What do you think of as luxuries?

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.

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.

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.

You're making me laugh MawB.
lol

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.

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

Food



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

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

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

Business or first class flights - esp. long haul night flights with flat beds.
I wouldn't consider a car or a dishwasher a luxury nowadays. Nor central heating, though it certainly seemed like a massive luxury when we had it installed when I was maybe 14.

An automatic washing machine would have been a great luxury to my mother when I was a child in the 50s/early 60s.

A granny (who had 5 children) once told me that she'd asked her own mother (10 children) how on earth she'd managed without a pram.
'I used my arms.'
I dare say a pram would have been a luxury to her, never mind any sort of washing machine.
Different times...

A car isn’t really considered as a luxury these days ( although a brand new car may be.)
Ditto CH and washing machines and a phone.
Ice cream was considered a luxury in our house when growing up.Had to be bought from the shop, rushed back to the house before the block melted.Chocolate digestives were a luxury back then too, as were all the things mentioned at the start of this post.
I think of holidays in five star hotels as luxuries ( and appreciate them when I can get them.)?
Clean sheets? Nope, I could have them every day ( as could most of us) if I was prepared to do that every day, bu as it is, I change them about every five days.
very expensive clothes would also be a luxury.

I never passed my driving test so haven't had a car since my DH died so a car is a luxury to me. I do miss it.
We got Washing machine, central heating and phone when I was early teens but lots of people did not have them then so were a luxury but now they are normal.
A cleaner would be a luxury. Holidays are still a luxury to me though not for most people.

Petra happy to share the jet, but now Ryanair are flying out of “our local airport” it is not so exclusive ?

I love clean sheets too. Some things are borderline luxuries (or is that cheating?)
It seems a shame to me that things we once considered luxuries are now taken completely for granted: holidays, a daily shower, meat every day, TV and car.

Then there are other things which we used to take for granted where now our youngsters do not have such freedom. I am thinking of the visas to enter certain countries, all the admin and redtape before you go anywhere and how they have to take out loans to attend university when we had grants.

And just now I was told the price to hire a graduation gown - £40 for one day. The girl thinks she won't attend. Is that a luxury?

I would like all the bedding changed &laundered by someone else too.
Also to be able to help grandchildren get a foot on the property ladder.

The closest bus stop is 3.5 miles away so a car is a necessity for us. Having said which, I have a very nice car which is definitely a luxury when a smaller, cheaper model would do the same job.

I give thanks every day of winter for CH, having grown up in an icebox of a house and having not had CH in other houses since.

A bar of good quality soap is still a luxury to me, I always appreciate gifts of same!

One thing which is no longer a luxury is having chicken to eat. I remember my mum only buying a chicken as a special treat. They were too expensive for every day eating. Same with tomatoes, which we take for granted now.

Hmmm. Although I DO have a mobile phone (somewhere - grandson has lost it), I do see them as a luxury although I know most don't, as is my iPad.

Car is necessity to get to work. Although I once managed for 6 months without one, because I lived in a village with a train station. And it was nice doing without the expense of a car.

Peace and quiet is a luxury to me these days. Although seeing my grandson everyday is luxurious too, even though he's the one I need peace and quiet to recover from!

A gym membership would be a nice luxury. I can't afford the one I used to go have and miss it.

Fresh flowers are a luxury. Not necessarily those I could buy for myself, but bought FOR me.

A cleaner. Had one for a couple of years and coming home to a clean and tidy house twice a week was BLISS.

Have always had a car in house, washing machine central heating and a phone. To me they are essentials.

Didn’t LIFE exist before then GabriellaG ?

A cruise every year and a round the world one one day .

My own Lear jet. Parked 15 mins away at Southend airport.

I can remember our first dishwasher, I considered it a real luxury.
They are now standard even in student accommodation apparently!
Having cupboards full of wine/alcohol not just buying it for special occasions.
Diptique candles and bath oil.
Having a choice of outfits for special occasions.
My cleaning lady.
Lots of weekends away and 3/4 holidays a year.
I consider myself so lucky.
Our early years of marriage were tough financially but we are now more than okay.
I used to only have a weeks worth of food in the house, I budgeted well.
Wine was for birthdays, Christmas etc and the phone bill was always dreaded?.

I don’t see a car as a necessity, but it depends where you live. Holidays are definitely a luxury - holidays away from home, I mean. A break from work is a necessity.

When I was a child (1940s/50s) we had a car and a phone, but I was 18 before we got central heating, and then only downstairs. We survived, so central heating is a luxury - though one I would not care to be without now.

I agree about clean sheets.