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Home › Money

Liz Smith | 11/06/2009 12:00 am

Liz Smith's Most Popular Purchase

By Liz Smith RSS
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In response to: Dining room table? Fur coat? A new house? What was your first 'adult' purchase?
Liz Smith

It was in the ’50s. I was living on the Upper West Side with a number of young ladies who were in the same boat with me economically. We were very broke, working in menial jobs and unable to afford an apartment where we might live alone. Generally, I’d say we got on each other’s nerves.

I stopped putting aside $2.50 from my ridiculous small salary, which I was using to go to the theater at least twice a month. I saved this $2.50 for a while and bought an electric fan because we had no air-conditioning. I was very popular for a while. Everybody wanted to sit near me.  

Read more about: Lifestyle, Personal Finances, Shopping, Spending

8 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Amy Stewart Hale

I know that place. Completely can relate…and we work hard for what we are, and what we do…Don’t we Ms. Smith? …those are the memories that keep us grounded and humble.

Amy, PennDragon Studios

PennDragonStudios.com

By Amy Stewart Hale on 11/06/2009 7:52 am
holly shawn

Liz, are you still in touch with these young ladies?

I worked several jobs while in college and took out student loans. I pulled a naughty and threw the student loans into a mutual fund. By the time I completed my M.S., enough interest was made from the fund for a down payment on my first condo.

By holly shawn on 11/06/2009 11:57 am
Liz Smith
Dear  Holly ...  I am happy to say no; I don't even remember their names.  If this sounds awful, remember I still have friends in Fort Worth, Texas I went to Kindergarten with. I have my college room-mates and I am in touch with them. But New Yorkin those days was just struggling to survive. I hated living that way & I soon imported my brother who was a much more sat-isfying kind of room mate. Ah, those were the days. Lunch at Å La Ïourchette on 46 St. cost $1.25. Liz Smith  
By Liz Smith on 11/06/2009 3:29 pm
Barbara Cronin
Something about those days that seems to be so unforgettable despite the lack of funds and the sometimes crowded circumstances.  I remember my first purchase was a VW Beetle (a little used) and with a note of $64.00 a month .. and I drove that thing over the 59th Street Bridge every day into Manhattan ..onto Second Ave.  all to avoid the train or cabs.. I felt so liberated.. wonderful for a girl from Queens in 1960.
By Barbara Cronin on 11/06/2009 12:44 pm
Mary E. Sayler
My first adult purchase was a Renault Dauphne in 1963.  It cost me $1,900 brand new.  My first step towards freedom.  The next step came months later when Mom let me move out of the house because I had found a roommate.
By Mary E. Sayler on 11/06/2009 2:38 pm
Carolyn K

Having seen what my older sister went through with her roommates, I made sure never to have any. It meant living in Brooklyn initially, but eventually I made it to Manhatten. It was only a studio apt but it was all mine.

Carolyn Kraut

By Carolyn K on 11/07/2009 7:52 am