What mundane item/experience was a luxury in your childhood home?

[FirstFallopians]

I remember being jealous that mum and dad had pillow protectors under their pillowcases. I thought they must be the height of decadence until we got an IKEA and I saw they were literally £1.50 each.

Real butter instead of margarine.

Ordering a takeaway and getting it delivered instead of picking it up. Debauched.

Buying any food whatsoever from Marks and Spencer’s was akin to doing your weekly shop in Harrods Food Hall.

Middle income family in the 1990s, no money worries and not otherwise frugal.

Anyone else grow up thinking very normal things were real luxuries?

A colour TV and video recorder c.1992

I've thought of a few more....
Nesquick (my neighbour had it, my mum refused to buy it because she thought we drank more than enough milk as it was)
Fizzy drinks were for high days and holidays
Juice-we were only allowed squash
Sugary or chocolatey cereals (just put sugar on it!)

Yeah, we always had Flora on toast and used Stork in baking.

Now I always use real butter.

Oh and if we were going on a day out or a long journey we would have sandwiches rather than eat in a cafe/services. Though we rarely went on days out.
A holiday abroad or going on a plane or in a hotel. We went to Ireland every year to stay with my paternal grandparents. We went on a ferry. The only change to this was a caravan trip when I was very small, and a camping trip when I was older.
Meals out-sometimes if it was a birthday we went to a Wimpy Bar but that was it, though we had the occasional takeaway, usually fish & chips or KFC.
We weren't poor at all....probably because of all the above!!!

Heinz tinned puddings
Fizzy pop I'm not sure if others had this but used to have the pop man in his van sold limeade orange etc think he sold other things but as a kid only remembered seeing the bright colours of the pop bottles

Spaghetti bolognaise.

It was a staple dinner at my friend’s house and I was invited for tea one day. The most delicious, exotic thing I had ever eaten.

Heinz just didn’t cut it!

I can't believe the amount of people who think a shower was a luxury

Growing up,we had a shower at home and 7 baths a year-we had one a day in the b&b on holiday

We really looked forward to it as a treat!it really was the best part of the holidays

Shop bought veg was a luxury-my father (still) grows his own

Orange juice-we didn't have it at all

Sweets and chocolates that didn't come from 'the waste office' (my father worked at nestle)

I remember begging for Cadburys!

Most 80's foods-i had my first (and last) pot noodle aged 19

Ditto crispy pancakes,ski yogurt and microwave burger

Fast food-once a year after the panto at Christmas,we'd get a maccys happy meal

Happy days

Cans of pop - one a week on a Friday or Saturday evening. I always chose Lilt. Drank with a straw and eked out for hours.

Fruit juice, ham.

Tin foil
Fun snacks for lunch (just had sandwiches)
Lunchboxes!
Fun hairbands

Going to a restaurant/even a pub for a meal out was a less than annual affair.

Getting fish and chips at the beach, or any sort of food that was bought on a day out, as opposed to being brought from home.

Hair products of any description other than shampoo and conditioner.

Never had a shower that wasn't at a swimming baths til I went to a friend's house as a teenager. Parents only got a shower after I'd became an adult, so a shower was a big deal for me too.

Oh and any sort of holiday that wasn't in a tent.

I was born in the mid 80s.

Yes! We had a 1 litre carton at the weekend for a family of four for two dinners. So 125ml each per meal! Had it in special glasses as well 😀

A tumble dryer!

Grapes
Tinned red salmon
Using the telephone before 6pm
Ice cream

I could go on, but we'd be here all day.

My mum had a tupperware potato peeler thing which she loved!
You put your potatoes in it, cranked a handle and there was sandpaper type thing in it and it scraped off all the skin for you.

Luxury for a single mum of 5 in the early 80s!

OMG Vienetta was a special occasion thing for us too. Literally it would be brought out on its little plastic tray like the crown jewels on your birthday for a slice lol

I was born in the mid 60s and we always had the latest thing . The only thing we didn’t do was foreign holidays because neither of my parents would fly and mum didn’t do boats - first time she went abroad was when the tunnel opened .

Sodastream
Findus crispy pancakes
pot noodles

Didn’t know anything about nutrition in those days!

Orange juice. We only had it on the very few occasions a relative came to stay.

Fizzy drinks - we only had them at Christmas, from the milkman.
Shower- this is still a luxury as I only have a bath.
Going to the beach of cinema- I think we only went to the beach once unless on holiday despite being less than an hour from the coast. I think we went to the cinema once.

Reading this thread makes me realise my kids are still living in the 70s!

No chance we're "popping into" a cafe if we're out - I've got warm water and sweaty sandwiches in my bag. Likewise ice creams - they can have a choc ice when we get home (once a week).

We only have squash in the house if it's been a birthday. None of my kids has ever had a whole can of fizzy pop to themselves. Their uncle gets them each a whole bar of chocolate on their birthday 🤣

We're fairly comfortable financially, but only because we're careful. Also, it genuinely makes kids more grateful. We see cousins etc who are used to having far more, and it definitely doesn't make them happier - it just seems to leads to more opportunity for disappointment and whining....

Kitchen roll! Dishcloth fulfilled all purposes

Car phone holiday carpets

Kitchen roll!

Likewise. The kitchen roll was special and expensive, and only for carefully controlled purposes. My mum kept old copies of the Yellow Pages down the side of the cooker for most mopping and wrapping jobs.

Orange juice
Colour television
Video recorder (how I used to long for a video recorder)
Heating in bedrooms

A shower
Brand new clothes any time that wasn't Christmas or Easter
A VCR
Coloured socks (as opposed to white for school).
Having the heating on higher than 17 degrees.
This was in the 90s but we were a single parent family with a very low income.