I knew i'd 'made it' in life when

[GrannyGrissle]

i realised 90% of the plant pots in my house/garden are terracotta, not plastic. I used to dream of this and have added to my collection year on year. I now feel immense pride in the quality of my plant pots! AIBU to ask what small/insignificant things signify to you that you too have made it in life? (Not interested in metal cans on wheels/dwelling structures made of bricks or stone/jewellery/trophy partners ).

Bearing in mind I had a really privileged childhood and still lead a very very privileged existence:

Having enough toiletries. My parents never used to stock our bathroom with hand soap, hand towels, a bin in the loo or check that we had enough sanitary products (three daughters!) Having fancy Aesop hand soap, fluffy clean hand towels, a loo bin with scented liners and as many tampons as I fancy makes me feel very grown up!

Also, having the right kitchen utensils. I own things like spatulas, measuring spoons, micro plane grater etc which makes cooking so much more pleasant. My parents owned bizarre excesses of things like saucepans but completely lacked others.

They are/were pretty good parents just clueless at times!

1. When I could look around our house and it contained furniture we’d chosen and bought rather then Auntie Rita’s old sofa and next doors dead granny’s old bed etc etc. And yes, it was the entire house.

1. Being able to pay for a decorator rather then the agony of dhs diy efforts.

When I started earning enough to be able to get an occasional taxi. Instead of freezing, waiting for a bus in the rain, when the car isn’t working.

Friend asked me advice on childcare because I "know what I'm doing by now" (I really don't I'm still winging it but I felt like I must look the part)

My DM asked me to pretend to be her in an email to customer services because I'm more of a Rottweiler.

When we could buy all our meat and eggs from the organic farm down the road rather than the supermarket. We prioritise it massively and skimp on other things to do it but I feel all grown up whenever we go.

Getting my own cars, and paying all their bills myself!

These threads always start off with me smiling fondly with recognition and end up with me feeling like a complete failure !

About 75% of our furniture comes from Ikea! We're both in our 40s (well I'm 40 this month). I thought it was impressive that it wasn't what we found abandoned in the shed when we bought the house/rescued from a skip...

When I bought a leather corner sofa that wasn't from ikea

First time - having a door to call my own after signing a mortgage
Second time - when I made the decision to separate (no one else's influence just purely my decision on what's right for me and my dc)
Third time - when someone got the sack based somewhat on my opinion of their work
Second one just happened in last couple of months, third one last night, don't know how I feel about it tbh.

Buying my own washing machine a few years ago! I had previously only lived in flats where washing machines, dryers, etc were in the cellar.
It is still the best thing I have ever bought!

This ceiling clothes airer. It means (A) I have enough money to buy a fancy airer (b) we have somewhere to put it and (c) our house finally looks all grown up and tidy without radiators permanently covered in half-dry socks.

Cannot recommend it enough! Every time I whir it up and down I get the momentary smug satisfaction/delusion of being on top of my home chores.

www.lakeland.co.uk/25214/Modern-Extendable-Ceiling-Airer

I'm thinking that I've wasted a whole cupboard on mugs, when I could have had a mug drawer!

For me, making it was when I got to live without flatmates fir the first time. Was so happy to finally just be with my dh after living in different cities.

The other day I ordered a matching toaster and kettle....and they wernt just the cheapest I could find.....and neither my current toaster or kettle are broken. I bought them because they look nice and I wanted them, not out of necessity. The are due to be delivered today and I'm ever so excited.
Now I officially feel like a grown up!

The first time I cleared the gutters of our first house. (Now it’s just another messy chore!).

I’ve had a few ‘oooh I’m a grown up’ moments.

1. having a fruit bowl with 7 kinds of fruit in and none of it was wasted.

2. hosting my first ever Christmas dinner, I’m a vegetarian and pulled off 3 x meats with all the trimmings. I remember sitting down at the table looking at it groaning with food and seeing everyone enjoy it and thinking YES.

3. when I bought the house I live in now and everything was brand new, we had chosen everything from the light switches to the kitchen and we had furniture that we wanted rather than what we could afford.

I really felt like a proper mum recently when I realised I could whip up a batch of fairy cakes with no fuss, having all the ingredients already in the cupboard. I'm generally a terrible cook so it was a big moment for me!

When I realised that I was buying supermarket own brands because I quite like them - not because I had to !!!!

When I bought a Kitchenaid mixer

Every week when I replace the dying flowers with new ones, and arrange them nicely in their vases - gives me such a sad little thrill/I feel like my mother.

I have done lots more grown-up things since but filling up my first car with petrol for the first time was an almost out of body experience of grown-upness!

When I bought shower gel and bubble bath simply because the bottles they came in matched my bathroom and made it look all pretty, as opposed to it being on offer at Lidl

Last week - when having lived with nothing at the end of the month I did a proper budget and realised we could save at least £500 per month . To stick to the budget I have been meal planning and cooking accordingly.

The feeling of being in control of my money and therefore my future makes me feel very grown up.

As a kid I used to dream constantly about going to America - in fact I used to dream about travelling fullstop but coming from a poor background it was a bit of a pipe dream that I'd ever get any further than Spain. I remember one incident in particular where I was looking up the Atlantis hotel in Dubai in my 20s thinking if only I was rich.

Last year I was sat on my balcony in the Atlantis looking out to the sea and remembered myself as a poor 20 something that could barely afford a box of teabags. I remember thinking "fucking hell, I made it".

I wish I could've delivered a message to that depressed single mum in her 20s and tell her she would make it.

Buying things for the house because I want/like them, not because they need replacing/the cheapest

When I bought a washer that could take 10 kg washes in an attempt to see the bottom of the wash baskets