I grew up on a council estate – we had to put £1 in the TV to watch it & we’d break into the neighbours’ gardens to play
A WOMAN who lived on a council house as a kid has revealed everything that went on in the estate.
The mum-of-three who goes by @realmumsclub on social media shared some of the fond and funny memories of her childhood.
In the clip, she said: “Things that happened growing up on a council estate when I was little.”
“No shade to council estates, though. Absolutely proud of where I’ve come from,” she added.
The first thing she recalled was the provident loan company coming over on a week night to collect money.
She revealed that her mum regularly ordered the family to hide when he approached so she could get away with not paying them for that week.
However, when her mum did have the money to pay she revealed the man collecting the loan money would give the kids a cherry flavoured lollipop.
The mum added that it was common practice to borrow milk and sugar from your neighbours if you ran out instead of heading to the shops.
But as everyone was in the same boat, neighbours would be super generous giving them enough to last a few days.
Not only that, but neighbours would take it in turns to sit outside their front gardens and watch all of kids from the estate play and make sure they were safe.
The kids would also end up in each others gardens without asking as well.
She explained: “You just go wandering to your neighbour’s house and you can play in their garden all the time.
“Didn’t have to ask. So I’d come home from playing out sometimes and there’d be people in my garden playing.”
she also recalled the TV they had which they used to put £1 in to be able to watch it.
She said: “And then at the end of the week or the month, I don’t know how often it was, a man would come and empty out your telly of all the pound coins and give you some back. I presume that we rented the TV.”
The clip posted to the mum’s TikTok account @realmumsclub was filled with comments from others reminiscing about living in a council house.
One person wrote: “Ours was £1 for 6 hours but our tele was literally on 24/7 as my dad watched it all night and we watched it in the day.”
Another commented: “My nan had a 50p TV… when family visited would put 50p in the meter to top it up for them lol.”
“The leccy (electric) key would run out of credit so we’d have a “power cut” til the next day when mother got paid,” penned a third.
Lily Dee’s top tips on what not to do on a council estate
The council estate queen shared what not to do if you live on one
- Don’t leave your door open/unlocked or the rest of the estate will be in your kitchen nicking your tea bags sugar and toilet roll.
- Don’t buy food for the kids but send them round to the neighbours to get fed.
- To save money, share the bath water .
- Don’t borrow money from anyone becuase they will want double back
- Don’t tell anyone you have a cash in hand job and claiming UC coz someone will grass up to the job centre .
Meanwhile a fourth said: “My best friend had a pound coin TV, I didn’t and I thought it was so much cooler to put the money in lol.”
“We had a tv that you put a 50 pence piece in it. Also our gas & electric was on a meter, but that was a £1 coin. Happy times,” claimed a fifth.
Someone else added: “I knew someone with a slot television and they used to open it with the front door key and take the money back. They had to make sure there was enough in it for the rental fee when the man emptied it.”
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