When we think of the word luxury, we might conjure up images of mansions, high-thread-count sheets or designer handbags. We probably don’t picture something as simple as walking to our kitchen to get a glass of water.
But for many people, even here in the U.S., having filtered drinking water pouring out of a spout in your home is a luxury.
Merriam-Webster defines a “luxury” as “something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary.” Water is a necessity. Having it always available a few steps from wherever you’re sitting is not. And there are many things that we think of as basics, simply because we’ve always had them, that others live without and would consider a luxury.
Someone on Reddit asked, “What’s a luxury that many people don’t realize is a luxury?” and the answers are making people feel grateful for things they might have taken for granted.
Drinkable water straight from the tap
Let’s start with the most basic one, which isn’t basic at all when you think about it.
“My graduate advisor (in the southeastern USA) taught a class on edible invertebrates, they would learn about a group of invertebrate animals each week and then eat them. The very first week he gave each student a glass of tap water and had them drink it. Then he told them that they were in a small percentage of people worldwide who could do what they just did and not have to worry about ingesting any number of critters. I TA’d that class the next year and it was pretty fun, although the pickled jellyfish was absolutely foul to me. 25 years later and I still remember that lesson.”
“Exactly! Just turning on any faucet and being able to drink the water. I don’t think people realize how much of the world still has to walk somewhere to get water, and then has to make it safe to drink.”
“Or the places that have tap water but still have to boil it anyways. People really don’t realize how lucky they are to turn on a tap and have water they can drink without taking extra steps to not get sick or die.”
Hot water on demand
The fact that we are able to adjust our water temperature to whatever we want it to be on demand? Incredible.
“I’m a plumber and we occasionally get calls on the weekend with people literally panicking because they don’t have hot water. ‘I have a sink full of dishes, I don’t know what I’m going to do helllllp.’ I think about people in other parts of the world surviving just fine without hot water, or even running water for that matter.”
“Yep as a kid we didn’t have a hot water heater , mom had a huge pot she would boil on the stove and then dump that in the bathtub. I think I was about 8 when at a Friend’s house in town they had running hot water. It blew me away, how cool is this.”
“My hot water heater stopped working today and I laughed at myself as I dramatically hyped myself up before rinsing shampoo out of my hair. I wouldn’t have made it 200 years ago…”
Good health
The often overlooked one that’s probably the most important one of all.
“Most people absolutely do not appreciate the value of having good health until it gets taken away from them.”
“Yeah, being able to just get on with your life without worrying about a chronic illness is definitely a luxury. Hell it’s one many would trade being born in a 1st world country for.”
“As someone who gets a new autoimmune disease every 7-10 years, this one is number one for me. It’s changed the trajectory of everything I ever wanted to do with my life.”
“I kinda hate that I took it for granted – until I got sick. Well, I was born with a genetic disorder, but it didn’t affect me (or was known about) until I was 40. Now I’m 50 and spend 90% of my days in bed. But I have had a fun and fulfilling life before that, I’m extremely grateful for that.”
Laundry machines
Miraculous. (And yet we still complain about doing laundry, don’t we?)
“The apartment I’m living in now has an in-unit washer AND dryer. It’s amazing. I can throw a load in, no worrying about quarters or getting it switched over before someone else tries to use it. No carrying laundry baskets to the apartment basement, no one stealing my laundry or tide pods.”
“Yup. I lived in a rural area of Brazil for a while. We used buckets to wash our clothes then line dried.”
“Soooo true. The amount of time it saves?? You can throw a load in and leave the house. Or do another chore. Or anything you want. It’s amazing.”
“The invention of the washing machine led to an average reduction in house work by women of 8 hours per week, effectively adding a full workday for women to be able to do different things. This helped to accelerate women’s rights.”
Shopping for groceries without checking prices
If you’ve never had to take a calculator to the grocery store, consider yourself lucky.
“This is when I realized I was doing ok. When I went shopping or out to eat and never looked at or worried about the prices.”
“I feel this. There were times I used to sit outside of the store and just cry, wondering how I would get enough food for the week. I used a calculator meticulously to make sure I wouldn’t be embarrassed at checkout. At times I ate nothing but sandwiches (thanks to the bread outlet!) and ramen noodles. My then-partner and I would share one grilled cheese and one can of soup for a nice weekend meal. Going out was incredibly rare. Only birthdays, really, and then we shared food. Now, I never forget those times because I am blessed enough that I can eat whatever food I want. I can afford all of the bills AND gas for my car. I can pay for car repairs instead of just hoping it works each day. I regularly help out those less fortunate and donate to the local mission, food pantry, and directly to students in need at my school. I give stuff away for free vs selling it on Marketplace. Don’t ever, ever, ever, forget how others live. It’s humbling to go through, but without the struggle we can’t fully appreciate the easier times.”
“When I read this I realized this has never been a possibility for me. I don’t know why it surprised me so much I guess because I’m just used to it. I can’t recall even one time that I’ve gone to the grocery store that I didn’t have to plan every penny. When I watch those weird restocking videos, I don’t feel jealousy as much as horror. My brain immediately goes to how much each one of those things costs and what else they’re giving up to have them. Probably because if I did that, I wouldn’t have a place to live or a car.”
Being able to publicly call the leader of the country an idiot with no consequences from the government
Some say free speech is not a luxury but a right. But let’s not get stuck on semantics.
“This is the winner. It blows me away when I see people advocate publicly for rolling back free speech while they disparage government leaders in the same breath. The lack of awareness is insane.”
“German here. Took me a while to truly grasp that. My parents always had some mean caricatures of politicians hanging on the walls.
Then I became friends with a Syrian refugee and took him to a barbecue at my parents place.
He saw a brutal caricature of Angela Merkel in the dining room and immediately pulled me to the side to ask me if this isn’t dangerous to have at home. I laughed at first till I realized he was very serious and even a little afraid that there could be consequences for him for hanging with people who openly make fun of the German government.”
“This is so true. In Argentina we had a period where you’d be met with firearms if you were caught speaking badly of the government or known to be against it. Some ppl still think we were better off back then.”
Open minded, loving, supportive parents
Those who have them may not realize what a huge difference good parents makes.
“This is the single most prolific factor in determining a child’s success in developed countries, in my opinion. And by success, I don’t just mean material success. I mean emotionally and relationally, as well as their career path.
I did a paper in college specifically about the outcomes of families with and without involved parents. The statistics are frightening. It cannot be understated how important supportive parents are for a child’s development and life outcome.”
“The number of people who take the good childhood they had for granted is mind-blowing.”
“I still don’t know what to do with this. Every time I see it, even in fiction, I realize how so many people don’t know how lucky they are. I too wonder who I could have been with support and acceptance from my family. It’s not easy to have to build yourself up when you weren’t given the tools to do so and had to scratch it all out yourself.”
8-10 hours of sleep
Ah, the bliss of a good night’s sleep that you’d give an eye tooth for after you become a parent…
“Didn’t even occur to me until I had my baby.”
“Can’t relate to having a newborn, but insomnia is a god damn nightmare”
“I haven’t slept more than 6.5 hours a night in over almost 2 years 😩 First it was pregnancy insomnia. Then came my now-1 baby and exclusively pumping. I’m so tired y’all…”
Air conditioning
Seriously, this one is huge. If you know, you know.
“I grew up in a house without air conditioning (for the most part without even window units). I have lived in my current house for almost ten years now and the central air still feels like a ‘rich people’ thing.”
“I honestly didn’t know this, until I saw a case on The People’s Court where a tenant was complaining about not having air conditioning. The judge went on to explain that AC was a luxury. I’ve been much more appreciative of my AC since that day.”
“I reached a point in my life where I can budget for being comfortable in my own home, whether it is 110F or 10F outside. That’s a nice luxury.”
Air travel
Sitting in a chair above the Earth and being plopped down in another country for less than the price of a Taylor Swift concert ticket? Priceless.
“People bitch and complain about everything: the seats are too small, it costs too much, food sucks, the flight was delayed. But it’s pretty amazing to pay a few hundred dollars and arrive on the other side of the country (or globe) the same day.”
“100% And if you go to a random rural town you’ll meet a ton of people who have never been on an airplane. I lived in the middle of nowhere in northern Michigan and when I told people I’d flown a few dozen times they looked at me like I was an alien.”
“Yeah sometimes I feel like I am one of the only people left who is still amazed by the idea that you can get in an aluminum tube, fly through the air, and land in a place that a century ago would have taken days or weeks to get to.”
Free time
The gift of time should never be undervalued.
“Time is the real answer. This question was asked a different way not long ago and someone wrote up a very well thought out reply about why time is the ultimate luxury. And I don’t mean using that time for luxury leisure time either. Time itself is the luxury because it affords you opportunities that you otherwise would not have.”
“This is my favorite luxury of them all! In my experience it requires money which is the only reason money is important to me. Money to be off work (and all the bills still get paid) but also money to enjoy that free time however I please. From a young adult I made free time my mission and I’ve been blessed to have a lot of it.”
“Yes! The first time I watched Wrath of Khan, and Khan says to Kirk, ‘Time is a luxury you don’t have, Admiral’ my mind was blown. I had never thought of time as a luxury before, and that has always stuck with me.
I still hear Ricardo Montalban in my head when my alarm goes off in the morning and I have to get up, lol.”
There are so many simple things we can consider luxuries and feel grateful for. All we have to do is imagine what life would be like without them.