Stephanie Barnes
When you grow up having very little, the most basic thing can look and feel like a luxury. If someone grew up having one pair of shoes then it would be easy for them to assume that someone is rich because they have multiple pairs. Obviously, this isn’t usually the case but perspective is shaped by our experiences.
In a recent Reddit thread, people are discussing the haves and the have-nots while sharing the things they associate with wealth.
The answers range from little things, like having that huge box of crayons with the sharpner in the back, to more serious things. Some people linked being able to attend college, not worry about food, and being able to fill the gas tank as signs of being wealthy.
Here are 20 things people who grew up poor associate with being rich.
1. Having ALL needs met
Being able to buy something you need without having to ask yourself how badly you need it.
2. Disneyland
Going to Disneyland.
3. “Filling your gas tank up all the way rich…”
That was the rich I wanted to be. Comfortable. Also not having to do math in the grocery store to see what food you can buy. I hated that. I wanted to just go buy necessities like gas and food without worrying. Proud to say that now I usually fill my gas tank all the way and don’t do math when buying groceries.
4. New furniture
Going to a store to pick out furniture. Like, actually buying NEW stuff, not just taking whatever you can find at thrift stores or garage sales. That seems so luxurious!
5. Fancy refrigerators
Those fridges with the water dispenser on it.
6. Ignorance
Not knowing EXACTLY how much money you have at any given time.
7. Getting a car at 16
Parents buying a car for your 16th birthday.
8. Moving men
Hiring moving men. Especially if they’re the ones who pack all your shit for you, too.
So many times, I would borrow a friend’s pickup (and buy my friend’s help with offers of pizza and beer) to move from one shitty place to another.
For my most recent move, my wife and I packed everything, but hired professionals to load and unload it. I felt like a king.
9. Summer camp
Kids that went to summer camp. I got sent to long-distant family and worked on family farm.
10. Hiring help
Hiring people to either cook, clean, mow the grass or do snow removal in the winter.
11. Brands, brands, brands…
I don’t remember ever having name brand items, food or clothing. It was all generic Kmart. I bought my son a pair of Nike shoes and thought I felt rich for doing so.
12. Routine checkups
Regular doctor’s office visits or seeing a dentist at all for anything other than an emergency.
13. Crayons, you know the ones…
Having the crayons that have the sharpener built into the box.
14. Dessert, anyone?
Getting an appetizer and/or dessert at a restaurant in addition to an entree.
15. Not having debt collectors
This! I remember multiple occasions where my mum would run into the living room, turn everything off frantically and tell us to hide until she said we could come out. People would knock and look through the windows etc. And eventually leave and i never really thought about that until fairly recently. Was 100% debt collection and my mum not being able to pay.
16. Duvets!
Knowing what a duvet cover is and owning one. I remember when my wife and I were newlyweds and she was telling me how we needed a duvet cover for our bed. I had no clue what a duvet cover was prior as I always thought people just purchase sheets and/or the big ass blankets with the lion/tiger prints. Suffice to say, my mind was blown away.
17. Indifference
I realized what real wealth meant in high school when we cleaned up trash from a creek and the rich kids wore their Polo shirts, Guess jeans, and Jordan’s because if they were trashed they simply would get new. The poor kids wore their grubby clothes they do labor in.
Wealth is shown most acutely by indifference, nothing matters because money will fix it and there is plenty enough to fill black holes.
18. Showers
Showing my age but having a shower in your house. Back in the day only people with money had showers, we all only had baths.
19. Heat
Have the heating on in the winter.
20. College
Despite the amount of financial aid some people in poverty can get, the debt, no matter how much smaller it may be, will still strangle you until there is nothing left.
Especially when you’re already in a financial class that already struggles with paying for food. That is one of the reasons I never personally bothered going to college; because I knew there was no way I would be able to pay it off without killing myself in the process.
