Parents gave me what I needed. They didn't give me what I didn't need. Unfortunately at the time they decided what I did and didn't need. Stuff for school - I needed. A 99 cent Hot Wheels car - I didn't need. Still respect them for that...
You would get into this little boat, head to the oyster reefs that your family owned and use these huge tongs like in the picture to scrape the oysters off of the reef in shallow water. It's been done this way for hundreds of years and in the year 2003, it has changed little. Talk about the world's greatest upper-body workout, especially when you'd be out there all day long. I made great money, but it was hard work. My grandfather did when he was a kid, my dad did as well, but my son will NOT be out there. See those long poles in the picture? Those are the tongs.
From the folks: Allowances (first was .20 a week) Spelling words from an index card (that was a long, long time ago...and still can't spell...well, I guess I never did make much) From everybody else: First job: every summer the US Services would offer jobs for us dependents...that started in the 9th grade... .70-1.25hr. I made $96 that first summer. I remember tearing down deuce and a halfs from Vietnam...and met guys just a couple of years older than me going there. Sold cola and popcorn at high school football games for a local company... .50 hr. Wow...that brought back memories. RR
Delivered papers, mowed lawns, washed cars, and had an allowance. At 15 I tried booking football games, but didn't understand about a point spread, and so people were just betting win or lose. After one week I learned about handicapping games, but I was already discouraged from my first weeks losses and didn't really want to even do this nickle and dime criminal stuff, because the risk was too great considering the small change to be made.
I could ask my parents all day for money, but they would never give it to me.....they made me work for it.
Yeah, I mowed my front yard and my back yard for 5 bucks each until I turned 14 - then my backyard turned into an acre, so I got paid 10 bucks for the backyard. If that wasn't enough, I would get 5 bucks every 6 weeks for making the honor roll. I got a job when I was 16 working at a hardware store that belonged to a friend of my father's.... Gotta love the hookup - it paid for my first car - a $2000 teal/turquoise 1991 Geo Storm.
I've been playing guitar and singing for money since I was fourteen. I used to get fifty pounds a gig when I first started playing in Staines and Bracknell. I should probably go back to doing that...
When I was a kid my brother and I would pick up cans and take them to the recycling station things to get money. We'd put a little sand in every can before we crushed them. heh We made out pretty well that way. Enough to buy baseball cards and candy anyway.
My parents gave me a fixed amount every month. Enough for me. I never really had to pay for anything, except for food in school.
