i started paying board at 14, while in Year 9, going to school fulltime and part time jobs. I was told, my board money would be put towards my wedding reception one day. At birthdays and xmas time, my relatives gave me things for my glorybox, like a heavy crystal punch bowl from my nana (prolly a gift she got given and never used, she already had one). Nothing practical, the stuff that is not essential to a home, what i call "the fat", and now i am much older, realise, requires a big family home, the lifestyle to afford being able to entertain people, the room to store it, etc etc. So many years ago, i gave the punchbowl away to people with their own big house, who had enough money to invite people over for a dinner party, where a punchbowl actually got used, and was in proportion with the house.

When i was kicked out of home at 17, people i knew, especially parents of my friends, gave me their old stuff, that they had upgraded (their old vac etc, crockery) and that was much more useful. Opshops were great to help me furnish a small bedsit. It was a big stress at the time, having to come up with all the stuff AT ONCE. Thinking, i had been wasting money on DOLLY and CLEO when i should have been eyeing the catalogues, for when sheets are on sale. Later on, living in sharehouses, i never had to have ALL the stuff, each person would contribute to the household, we just each had to have the bedroom stuff.

I actually think, the best gift my mother could have given me, rather than a box of household useful goods, would have been
- the knowledge of how to cook and prepare basic food,
- the knowledge of how to budget, price compare, look for bargains, about Consumer Affairs
- some self esteem from being loved
those things would have been a good way to start off adult life, you can't buy those things.


i have no idea, if i will be in a position to help my own child out this way, but i would be much more practical about it, that my relatives were for me.

And mum spent all the board i paid (from 14 - 17yrs) on a brand new sewing machine and other sewing sundries, for herself.