To ask what's a small joy of being an adult you didn't expect?

[pandarific]

Not at all to dismiss the hard times being had by people on the companion thread, but so we all don't end up with Monday-itis... what are some small joys you have discovered come with being an adult?

Some of mine are:

• We have a tea cupboard. It is a little skinny cupboard not much good for anything else and houses all teas, coffees, cocoa making things etc. It is organised not by category but by frequency of use, and it gives me a little burst of pleasure every time I open it.
• I worked out why our washer dryer was shrinking and felting everything in sight BY MYSELF, with the manual, determination, and extended experimentation. I was so overjoyed I told our mutual friend who looked at me like ... but I do a lot of laundry.
• Having pets. The picture attached was the morning after an eye watering emergency vet bill... FFS. But look at his little face!
• Haggling - and the satisfaction of a good deal well done. Channelling Del Boy gives me immense joy, especially when the other party is a fellow Del Boy and you can have a bit of fun with it.
• The slow realisation that I can actually make my own decisions without anyone my mother needing to approve. And that I don't need to be a Nice Girl all the time.

Not having to eat the crusts on a loaf of bread! Eating nice bread instead of the cheapest, crappiest shite the supermarket can offer!

@Dannysmam1 it's a bloody superpowered AEG, and it has all of these programs that are really powerful. The cotton one we were just using as default as it's an hour ish long, but the dryer setting is set in tandem with the program, iykwim? So the dryer doesn't have low medium or high, so I thought it was just high automatically which was why it was shrinking things, but I think it was because I had it on eg the cotton setting when the fabrics weren't cotton. Also, the bloody default spin cycle is waaaay too powerful at 1600. I turn it down to about 1000.

I hate it, and it was so expensive and a which Best Buy.

Being able to go outside in just my socks because I'm the one who paid for them.
Having my own money to spend on what I want. I had pocket money, but I'm lucky enough to have more than that now.

I love having my own house, owning a cat, having DC, drinking gallons of coffee and wine.

But I do also kind of wish an adult was sending me to bed, stopping me from eating three bags of crisps on an evening etc

Oh! Watching the queen's speech! My folks were very anti the whole lot, but I quite like them

Being able to spoil my DC and give them (mostly) food that they love. Maybe that's why they're not as fussy as I was, choking down sprouts etc

I have more:

• The smell of ozone coming off tarmac after it rains. I wish there was a room spray called 'wet tarmac'. I would also buy 'wood shavings' and 'swimming pool'.
• Successfully working out how to make sourdough bread after falling in love with the very fancy very sour stuff in posh bakeries. I make two at a time, one for the freezer and one to put in my face.
• Having a milk hoard. Luckily I like UHT for drink purposes, I love the moment of 'oh no we're out of milk' - OH NO WE'RE NOT.
• This is wanky, but my baby's smile - he has the gummiest, goofiest little side-eyed smile ever. I was never maternal when I was younger, so loving this little human larvae so much has been a real joy.

I have a confession to make, I impulse buy things to make my house smell nice. They sit in a bowl in the living room. They have included coffee beans, and a bale of wood shavings from the pet shop which prompted an embarassing convo with the checkout staff about what pet did I have

Perspective - the best thing about being an adult.

Smoking in the bath and using the bidet as an ashtray.

Not feeling like I’m missing out and unlikable if I don’t go out every Saturday night. I can stay in with my own family in my pyjamas with takeaway and wine!

Being able to decorate my own house and buy plants and furniture and art.

Buying my kids fun things when we’re out- snacks at the movies, souvenirs on trips. Stuff that was seen as a waste when I was a kid.

Never eating Brussels sprouts. Ever.
Only having black coffee for breakfast if I want to.

Finding out that I had coeliac disease and proving that everything I said about weetabix and sandwiches making me feel sick was TRUE, Mum! (Took til I was over thirty, but vindication feels good at any age!).
Mortifying my teenagers with my wildly inappropriate fashion choices. (I will never dress like a Nanna, and I'm only 46.)
Buying proper, grownup bedlinen and putting it on the bed straight from the line. (I bought mine yesterday....)
Hanging out with Mrs Kafoops, here in the air-conditioning because we both hate the summer. (Australia.) (Her real name is Ivy, btw...)

BTW - I have been proudly saying that I would love to go back in time and proudly tell my maths teacher that I have never needed to know the area of a bloody cylinder in the 30 years since we last met, but guess who had to sit a maths test this morning?

GUESS WHAT THEY BLOODY ASKED ME?????

Buying a sandwich or can of pop for me/DD when we're out because my mum would never do that no matter how hungry/thirsty we were, always 'wait until you get home' 🙄
And in her younger years I couldn't afford to do it all the time, but I always had something with me.
Now pretty much I can afford a sandwich deal or something and I love knowing she's not hungry/thirsty when there's no need.
My dogs sleeping on my bed.

I'm nearly

Being grown up and being retired is the ultimate ! Ok, my spending power is drastically reduced (not all baby boomers have fabulous pensions and savings accounts)but I don't have to answer to anybody. My partner is so laid back he is virtually horizontal and I even have charge of the remote control! No more exams, although I still have nightmares, no reports to write in my 'Free' time, no rushed lunches all swopped for time to read, paint, garden and wonderful leisurely walks in the countryside. And yes, the best thing about being a young adult was that I could choose healthy exercise and not have to charge up and down a cold, muddy hockey pitch in just a t-shirt and itchy navy blue knickers.

@maddiemookins16mum

You are right, he has no shame whatsoever.

Having complete autonomy over my wardrobe and not ever having to wear sturdy clark’s T bar shoes, sensible anoraks or anything that’s a size too big so I can grow into it.

Being allowed to have long hair.

Not being forced to finish meals, or to eat at all if I’m not hungry.

Not having to live in fear of being teased, bullied or deliberately wound up, none of the "just ignore them", "just keep away from them", "he's little", "don't be so sensitive" rubbish I always used to hear as a child. Having said that, I have mastered the art of not flinching if someone in a passing car shouts out.

Being able to wear trainers most days (I hated school uniform), and wearing them without socks if I want to.

The fact I can spend whole days (while the children are at school) not saying a single word out loud unless I want to.

Sorry if this has been mentioned as I haven't time to read all the thread but do you recall all the things you were told not to do as a child/tell your children now?

One of them is that it is now all right as a grown up to touch and pick things up in shops. A minor pleasure but good nonetheless.

One unexpected bonus of getting older (rather than just being an adult) is that my confidence seems to have increased in direct inverse proportion to my looks fading.

I don't know if it's because I'm automatically having to make more of an effort, or if the lack of scrutiny is just making me less inhibited!

Another vote for driving!!
And being able to watch / eat / read / do / believe the things I want and that make me happy. Raising my kids as I see fit. (Although a lot of that is being single as much as being adult.)
Being able to have a drink and an ice cream on a hot day - not one or the other as was my Mum’s rule.
My friends.

What you said qumquat - I have no money to do most of these things due to health problems, but this thread has cheered my up and made me see the good things about being grown up

Thank you pandarific

No matter whether I follow the labels or not I still end up with items I can't wear again. Seems a lot of clothing needs to be either line dried or draped in front of radiators.

As a child I always wanted a dog. Parents always said no. All of the time i went out to work I did not get dog as not fair to leave it all day. Now I am at home and we have two puppies and we love them so much. They bring us so much joy to see their little faces and wagging tails when i first get up always makes me smile.

To eat chocolate whenever i like and as much as i like. Ice cream too. I was always rationed as a child.