course?
 
Books. I was a bookworm long before I ever set foot in a library school. During my teens and twenties, Kitchener was blessed with a raft of good used books shops and they got visited regularly, along with some of the first run bookstores.

Starting from age 13 or so, roleplaying games and accessories. I am actually following the guy who fed that habit for several years as the owner of Kitchener's only game shop for a time (he closed it years ago and makes his living writing blogs and book reviews about fantasy, s-f, and gaming).

And, of course, music. Good old vinyl and cassettes. Didn't really start buying CDs until adulthood.
 
Hmmm...depended. My Mom hated to iron, so I could make a fair buck off her. I charged $2 a laundry day. She did it all on Monday, there was a fair bit of it (probably a laundry basket full), though, and worth doing some of it when still damp, etc.: Dad's work shirts, handkerchiefs (if I was pissed off at him, I'd accidentally starch them), pillow cases, although not the sheets, tea towels, and some clothing). I was fast, but it was probably a couple of hours with a steam iron, in the basement and required judicious use of sprayed water or starch as well, for some things, like shirts. And I think I got a quarter a week allowance. This was never taken away for non-performance of chores because, non-performance of chores was not allowed to happen. I realize now that my Dad had spent 6 years in the army in WW2 and ran the crew (wife, kiddies, different rules, both needing 'suggestions') a bit like it.

So, from a fairly young age, I had at least $2.25 to work with. But this was also my money for personal Christmas gifts for Mom and sisters, and maybe a little something for birthdays. Also, my parents dressed me, but if I wanted something different, or in fashion, it was my dime. I did spend some money on 45 records, because we always had a nice turntable/tuner/speaker system (both loved classical music, my Mom loved opera, and my Dad was a folk/roots music fan) - my early tastes ran to a wyrd mixture of Cat Stevens, Donny Osmond and the Who.

At 13, I got my first part-time job. Weekends as a chambermaid/laundress in a motel managed by my best friend's mother. Did that every weekend until I was old enough to work in a restaurant kitchen, then once I was 16 (bondable), in a grocery store. I have rarely not worked...
 
And I almost never bought books. I have one of the oldest Barrie Public Library cards on record (as in the 7th person to acquire a new card when the system went electronic). As a child, we went to the library every Saturday morning. Both adults, all three kids usually. And my Mom's best friend was a bibliophile, who gave books for every occasion, and her daughter, my Godmother, and family friend was a librarian. So we got the books we NEEDED to get.
 
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Books. I was a bookworm long before I ever set foot in a library school. During my teens and twenties, Kitchener was blessed with a raft of good used books shops and they got visited regularly, along with some of the first run bookstores.

Starting from age 13 or so, roleplaying games and accessories. I am actually following the guy who fed that habit for several years as the owner of Kitchener's only game shop for a time (he closed it years ago and makes his living writing blogs and book reviews about fantasy, s-f, and gaming).

And, of course, music. Good old vinyl and cassettes. Didn't really start buying CDs until adulthood.
I read mostly scifi and fantasy (with a good bit of trash thrown in) at that age. I looked for a job once at Imperiums to Order in Cambridge. I just popped in with a resume in case they needed admin support, but they didn't. I did frequent the comic book store in Kitchener. At the time, I was an aspiring cartoon artist, and did an absurd, mini graphic novel about my adventures on the road to bc. Loved it.
 
And I almost never bought books. I have one of the oldest Barrie Public Library cards on record (as in the 7th person to acquire a new card when the system went electronic). As a child, we went to the library every Saturday morning. Both adults, all three kids usually. And my Mom's best friend was a bibliophile, who gave books for every occasion, and her daughter, my Godmother, and family friend was a librarian. So we got the books we NEEDED to get.
Same here. Dad brought me there to get my library card on a Saturday morning. It was one of the creaky-floored old Carnegie buildings.
 
Ours was a beautiful Carnegie building, with a modern "wing" for the children's section. It's now Barrie's public art gallery, and the "children's wing" is the little cafe and framing studio attached. It was replaced by a modern building, horribly inaccessible to the elderly and disabled (dear goddes, Dad sent in some letters to the editor over it), in what is actually a better location. I'm not there physically very much (don't often need to borrow a paper copy of a book), but still have 2-8 books checked out electronically at once. What I love about e-reading: no more library fines!!!!! I was the Queen of Library Fines, often negotiating a 50% fine reduction with staff who just laughed at me, so that I could get below $10 and be "in good status" again.
 
Allowance happened on and off. Sometimes my parents just gave us money to do things with friends. Ie. If going to the beach, here's some money for ice cream, here's money to see a movie & buy popcorn, etc.
I was a saver and always had money at home and in my bank account (I got an account grade 2-ish, may have been the summer before or after I know the grade as it was the first year we were in the house my parents currently have). Birthday & Christmas money was where some of it came from.

Allowance money was often spent on the 5 and 25 candies (is that still standard?) & slurpees. The gymnastic club had their own concession, with dance there was a convenience store in the same strip mall at every location I was at, and would bike to get it with friends, or walks with grandparents when visiting them (there was always extra money from them too). In jr. high it was $2 pizza, drumstick brand ice cream cones and candy from the vending machines. The business option students also would open a 'business' for a week, so there were times where texas donuts and some other treats could be bought at lunchtime.
 
Our libraries here are just reopening. No loitering though. I guess you need to know what you want going in. I took out 2 dvds before lockdown and they got stolen along with my backpack. I have to explain that, but there's nothing can be done.
 
Allowance happened on and off. Sometimes my parents just gave us money to do things with friends. Ie. If going to the beach, here's some money for ice cream, here's money to see a movie & buy popcorn, etc.
I was a saver and always had money at home and in my bank account (I got an account grade 2-ish, may have been the summer before or after I know the grade as it was the first year we were in the house my parents currently have). Birthday & Christmas money was where some of it came from.

Allowance money was often spent on the 5 and 25 candies (is that still standard?) & slurpees. The gymnastic club had their own concession, with dance there was a convenience store in the same strip mall at every location I was at, and would bike to get it with friends, or walks with grandparents when visiting them (there was always extra money from them too). In jr. high it was $2 pizza, drumstick brand ice cream cones and candy from the vending machines. The business option students also would open a 'business' for a week, so there were times where texas donuts and some other treats could be bought at lunchtime.
Those Drumsticks were a favourite of mine as well as Dreamsicles.
 
The first allowance I ever got was a quarter a week. But that was back when a chocolate bar was a nickel. so it was a lot more then than it seems now. I did have to save up for 45 RPM's; forget exactly what they cost at the time but it was less than a dollar. Most LP's then were 4.98, plus tax ($5.28 all told, back then, back there).
 
Allowance? nope, never had one.......I collected pop bottles for money since I was 7 ( 2 cents for the small bottles and 5 cents for the large) and then spent most of it on penny candy, white cream soda or chocolate soldier). ...until I got a real job when I got older.
 
The first allowance I ever got was a quarter a week. But that was back when a chocolate bar was a nickel. so it was a lot more then than it seems now. I did have to save up for 45 RPM's; forget exactly what they cost at the time but it was less than a dollar. Most LP's then were 4.98, plus tax ($5.28 all told, back then, back there).

Same gen, so you can imagine how well my $2 per week ironing money added to my purchasing power. Suspect she took it from the "housekeeping money".
 
Penny candy. If you got a dime, or heaven forbid and quarter (don't spend it all on candy!), you could get quite a mix.
 
And driving the owner crazy as you point at each candy you want him to put in a paper bag......I'll have that one, and that one, and that one......LOL
Did you have "blackballs"? Guaranteed to break your teeth or kill you by accidental choking. Took some patience to get through one. The were 5 for a penny.
 
I looked for a job once at Imperiums to Order in Cambridge.

Cambridge? That's the store I'm talking about but it was on Queen St. in Kitchener, across from the comic book store you're talking about (Assuming we mean the same comic book store. I have forgotten the name.). Maybe James moved quarters at some point?? Could we have crossed paths at some point?
 
Oo, or are you think of the company in Cambridge that made gaming minis. RAFM or something like that.
 
When I was a child, my allowance was 50 cents a week.
It was enough to buy a bag of chips in an easy-open foil bag and a can of pop. (And this would be the 70's.)

When I was a teen, it increased to $2 a week, and I often spent it to go to the movies on Friday nights with my friends.
It cost $2 a person in the early 80's. We had one movie theatre, that only showed one feature a week, so we never had
to put any energy into deciding what to see. I remember seeing "The Empire Strikes Back," and "ET", and "Herbie Goes Bananas" for $2 a show.

I continued to get $2 a week even after I started babysitting and catsitting for neighbours.

I think I stopped getting allowance when I was 17, and had my first part-time job in a fastfood restaurant.

As for albums, I did buy them from Radio Shack in my hometown. But I don't remember the price.
I had Sesame Street records that family members gave me when I was little. But my father got tired of hearing me sing "I Love Trash" all the time,
so he bought me Prokoviev's "Peter and the Wolf" album, which I still listen to on a regular basis (but on iTunes now.)

The first record I bought myself was an ABBA. And I never stopped loving ABBA.
In the 80's, my friends would laugh at me for listening to ABBA. They told me to grow up and move on to Michael Jackson and Culture Club.
So I became a "closet" ABBA listener, only playing their albums when I was alone.
But some 20 years later, ABBA became fashionable again, thanks to the musical "Mamma Mia."
So I didn't have to be a closet ABBA fan anymore!
 
Well, I suppose it's entirely possible. I was not a gamer, but was fascinated by the character figures. Imperiums was in an old stone factory building on Water and Concession in Cambridge. Yes...same place in Kitchener. I went there every couple months to check out anything new.
 
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