Growing up less-than-wealthy in the Bangor area had its good and bad things.  Usually you weren't alone in growing up without a lot of money but, it definitely sucked to watch other kids have brand new clothes, nice hair cuts and... Dunkaroos!

Nonetheless, us less-wealthy types who that up in and around Bangor have some commonalities of what we grew up thinking was a luxury that others grew up as another thing their family could afford.

I remember first coming across a striking difference in wealth when I made friends with a new girl in school.  This was 1994 and we were in fourth grade.  She had a huge house, cable TV, her mom drove an SUV and they walked around with cordless phones like it was commonplace, which was the future for little ol' Winterport, Maine at the time.  Then, when Christmas time came around, I witnessed for the first (and last) time what a room full of presents could actually look like.  It was magnificent.  It was a shock-and-awe moment that I am still in awe of today.

It wasn't until Freshman year of high school, when my school district combined three towns' high schoolers into one school, that I actually became much more aware of the wealth disparities in my community.

So, us po' Bangor-area kids didn't have a lot growing up but we weren't alone in our suffering.  Here's a list of common items and situations you are familiar with if you grew up poor in the Bangor-area.

You Know You Grew Up Poor In the Bangor If...

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