15 People Shared What Ordinary Things They Considered Luxurious When They Were Kids

Many families have difficult times when they don’t have enough money even for the most necessary things. And kids don’t always notice the difficulties their parents are going through. It’s only when they grow up that they realize that they can finally have many of the things they couldn’t buy when they were children.

We at Bright Side couldn’t just pass by without sharing these honest stories from internet users about the things that seemed incredibly expensive to them as kids.

• A fridge full of food. Never had this as a kid, really poor, would open it to literally find butter and that’s it. When I went around to other kids’ houses I was so amazed by all the snacks in the fridge. I vowed that if I had a family, I would fill the fridge and make life tasty for my kids, and I did. Little wins. © Nixher / Reddit

• Shaving cream and quality razors. Even though we had enough money growing up, my mom insisted on those one-blade things and soap to shave my legs. I was stunned as an adult to find out shaving cream costs like $3.50, I honestly thought it would be like $25. © mydogisincharge / Reddit
• I know that not everyone does this, but buying popcorn at the movies. My parents would get us to make it at home beforehand and sneak it in. © thatwickedlemur / Reddit
• Going on vacations. I’m not certain my dad ever took more than half a day off in the entire time I lived at home. Weekends included. We were really poor though, so I guess he felt like he needed to work that much to get by. I’d hear about people going camping for a couple of weeks and think they were millionaires. © littleredhoodlum / Reddit
• Going to McDonald’s. It was a once-a-year treat for us, if that. I was led to believe that it was too expensive and only something rich people did. I would see my neighbors and friends with happy meal boxes and would be really jealous of them. Their parents worked and mine didn’t so I assumed it was only for people with money. When I got older and got a job, I realized it was cheap food and cheap for a reason, and my parents were just awful with money. © Retrosonic82 / Reddit

• Having a clean house. I know it sounds weird. My parents were intense hoarders. I somehow thought that the cleaner your house was the wealthier you were. © OwnBackground6676 / Reddit
• I had a strange but poignant turning point in my idea of wealth when I was about 6 or 7. We were quite poor, but my grandparents were fairly well off and helped pay for me to go to an expensive private school for K-2. I was surrounded by very wealthy kids who didn’t really know they were wealthy yet. At the time (the early ’80s), Cabbage Patch Kids were all the rage. At the time, my mom made all my clothes, and she would take the scraps and make matching dresses for my doll. This wasn’t a thing the rich kids could get, and my doll clothing quality was far beyond what was sold in stores. Here’s the part that enlightened me... I had been invited to a birthday party at a very rich girl’s house. My mom didn’t have money for a present so she made a few outfits for the Cabbage Patch Kid. I remember the mother of the girl trying to give the gift back to my mom, saying it was “way too much” and my mom being really embarrassed. At that moment, I realized that for these people, time was way more valuable than money... © newhappyrainbow / Reddit
• Buy things spontaneously. When we went shopping, we only ever bought things that were always strictly on our list. No money for anything extra. So if we happened to see a toy or sweet we wanted, we weren’t allowed to get it. That and ordering takeout or eating out. Not unless it was a birthday. © jjellybeann / Reddit
• Having a good sense of style. You don’t have to wear expensive clothes to look good. Almost every piece of clothing I have costs $20 or less, and I look absolutely amazing. © jchanceh9lol / Reddit

• Getting a soda at a restaurant. But I’m still not willing to pay $3 for $0.10 worth of Sprite. © PoorCorrelation / Reddit
• One time we had some people visit us. They had a really nice truck, a trailer, and were talking about getting another jet ski. They talked about the frequent and varied vacations they went on, so I thought they were rich. When my mom said that they made as much as us, I got confused. I thought, “Why don’t we do all that?” My young mind pondered. Later on, when those people declared bankruptcy, it all made sense. Live within your means. Save money for the future. © KannaKamuiFSN / Reddit
• I was born in the ’60s. I remember going to visit my grandmother’s friend and they had scented colored toilet paper in the bathroom. We had one-ply white as we were using a septic system. No sidewalks — I remember thinking that people who lived on paved streets with sidewalks were rich. © karen_rittner54 / Reddit
• Making pancakes at home. We were really poor and got most of our food from donations from the food pantry. I thought that only rich people could afford everything that it takes to make pancakes at home. One time, in grade school, I went to a sleepover and my friend’s mom asked if I wanted pancakes for breakfast. I was shocked that they could afford that. I said something like, “No that’s okay, they’re too expensive and I don’t want to take them from you.” She then had to explain that they’re not expensive to make at all. That’s when I learned just how poor I really was. © lady_farter / Reddit

• A toilet. A flushable one. We just had a compost toilet in the shed, which was great in the summer when you could watch the swallows teach their chicks how to fly, but terrible in the winter. I realized later that we were just poor. © comhghairdheas / Reddit
• New shoes when your feet grew. I can count on one hand how many pairs of “new” (thrifted from the donation bin) shoes I had from age 5 to 16. © Yzma_Kitt / Reddit

When you were a kid, what seemed completely impossible for you to buy?

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