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.

Branded fizzy drinks. Instead of coke and sprite it was TK Lemonade. Also my mother would never have fresh bread, always frozen so it wouldn’t go off. Which made spontaneous sandwiches impossible.

Another for Vienetta on Christmas Day and After Eights. And Stilton and those water biscuits.

Munchies (chocolates)
Ferrero Rocher (PILs still think they are special)
orange juice
Pineapple/coconut/strawberries
Chocolate gateaux
crusty bread

Oops nearly forgot Mellow Birds and Viscounts.

Carnation evaporated milk.

Mum used to buy one tin to make rice pudding for 7 and keep a little back for pouring on top.

My parents were pretty general about most things but my mum was odd about some things.

As pp said kitchen roll was to be used only very occasionally. Also, we had the same can of toilet freshwater spray the nearly 20 years I lived at home!

My mum used to make us all a cooked breakfast. We'd get one thing on toast. A half a rasher of bacon or scrambled egg made with one egg for three people. Yes my mum grew up in the war!

I remember having breakfast with now Dh and him having 2 rashers of bacon for breakfast! The decadence!

Generous not general.

Freshener not freshwater! Ffs

I don't think my parents actually told me this, but I assumed hairbrushes were expensive until I left home and needed one of my own. This was because (1) the family one was the same one throughout my childhood, and was made out of quite nice looking wood, (2) I occasionally heard of posh people giving a relative a silver or other luxury sounding hairbrush for a special birthday. I was kind of shocked at myself the first time I replaced a normal plastic hairbrush that was looking a bit tired.

We also had a special set of thick marker pens that DB and I were only allowed to use on Sunday mornings when my mum was having a lie-in. I suspect they weren't expensive at all and only lasted a long time because we weren't allowed to use them very much, but for all the fuss and ceremony over them, they might have cost £500!

Loving this thread!

Yes to the orange Juice, we used to get a pint delivered by the milkman once a week as I think there was some sort of public health suggestion on it at the time but we were only allowed a thimbleful every day at breakfast.

Only ever had Marj, not butter. Cereal was definitely rationed and to be eaten one box at a time, my nan used to buy the selection boxes of cereal when we visited her and we thought she was the best nan in the world.

Pop was bought from the milkman (?) at Xmas as well, one cola, one lime and one cherryade, and it “had to last”.

Never EVER had kitchen roll and always had a smelly damp dishcloth instead; this was in the time before antibacterial surface sprays as well so it’s a miracle we didn’t get botulism.

Dining out was once a year and we wore our best clothes and Dad used to let me drink a glass of Asti Spumante with my meal, I think I was about 10 at the time.

All hell would break loose if we every needed to buy a drink when we were out “wait until you get home” would be the request and if we did buy a bottle of something we all had to share it. Hydration wasn’t a thing in the 80’s and who remembers only ever getting a bottle of pop if you HAD to get a drink when you were out? I don’t even remember bottled water being sold. Nobody EVER drank water!

The hilarity of all of this is that my dad used to smoke 20 fags a day and on a Saturday afternoon he’d regularly take me and my bro to the pub. Whilst he was inside sinking 3 or 4 pints we were left in the car and he’d bring out a glass bottle of Dr Pepper with a straw and a bag of nice & spicy nik naks (only one each in the 3 hours we waited in the car though!) you’d be strung up for that today! (Oh and he’d drive us home after his 4 pints as well)

Heating, food, 'phone calls, new clothes and shoes. Didn't have a landline for years. Only went to the hairdresser a few times. Never had takeaways. Very occasionally went to the chip shop. Ate out at cafes occasionally every few years on holiday. Walked instead of buses.

Yet my ex parents had money for going out three times a week each. They begrudged any money spent on me, always the guilt trip.They supported me in further education and paid for driving lessons though. Hope all that money saved made them happy as they lost me. They can use it to pay for care in their old age!

I was thinking of takeaways, meals out. They were special then

My late DM's hang ups were with toilet rolls and Sellotape. I grew to dread wrapping up presents within her earshot when I was still living at home,because I would have to tear the Sellotape off really quietly. Otherwise she'd be shrieking 'Go easy on that Sellotape will you? It costs MONEY!' I think part of her issue with it was that it was first available to the public when she was quite young,about 5 or 6. So it was probably ridiculously expensive then,compared to now. Likewise with toilet rolls. She expected our family of 5 to get through only one toilet roll a week. Her favourite ploy was saying to me when I was in the loo, 'If you're just having a wee,don't flush it,I need to go. No point wasting water'. I got wise to this as she was using it as an excuse to check how much paper was down the loo! (not envy!)

Rolls, white bread, any fruit juice that was not apple or orange, muller corner yoghurt, teen magazines, menstrual pads and tampons (I was taught to use cotton wool balls).

Clothes, all my clothes until I was 12 came from charity shops. I only buy clothes once a year.

Squash, we were never allowed any flavour of squash except Robinson's apple and blackcurrant, the one that was in a 5 litre bottle. I remember sneaking a bottle of lemon squash into the trolley and my dad telling me to put it back as he wanted the nice big bottle that only he could lift.

Cafes, we would go to the cafe at Asda and that was it. Even then my parents chose what we had to drink. No choice, it was always diet coke.

Baths, we were never allowed baths, it was always a sink wash or a shower. My mum was the only one who had a bath. These days I have a lovely hot bath every day.

Tampons, I was never allowed to use them. I got given a box of Tampax when I was 11 after a sex ed class. My mum saw them and took them off me. I reckon she used them herself.

My parents weren't poor by any means, they always had money for fags and to go out on Saturday nights, they just begrudged spending money on us. Even now they plead poverty but every time I see my parents, they always show me their latest new gadget or designer handbags and shoes.

Prawns.
Orange juice - a thimble full every Sunday and my goodness how we savoured it.
Yoghurt - again another once a week treat.
Cheese.
Having more than one pair of jeans and a couple of jumpers to wear.
Sandwiches at a service station.
Haircuts by a hairdresser? Unthinkable! Mum bought a book and did it for us.
Hot water - one bath a week on a Sunday, we were greasy, smelly messes by Friday.

We basically had a 1950's childhood in the eighties.

My dbro has just reminded me about magnums. We were in the shop and he chose a white magnum and I had a cornetto. I said that he always chooses magnums. He said it was because we were never allowed them growing up because they were seen as too expensive so he always has one in summer now.

Tin foil. I still re-use mine.

Yellow dusters are special.
"We're not made of money."

Tin foil. I still re-use mine.

Yellow dusters are special.
"We're not made of money."

Sky Tv. Dad just couldn’t understand why you would pay for it? Still doesn’t but is more than happy to sit and watch it at mine if babysitting 😂.
My mum wouldn’t park at the shopping centre. Would park at a ‘pay and display’ car park about a million miles away from the shops!!

From the biscuit assortment we were allowed to have 'a plain and a fancy' i.e. a digestive/rich tea/malted milk etc and a chocolate digestive or similar. I feel a bit rebellious when I pick two chocolate biscuits from my own biscuit tin even now (my DPs didn't apply the same restrictions to their DGC's or my DGD's - pretty much can stuff themselves full of chocolate biscuits if they want to )

Babycham 🤣

I’ve read this whole thread with fascination!

Although am late to the party will add my two bob- definitely no label shoes or clothes, no cafes ever. I don’t think I went to one until I was in my 20s on a date. It was always “we’ll get a cup of tea at home”

We had not only a whole dinner set but a whole cutlery set that came out at Christmas only. Don’t bother with that myself! Who has space to store all that!

We were not poor but my DF was king of ‘make do and mend DIY’ which all looked so homemade most of the time. Everything had to be on special for him to buy it- I actually thought ‘mis-tint’ was a specific colour until I was about 12 as our whole blimmin house was painted in varying shades of ‘mis-tint”

Alpen

Swedish wizardry for bendy yoga types

Cadbury’s chocolate orange - just tap and unwrap, still only allow DS one slice a day.

One set of shite ancient fairy lights, my mum used to spend about 3 hours going through all the bulbs to find the one that had blown, it was never the white fuse bulb.

So many of these posts I can resonate with.

Cornetto and Magnums were definitely expensive ice creams, and only bought from icecream vans. Vienetta was also posh.

Fizzy drinks at Christmas and birthdays.

Lasagne was considered quite exotic.

Salmon was an expensive fish to eat.