Luxury vs Necessity

[Khan]

Me, age < 60 grew up in rural Canada. We did have a phone (party line, hand crank, unusable in thunderstorms, carried on wire strung along the fence line). Running water was a hand pump in the kitchen, indoor plumbing was a drain pipe from the kitchen sink to the ground outside. We did have a car (lived 5 miles from the nearest town and 2 from nearest neighbour), a horse and a couple of 2-ton farm trucks. We used the trucks to haul water from our nearest neighbour's well as we didn't have one.

Got running water and electricity in 1959. We were far from the last to get these luxuries.

Maybe that's why I don't have sat TV, cell phone, flat TV or ipod. While we could easily afford these, we just have never wanted them.

I recall when Father's parents got indoor toilet/shower somewhere in late 50s.

 

[kumquat]

I recall when Father's parents got indoor toilet/shower somewhere in late 50s.

While I'm sure it was unintended, you make me feel old.

 

[NW-Bound]

If kumquat is less than 60, then Khan is the same age. Was the rural Canada development that much behind the rural US? Perhaps it was just the individual locality.

I am just glad I grew up in the suburbs of big cities and was spared the hardship of no running water and indoor plumbing. Lack of everything else would be a mere inconvenience. We did not have even B&W TV until the mid 60s. Kids now probably think high-speed Internet and wireless phones are inalienable rights written into the Constitution, or at least an amendment.

 

[jimnjana]

This topic really gets to the core of the financial problem so many people are in today. The inability to make the difficult choices between what is really needed and what they want and or can afford.

Jim

 

[FinanceDude]

Necessity:

1)2 cars
2)Broadband Internet connection
3)Cellphone
4)Microwave
5)Dishwasher
6)Computer (home and work)
7)Washer and dryer
8)Central A/C and furnace

Luxury:

1)Cable/Satellite TV
2)LCD large screen TV
3)Ipod
4)Game system (Wii, XBox PS3)
5)Blackberry or Iphone
6)Fishing boat

 

[ls99]

Virtually everything I have is a luxury.

Having grown up in a three room house ( a luxury back there) with concrete floors, a cookstove that served as a heater. Where the pee bucket would be a solid chunk of ice by morning in wintertime. Yet we had 3 foot thick down bedcover to keep warm overnight while soundly asleep. In the morning I'd drag my clothe in under the the cover to thaw them and put them on still in bed, then crawl our from under the cover.

A properly drafty outhouse. Water carried in buckets from the community well head a few hundred yards up the road, cellar which was living space for my parents during the war, later served as a sort of refrigerator at a convenient constant 50 degrees F.

As a kid I never knew any different thus did not feel deprived.

First introduced to TV at age 15, which we used to watch at the local police snitche's house, who was the only one in the neighborhood rich enough and politically allowed to buy. We did have a one tube radio which I made at about age 8, the marvel of watching that one tube light up come to light and sound coming out of the surplus army headphone is still in my mind. This was a huge improvement over the galena crystal/cat whisker (wire) with never knowing what radio station would be tuned, often in a foreing language, burt the music was truly diverse, depending on what country's station happened to get tuned in.

So running water, indoor plumbing, car, motorcycle, readuliy available fruits and veggies year around to mention a few are true luxuries. Even today.

 

[tuixiu]

I've got all of 'em except an ipod.

 

[Khan]

Virtually everything I have is a luxury.

Having grown up in a three room house ( a luxury back there) with concrete floors, a cookstove that served as a heater. Where the pee bucket would be a solid chunk of ice by morning in wintertime. Yet we had 3 foot thick down bedcover to keep warm overnight while soundly asleep. In the morning I'd drag my clothe in under the the cover to thaw them and put them on still in bed, then crawl our from under the cover.

A properly drafty outhouse. Water carried in buckets from the community well head a few hundred yards up the road, cellar which was living space for my parents during the war, later served as a sort of refrigerator at a convenient constant 50 degrees F.

As a kid I never knew any different thus did not feel deprived.

...

I think that's it: whatever you grew up with was normal.

I was sent out to dig through the snow drifts to bring firewood into the house, took food and water to chickens/cows/pigs, gathered eggs, gleaned & gathered, on cold nights (upstate NY) I slept with my sister and my brother slept with a cat or two...

Seems primitive, but we had food and shelter and were not abused.

My present existence seems deprived to some, but it's much more luxurious than my childhood.