What do you think of as luxuries?

All the everyday things we have are luxuries.
Beds, clean running water, freedom to express what we think..

Food

I suppose TV would be a luxury to me, since I don't have one. But the reason I don't have one is because I wouldn't watch it so... maybe not.

Food



Isn’t that an essential?
Or are you saying we didn’t have any back in the day?

I would have to agree with clean bed linen every single day, that would be a luxury, everything else mentioned I have.

Someone to do all the cleaning.

Being able to turn over in the morning and go back to sleep, I have to get up because of daughter`s carer coming.

A holiday.

You're making me laugh MawB.
lol

We have a secure roof over our head, enough money to eat and drink reasonably well and keep ourselves comfortably clothed.

I did not have this as a child, so I consider anything above and beyond these basics, to be luxuries. I was born in a house without electricity or an indoor loo. My brother and I could not believe the luxury of these amenities when we moved into a spanking new council house when I was six. Money was always very tight.

Even now, I can scarcely believe that I have my own house, car, dishwasher, washing machine, the occasional foreign holiday etc.
I have never, and never will, take these things for granted.
DH and I have worked hard for what we have, but then so did my parents.

I remember my dear mum doing the washing in a copper, doing hand washing until her hands were sore and then using a mangle. A washing machine would have been a luxury to her. My elder brother bought her a second hand twin tub when he started work.
Birthday and Christmas presents were a luxury as we didn't have toys bought us during the rest of the year.
The Christmas dinner and tea was a luxury. Mums home made sherry trifle with walnuts on the top. She only ever made that at Christmas. Not that I knew at the time, I'd be too young, but we had one of our 'pet' chickens for Christmas dinner. . That's the only time during the year we had chicken for dinner. My eldest brother bought our first turkey.
My youngest sister and I used to save up our pocket money and then have what we called a feast. My dad used to go to the shop after Sunday dinner and we used to write a list of goodies that we wanted. A Walls Heart ice cream lolly each, grapes, crisps, chocolate and sweets. Now that was a luxury.
Central heating would have been a luxury instead of a coal fire and a paraffin heater at the top of the stairs. Fitted carpet instead of lino and mats.
We had our first colour television in 1972. No telephone, no car.
That was then. Thankfully we have all these mod cons for an easier life.
I don't crave for expensive luxuries. I have no interest in holidays abroad, cruises, designer clothes, cars, expensive perfumes, or anything that costs lots of money.
Luxury to me is 'me time' family time, the peace and quiet just gardening and pottering around. The countryside. Anywhere away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.

Big, fluffy towels are a luxury for me. (Remembering my childhood when all towels seemed to be small, thin and non-absorbent - and when they were considered to be beyond their best, were then cut up to be used as flannels.)

Hot water from a shower!

Central heating (when I was a child we had ice on the inside of windows!)

Oh, so many things are a luxury for me.

message sharon103 Wed 30-Oct-19 00:02:47
You're making me laugh MawB
lol
Why? I was quoting Pauline53

Anything that isn't a necessity is a luxury-

Most Americans live beyond their means partially because wages have remained low for decades while the cost of living has consistently risen -

Overall household debt has risen for 20 straight quarters- Mortgage debt is also on the rise- Americans are currently carrying more debt than they did in 2008-

Delinquency is also on the rise with student loans at the top of the list and mortgages second -

If you define luxury as 'something non-essential' then anything which makes life easier isn't a luxury.

Even a holiday could be classed as a necessity if you are exhausted.

I have lots of luxuries if some of the above ideas are really luxuries.

For instance I can have a shower every day and in summer, in 30+º heat, often 2 or 3.

And I have an automatic washing machine these days.

But I was 33 with two children, one a baby in cloth nappies before I had any sort of washing machine at all.
For 12 years, I'd trodden all my laundry in the bath. Mum bought me a twin tub.

I don't have central heating; I live alone but don't have TV; I don't have my car any longer and I miss that very much as it means I am often housebound and stir crazy .

Luxuries when I was a child? I don't really know.

Going to the Pantomime at Christmas?

We only had play clothes and a set for best but so did everyone else, not whole wardrobes of stuff like now.

I remember the neighbours going to Butlins which I thought a great luxury - a holiday with someone to cook and clean for you - magic. At least for my Mum.

Mum said she wouldn't be seen dead in such a common place (and implied, with common people) as Butlins but I still see the holiday camp idea as a godsend for hard-working Mums to get a week of rest.

Business class travel, 5* hotels (haven’t stayed in many), good champagne, a Louis Vuitton handbag.

As I was thinking this through, I was reminded of my lovely mother’s cooking. She died more than 40 years ago.
This is not strictly in the spirit of the thread, but the loveliest, happiest, most self indulgent thing I can think of would be my mother’s delicious Sunday lunch, with my parents and sister (all passed away many years ago) all sitting around the table.

I would trade a Louis Vuitton handbag for that ... any day of the week !

When we were young ice cream was a great treat. My mother would send us to the shops for a block of Walls raspberry ripple.

Now we have it in the freezer when we fancy it.

Having enough money to pay for all these things mentioned is a luxury----without worrying !

We can now all go out and purchase a 'fridge, washing machine, cooker should they break down, instead of either putting so much away from wages or waiting for pay day.

These things really are taken for granted, without thinking.

My life could be improved if I could go back and make sure I didn't accumulate clutter and junk along the way. It's those overfull attics and basements that make life depressing. It's not something that can't be remedied though.

Otherwise I consider a nice hot shower a luxury, but thats about it.

So I'm switching off this tablet now and getting on with today's clearout job!

Reading this thread has made me realise how far, in my lifetime, we have come in terms of creature comforts.
My childhood home had an outside toilet, no hot water on tap, one room for a whole family and there was no such thing as white goods.
My luxury would also be fresh crisp bed linen daily provided by the housekeeping fairies.

Being able to have the disposable income to treat our DGCs when they are somewhat "stretched" taking my family out for Christmas Day lunch so I don't have to spend the day in the kitchen.
Having a car has never been a luxury for us but we did struggle having two to maintain yrs ago when we both needed one for work and school runs,now we have downsized over the past 20 odd years we are so much better off financially.
EV How easy is it having a shop on our doorstep which can supply white goods on the day they break down my washing machine broke down at 10am one day and they had a new one fitted in by 3pm,that is a luxury I think.

MamaCaz asks us what we consider a luxury today / something we didn't have or occasionally have when younger.

So whilst I could say a luxurious car or a helicopter, it would have to be a home that is warm throughout the day. I remember waking up with ice on the inside of the windows.

Second would be an inside toilet. I stayed at my grans a lot and she only had an outside toilet but there was a 'potty' under the bed.

I must say that I don't see a mobile phone as a luxury any more. Once you've bought the phone you can have unlimited calls and texts for only £5 a month with Smarty (no contract). The basic package is £7.50 but I never use it for the internet and the cost of calls and texts is only £5. Back in the day phone calls were very expensive and a phone was a luxury (we didn't have one until the 1960s).

If I think back to when we were first married in '71 every single thing we have today would have been considered a luxury. We didn't have a TV, central heating (or any heating!) to start with, a washing machine or a telephone - I had to run to the nearest phone box 8 months pregnant when my son drank some bleach! No car until my eldest son was 7. My husband once walked from his mother's to our house which was about 2 miles carrying a sewing machine! Although we aspired to many things back then we were happy enough and appreciated everything we have managed to achieve over the years.

Luxury today would probably be a first class long haul flight but as we don't holiday it's not something we need.

I'd like to add to what I wrote up-thread: security.
The security of knowing my home is my own, that I can't be made homeless at the whim of a landlord. Far too many people don't have that luxury and I am grateful every day for my good fortune.

A luxury is having help with cleaning and help with gardening.