The speaker looks back at a childhood full of big ambitions and compares it to a present where those hopes have mostly faded. As a kid, they dreamed of having "tons of money," so much that it came by the bowlful. That playful, almost cartoonish image shows how limitless things once felt. Then the tone drops. The goals "decease," and the speaker says their happiness went with them.
What follows is a quiet slide into giving up. The speaker stopped trying, expected their life to "end badly," and feels the years adding up like "tears in the seams," as if their life is slowly coming apart at the edges. The title idea comes back at the end: "99 cent dreams" suggests hopes that are cheap, small, and barely worth anything.
The mood is discouraged and weary, with a plain, honest sadness. The simple rhymes and direct language make it feel like a confession rather than a polished performance.