Reading stuff like this makes me happy to have grown up poor.
Dad came to Canada first. Literally had to clean out everything and hock their stuff to afford the plane tickets and the piggybank to get rolling. I think it was $2000 in his pocket. My mom and I were remaining in China at the time. She sold my stroller (I was 2) for food money.
Obviously things are considerably better now but I do remember this feeling growing up of always being the poor kid. Some things stick.
I do put a significant effort, IMHO, into underspending my wealth and income. I'm afraid of ever losing the habit and the mindset....wealth is fleeting. It can all disappear in an instant.
I recall some years ago a thread where we ended up discussing spousal loans. I mentioned that I was making a $100k or 150k loan to my wife to take advantage of the tax differential. Someone asked me why, if I had "so much" cash floating around, was I driving a TL at the time? Well here is the context to the answer 
PS: 150k isn't 
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Well said.
I didn't grow up poor, quite the opposite honestly, but my dad was one to live well below his means. He was a high-level exec at one of the big oil companies, yet commuted in the same car (an 84 Camaro) he bought new for 21 years (84-05), and a base model V6 at that with crank windows and no A/C.....His peers all drove brand new German stuff, and teased him about the Camaro all the time. He didn't give a crap, just kept driving it and didn't stop until I needed a car; it became mine and he started driving the 95 STS (10 years old at the time) that my mom had (which is still his primary car today).
At home we had what we needed to live comfortably, my mom stayed home, but never anything in excess. Was his scrounging way more than necessary, probably. But he retired way early, enjoys his 10-15-ish vintage cars and travels with my mom - all without ever needing to worry about money....A great example of how living below your means can pay off later in life.
As far as help; his help was less about giving my brother and I money (or paying for stuff), rather he would help us make the money we needed/wanted. Want to make money? He'd help us buy a an old car, show us how to fix it, and then flip it. Awesome memories, and a skill that still serves me well today.
I try to live with the same values, although sometimes I worry I've gotten a bit soft. Between my wife and I we make great money, but knowing that we're planning for kids, and that she doesn't want to keep working forever, we penny pinch to sock away money for when she stops working and our combined income is lower. It's tough when most of the guys I work with are in brand new cars and fancy houses, or taking exotic vacations....But I am trying to stay the course.
