Growing up, my family definitely wasn’t rich. We weren’t jetting off to Europe during the summer or visiting a ski lodge over Christmas break. We might have had one domestic vacation a year, often a road trip, and we’d spend most of our summers at the neighborhood pool doing cannonballs until the sun went down.

But we did have a cluttered garage with an extra refrigerator for drinks, a lawnmower that my dad was proud to use and a grill that cooked more burgers, salmon and veggies than I can count. We were the quintessential middle class family. And, of course, my upbringing wasn’t unique; there are millions of other families around the globe who had nearly the exact same experiences.

Redditors have been discussing the tell-tale signs that someone is middle class, so we’ve gathered their most spot-on replies below. Enjoy scrolling through, and be sure to upvote the ones that make you want to have a picnic with your neighbors!

#1

Being able to afford everything you need but not everything you want.

ChuushaHime:
This is where I am now for the first time in my life and I love it. I’m very comfortable, have solid emergency funds, can afford everything that I need as well as small luxuries like the occasional nice restaurant or weekend getaway, but still need to put some effort into saving for trips or similar largescale purchases that make me feel like I earned them. Next financial goal is to move apartments to a more expensive but prettier and more convenient part of town. Looking forward to it 🙂

Image credits: MatrixMan100

#2

Spending an entire day from your weekend cleaning your own house and doing your own yard work and going to Costco.

Image credits: -nowseehere-

#3

Student loans

Too wealthy for need-based scholarships; not wealthy enough to pay for college.

Image credits: theygotthemustardout

#4

Lawnmowing.

Image credits: Stockholm-Syndrom

#5

Having those silly little stick figure family stickers on the back of your minivan.

Image credits: anon

#6

Family vacations. I remember coming back from summer break and my classmates talking about the trips their families went on and being extremely jealous.

Image credits: PM_ME_NUDE_PICZ

#7

Helping your children do their homework.

Poor people don’t have time for that. Rich people have tutors for that.

Image credits: Languid_Solidarity

#8

I’m going to paint my fence China white instead of 1/4 piano white.

My suburb passed a ruling no green fencing…so I’m getting white that has a green hue in it.

I’m just one man fighting against the oppression.

Image credits: anon

#9

There was a news story a couple of years ago threatening a shortage of halloumi and several members of my family panicked.

Image credits: anon

#10

I take _forever_ to grocery shop now that I’m making a decent living.

When we were poorer it was just buy whatever we could afford that would keep us alive. Now, when arriving at the spot in the aisle for EVERY item on my list, a chain reaction of decision making fires off that passes through statistics, guilt, and the meaning of life.

> There are 6 choices of jarred olives

> That one is $18 so its an outlier

> The remaining 5 prices are between $0.89 and $3.99, biased to the right

> My income is in the 65th percentile nationally

> https://ift.tt/0AF34my

> Really these are just going in my martinis, I won’t even notice the difference from the cheaper ones

> But I do like to eat them in salads sometimes…

> *Looks back at $18 olives*

> I MAKE GOOD MONEY DAMNIT I SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUY NICE OLIVES.

> They’re just going to waste in the fridge because I pass out after 2 drinks

> The expensive ones probably taste funny anyway

> Honestly I don’t even remember how much Gin I have left

> *Looks back at list*

> I’ll go look at the yogurt and come back to the olives before I leave.

Image credits: must-be-aliens

#11

A grade school aged child having tempered expectations for Christmas gifts, and getting pretty much everything they wanted except for the most expensive thing. “Maybe next year, bud.”.

Image credits: CTMalum

#12

Having a nice double car garage but no room for your mid size SUV or Toyota sedan because its full of kids toys, unopened boxes of random s**t that you haven’t looked at since you moved in and golf clubs you don’t use often.

Image credits: anon

#13

A Toyota Highlander with “Frozen” playing in the backseat pulling up to a block party at a master-planned starter home community’s pool where the dads are grilling and the kids are running around everywhere eating freeze pops.

Image credits: pvr97aus05dc15

#14

Single family home in the suburbs, 30 year mortgage.

Image credits: dottmatrix

#15

Buying a Subaru because its practical and safe.

Image credits: flipadelphia119

#16

*opens fridge full of tons of diverse fresh food*

There’s nothing ~~already cooked and prepared to mindlessly shove in my gullet~~ to eat.

Image credits: ld43233

#17

Golden Retrievers.

Image credits: TheGamedawg

#18

When your passenger side door handle breaks, you take it to the dealership for repair since it’s under warranty, when they send you to the rental company for a loaner car and the only thing they have is a ~~Camero~~ Camaro. When you pull in to the driveway of your suburban home and tell your pregnant wife you’re going out to dinner at a nearby sit down restaurant because you need a reason to drive the ~~Camero~~ Camaro around.

Ladies and gentlemen, my husband last week.

Image credits: RedditsInBed2

#19

One Prozac a day. Husband’s a CPA

and her yellow SUV.

Image credits: PerryTheRacistPanda

#20

An above ground pool, alone, in the middle of the back yard, with those s****y plastic ladders that flail all over the place when you climb them.

Image credits: Omnipotent_Goose

#21

A basketball hoop in every driveway.

EDIT: or on the garage. but i mean really that’s still in the driveway isn’t it?

#22

Company picnics.

#23

This thread has me reminiscing on the sweet summer times of my middle-class childhood:

-drawing with chalk in the driveway.

-Going to a neighbor’s to swim in their above-ground pool, while swatting away occasional wasps, and if this wasn’t an option, putting a sprinkler under the trampoline.

-A tire swing and/or one of those assembly-required jungle gyms in the backyard.

-Various soccer/music/overnight camps (not fancy ones, usually run by the local university)

-Being a tomboy by necessity because all your bikes/sporting goods/some clothes were passed through the neighborhood boys before they got to you

-Bringing your dad a glass of freshly mixed red koolaid while he takes a break from mowing the lawn with giant noise-cancelling headphones on. Not the ones that play music. They just cancel noise. Blanking on what to call these.

#24

A mortgage, a car loan or two, and having to save the entire year (or two) to take a vacation with the spouse and kids.

#25

Too rich for the FAFSA, too poor to afford college.

#26

Getting nice and loaded prior to a sporting event to save money; getting drunk enough for long-term-financial-goal apathy to set in and buying tons of food and beer in the stadium because you *can* afford it but *shouldn’t* waste the cash.

#27

Going to a fast food place and not looking at the prices.

#28

A messy garage with a refrigerator in it.

#29

Walking into Waitrose and not being like woaaaah.

#30

The Times Square Olive Garden.

#31

A white teenager driving his dad’s subaru and blasting XXXtentacion.

#32

Those vases that middle class mothers put in the corner of the room with twigs in it.

#33

Adopted a little boy earlier this year… 6 years old. His background is, erm, rough, shall we say.

Last week we were sat in a Cafè and he described his scone as “delightful”. A little later he asked where we were going for dinner.

I suddenly realised we’d ruined him already. 🤦‍♂️.

#34

My wife told me about growing up, regularly having smoked salmon over eggs for breakfast, took regular family holidays to other countries/continents and had horse riding lessons.

Meanwhile there’s me not allowed to have milk in my porridge/off brand Weetabix.

#35

I, when I was about 5, went into my parent’s friend’s house. I then asked where their library was. We had one, I thought everyone did.

#36

I once went to a friend’s house and they started singing around a piano. Knocked me sick to my stomach.

#37

Kohls.

#38

Debt.

#39

Buy a house with a 2 or 3 car garage and pack them full of c**p and park the cars in the driveway.

#40

Street hockey.

Car!

#41

This is sorta area specific because I’m in the PNW.

Driving to Disneyland.

If you have more than one or two kids, flying gets expensive. But a 12-15 hour drive down is accessible.

#42

My father having his neighborhood friends over to play horseshoes and drink Yuenglings out back.

#43

Getting into debt so people don’t think you’re poor.

#44

Mac and cheese go mighty fine with a big a*s box of
Costco wine.

#45

Corn hole.

#46

Gotta go to work everyday so I can come home and spend all my free time taking care of bills, food, and my children. Just so I can wake up tomorrow and do it all over again.

#47

Planning for retirement. The rich don’t have to worry about it, and the poor know they wont ever reach it.

#48

Sneaking snacks into the movie theatre.

#49

Having a moderate sedan that you try to keep clean. Theres bird s**t all over it but youre waiting for the next rain instead of doing a car wash.

#50

Camping as a family vacation. We went to Disney World when I was 9, but other than that our vacations were usually camping trips. My dad made enough money to be able to take almost a month off of work each summer (not consecutively, but a week or weekend here and there), but not enough to take us anywhere expensive.

#51

Owning a car, but still ride a bike for fun/exercise.

#52

Neighborhood yard sales.

#53

Buying a 3 bedroom house in a nice neighborhood on mortgage.

#54

“I’m so glad I bought that Chevy Tahoe. Now I can listen to NPR while driving Bella from her Montessori school to soccer practice.”.

#55

Coming up with schemes to retire before you’re 60. It used to be 50 but the economy and current market trends have pushed that out of the realm of possibility. I got a buddy who’s invested about a grand into a website to flip houses. Another has invested some money in a website trying to be the next Amazon. On more who is moving his entire 401k into wells Fargo stock.

I guess the biggest thing you learn in middle class is that it’s not much better than lower class. That maybe if you get into that next tax bracket you’ll finally be comfortable and be able to breathe a bit.

#56

Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla.

#57

Jogging for health.

#58

Bringing a lunch to the office.

#59

An SUV full of tons of kid’s toys, garbage, and equipment being driven from one sport to another by a mom holding a large Starbucks coffee and carrying an expensive handbag.

#60

$7 bloody marys/ $5 mimosas on top of a $14 brunch entree on a patio that features croquet and boccie ball… while sitting on many thousands of dollars worth of student loan debt.

#61

Too wealthy for Medicare; too poor for Obamacare.

#62

As a Hispanic that grew up middle class.
Using butter containers to store leftover beans. My Tupperware came from re-purposed lands.

*typos are inevitable.

#63

Thinking that you’re not well off, when you actually are.

#64

Mall shopping.

#65

2 weeks paid vacation.

#66

Making *barely* too much money for any government assistance, yet living paycheck to paycheck without doing really anything extra besides pay your bills and buying groceries… While Susie next door gets every form of government assistance making $30k less than you, but is able to have the newest clothes, nicest bags, go on vacations etc. And Jenny down the road makes $30k more than you, lives in a huge house, drives a BMW, has all the nicest clothes, bags etc and goes on a slightly nicer vacation than Susie.

The USA is screwed up. LOWER middle class is bad because you’re excited about your raise – you don’t have to live off food stamps anymore! – but you’re now more poor than you were -$10k ago.

#67

I don’t want to spend more than $20 on a case for my $600 phone.

#68

I had tailored suit to go to the opera.
When I was 6.

#69

Not sure that’s a middle class thing you’re describing, sounds to me like you’ve got a quirky 3 year old on your hands which is great!

My partner is a SAHM to both our 3 year old and 8 week old, which I think in this day and age could be considered quite a middle class thing.

Then there’s the multiple holidays we do, the fact we are home owners etc.

I recognise we are very fortunate, but I think we probably slot into the “middle class” thing because of that.

#70

Growing up we had a tennis court and a swimming pool in the garden, as well as a maze. My aunt and uncle and also my early childhood best friend also had swimming pools or tennis courts – I thought pretty much everyone had one until I was about 10/11.

I am a much, much more grounded person now.

#71

We had a cleaner and a gardener. Sounds awfully posh but really wasn’t. Mum and dad worked full time with 3 kids so didn’t have the time to stay on top of it. The cleaner came once a week and the gardener once a fortnight – just to keep on top of things. Mum and dad felt it was money well spent, kept their stress levels down!

#72

There’s only two classes. Those who work and those who don’t need to.

#73

My parent’s generation was, I think, the last generation where it was socially acceptable to be aspirational in the ‘hyacinth bucket’ sense. We didn’t have much money at all growing up, but things like having Sky TV or wearing expensive trainers was seen as ‘yobbo’ behaviour – flashing your cash was not encouraged at all.

Nowadays it seems more common for people to downplay their privilege, people don’t tend to have a ‘phone voice’ any more and usually emphasise their regional accents.

My theory is that you can work out what type of middle class people are from what supermarket they shop at. Lower middle class people love Waitrose & M&S and wouldn’t be seen dead in Asda, whereas upper middle class people shop exclusively at aldi, wear charity shop clothes and drive old bangers.

#74

Target.

#75

– Sent from my iphone.

#76

A group of moms drinking trader Joe’s wine and talking about their MLM “businesses” while their three year olds splash about at swim lessons. Every one drives a white SUV and every one had something to say about Mommy Juice and Happy Hour and what reward was next on their list for selling enough leggings or candles or essential oils.

#77

Jogging with your Golden Retrievers during the work day while pushing a stroller and trying to lose that baby weight. Next stop Starbucks!

#78

Dads with Merona plaid shirts, cargo shorts, and $7 Panama Jack sunglasses from Walmart grilling next to an above ground pool outside a 3/2 home that their Honda Accord is parked outside.

#79

Jorts

Tucked in polo shirt

Visors.

#80

The Honda Odyssey.

#81

Weekends.

#82

“A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.”.

#83

Applebee’s.

#84

Don’t make enough to afford to pay for college, but too much to get need-based financial aid.

#85

In law school we learnt about this one case in Britain about a neighbour hosting a party celebrating their favourite musical composer which annoyed the neighbour, who then played his classical music by a different composer louder than the partying neighbours.

I mean r/madlads aside, that might be the most middle class thing I could have imagined.

#86

I never had Sky TV.

(I do genuinely think it’s a pretty middle class thing to forgo sky).

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