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AIBU?

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What normal things did you not have or not have in your house growing up?

307 replies

Fairypowder13 · 21/02/2026 16:30

We ran out of kitchen roll today and it got me thinking, growing up we never had kitchen roll in the house. I can remember visiting people who did and thinking that it was quite posh.

I grew up in a very poor home and we were always warm, clean, clothed and fed, but also lacking so many basic things. My parents always had money for cigarettes and alcohol though 🙄

I can remember having to have my hair washed with washing up liquid at times, I had very long hair and my mum never bought conditioner so you can imagine how knotty my hair would be. I did eventually get access to hair conditioner after begging my mum after I’d seen it advertised.

No cushions on the sofas.

No family holidays or day trips. Didn’t see the sea until I was 16.

No fabric softener for washing.

Never had a bed or mattress of my own, had one that was given to us until I was old enough to buy my own, it was all broken in the end but it didn’t occur to my parents to buy one.

No birthday cake or celebration, we’d get one small cheap present but nothing beyond that.

No stocking for Christmas. We’d put out one of our socks.

No winter coat, I had to wait to be given one by my older cousin.

OP posts:
Coka · 21/02/2026 16:44

I always thought of kitchen roll as posh too, tissues too. Door bells as well. The lack of bed/mattress/winter coat sounds quite neglectful though, how old are you out of interest?

AfternoonTeaAddict · 21/02/2026 16:41

Shampoo and soap. I recall staying with my GPs every Christmas (Australia, so summer) and my mother made me and my sister wash under the outdoor tap without any soap. My cousin asked baffled why we did not wash in the actual shower with shampoo. My mother got all defensive and said we could have shampoo if we wanted, but we did'nt want to, it seemed. It's true that at home we usually used dishwashing liquid or laundry soap not actual shampoo.

I'm not 100% sure why. We were poor growing up, but it's only recently occurred to me that she may not have wanted us to wash inside the house at her parents place because as it turned out her father and older brother sexually abused her and her sisters growing up so she was maybe trying to take us out of that situation? Not sure.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 21/02/2026 16:39

Kitchen roll, central heating, phone, answer phone.

We got all of the above later.

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 21/02/2026 16:39

We didn't have a fridge at first, so milk sat in a basin of cold water and frequently soured. We didn't have a phone either until I was 8. My dad learned to drive and we got a car when I was 10. I didn't consider myself poor but money was in short supply. My bike was second hand as was my first record player.

Fairypowder13 · 21/02/2026 16:38

Yeah I mean I know some of them aren’t essential it’s just they were fairly basic things that I always saw as quite fancy.

I dot even think it was a case of not being able to afford them, my mum didn’t know about hair conditioner, it wouldn’t have occurred to her to buy a set of cushions.

OP posts:
Boomer55 · 21/02/2026 16:35

I grew up 50/60s and we had little.

Hair conditioner was unheard of.

No washing machine - it was handwashing or boiler.

No microwaves, no tumble dryers, no washing machines, no freezers.

coal fires - no heating. Freezing cold rooms.

We did have a week at the seaside.

Life was harder then. 🤷‍♀️

nutbrownhare15 · 21/02/2026 16:34

Sorry to hear that OP. I had most of those things. No fabric softener then or now, I don't think it's needed. Plenty of hand me downs. We didn't have a lot of money but it felt like we had just about enough. And no TV then but have one now.