Recently, the BuzzFeed Community who went from poor to middle class / rich shared things they used to consider "luxuries" that they've since realized are actually necessities. Here are a few more examples:
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1."Our rent comes out of my account. One week, my husband forgot to send me his half of the rent. I didn’t notice and was still able to pay the rent and have both savings and money left over. It’s brilliant and scary. I’m still nervous about spending large amounts of money in case it goes away."
2."A bra. Training bras were 'too expensive' so I got only one, which busted immediately, and so I had only tank tops to work with. I found old worn-out clothing and scavenged the elastic from it, sewed it onto my tank tops, and wore those until my teacher wrote my mom that I HAD to come to school wearing a bra from now on. Now I spend all my money on bras. And therapy, obviously."
3."Good apples! My mom always bought Red Delicious when I was growing up because they were cheap, and they are terrible. As soon as I could afford Granny Smith or Cripps Pinks, I was glad to buy better apples."
5."Being there for my kids. My husband works and I stay home with the kids. I’m here to wake them up and put them to bed. Growing up, I had an alarm by first grade and had to get myself ready for the bus because mom had already gone to work."
6."Gifts that are gifts. Every Christmas and birthday, my gifts were necessary clothes or school shoes or other necessities. I can't remember getting 'fun' gifts. I'm grateful I had winter coats, boots, etc. As an adult, a whimsical gift is a real treat."
7."Paying all your bills in the same month. I remember laying bills out and having to decide which one to pay. Electric is three months behind but water is only one month behind, so electric gets paid this month. Also, knowing I can pay the bills and still afford food. We don't have to eat instant ramen every night just to make the rent payment."
8."Being able to replace things I use every day like towels, socks, underwear, and sheets before they are completely worn out and gross. I used to feel guilty spending money on those things."
9."Glasses that fit my face and have an updated and accurate prescription. I wore the same pair of glasses from fourth grade until I graduated high school and now as an adult, I'm fanatical about my yearly eye exams and getting appropriate eyewear."
10."Pets are a HUGE luxury no one really gets. I grew up too poor to get a pet — even a few. My mum said that even a free dog still eats and gets sick. When a simple vet consultation costs upward of $200 before any treatment, I get why my mum said no pets."
11."Having a different meal every night if you want to. Don't get me wrong, I rock leftovers now, but after four nights of lasagna, then three nights of spaghetti for a good 12 years straight, it makes you want to murder people. It was cheap, it was filling, and it was easy. But I loved going to my grandma's because we got different food. At home, nope. Maybe a few times a month, we changed up, but that was it: cheap noodles, cheap cheese, and red sauce for years. I cannot stand either meal now; I refuse to touch it, make it, order it. NOPE. I'm gagging a little bit even while typing this. So yeah, having the luxury of cooking a different thing every day is something I will never get over. We do big batches of soups, stews, chili, whatever to save some cash, but it's not goddamn spaghetti or lasagna anymore!"
12."Growing up, we weren’t poor but both my families came from poor families, so they were just shy of paranoid when it came to money. Everything was cheap and every repair, we did. The first thing I did when I was on my own was to buy name-brand cereal and two-ply toilet paper. I always buy two-ply paper now because of the memories of thin, one-ply toilet paper."
13."Razors, shaving cream, and toothpaste. We would squeeze several old tubes for the last, last, LAST bit of toothpaste. This also meant that we didn’t brush our teeth before bed because it felt 'wasteful' to use toothpaste at night. We would’ve rather had it in the morning so we could brush our teeth before school."
16."When I was little, we reused grocery bags as trash bags. I didn’t even know people bought bags just for trash. We never threw toilet paper in the toilet because if it clogged, no plumber was coming. It took me decades to get enough courage to flush toilet paper down the toilet. Used toilet paper went into a very stinky garbage can that had to be emptied daily."
17."My husband and I took a trip to a state over six hours away for something we bought off Marketplace. We had a trailer loaded and everything. We blew a tire on our way back home. We were stranded five hours away from home at that point. My husband simply changed out the tire for a spare and then went to Walmart, BOUGHT a new tire, and had it balanced and everything, and he put it back on and we got home. In my past, that would've never been possible. We wouldn't have been able to afford a brand-new tire on a whim and I don't know how we would've gotten out of that situation if it happened just 10 years ago."
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