A Reddit thread asked people who grew up poor to name what they once thought was a luxury. The answers keep coming back to simple things: new clothes, butter, Pokemon cards, McDonald’s, and being picked up from school. Each story carries the same quiet weight of memory.
The post on r/AskReddit was titled “People that grew up being poor, what did you believe was a luxury?” It drew 2,900 comments as of publication. The first answer was direct: new clothes.
New Clothes as a Luxury
One commenter explained that they got all their clothes from four older cousins, passed down through them. The clothes were worn, random, and outdated. That hand-me-down chain shaped how they dressed, and how they saw themselves.
“The worst for me was when all the kids had Starter jackets, and my mom found my winter jacket in the garbage of the house across the street from school.”
The jacket was bright neon colors, and all the kids had seen it in the trash bin. Then the user showed up to school wearing it. Twelve-year-olds can be cruel.
Butter and Margarine
Butter itself became a marker of wealth for some commenters. One user ate margarine at home and thought real butter meant a family was rich. They remembered eating it at a relative’s house and deciding the family must be doing well.
“When I got my first big adult paycheck, I bought real butter,” the user wrote. Another added that they grew up on margarine and Miracle Whip. As a kid, mayo felt wrong, and butter tasted strange. They’ve since changed their mind, though they still keep Miracle Whip around for certain dishes.
Pokemon Cards and McDonald’s
Pokemon cards came up as a luxury in the answers. One commenter said they used to assume friends with Pokemon cards and regular trips to McDonald’s had rich parents. For them, getting a Happy Meal was a treat.
“My parents didn’t take us to McDonald’s until later on in life; I was probably 12,” the user wrote.
Getting Picked Up From School
Being picked up from school came up as a luxury for some commenters. One noted that simply being picked up at all was the rare thing. Another recalled walking home a few times because they were forgotten, on roads that weren’t safe for children to travel alone.
“The walk was a few hours long on roads that you shouldn’t be walking on. This is real,” they wrote.
Ferrero Rocher
Ferrero Rocher appeared in the comments as a luxury item. One commenter said they got hired as an executive in an investment fund and still wouldn’t buy it because it was too expensive. Another remembered their grandfather buying it for them as a child, but they couldn’t bring themselves to eat it because it felt too special.
What These Stories Show
These stories aren’t funny in the way jokes land. They’re funny in the way memory lands: a small detail, told honestly, that carries a whole world with it. The thread is full of people remembering what it felt like to see other kids as rich.
| Item | Luxury Marker |
|---|---|
| New clothes | Hand-me-downs from older cousins |
| Butter | Eaten at a relative’s house |
| Pokemon cards | Owned by friends assumed to have rich parents |
| McDonald’s | Happy Meals as a treat |
| Being picked up from school | Not done at all |
Why the Thread Matters
The thread isn’t about poverty. It’s about the texture of growing up poor, the small markers that told you where you stood. New clothes, butter, Pokemon cards, McDonald’s, and being picked up from school — none of these are expensive on their own. But together they build a picture of a childhood spent noticing what others had that you didn’t.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in this post. The details reflect the account shared on r/AskReddit.
The Quiet Humor of Memory
What stays with you from a story like this isn’t the hardship. It’s the specific detail that made it real: the neon jacket in the trash, the hours of walking on roads that weren’t safe for children to travel alone, the card game that marked a friend as richer than you ever could be.
These are small stories. But they’re the kind of stories that stick with you, the ones you tell years later and find yourself smiling at.
Source material: “These Simple Things Made Reddit Users Feel Like Other Kids Were Rich,” The Daily Dot.
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