Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Mumsnet classics

Relive the funniest, most unforgettable threads. For a daily dose of Mumsnet’s best bits, sign up for Mumsnet's daily newsletter.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Things your parents led you to think were 'special' or 'expensive' that you now take for granted?

831 replies

VladmirsPoutine · 29/10/2017 22:56

for the po-faced Grin

Growing up my siblings and I were wary over using too much kitchen roll - we'd get a sheet and fold it in half to tear before using, the faff was a PITA but to this day I still get a bit territorial over my kitchen roll.

We also had 'special' China plates, cups, cutlery, that sort of thing. Only used when we had guests or at Christmas - I didn't carry that into adulthood but whenever I visit my DM I still fondly look at the unit containing all those 'special' cups Grin

My dad died when I was relatively young but prior to this death he used to always take us (siblings&I) to our weekend clubs when we were young, on Saturdays one of my sisters and I attended clubs that finished at similar times and it was always Saturdays that mum worked nights so the 4 us: dad+siblings would always get McDs and think it was basically gourmet dining.

I didn't have a deprived childhood by any definition but I do find those quirks quite funny looking back.

OP posts:
Butterymuffin · 29/10/2017 23:43

Eating out. And takeaways. We only ever had fish and chips we collected. The idea of getting food delivered to the house was impossibly decadent.

IfNot · 29/10/2017 23:42

Individual Ski yogurts
Cocoa pops
Chocolate biscuits
Fish and chips
Going to restaurants (once a year to a Chinese place-best clothes and V. Exciting)
Getting the train anywhere
New shoes
Going to the hairdresser
Renting a video from Blockbuster
I regularly try to explain to ds that he doesn't know he's born...

BonnieF · 29/10/2017 23:41

Hotels & airlines.

I had never even flown or stayed in a hotel until I went to university. Now I have a stack of loyalty cards for BA, Hilton, Virgin, Marriott, Lufthansa, Radisson etc etc. I could write a bloody guide book.....

GreenTulips · 29/10/2017 23:40

Fizzy pop was a treat
Telephone calls
Keeping wrapping paper
KFC only on Christmas Eve
Did have a Macdinals meal til I was 18!! And then it was just a burger
Bus fare when we could walk
One bath a week
Anything you could 'get on the market' knock off/cheaper

Carouselfish · 29/10/2017 23:40

Rather missed the past tense idea there...
Okay then, having more than one pair of shoes. Maybe two would be acceptable if they had markedly different uses.
Going to the gym. Just go for a walk or do a Jane Fonda work out tape!

JustPutSomeGlitterOnIt · 29/10/2017 23:39

New duvets
Takeaway once a year
Fresh juice - even now I water mine down half

Carouselfish · 29/10/2017 23:37

Definitely eating out. A day trip with my mum will always be made tense by my suggesting we have lunch and her saying no, it's too expensive, she wouldn't enjoy it. She'd rather bring a bottle of water and marmalade sandwiches. But she didn't, so she'll wait til she gets home.

melonribenia · 29/10/2017 23:37

Ice cream vans - we were literally never allowed.
McDonald’s- it was deemed too expensive and too confusing
Cranberry sauce- we ate roast chicken most Sundays but only one jar of cranberry sauce was bought, for Christmas, it was used through January then wistfully remembered until the next year
Hotels/ b and b’s - we always went self catering

SagelyNodding · 29/10/2017 23:35

Ribena definitely! Also fizzy drinks were limited to Christmas and birthdays... To be honest I'm still incredibly stingy with these things for my DC... But for different reasons. Viennetta was a huge treat!

brasty · 29/10/2017 23:34

Tinned sweetcorn, too expensive

Garlicansapphire · 29/10/2017 23:32

Fresh orange juice (only at Christmas)
And having more than one piece of fruit a day.
Chocolate biscuits were rare, and turned over so you wouldn't realise (!) - you could only ever have one each.
Fizzy drinks.
Ice cream - again very rare. Never a choc ice!

PestoSwimissimos · 29/10/2017 23:30

We never had Ribena, had to make do with either orange or lemon squash.

HerRoyalNotness · 29/10/2017 23:29

Oh yes our takeouts were fish and chips on a Friday. Never anything else. My kids get sushi fgs, sushi!

HerRoyalNotness · 29/10/2017 23:29

not quite paper

BackforGood · 29/10/2017 23:28

Eating out / takeaways.

Not that my parents were tight, the world has changed. In relative terms eating out is a fraction of what it cost when I was a child, but it does strike me as odd that my student dc thing it is a normal thing to do, even though they are on tight budgets.

HerRoyalNotness · 29/10/2017 23:28

We had a stingy dad on the toilet roll front. I remember being at hour holiday place in the long drop and him yelling at me as I was using too much. It was this awful thin no white paper stuff. Ugh. Mum did tell him off for that though.

He's right on lots of things, but I suppose that's why he could pay the house off so fast. He is debt adverse and was scandalised when I bought a new car, on finance. He only ever paid cash and still does, if he doesn't have it, he goes without.

ilovepixie · 29/10/2017 23:26

Pure fresh orange juice was seen as a luxury as It was expensive.

NikiBabe · 29/10/2017 23:26

Buying a brand new car.

That is expensive considering how quickly a new car devalues as soon as it is driven off the forecourt. It can lose about a quarter of its value as soon as you drive it away. It's madness.

Floralnomad · 29/10/2017 23:20

Nothing to do with my parents but when I first qualified as a nurse in the 1980s , I worked a night with a CSW who said had I noticed that however much loo roll you tear off and hand to the patient if they are elderly they always tear it in half and use only half . We spent a whole night testing the theory with different amounts of paper handed out and in about 8/10cases she was absolutely correct .

OhNoGroken · 29/10/2017 23:19

Babycham in the official glasses that made a little ring of bubbles

HarrietKettleWasHere · 29/10/2017 23:17

lucozade only if you were deathly Ill.

At MacDonalds, Happy Meals only (no exceptions) until you were deemed old enough for the 'adult meals'. Usually about 14 years old or so and it was quite a big thing when our time came finally came and we could have a McChicken sandwich and more than about ten chips Grin

Chuckling at the poster retelling the ice cream hierarchy as we had that too. My dad would be most pleased if we went for a Sparkler, at 25p. You could probably go up as far as a Twister depending on how generous a mood he was in, but there was a very clear cut off point.

My friend who was out with us one day asked for a white chocolate magnum.

My brother and I were like ShockShock

LindyHemming · 29/10/2017 23:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ttbb · 29/10/2017 23:12

Buffets Blush

LindyHemming · 29/10/2017 23:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HibiscusIsland · 29/10/2017 23:10

My parents reckoned you should only use one sheet of loo roll for a wee and two for a number two. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.