Things your parents led you to think were 'special' or 'expensive' that you now take for granted?

[VladmirsPoutine]

for the po-faced

Growing up my siblings and I were wary over using too much kitchen roll - we'd get a sheet and fold it in half to tear before using, the faff was a PITA but to this day I still get a bit territorial over my kitchen roll.

We also had 'special' China plates, cups, cutlery, that sort of thing. Only used when we had guests or at Christmas - I didn't carry that into adulthood but whenever I visit my DM I still fondly look at the unit containing all those 'special' cups

My dad died when I was relatively young but prior to this death he used to always take us (siblings&I) to our weekend clubs when we were young, on Saturdays one of my sisters and I attended clubs that finished at similar times and it was always Saturdays that mum worked nights so the 4 us: dad+siblings would always get McDs and think it was basically gourmet dining.

I didn't have a deprived childhood by any definition but I do find those quirks quite funny looking back.

Orange juice. It was uht value Tesco’s juice, but we could have a Sherry sized glass with advanced permission.

As an adult, I have two or three cereal packets simultaneously open

Disgusting.

Ribena here too
Bananas were classed as a luxury food item
Only got kitchen roll and thick orange juice at Christmas
Had sweets once a week on a Sunday and mum and dad had a bar of chocolate each

Yy to breakfast cereal dramas. They didn’t go stale for ages, so why the angst about switching between 2/3 I wonder.

Walnut whips, the height of decadence.

Sanitary towels. My sister and I had to use torn-up towels which we had to soak and hand wash in cold water in the outside wash-house, where the men of the house could not see. All so shameful and secret and sordid. Going to a friend's for a sleep-over was a nightmare, as was PE at school. We were a very-well-off family, but "D"M thought we girls didn't deserve to have money spent on us.

Marcipex I see your walnut whips and I raise you...ferrero rocher.

Salmon. Occasionally we had kippers or sprats, but Salmon was considered too expensive.

Another one for whom cornettos were banned, Df used to say "But that's 13 shillings" ie 65p. We rarely had ice creams at all because dp never got a freezer until about the year 2000,

Heating on April through to October

Fizzy drinks

Eating out

Paying for parking (used to be 30p for 2 hours, instead we used to park in the free parking about 30 minute walk from town. This was restricted to 1 hour parking so we ran into town and ran back out we only went about 4-5 times a year so it wouldn't have broken the bank. At another town we went more often it was 5p per hour. We'd drive round for up to half an hour to find a rare free spot rather than pay that, thus paying considerably more in petrol. )

Paying entry fees (unless it was considered educational)

Phone calls only after 6pm

Colour TV license (in the 80s/90s)

Clothes from anywhere except the market

Anything we could make ourselves

Wrapping paper had to be used at least 3 times. You slit the sellotape very carefully to make sure it could be used again.

Any bought cakes (except very occasionally doughnuts)

Christmas decorations/advent calendars/crackers were all used multiple times. We used to reseal the advent calendars with blue tack.

Any extra curricular activities barring a few approved ones.

Crisps/biscuits/chips etc.

I didn't really mind (except the eating out one as I really hate packed lunches) except any comments on such things would be met with a "oh aren't you so pleased that we are so sensible to do this. Think of all the stupid people who wouldn't." And I'd think "Well actually I think I'd rather pay."

Buying wine. My dad used to make his own and I was always struck by the conflicted faces of his guests as they had to enthuse over it.

Not going to restaurants.

Only having the heating on downstairs, so we had to go from a furnace to an icebox when going to bed.

When I saw the title of the thread I thought it was going to be serious, so I also wanted to say that they always told me I’d change my mind about having a social conscience when I grew up and had to pay taxes myself (I haven’t ).

When living with DM anything with meat was a luxury as she didn't eat it so she wouldn't cook it for us. A CD player also cost too much for a child apparently. I remember my dad telling me years ago that she thought spending £10 on her own child for Christmas or a birthday was too much (back in 2000 ish). She's still the same now and doesn't really boyher to get something I'd find useful or would actually like.
DF on the other hand made sure I grew up thinking pretty much every sort of food was normal. McDonald's is still a treat though as we're currently strapped for cash. As is dominoes which is my fave takeaway 😭😭

It was baths in our house-my parents still had wartime 6 inches of water!! I feel guilty even now having a hot deep bath!

Takeaways we never had, just fish and chips (we collected) on a Saturday. I hadn't tried curry or Chinese until I went to university.

It was quite common (once a week!?) for my parents to have 'naice' food for them like steak/gammon/salmon whilst the rest of us kids had sausages or fish fingers. I'd be more likely to give the nice food to my kids now .

We never ate out on days out either. There was lots of eating sweaty cheese sandwiches with limp cucumber and warm orange squash then (the highlight of the day!) ...a melted kit Kat whilst sitting in a steamed up car in the rain! We laugh about it now-my parents eat out loads now we've all left home!

I had a very happy childhood though :)

Melon was a luxury food.
Taxis were for rich people.

Anything that cost money basically. The one that would put the fear of God into my parents though was ......... the immersion. That baby was monitored like a new-born. We had the cheapest cars, second-hand clothes, no day trips, no such thing as soft-play, never had a holiday, never stayed in a hotel. Using more than one towel in the bathroom. We had good food in terms of meat/dinners, but Tesco value (it was called Yellow Pack back in my day) everything for anything else. Never any fruit. Lots of veg though.

My parents weren't poor either. Just bloody mean.

My Grandparents thought anything spent on the children was a waste. So despite being reasonably well off we didn't really get presents or only the odd second hand thing. My dad's continued the tradition :( No treats for the kids and he resents buying a birthday present, and then a schepaly as possible. We don't have time of stuff yet anything they do do or go to he disapproves :(

As for some of this list we don't do new cars, take away apart from rarely, hotels maybe one night every couple of years for a holiday to a theme park. Theme parks themselves being fairly rare (100 quid a day out!!) I think so did this list is income related and we just don't have a high income!

Tombstone that’s awful. . I thought my mum was bad buying the really old fashioned sanitary towels without the sticky strip so they always leaked.

Are you NC, I’m not sure I could get over that?

I don't think my kids have ever caught taxis. I still think they are for rich people!!! I'm going on a night out and anxious that the taxi cost puts it over the edge for us!

Chicken was regarded as a luxury. We grimly chewed our way through the half a sheep Dad bought at auction every quarter, along with odd legs of venison bought from "characters" in the pub. There was no fruit other than apples, blackberries or battered bananas. Torch batteries were rationed. Shop bread was regarded as too soft to keep our teeth strong, and a waste of money. Citrus fruits were a once a month thing, as was a fish and chip supper.
One luxury was insisted on, Bournville plain chocolate. We got half a bar each on Saturday to take to the pictures. DM reckoned it was good for us. There was also some newfangled thing called yogurt, but we thought it smelled of sick. However, DM had picked up Italian recipes on her travels, so if you could make with cheap mince it was in. She still refused to buy block parmesan 40 years later though, much too extravagant.

Oh, and the toilet paper was MoD issue, the dreaded Form 000. Bit like greaseproof paper, but for bottoms.

We never bought food during a car journey - it was always a packed lunch/picnic. We went out for meals to nice restaurants all the time, but we were brought up to think that only billionaires could afford to buy a motorway cafe sandwich.

And hair conditioner. We only used a tiny blob on our thick, unruly mops as it was so precious.

Oh yes, Cornettos. They were for billionaires as well.

My parents were organic/wholefood/healthy eating fans though, so that probably informed some of it.

Chuckling at the cereal thing. We had a box of all bran for about 5 years because none of us could bear it, but it had to be completely finished before we opened anything else.

My kids make cereal cocktails with gay abandon. We have four or five boxes open in our cupboard. They all get eaten.

Child of the 60s, so food other than staples; interesting fruit and vegetables. Fancy biscuits. Putting the heating on. Having a camera. Owning more than 2 pairs of shoes(one for best) Anything frivolous.

Yes 2 pairs of shoes - black sensible shoes and a pair of plimsolls for gym. That was it.

As a child in the 1970s yogurts were a one off special dessert not something you might have for breakfast daily.

Gosh I had completely forgotten about dinner party grapes! That brings back memories!

I am dying at asking for a white Magnum. The very nerve! What happened? It would have been a mini milk in our case.

We swung between being reasonably well off and really quite broke depending on employment.
But the constants were:
Never getting lunch out - every day trip involved soggy sandwiches and a thermos.
No taxis - not that we were ever in a position to need one. My first taxi was on a company account as an 18 year old.
No fashion clothing because we wouldn't get the wear. We grew out of clothes long before they wore out and our cousins got to suffer them too.
I still struggle with lunch out, using my mobile to make a call etc. Meanwhile my parents eat lunch out fortnightly.

Appuskidu - 6" baths, you don't know you were born!. Anything more than 4" was pure frivolity. For ages I couldn't understand why people went on about showers using less water than showers until I realised that most people had baths with water deep enough to cover more than just their feet.

Also, Alpen, a luxury breakfast that apparently was really filling so you only needed a tiny bit.