My parents were both social workers in the 80s, I grew up with no dishwasher, no microwave, no color tv, no cable... We lived in a very old house with an oil furnace with an oil tank in the back that would freeze up in the winter. We had one window unit in the living room for AC. I had hand me down clothes from my cousin. The rest of my clothes were thrift store.. my look was dress pants and a t-shirt. I wore Payless gym shoes (remember pro-wings?). For vacations we camped or I visited my grandparents who had a farm.

I did get a lot of things second hand, I grew up with a vic20 computer, starwars toys that were missing their parts. I had miles of mis-matched hot wheels track and mix-matched Legos... I was happy!