Green Stamps and Two Brand-New Purchases

We never had any new furniture or appliances or cars. I was always ashamed of our old cars. Daddy would pick out and buy a piece of second-hand furniture or some other household item, bring it home, and Mom was stuck with it. She never said a word to criticize him. The few new things we had, Mom got by saving S&H Green Stamps and redeeming them for presents, small appliances and other accessories. She also tore off the box tops from Betty Crocker cake mixes, cereal, etc., and saved them for catalog points. This is how she purchased her silver-plated dinnerware, piece by piece, until she had a service for eight. There were only two things I remember Daddy buying new. The first was his new turquoise Comet automobile. This was his first new car and the first time in his entire life he had ever charged anything. He took out a loan at the John Deere Credit Union. (Actually, Mom and Dad didn’t even have a checking account until all us kids had left home.) The second thing was a new kitchen table with three leaves and ten chairs—one for each of us—that he purchased at Phil Vinar’s Furniture Store.