I am going to sound like the biggest b----, but when I was young I got things like a Barbie doll, but it was the Dollar Store brand. I never got any fancy dress from a store - my mom would make them all - and her sewing skills left somethings to be desired. Now, this sounds fine, but my father was chief engineer of a steel company. There was money - when my dad died ten years ago he left my mom over 1/2 mil. My mother is bipolar and money was her only security so the more she accumulated , the closer to happy she became. Each time she had to spend money the worst she was. I remember driving home from the grocery store and her putting the gas pedal to the floor and yelling she just wanted to drive off a cliff and kill us all. When we were adults my dad said when he would go to work in the morning he would never know if when he came home at night if he would find us alive or not. I was not ALLOWED to go away to college or live outside the house. I worked and had to give 1/2 to my mother to live there, 1/3 to pay for college, and 1/3 to buy my clothes, maintain my car, and spend as I wish(ha, ha!). My mom is still bipolar with passive/aggressive defiance disorder and alsheimers. Yes, my sisters and I care for herand she receives good care. We take her to get her hair done twice a week, her nails done weekly, and out to activities everyday. When she can no longer live with us and needs nursing care whe will go to the nicest facility. Why, because that's the way all people should be treated. My dad felt guilty about our lives, but we reassured him that his staying with her kept us alive - and no judge during our childhood wold grant custody of three little girs to a man. Oh, the money, we've decided it will all be devided among our favorite charities if there is any after she is gone. The money would never bring any of us any happiness.