20 People Who Grew Up Poor Reveal the Things They Associate With Being Rich

Throughout our lives, and especially in our childhood, many of us dream of things that, for economic reasons, we cannot afford and we see them as unattainable luxuries. However, as we grow up, we learn that circumstances change for each person and that perhaps those things were not as expensive for some, but they were for our parents. Nor should we forget that just as we sometimes long for the possessions of others, there are those who see ours as a luxury. We must learn to value what we have.

At Bright Side, we collected testimonials from people for whom simple things like buying ice cream seemed unattainable when they were kids.

• My parents bought some new furniture for the first time when I was around 17 and it was very, very cheap still. I’m 36 now and have been very successful in life, along with my wife, and we were able to easily afford an absurd amount of money to furnish our new home...it was honestly bizarre to do so. I didn’t have to be talked into it but it felt deeply “odd” to buy furniture like that.....extremely luxurious sorta describes it. © SMORKIN_LABBIT / Reddit
• Eating pizza because you want to not because it’s $2. That and mom eating along with us normally instead of pretending that the crust is her favorite part and that’s why she’d eat the crust we left. © DirtySingh / Reddit
• I remember I was like 12 or something and dad took me and my little brother to Cici’s for a buffet but he didn’t get one for himself because he said he didn’t like pizza and wasn’t hungry. I knew he loved the salad bar but I believed him. Anyways, when I got my food I offered him a slice and he ate it. One of the workers came up and told him he had to buy a buffet if he wanted to eat. I guess the people sitting at the table next to us overheard and a few minutes later the employee came up to us and told my dad that they had paid for his buffet. He enjoyed that salad bar. That’s when I realized we didn’t have all the money in the world and it’s not that he wasn’t hungry, he just didn’t wanna “waste money” on himself. © acidthoughtloop / Reddit

• I was poor for a bit and my wife and I would have $100 for food and gas for the month. We had to balance driving too much or eating better food. The first time I was able to fill my tank and buy whatever I wanted to eat was the best feeling. © allf8ed / Reddit
• I was poor growing up and was financially insecure until well into my 20s. I knew exactly how much money I had and how to budget it to make sure I could eat until the next paycheck came in. I managed to progress my career to a pretty high level of seniority and nowadays I don’t even know how much I earn. I have a rough idea but because of all the benefits and the way bonuses are calculated I couldn’t actually tell you a figure. And yet I still buy discounted stuff that’s going out of date at the supermarket. © fadevelocity / Reddit
• My mother used to have the heat on, but before she put it on each winter, we had to go room-to-room and tape over the ducts going to the “less important” rooms. Which is to say, every room except the living room and her bedroom. © GavinBelsonsAlexa / Reddit

• Hiring moving men. Especially if they’re the ones who pack all your stuff for you too. So many times, I would borrow a friend’s pickup (and buy my friend’s help with offers of pizza and beer) to move from one place to another. For my most recent move, my wife and I packed everything but hired professionals to load and unload it. I felt like a king. © KhaoticMess / Reddit
• As a kid, I always thought a deck on the back of the house meant that a family was loaded. One of my basketball teammates lived in a house where everyone had their own room, it had a deck and had hallways. I thought they were so rich. Today, I have all those things and a pool because the kids wanted one and we could afford one. I learned that this doesn’t mean we’re rich, just comfortable. Very happy my kids have had a better childhood than I did. © TallBobcat / Reddit
• I learned to like cheese sandwiches with pickles because we could get a big package of sliced cheese and a big jar of pickle slices. My office now opened a deli on the first floor that you can order any kind of sandwich in and I asked for a grilled cheese with pickles, light on the butter. The other tech people thought I was weird but the line cook who made it understood. “They never had to eat sandwiches with no meat...they were bologna rich!” © Annoying_Details / Reddit

• Hiring people to either cook, clean, mow the grass, or do snow removal in the winter. Showing my age but rich people didn’t need to layaway to afford back to school or Christmas shopping. I don’t remember ever having name-brand items, food, or clothing. It was all generic Kmart. I bought my son a pair of Nike shoes and thought I felt rich for doing so. © thatstaceygirl / Reddit
• Owning a car. My dad had the city bus schedules memorized. We eventually got to know the bus drivers. When I worked at a grocery store, the driver would wait for me at the bus stop if I was running a few minutes late. © Ron0hh / Reddit
• My hometown has an ice cream stand that’s pretty popular and very well-known. When I was a kid we NEVER went because it was too expensive, according to my dad. In high school, my cross country coach would take the whole team on closing day (it was open seasonally) and buy everyone ice cream. I thought that bill had to be hundreds of dollars... As an adult, I started going there and found out ice cream cones were like $1-$2. There are only 4 of us in my family. © IndecisiveFireball / Reddit

• Knowing what a duvet cover is and owning one. I remember when my wife and I were newlyweds and she was telling me how we needed a duvet cover for our bed. I had no clue what a duvet cover was prior as I always thought people just purchased sheets and/or the big blankets with the lion/tiger prints. Suffice to say, my mind was blown. © hominian / Reddit
• My parents used to tell us they were saving up to take us to Disney, always “next year.” Years came and went and they quietly stopped mentioning it. All my friends and schoolmates got to go, though. I did eventually get to go to Disneyland as an adult a few years ago, as an LA local for my best friend’s birthday. I had $0 in my bank account because of it and had to get assistance paying the following month’s bills but it was extremely fun & unforgettable. Oversight on my friend’s part that not all of us could afford to go but I didn’t want to pass it up either since I never got to go as a kid. © bee3056 / Reddit
• There’s a line from Nick in New Girl that describes being well off as “filling your gas tank up all the way rich.” That was the rich I wanted to be. Comfortable. Also not having to do math in the grocery store to see what food you can buy. I hated that. I wanted to just go buy necessities like gas and food without worrying. Proud to say that now I usually fill my gas tank all the way and don’t do the math when buying groceries. © Awkward_Name5898 / Reddit

What is it that you can easily buy now but in your childhood seemed to be a huge luxury? What things still seem like they are only for “rich” people now?