Money doesn’t buy happiness, but having money can certainly make life easier. While some people are concerned about saving up for a lavish summer vacation, others just want to buy groceries and pay medical bills without risking being unable to pay rent. This week, Reddit user ConAir161057 reached out to Ask Reddit to hear what people who grew up without much money consider luxuries. We’ve gathered some of the most eye-opening responses for you to read below, some of which are great reminders to never take what we have for granted. Don’t forget to upvote the answers you found most powerful, then let us know in the comments what little things feel like luxuries to you.

Then if you’re interested in another piece featuring people from humble backgrounds, check out this Bored Panda article next.

• Read More: People Who Come From Low-Income Families Reveal What 30 Things They Considered An Absolute Luxury

#1

During the first few years of our marriage, my wife and I combined, made about 17k per year. It was ROUGH.

Now we make just over 100k per year, and I still stop once and a while and think to myself “Wow, when was the last time I even had to check our balance to make sure we could buy groceries? This is AWESOME!”

Just the little things of not having to worry or double check before you pay for normal purchases is SOOO much better. ‘Money doesn’t buy happiness’? Yes, Yes it does. You’ve just never been truly poor if you think it doesn’t.

#2

After growing up in a home where every unexpected problem was a financial emergency, my idea of wealthy became “I just want enough money that if something breaks I don’t get anxiety about how to deal with it.”

Image credits: Obiwan_ca_blowme

#3

Towels. Honestly, I was almost 10
When I realized people didn’t just put back on their dirty clothes after a shower because my family was so large (12 kids total including myself) and extremely poor. I thought towels were just for hotels or were maybe a prop on television. I went to a friends house and she asked for my help folding her towels. I remember laughing and thinking she must be rich. Long story short, I wasn’t sure which way to fold the towels, and begged my mom to buy them after I revealed that my friend, Simone, had them. She bought a box of used ones from a local auction and I walked around with them on my head feeling like a frigging empress after that, even though—-let’s be clear…these were second hand towels! 😂

Image credits: shakezula1025

#4

saving the life of a pet because i could afford to pay the vet

Image credits: umikumi

#5

Just getting some god dang crafts, man. I was the kid you could entertain the rest of the night with popsicle sticks, glitter, and glue. You know what I never got to do? Crafts, because the only popsicle sticks we ever got were NONE, the glue was for school only (“don’t let your friends borrow your glue/crayons/pencils we can’t buy more ’til income tax!”), and glitter meant more electricity vacuuming it up.

I am now a grown woman with a craft room that sparkles like a dragon hoard. I make Martha Stewart weep

Image credits: Phantasmai

#6

I am from a small island in the Pacific. While I mostly still take cold showers, I have always felt that a hot shower is the finest luxury one can experience. I had my first hot shower when I was 22 years old and I can never forget it.

Image credits: FSMPIO

#7

When I was able to afford pads or tampons. Growing up, I had to steal toilet paper from my school during my cycle.

Image credits: NurseDani314

#8

$5 to spend at the book fair. I never let go of that one and now I send my kids off with $40 to spend at the book fair with the idea that my kids will walk out of there covered head to toe in book fair drip after telling their middle school crush “just get whatever you want, it’s all on me.”

Image credits: ClownWar2022

#9

Going to the grocery and feeling able to buy pretty much anything I want within reason.

I still compare cents differences in name brand vs. store brand vs. sale items; or do I really need this?

Image credits: crosleyxj

#10

When my grandma would come pick me up and spoil me. My parents didn’t have much money and were addicts so when my grandma would come get me I would come back with new clothes, video games, toys, etc. I used to think my grandma was rich but she actually just had a stable income.

Image credits: nawlepen

#11

Summer camp, or basically any school trips that had to be paid for.

At my school the kids who couldn’t afford to go on trips that happened during school hours still had to come to the school, we just sat in a room and did *extra work* like it was detention.

Image credits: Helpful_Yams

#12

Drinking clean (and enough) water and just having a decent meal, not just a piece of dry bread and tea!

Yes, I come from Yemen, where we did not have a sufficient amount of water (for drinking or cleaning) and did not necessarily have three meals a day.

I remember that we would not have random plants in our garden to water, that would be a waste of water. If you watch Dune, we kinda had (and still have) a similar situation!

Image credits: gh_EM

#13

At the end of the season, sometimes the grocery store would have peck baskets of peaches on sale for a dime to clear them out before they went bad. And if Mom had a spare dime, she’d buy them and tell us to eat all we wanted – normally fruit was limited to one a day if there was any at all. Man, we’d hit those peaches like a plague of locusts.

Image credits: HowdyDoobie

#14

Grew up poor and when I was a kid I used to think you were rich if you had a dishwasher and a millionaire if you had one of those refrigerators that have a button for ice

McDonalds was also a luxury, a couple times a year on our birthdays

Image credits: chinderellabitch

#15

Fast food.
New shoes.
If we ever ate meat. One of my brothers didn’t recognize a pork chop at age 6-7. Asked my mom, ‘Is this hard meat or easy meat?’ He’s 50 now and we still laugh about it.
Syrup instead of a few canned peach slices and some peach juice on our stack of pancakes.

Biggest treat?

BEAN BURRITO NIGHT
We got instant refried beans as a food commodity. Mom grew lettuce and tomato pot back. We would shred the government cheese. The treat was a pint of sour cream, and a jar of salsa. We would each take our turn at the table telling mom what we wanted on our burritos. (One brother only ate peanut butter and cheese burritos, and yes he did survive into adulthood).

Mom is almost 80 now, but as long as us kids cut up so the ingredients and pull up a chair for her she will still roll you a ‘big fatty – her words. Cue mom getting wistful and reminding us, ‘I was quite the roller in my day.’ The 80’s were good to her lolol

#16

Actual beds.
Not just mattresses on the floor.

Image credits: Julie-Andrews

#17

Going out for pizza was a big deal. Those free mini pizzas for reading books were huge.

Image credits: Shroom4Yoshi

#18

Having the heating on. We used to go to bed in our sleeping bags in winter which was really cool back then, pretty depressing now

Image credits: pm_me_boooba

#19

Buying any kind of fruit I want at the grocery store.

Image credits: LorenaBobbedIt

#20

Going to someone’s house when they had a sectional sofa. The pinnacle of luxury.

Image credits: ilostmytaco

#21

Ice cream once a year on my birthday

Image credits: Able-Telephone4541

#22

Buying a book instead of borrowing from the library

Image credits: freesias_are_my_fav

#23

Christmas decorations. We used to just put tinsel on a fan and that was our tree

Image credits: Biden-is-canadian

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