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?

Mum used to hide fruit - then forgot where she hid it - there were 6 kids so it would disappear on day one - imagine rationing fruit!

Adding and sugar and cream does not remove the benefits of fruit - if anything the cream may help you to absorb fat soluble vitamins.

A carpet sweeper. My Grandparents had one of those and I thought it was the height of sophistication.

The hoover had home meant nothing to me!

When we had a bottle of Matey bubble bath for Christmas. It was own brand washing up liquid in the bath for the rest of the year. Until I had kids I didn’t know that you could even get Matey all year round.

A soda stream. We weren't allowed one and it just looked like the best thing ever. This is an excellent post, thanks OP!

Proper milk. We usually had that god awful UHT milk at home. Vienetta was a posh dessert growing up and we only got to have it when we had special guests for dinner. Fizzy drinks were also only for special occasions. Christmas and birthdays, out came the cherryaid. Red mouths for everyone. Pure luxury to us kids. Oh, and the posh biscuits my nan bought every Christmas when we came to visit. You know the ones that everyone keeps their sewing stuff in? Those delicious little buggers. My brothers and I always fought over those.

Vienetta
Angel Delight
A VCR
Shloer

Mum bought us one. Dad went berserk
We wanted Frosties but Dad said we had cornflakes and sugar 😀

@Aurora2023 up until my Nan passed away at 96 ten years ago she had a full set of bed sheets under her duvet and changed them.
She didn't want to get the duvet dirty :)

Orange juice with bits (but not normal smooth orange juice that's the exact same price...)

Likewise grapes, red grapes were luxury, green: standard fare!

It is interesting seeing people of my age (44) talking about snacks - my parents were comfortably off, but things like soft drinks, takeaway etc were very much seen as exceptional treats - high days and holidays only.

You ate three times a day, drank water, milk and sometimes diluting juice and that was it, bar the occasional slice of toast and cup of tea at supper time.

We'd get excited if that week's biscuits were Wagon Wheels or Penguins, rather than bourbons or custard creams!

My mother was also quite 'crunchy granola' for her time and processed food was strictly verboten: I still remember the illicit thrill I felt at buying a packet of Smash when I went to university (bloody delicious, btw).

We didn't get a dishwasher until I was about 11 or 12, and we all stood and watched it the first time we used it... 😄

Shower for me too. My hair pre shower looks totally different. Like wavy and solid somehow. It must've been like straw

A shower, central heating, any kind of takeaway (never had one as a child and I still don't think to this day my 71 year old mum has ever had a takeaway), Vienetta, nuts (only bought at Christmas), holidays of any kind let alone abroad, Sky TV, a microwave.
I was brought up in a poor household, my mum didn't work. Lots of things my friends had seemed like huge luxuries to me. I was given a games console and later a PC by my aunty and I thought they were amazing. In truth they were years behind technological advances but I didn't care. I marvelled when I went to her house that I could use the internet, get instant hot water from the taps, watch cartoons all day on TV and have a microwaved pizza and fries for lunch 😂. I had my first takeaway at her house too when I was 12. I remember being stood in the Chinese and her asking me what I wanted and I didn't even know where to begin! She bought us a VCR too.

Ferrero roche was another chocolate we considered to be a real treat. Literally only cost about £4 for a box now 😂 I used to think it was so posh!

Aposterhasnoname you have just given me such a flashback. I had a friend whose Dad owned a garage ( sold cars) . I would go to her house 11 am Sunday, he would drive us in bucket seats in the back of a Ferrari down a road called ...straight ( ie it was a long straight road he could do 100mph on) to a pub. We'd go in the games room with a pool table / machines and drink Coca Cola, after 3 hours of him drinking in the bar he'd drive us home. My parents are responsible in every other way I cannot imagine why they let that happen.🤷‍♀️

Orange juice

Being allowed to rent music videos on the tv!! It was the best 😂 I think it was the same as renting a movie on Virgin Media but I think you got 3/5 songs for £1 or something 😁

Strawberries and cream was the best treat dessert and getting fish and chips was the ultimate treat tea!!

I remember getting to choose a couple of fizzy drinks as a Christmas treat every year and I don’t think we had them in the house throughout the year 🤔

a box of chocolates at Christmas
central heating (only a few rooms were installed with this in our house)
landline phone ( remember it being installed)
washing machine - to replace the twin tub

It was the same in our house,we didn't dare ask for a glass of milk.

My mother never hid it,but she'd spend ages 'arranging' it in an enormous bowl and we'd be told we weren't to touch it because it would spoil her display.🙄

Orange juice. Which came in a milk bottle from the milkman and was rationed to shot glass size portions.

Schloer. Veeeeery posh. For drinking with Christmas lunch etc.

McDonald's was for birthday parties only. I remember getting taken one weekend at about age 10 for no reason and it felt so thrilling.

Theme Park trips were highlights of the year.

Holidays abroad
Box of tissues, rather than loo roll to blow your nose.
Orange juice

My mum always had a bottle of ‘Crème Silk” hair conditioner on the go.
my sisters and I were forbidden to use it, we didn’t have conditioner just Vosene and vigorous combing of wet hair with a horrible snaggly comb.

I remember when everyone had to have a tiny thimble glass as you weren’t allowed very much :-)

A shower
central heating
any vegetable other than a potato
findus crispy pancakes..

we were pretty poor growing up but bizarrely when I was 16 my mother took me to an Elizabeth Arden counter to get my first make up… we then went to Primark to buy a new bra 😂