7/24/12

[nittygrittyjody]

Did you have a summer job as a kid? Or did you just play all the time? Or were you like me and you worked as often as you could in between play all year round?

I did lots and lots of babysitting and saved most of the cash I made. I washed dishes and worked my way up to waitressing {at Baker's Square restaurant....Mmmm! Pie, pie, PIES!} an saved lots of money to help pay for college that way. From there I worked at several different restaurants. I even met my husband when we worked at The Minnesota Steakhouse {later the TimberLodge Steakhouse} and I have grown fond of food from my various jobs. I grew fond of my husband too.

SO how about you? What did you do growing up? And did you save or spend your $$?

[StephanieEloise]

I came from a family where if you wanted a car, you'd better save up some cash to pay for it. I got an early lesson on how to spend and save money, and I owe my current good spending habits to parents who made me appreciate a dollar.

I've worked year-round since I was 14. My first job was at a daycare center as an assistant, and I was there until the end of high school. I worked all through college, 20+ hours a week, and managed to keep a 3.5 GPA

I'm somewhere in the middle ground of spender and saver. I love having money in the bank, but I won't deny myself a treat here and there

[Kelly in Canada]

i started my first retail job when i was fourteen but before that i babysat and worked picking strawberries, beans, raspberries, blueberries, whatever. i always loved to spend so i always had to earn as well.

[AnnaB]

I was working in the summers... to begin with at my mother's café, then at a restaurant at the top of a mountain , then at a home for old people, and then putting cell phones together...

Talking about baby sitting... I had no experience what so ever with kids, when I was talked into baby sitting a kid that I hardly knew. I can't remember how old I was, but I must have been 12...? 13...? I didn't know anything about kids. I can't believe the parents wanted me to baby sit. I don't remember much, but I do remember that the kid got to eat a lot more cheeze doodles than appropriate, because otherwise she was screaming. I had no idea how to handle a screaming kid. It was horrible and I just wanted the evening to be over. That's about all the experience I had with smaller kids before Linus was born.

[nittygrittyjody]

I like these snippets from your lives. Thanks for sharing!

Ha..I had to laugh at 'too many cheese doodles'. I wish I could do that as a mom more often!

I think jobs are good for kids. Especially when I see the rising prices of thing they want as they grow up. Not to mention the outlandish cost of college educations these days. Sometimes I almost wish we lived in that time where you swapped chickens for dental check-ups and stuff. Of course then I would have to be up early to feed the chickens.

[Sherry C]

Does working on my tan & reading non-stop count as a job? lol i did babysit on occasion, but that's it.

[DeniseM]

Although my father had a very lucrative consulting business as an electrical engineer, my sisters and I had to work for spending money and to buy a car. We also were expected to pay for college which we all did. My parents bought us clothes and we always traveled but anything extra we had to buy ourselves. I started working at 13 as a babysitter. I worked for a family that had three girls and watched them after school every day and in the summers. Then when I was sixteen I got a laborers job for a mason mixing cement and doing manual labor. I also started working in a pizza restaurant and realized how profitable waitressing could be. that's what paid for college and then life in general for many years.

I never thought twice about working and I am so grateful to my parents for raising me that way. I started out as a saver, then had some spending years and now am back to being a saver.

My boys are 14 and 15 and both work doing odd jobs and helping me with my cleaning business. If they want spending money they have to earn it.

[Jennifer_Davis]

I started babysitting when I was young and had a regular babysitting job on the weekends for a little boy that was a handful! I also worked at a local restaurant, first as a dishwasher then I moved up to food prep and then I was out front bussing and waiting tables eventually when in high school. I've always worked and feel it's important.

[dianaj1012]

I baby sat for my cousin and my brothers, so I never got paid. But when I could work, I got a job at Wendy's until my brother started working there and drove me crazy. LOL! Then I quit and got a job at Dunham's, which is a sporting goods store. I sold roller blades and worked in the shoes section. Pretty sure I saved my money for college. I remember my Dad helping me start the bank account and being afraid to take money out of it.

[helpmeronda]

I too did lots of babysitting jobs here and there. And then when i was in 9th grade (age 14- 15) i actually took care of a special needs young woman (she was 24). I would meet her off her bus, get her snacks, talk with her, and just watch over her until her parents got home. I really loved that job and it always has a special place in my heart. Later on i worked at Kmart. I really did work the blue light and i was even the icee bear. It was a small costume so they needed me, the shorty, to wear it. it was a lot of fun!

[Funky Fairy]

Growing up in Germany it was really strict and you couldn't work until you were 18.
Unlike in England where you can do a paper round or a little job helping somewhere at a much younger age for a small wage.

So I used to babysit lots.
I babysat for lots of the US and Canadian ice hockey players.
Lots of them lived on the same estate as us and my parents were friends with lots of them.
We also had an Australian family opposite us and then I worked for some English families in Dusseldorf who worked at the British Consulate.

And they all paid very well

[kimBinAK]

In grade school, I had a Kool-aid stand and a comic book stand - didn't bring in the "big bucks," but it was a fun enterprise for an eight year old kid

In high school, I babysat for a family down the street from us. They were older children - six and eight years - so were fairly easy to take care of. I earned enough to buy some of my own clothes, makeup, records/cassettes, etc.

My first "real" job was at the age of 15 when I went to work for one of our local theatres. I was a ticket-taker and usher and my pay was $1.85 per hour, which was the minimum wage back then (1973). After I'd been there a couple months, I was promoted to concession worker and I think my pay jumped to more than $2.00 - plus, we could take home all the unsold popcorn we wanted

-- kimB

[crystalyocum]

Does working on my tan & reading non-stop count as a job? lol i did babysit on occasion, but that's it.

This made me smile because I was feeling a bit "spoiled" in the midst of everyone working and buying their own cars. LOL

I was an only child. Probably enough said.