AMEN!!My business partner thinks I don't need anything because I'm frugal. I have my nice new house BECAUSE I'm frugal and saved for decades to afford it. It wasn't luck. It wasn't high paying jobs. It was work.
I didn't have kids, but I had a period in my life when I was living on soybeans from the food coop, 20 cents a pound, or something like that. I passed out more than once from low blood sugar.One of my most painful memories was from a difficult time in my life; I was employed, but as a single (divorced) mom I struggled to keep a roof over our heads and my son fed, and could barely manage bologna sandwiches for my lunch
My roommate was going to move in with me in September, but I was renting the apartment by myself to "hold it" for us. I spent most of my savings to do it. She changed her mind in August.
When I've written short stories, the female antagonist who always dies at the end is named Lisa, for this woman.