What things that were little luxuries when you were a child are now big luxuries due to cost of living?

[Holdontightly]

When I was little, things like cinema tickets, or swimming lessons or owning a dog or cat were fairly routine parts of childhood. Most kids in my bog standard state school had treats on this level, cost wise - obviously there have always been a group of people that can't stretch to any of these treats, but it was much more unusual. They seemed very affordable.

Nowadays, all of these things seem vastly more expensive relatively speaking, imo.

Is there any stuff like this you have thought of?

I used to swim at lunchtime at the public pool when I was a student, it was 20 pence! !

We also had a huge open air pool - it was cheapish for kids so we'd get butties and squash in plastic containers and be sent down at 9am - came home at 5pm - so that was a cheap teens day

Bag of chips. Used to be 6d (2.5p) - this week at a Kent seaside £3.50 😳

When was that @tiaandduck

if 1990 £15 then would be worth nearly £44 today so it’s actually cheaper now.

On the flip side, those 2p slidey machines in arcades have always fascinated me ever since a caravan holiday when I was about 7. I remember being given £1 and told that was it. I was gutted when my £1 all ran out.

Now every year we take the kids to a seaside resort and get everyone a plastic cup with £1 in 2p's in it and when it's gone it's gone. Inflation hasn't hit those machines in 30 years

I was a child in the 1960s and a teen in the 70s so can say honestly that life was far more basic then, we were used to power cuts and what we considered normal would be thought of as hardship now.

Fizzy pop was a treat and we couldn't afford Corona from the shops, only Alpine from the pop wagon which came once a fortnight.
Eating out was for very special occasions only, maybe once or twice a year.
Swimming was quite rare for us as no pools local so bus fares added to the cost.
No takeaways other than a chippy tea once in a while and the only foreign food was a Vesta meal as a special treat
Mum made a lot of our clothes and her own, also things like dolls' dresses for birthday and Christmas presents
Sweets were once a week and puddings/cakes always home-made

Yes but that’s partly because teenagers/young adults are massively expensive to feed compared to little ones.

@QueenOfHiraeth home made biscuits/cakes were a cheap way to fill people up not the food of the devil that they are considered now.

It's theme parks for me. They were never cheap but they are extortionate now for a family to go, and the queues are insane.

Longest queue used to be an hour for the most popular coasters when I used to go as a teen, now it's 90+ mins because of all the fast passes, plus far more people allowed in at any one time.

I don’t remember eating out until I was a teenager.
We didn’t have a car until I was eighteen.
We had a caravan holiday once or twice and a few days in a bed and breakfast once or twice. We hired a car once to go on holiday.
No TV until I was ten.
Days out, if any, were a bus trip and a walk, or a bus trip to visit relatives.

I disagree. Families did far less in 80s and 90s compared to now.

Cinema is the example I'd agree with...it was quite cheap for me as a teenager in the 90s...I would see it as poor value for money now.

When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s we did do nice things like cafe trips and meals out but these were a treat and we knew they were a luxury and we were lucky to be able to do them. I feel like these things then became the norm/expected by most people/taken for granted in the period since then. Then over the last year or so it's slipped back again to being luxuries for those most impacted by COL increase.

Most stuff we think of as luxuries didn't exist when I was a kid and are routine more than luxuries now. We rarely ate out. Never had a takeaway. Cinema was a treat. We were not poor - my father was a doctor and we lived in Chelsea! But you made do - my clothes were mainly hand me downs. We didn't even have a TV. Meat was not every night and we didn't normally have dessert. Standard of living is higher now.

McDonald's in the 80's was a very very rare treat. Approx twice a year

I agree that going to the cinema was a lot cheaper, many people went a couple of times a month; I used to go quite a bit as a youngster, later when I had a child and often in central London. However it is so easy now to watch films at home which has contributed to cinemas being shut and those that remain open being more costly. Having said that a new one is being built not far from me in the near future and it will be interesting to see how it fares. I might even treat myself, who knows.

Eating out was less common when I was younger. As a child I never ate out with my parents except whilst away on holiday. When being dragged around the shops as a child there was no popping in to a cafe. Now that is normal, it's nice too and if a supermarket has a cafe all the better. Kids love it. It's important for children to eat out, even in humble places, because they get used to it and it comes naturally for them to go to restaurants with friends when older. My husband was nervous about eating out when young :), that seems odd now. He got over it thankfully.

People have more clothes than they did and nearly everyone has a car, neither is considered a luxury today.

I meant Manchester hahaha! That always seemed so far away because I’d get carsickness and hated it. But was always so good once we got there. Driving up from Bedfordshire. It felt like a holiday visiting cousins. And Oxford. But these days it seem nuts to visit family with my kids, it’s probably cheaper to get to Tenerife!
I mean with all the getting ourselves ready and haircuts and petrol and gifts for the family when we arrive and going out to eat and shop. Mmmm maybe it cost my mother more than she let on but my kids rarely see family ‘far away’. I mean anywhere off the M1

Cinema was a normal thing to do.

However there were only 3 channels, getting a video recorder was expensive, and even on video films came out years later than they did in the cinema, let alone making it on to TV.

No takeaways, no foreign holidays and a day trip always involved eating sandwiches in the car.

Children's parties were an evening in the Little Chef.

Upthread someone said in the 1970s they did cinema Saturday matinee - cheapest time - for 50p

Using uk inflation calculator start date 1975 that's 5.37 today

And today you can get 2 for 1 ( cheapest times ) for 7 or vue £5 if booked online at cheapest times

So no I don't think cinema was massively cheaper in the 70s

Cinema was normal if you were well off

Which considering the MN demographic, perhaps I shouldn't be surprised people remember that way

Cinema was also more basic in times gone by - heard of the phrase "fleapit"?

Cinemas declined badly in tne righties bevause of video. There was a comeback in the nineties but they began to build a more luxury offering - either the big, multi screen American style multiplexes or luxurious art house type places. So cinema went from being a fairly basic place to see an afternoon film to a whole night out.

Things that I did/had as a child that my DCs haven't had/dont have:

(Even though we are better qualified/in better jobs than my DPs)

Horse riding lessons
Second house to let/holiday house
A car each
High end cars
More bedrooms than people
Utility room
More than one loo in the house
Regular haircuts
New dress for parties
Clarks shoes
Tropicana
Barbour raincoats for winter
High end trainers
Non ikea furniture
Regular takeaway
All clothes new never second hand/charity
Matching cutlery and crockery
Pocket money
Weekly cinema
Annual panto
Eating at a dining table
Meat for dinner every night
All branded food

I think this thread is reflecting how peoples personal financial status has changed not what has changed from cost of living ?

Sounds like tour parents possibly had some financial help from their parents?

Haircuts at the hairdressers.

If I take my three for a haircut it's £150!

Even Just Cuts is £43

I know you can skip the blow dry and go home with it wet, but hairdressers always do that bit of scissor titivating after it's dry that makes all the difference to the cut.

Also, highlights. Didn't everyone's mum have highlights when we were growing up?

I certainly can't afford them now, and I'm just letting my platinum (grey!) come through.

I grew up in a much poorer country than the UK and feel vastly wealthier now than when I was a child. That being said we did have dogs and cats, and I did swim but for free in rivers and dams. I can't think of anything I can't more easily afford now though than my family could when I was a child.