Food. Like cheap food. Have you seen the prices of Ramen these days?!
Turnover
pop up art GIF by molehillGiphy"Owning a cheap/fixer-upper house."
ravenousmind
"The house I grew up in with my poor single mother and three siblings is now worth 600k easily. It was built for poor families in the 30s, and remained for poor families until the last decade."
Walaina
Hippie High
"I hear Coachella used to be a genuine hippie love fest until it got turned into VIP Woodstock."
graeuk
"Sure it’s a corporate cash grab nowadays but it was always only a hippie love fest if you wanted it to be. The first headliners Rage Against The Machine, Tool, and Beck were hardly the hippie type. You can float around as a hippie there now just as much as you could back then."
steamy_fartbox
pricey veggies...
"Farmers markets. Used to be cheap when I was younger. Now it’s a hipsters paradise and expensive as heck."
jazzbaranova
"Around here (Italy), we have 'farmer markets' (I put it in quotes because actual farmers are a small portion of what you find there) that occur weekly, and they're still a convenient option for low income families, afaik. Did I say weekly?"
"That is only technically true: each individual farmer market occurs individually, but many medium sized towns have several of them, like one behind city hall on Mondays, one in front of the post office on Thursdays, one next to the middle school on Fridays, you get the idea. The biggest inconvenience about them is that some streets get closed on market days because of them, but you get used to their schedule and end up planning your routes around them."
Broderick512
Fashion
"Trying to find a legit thrift store here in Brooklyn, NY that isn't just old clothes at new designer prices is a pain in the @ss. Also, along the same lines as your answer: ripped jeans. It used to be ripped jeans were a cool look that you accomplish just by having jeans be old and wear out."
"But I've seen designer jeans that are 2 inches of fabric and 99% pre-designed-intentional-rips that cost more than my monthly grocery budget. Okay, looking them up they aren't actually as expensive as my monthly food cost, but still: https://abc7news.com/carmar-jeans-ripped-extreme-cut-out/3424787/"
A_Polite_Noise
Collections
Video Games Lol GIF by Robbie CobbGiphy"Used video games. It used to be where you could find used games and consoles for practically free. Nowadays they're all collector items."
Negafox
I can't believe how far prices and technology has come with video games. My Atari was crap. LOL
Vroom
"Old muscle cars. There are probably 3 dozen different cars I've had that recently either approached or passed the 100K mark. in 2018 sold a '70 Superbee before a move for 30K thinking I'd pick up another in a few years. Nope, not gonna happen. Couldn't touch the same car for less than 80."
Sleestak714
God Bless
Independence Day Usa GIF by Broad CityGiphy"Living in the country. They buy up the best farm land and buy an old tractor and a wagon wheel for decoration. They then start organizing hoas."
missymaypen
"I hate this. I'm watching this happen all around me. I feel bad for some of my neighbors who've lived peacefully for decades on their 5-10 acre plot. That is until a development company buys up land right next to them and put in 50 cookie cutter houses or low-mid income apartments."
SomethingUnique141
Less is Less
"Minimalism. 'Here in my 3 million bungalow I keep only 15 things.'"
PoorMansTonyStark
"The problem with a lot of so-called 'minimalist' thought is that those 15 things end up being hugely expensive all-in-one options. It ends up being more of wealth flex than 'here are my 50 things I actually need.'"
"I only 'need' one or two kitchen knives/pots/pans, but they have to be really freaking great knives/pots/pans that hold up to a lot more use and have a lot more utility than typical knives/pots/pans."
DeepStateofAffairs
In Person
"ComicCons used to be really reasonable, and you might have a lengthy conversation with famous people there."
"They have evolved into a massive event with various levels of admission, VIP access, and VIP seating. There are often long lineups and a high price to pay for photos and autographs with bigger superstars.When I used to go (pre-Covid), I usually just went to look at/buy art; those people were usually not very busy and would frequently sign things for free. Except if they're hulking guys like Frank Miller."
MountainHeat65
We are the...
"Champion, I remember when that would be what the 'poor' people would wear."
Middle_school_sucks1
"I remember feeling kind of mildly embarrassed by my cheap Champion sportswear as a kid that my frugal parents bought for me. They used to be a generic superstore brand. So strange they're what's fashionable now."
coolfreeusername
"It’s just absurd. My dads been wearing champion since way before I was born in ‘98. He has socks from the early 2000s and sweatshirts/pants from the mid ‘90s. Paid probably $10-15 then, for a $85 sweatshirt now."
NoTalkImGaming
U still around?
Punk Rock 80S GIFGiphy"Punk rock."
Themanfromtumbuktu
"I didn’t even know punk existed anymore. I haven’t heard anything about it in many, many, many years."
yippykiay13
State Concern
"Living in Washington State."
AdamBombKelley
"That State instills trauma in me. You're driving through Canada, no traffic. Hit Bellingham, then Seattle, Tacoma, then Olympia, all those big cities around Seattle, and man. An 8hr trip to see my grandma down in Vancouver Washington turns into 10-12hrs. The road through Yakima is beautiful though."
rambam14
At Costco
"Topo Chico."
forest172002
"I used to go to the Hispanic supermarket for it. Now it’s available at Costco and I’m concerned over the mineral spring in Monterrey being able to supply enough to satisfy the demand."
xampl9
"There is a big drought right now in Monterrey and there are shortages of the water supply for most of the city, but Coca Cola (Topo Chico) is still exploiting the wells for their products."
atrey1
Flipped
"Buying an old junk house and fixing it up yourself. They do it purely to turn a profit, I wanna do it to have a nice place of my own to live without working my life away to pay for an overpriced 'flipped house' or a shi**y built new house. Every old house I ever bid on, I got outbidded by a flipper. To hell with them."
DaZozz
Housing
"Living in a van."
human_paper_shredder
"Thank you! I feel really bad for the people that can't afford housing and are living on the streets because rich people turned it into a social statement driven by Instagram models."
gogopassive
"Hey, to be fair, it's just as cheap now to do it as it's always been, just can't expect luxury. I lived in a 94 GMC Safari for 8 months when I got out of the military last year til I got my house. Cheap as hell."
WyldeFae
The Menu
"Foods. Certain foods, cuts of meats, grains, etc used to be dirt cheap and are now so highly priced that the people who relied on them to feed families can no longer afford it. (Cow tongue is a great example. My mom used to cook it regularly because it was cheap to purchase and you could make a variety of dishes with it. Now it is so expensive it is kind of extravagant)."
Geauxnad337
Being Country
Happy Dance GIF by Fort Wayne TinCapsGiphy"I would say country culture or being country. Nowadays you’ve got rich frat boys in fully loaded $70,000 trucks their parents bought them chewing tobacco and driving down the road tailgating other cars while listening to Florida Georgia Line… And that’s apparently what ‘country’ amounts to these days."
jonahvsthewhale
It's Cheap
"Polenta! It used to be so cheap! It's just cornmeal! I can make some amazing meals out of it. Now, it is hard to find it as anything but expensive imported stuff."
Viperbunny
"Polenta is just grits. Here in the American south it’s very cheap and very available."
exitosa
Poultry Prices
"Chicken wings."
ATD1981
"Some places are starting to put 'market price' on their menus for wings. I've lived in one place long enough to see the local dive bar go from 5 cent wing specials to 10 cent, to 15 cent, to 50 cent, to 'have you tried our boneless wings?'"
GreatStateOfSadness
"My dad owned a restaurant in the 90s and told me stories about how his butcher would offer him 10lb bags of wings for free when he bought a certain amount of breasts, but he'd usually decline because they'd just go to waste."
patlaska
Money really does ruin everything. Even being poor.
