9 things lower middle class boomers sacrificed without a word so their kids could have a middle class childhood, and their kids have no idea it cost them everything - Silicon Canals

"Growing up outside Manchester, I never questioned why we ate beans on toast three nights a week while my mates talked about their holiday plans to Spain. It wasn't until years later, sitting in my father's empty workshop after he passed, that I found a stack of yellowed bank statements from the 1980s. Each one showed the same pattern: money in, money straight out to mortgage, school uniforms, and that secondhand Ford Escort that got us everywhere. The savings column? Always zero."

"Remember those family trips to the seaside? The ones where you stayed in that slightly dodgy caravan park and ate fish and chips every night? Those weren't holidays for your parents. They were the absolute cheapest way to give you memories while avoiding the embarrassment of being the only kid in class who didn't go anywhere during summer break. My father worked 50 weeks a year at the factory."

Yellowed bank statements revealed a pattern of incomes immediately consumed by mortgage, school uniforms, and a secondhand car, with no savings. Parents worked long hours and limited time off, using the cheapest options for family holidays and prioritizing children's needs over personal desires. The travel industry expansion made foreign holidays visible but often unreachable for families who instead chose low-cost seaside breaks. Many parents drove ageing cars until they failed and consistently placed children's welfare and future prospects above their own financial comfort, quietly enduring hardship to secure a path to the middle class for their children.

Read at Silicon Canals