When you think of the word “luxury,” you might also think of fancy cars, big yachts , and designer brands. But there are a lot of luxuries out there that used to just be normal things .
Redditors decided to share some things that used to be pretty normal , but are now pretty much luxuries few can really afford (or are just not as widely available as they used to be).
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“Products without a monthly subscription.” – labadee
It’s gotten to the point where you basically don’t own any kind of media anymore, you just subscribe to services that let you watch or use them (until they decide to remove them from the service).
“Activities! Carnivals, parks, festivals, etc..” – Ekatsoya
“Last time I went to a carnival it was $40 per person, more if you bought the ticket the day of. Renfaire here is over $60 for the entry fee.”
“They were never cheap but they were affordable ways to interact with your local community and spend time with family/friends.”
“Now there isn’t really much you can do without a steep entry fee…”
Not to mention the price for carnival food absolutely skyrocketed.
“A single-income household that owns a home, a car, and can go on yearly family vacations.” – fuzzypickles999
The Simpsons used to really represent that American dream and nuclear family. But this concept is pretty unattainable for the average person nowadays.
“Uninterrupted videos.” – leylalopez92
A lot of creators make money off YouTube, which means that they stick ads into their videos. Which is pretty annoying, but also kind of necessary.
As long as the ads aren’t, like, full movies or anything.
“In America, we used to have starter homes. A home so cheap a single young person’s salary could move him in.” – HPmoni
Another user added, “All the starter homes in my area have been flipped adding second stories on top.”
But the issue is that land costs are higher.
“Have a product that lasts MANY years.” – LE__guardian
“Not for a lack of resources of the great companies , but it is much more profitable to make a product that lasts a few years and make people go after another product of yours.”
“Luggage on flights.” – PrincessPeach1229
“Now your ticket incudes just the seat your ass occupies. Luggage? That’s extra.”
To be fair, flying in itself is kind of a luxury (especially internationally). But they definitely seem to price gouge you more than they used to.
“Full product software and games.” – Remcee0403
“Wild how quickly we went from buying finished products in boxes with instructions to digital purchases of half a game with 10GB day-one patches and the option to buy the rest or wait a year for the GOTY edition,” another Redditor said.
“Basic, heavy, REAL wood furniture.” – Misseskat
“Now don’t get me wrong, I love the simplicity of IKEA, I was just there on Sunday and had a ball, but [expletive] me it seems the whole world is particle board now -even high end crap from West Elm.”
“Being able to pay living expenses and have money left over.” – logyonthebeat
Around half of Americans spend more than 30% of their income on housing (with about a quarter spending at least half of theirs). And that’s before phone bills, entertainment of any kind, food, clothing, and transportation.
“Water in SoCal. Some people still don’t realize it and sadly keep watering their lawns while simultaneously complaining about their water bills.” – Redditujer
Where I live, it rains enough that you don’t need to water your lawn. And yet, people still do.
Why do we even have lawns filled with grass?
“Lobster used to be poor mans food.” – eam2468
“In her childhood my mother talked to an old man who had been poor in his youth. He told her how he would wait until the middle of the night to go throw his lobster shells into the sea, so that no one would know he had to resort to eating lobster.”
“Oysters, too.” – Due_Significance_874
It’s funny how oysters and lobster used to be things that you could get for cheap, but are now the kinds of things you’d expect at an expensive Hollywood dinner party or something.
“Food. Literally just food.” – starr_das_hund
“[Expletive]’s getting expensive and hoarders take it all and let it go bad.”
$100 at the grocery store used to feed a family of four for a couple weeks. Now it’s barely enough for meals for one or two people.
“Unmediated time.” – Alternative_Grape_18
They went on to say, “It’s at the core of the shift in how humans live their lives. Almost every waking moment of our day is being mediated by this or that institution, we’re under constant surveillance.”
“We experience the world via screens and willingly share our thoughts, movements, buying habits, finances, etc….”
“…with faceless and unaccountable corporations and government institutions that track, collect and sell our lives as data.
So yeah, unmediated time, which used to be the default state of being human, is now a luxury.”
“Pensions.” – Judicator82
“Now all the advice is to basically give the big corporations all of your money and hope to live off the dividends of the money they make.”
Don’t make me think about retirement right now…
“Trucks. When I was growing up trucks were dependable, barebones vehicles driven by contractors, landscapers, and farmers.” – SgtSharki
“They had minimal options, were used mostly for hauling stuff and were very uncomfortable if you were a passenger.”
“Now, they come with heated seats, plush interiors, and glossy paint jobs and cost a fortune.”
“In a generation, they went from affordable working man transports to massive luxury vehicles for suburban dads.”
It’s so true! Why do so many people own trucks, when most of them don’t actually need one?
