What Represented the Pinnacle of Wealth From Your Childhood

[Hula Hoop]

To be fair, if the poster is a woman, we need a lot more shoes than men do.  Men can own just one pair of black dress shoes and maybe a pair of sneakers.  I need shoes/formal sandals that I can wear with my various summer dresses to work, boots to wear with skirts to work during the winter. shoes to wear with fancier dresses to weddings and formal events (I go to a few for work), various types of winter and summer casual shoes.  I'd love to wear my sneakers all the time, but they just won't do with a cocktail dress at a formal event and I can't wear them to work unfortunately.

100 shoes sounds excessive though.

[I'm a red panda]

To be fair, if the poster is a woman, we need a lot more shoes than men do.  Men can own just one pair of black dress shoes and maybe a pair of sneakers.  I need shoes/formal sandals that I can wear with my various summer dresses to work, boots to wear with skirts to work during the winter. shoes to wear with fancier dresses to weddings and formal events (I go to a few for work), various types of winter and summer casual shoes.  I'd love to wear my sneakers all the time, but they just won't do with a cocktail dress at a formal event and I can't wear them to work unfortunately.

100 shoes sounds excessive though.

Weird, I'm a woman and have 6 pairs of shoes.  Snow boots (10 years old), tennis shoes, a pair of black shoes to wear with pants at work (usually Merrells), a pair of novelty Toms (need to be replaced, they are tearing), a pair of flip flops (that are 19 years old...), and a pair of black dress shoes (about 15 years old, nice good quality Cole Haans. I should probably have them resoled); I can also wear the black dress shoes to work if I am not wearing slacks.

[Barbaebigode]

Cars with power windows / antennas.
International trips
And my mother tricked me into believing until I was about 10 that we couldn't afford food like frosted flakes, oreos or yakult. So, those were rich people's food, obviously.

[sol]

To be fair, if the poster is a woman, we need a lot more shoes than men do.

Is "need" really the right word here?

There are dudes out there who like to have just the perfect kicks for every outfit, too.  Some people are just slaves to fashion, and are willing to spend vast sums to have just the right look for every occasion, but it's never really a "need". 

I also don't think it's fair to make this argument based on sex.  I'm a dude and my partner is a woman, and she definitely doesn't have more shoes than I do.  I have three pairs of daily wear sneaker-type shoes, one pair of dress shoes, and like four different kinds of boots.  Plus a few pieces of specialized footwear for specific activities (diving, climbing, cycling, skiing, etc).  I'm pretty sure she's never owned more than four or five pairs of shoes at a time in her entire life.

[BECABECA]

To be fair, if the poster is a woman, we need a lot more shoes than men do.

Is "need" really the right word here?

There are dudes out there who like to have just the perfect kicks for every outfit, too.  Some people are just slaves to fashion, and are willing to spend vast sums to have just the right look for every occasion, but it's never really a "need". 

I also don't think it's fair to make this argument based on sex.  I'm a dude and my partner is a woman, and she definitely doesn't have more shoes than I do.  I have three pairs of daily wear sneaker-type shoes, one pair of dress shoes, and like four different kinds of boots.  Plus a few pieces of specialized footwear for specific activities (diving, climbing, cycling, skiing, etc).  I'm pretty sure she's never owned more than four or five pairs of shoes at a time in her entire life.

I think the issue is if you wear dresses and skirts you need a larger variety of shoes in order not to be noticed in the workplace as someone who wears the same shoes every day that don’t “go” with the outfit. Getting noticed for this translates into customers, coworkers, and bosses identifying you as not dressing professionally and that translates into being seen as simply less professional in general than your peers. Obviously, that’s not good for your career progression.

I’m a woman and I only wore slacks to work, so I could fly under the radar of ridiculous fashion scrutiny with only 2 pairs of dress shoes: one in brown, one in black. I also don’t tolerate heels, so I don’t buy pants (or skirts/dresses) that can only be worn with a certain height of heel, but other people do, and have subsequently constrained themselves into needing more shoes.

Now back onto the topic, listed in order of earliest to latest:
Buying school lunch or bringing lunchables
Reebok Pumps (with the button that you press to make them tighter, not pumps like high-heels pumps!)
Lucky Brand jeans & Adidas Sambas
Family vacations via air travel as opposed to all cramming in the minivan and driving for 12 hours
Out of state college without a full ride scholarship

[kanga1622]

To be fair, if the poster is a woman, we need a lot more shoes than men do.  Men can own just one pair of black dress shoes and maybe a pair of sneakers.  I need shoes/formal sandals that I can wear with my various summer dresses to work, boots to wear with skirts to work during the winter. shoes to wear with fancier dresses to weddings and formal events (I go to a few for work), various types of winter and summer casual shoes.  I'd love to wear my sneakers all the time, but they just won't do with a cocktail dress at a formal event and I can't wear them to work unfortunately.

100 shoes sounds excessive though.

Weird, I'm a woman and have 6 pairs of shoes.  Snow boots (10 years old), tennis shoes, a pair of black shoes to wear with pants at work (usually Merrells), a pair of novelty Toms (need to be replaced, they are tearing), a pair of flip flops (that are 19 years old...), and a pair of black dress shoes (about 15 years old, nice good quality Cole Haans. I should probably have them resoled); I can also wear the black dress shoes to work if I am not wearing slacks.

This sounds like me: snow boots, brown half boots for work, black tall boots for work, sneakers, brown sandals, black sandals, and water shoes for lap walking at the pool. I may even drop the water shoes this year as the insides were shifting toward the end of last season. The sandals can double as both fun and work wear since they are closed toe with a strap at the heel.

My kids each have a pair of sneaker, snow boots, and water shoes until their feet grow again. Thankfully I have boys so dress shoes aren't really an expectation.

[GuitarStv]

For many years I always figured that black running shoes served just fine as both athletic and dress shoes.  My wife has since corrected me.

:P

[BlueHouse]

Store-bought halloween masks and costumes.

My mom used to sew all of our costumes (and looking back, they were excellent!), but at the time, I just wanted one of those awful plastic halloween face masks like the rich kids at school had. 
One year I got my wish, and we have pictures of me in my one-piece home-made bunny suit with lovely stand-up ears, with a hideous plastic bunny mask over it.  So the 4 ears made everyone laugh that year.

[Raenia]

En-suite bathrooms.  Also, not having to share a bathroom.

One time I went to a sleepover at my best friend's house, the first time I had been to her house.  Instead of the sleeping-bags-on-the-floor I was expecting, they gave me my own room with its own bathroom, down the hall from my friend's room with her own bathroom.  That was the height of luxury!  I think that's when I realized how big of a difference there was between our family and the other families at school (private school, we got a big tuition break because my mom was a teacher there.)

[Mike in NH]

To be fair, if the poster is a woman, we need a lot more shoes than men do.

Is "need" really the right word here?

There are dudes out there who like to have just the perfect kicks for every outfit, too.  Some people are just slaves to fashion, and are willing to spend vast sums to have just the right look for every occasion, but it's never really a "need". 

I also don't think it's fair to make this argument based on sex.  I'm a dude and my partner is a woman, and she definitely doesn't have more shoes than I do.  I have three pairs of daily wear sneaker-type shoes, one pair of dress shoes, and like four different kinds of boots.  Plus a few pieces of specialized footwear for specific activities (diving, climbing, cycling, skiing, etc).  I'm pretty sure she's never owned more than four or five pairs of shoes at a time in her entire life.

I think the issue is if you wear dresses and skirts you need a larger variety of shoes in order not to be noticed in the workplace as someone who wears the same shoes every day that don’t “go” with the outfit. Getting noticed for this translates into customers, coworkers, and bosses identifying you as not dressing professionally and that translates into being seen as simply less professional in general than your peers. Obviously, that’s not good for your career progression.

I’m a woman and I only wore slacks to work, so I could fly under the radar of ridiculous fashion scrutiny with only 2 pairs of dress shoes: one in brown, one in black. I also don’t tolerate heels, so I don’t buy pants (or skirts/dresses) that can only be worn with a certain height of heel, but other people do, and have subsequently constrained themselves into needing more shoes.

Now back onto the topic, listed in order of earliest to latest:
Buying school lunch or bringing lunchables
Reebok Pumps (with the button that you press to make them tighter, not pumps like high-heels pumps!)
Lucky Brand jeans & Adidas Sambas
Family vacations via air travel as opposed to all cramming in the minivan and driving for 12 hours
Out of state college without a full ride scholarship

The Sambas are a good one. I recall more than one of my non-rich classmates mistaking what was actually going on (wearing indoor soccer shoes as pop fashion) and wearing their actual soccer cleats to school.

[FIRE@50]

Two parents, SFH, A/C, Nike Airs, Jeep Cherokee, new car on 16th birthday(sometimes a Cherokee), big TV, skiing, vacation, foreign car, lots of video games, Levi's, clothes from the mall, finished basement, fun cereal when it wasn't tax refund day, walkman, jewelry, eating at Red Lobster, own little league baseball bat

[Cassie]

Born in 1954 so A/C, eating out and taking vacations.

[techwiz]

The Lamborghini Countach

I loved this car in my childhood and thought it was the pinnacle of wealth to own one.  I think the movie "Cannonball Run" was where I first fell in love with the car. I still have a picture of one on my desk to this day.

I had the chance to sit in one many years ago at an auto show and was very disappointed that the seat position was so uncomfortable for me. It also has very limited sight lines making it next to impossible to see out of. Meeting my dream car in person ruined it for me and convinced me it would not be fun to drive.

[Fishindude]

When I was a kid, anyone that had a built in swimming pool was considered rich.   There were only about four in our big sprawling semi rural neighborhood.   If we wanted to swim, we went to the river, a pond, or in town to the city pool unless we were fortunate to have one of those "rich" neighbors invite us.  Pools were all concrete and very expensive.

By the time I was raising kids you could buy a 24' x 4' deep above ground round pool for $1,500 installed and one of the vinyl lined in ground ones for $6-8,000.   We put in an above ground, then decked all the way around it so it wasn't unsightly, and our kids grew up with a pool.   Many of our friends and kids friends also had pools, they became very common.

[thurston howell iv]

Rich people stuff:

1) something besides the white bread, miracle whip and bologna and velveeta sandwiches
2) albacore tuna in a can
3) cars where you could use the a/c - Dad didn't want to run a/c as it would ruin mpg - in South Florida!!!
4) running a fan in my room with no A/C in 90* weather
5) being able to have a soda- only for special occasions
6) a graduation gift- some friends got cars- (my parents gave me a shoe phone)
7) rocker switches- I've swapped them into the last 2 homes I've owned!
8) BMX bikes, name brand clothes
9) more than one tv - (Never considered the remotes- that was one of our jobs!)
10) a VCR-
11) a tv larger than 27" (wasn't until the 90's that Dad finally "broke down" and purchased a 30")

[force majeure]

One Christmas, playing at a neighbour's house on long island, NY... I noticed they had all the latest console games, a BMX trail, and really cool stuff around the house. We had nothing like that.

I asked my dad - he said, that family can afford anything they want. They own a company called WR Grace. Only in later years did I decide to look it up. To me, they really had money.

[GuitarStv]

I remember that one of my friends had a seperate line installed at his house for dial-up internet.  Which was crazy.  I was paying nothing for internet because I used a service that was free (provided you put up with their advertising banners at the bottom of your screen all the time), but my mom was constantly kicking me off because she wanted to call someone.

[Imma]

I remember that one of my friends had a seperate line installed at his house for dial-up internet.  Which was crazy.  I was paying nothing for internet because I used a service that was free (provided you put up with their advertising banners at the bottom of your screen all the time), but my mom was constantly kicking me off because she wanted to call someone.

You must have been rich to have had internet while you were still living with your parents, you're 10 years older than me and we didn't have internet until I was in high school ;-)

Kids who got pizza from pizza delivery places. I was always a bit ashamed of the "fake" big square pizza's my mother would make every Saturday. Home made pizza dough, home made tomato sauce and all the leftovers from the week. Sorry mum :(

I grew up rurally so we'd have a lot of home made food and all our clothes were homemade too. I wanted grocery store good like all the other kids at school but she never gave in.

In the 90s school kids would go home for lunch where I lived, but we had a short break at 10.15 and kids could eat snacks then. I clearly remember one "rich" kid who got a name brand juice box every single day. Some other lucky kids had granola bars and similar store bought items. A few kids brought cut up fruit in Tupperware. My mother never gave me anything to eat during the break. You can't be hungry if you've had breakfast and if you're thirsty you can drink tap water.

[JanetJackson]

I remember that one of my friends had a seperate line installed at his house for dial-up internet.  Which was crazy.  I was paying nothing for internet because I used a service that was free (provided you put up with their advertising banners at the bottom of your screen all the time), but my mom was constantly kicking me off because she wanted to call someone.

Kids who got pizza from pizza delivery places. I was always a bit ashamed of the "fake" big square pizza's my mother would make every Saturday. Home made pizza dough, home made tomato sauce and all the leftovers from the week. Sorry mum :(

I grew up rurally so we'd have a lot of home made food and all our clothes were homemade too. I wanted grocery store good like all the other kids at school but she never gave in.

In the 90s school kids would go home for lunch where I lived, but we had a short break at 10.15 and kids could eat snacks then. I clearly remember one "rich" kid who got a name brand juice box every single day. Some other lucky kids had granola bars and similar store bought items. A few kids brought cut up fruit in Tupperware. My mother never gave me anything to eat during the break. You can't be hungry if you've had breakfast and if you're thirsty you can drink tap water.

This resonated with me SO MUCH. I remember when I was 12 or 13 I bought my mom a t-shirt from the GAP with my own money.
One of those ones that said GAP on the front of it so that I wouldn't be as "embarrassed" when she dropped me off at school or at events in whatever old semi-beater car we had at the time. 
I previously had been throwing huge screaming fits in order to get her to drop me off a block away (she didn't feel like that was safe, there had recently been some crime in the area) so I could walk and no one could see the car or her older clothes. 

I already had only hand-me-downs and a lot of homemade clothing, I felt like the addition of the old car and one more member of the family dressing "poorly" would exceed my social stigma quota and get me called names.  I'm so sorry mom.  I bet that made her feel like Sh!t.  I was a real rude selfish little sh!t.  My childhood behavior is one of the reasons I've decided not to have children.
But... I digress...

I also wanted those snacks.  I didn't have a granola bar until I was an adult.  OMG the little individual bags of chips?!  I was so jealous.

[Imma]

I totally understand @JanetJackson that you feel bad about that now, but from a kid's point of view I can totally relate to being ashamed of your parents when you are being bullied because of them. Kids can be ruthless and you just wanted to fit in.

We all rode our bikes to school and friends' places so most of them never met my parents. I hardly ever took friends home because my school was in a "posh" area (looking back, very middle class, definitely not rich) and we lived on a smallholding. My dad was always covered in dirt and, well, shit and smelled strongly of sweat.

I had a friend at the posh school and I loved going to her place after school. Can you imagine they got a tiny bag of chips each, every single day?!

[JanetJackson]

@Imma CHIPS IN A SMALL BAG EVERY DAY!?!?!  Ha.  It sounded like heaven then, I have literally zero interest in it now. 

I had one friend who got ANY stuffed animal of a horse that she ever asked for.  She had hundreds.  OMG. 

Also, in early high school there was a girl who always pressured whoever sat behind me until they got up so that she could sit behind me and braid my hair during class  (I had hair to almost my knees until I was 17).  Her family had a personal jet.  And horses.  In retrospect, she always wanted to be near me and I probably should have caught on to that and maybe dated her.  She transferred senior year, I think. 
I could basically be a princess now if I'd gone that route! 

[Just Joe]

Born in '76... I can duplicate a lot of answers here.

We lived across the street from a family who had a house spread over two lots. They had computers, they were the first family I knew of with internet service, video games, HBO and Cinemax, a convertible, a 1956 Chevy (which my friend and I nearly wrecked as ten-year-olds), a two-level living room, brand-name clothes, vacations that didn't involve visiting elderly relatives, and they attended a private school.

However, they did not have a swimming pool. They packed for a day at the municipal pool just like the rest of us.

Okay - you hooked me - how did you almost wreck that car as ten year olds? ;)

[sun and sand]

Adidas running shoes--blue suede with white stripes

Families who vacationed in Europe

Homes with immaculately groomed gardens

Mothers who spoke to their husbands formally

[PhilB]

Not living on a council estate.  For my parents though the council estate was great because it had indoor plumbing.

[Just Joe]

I had the chance to sit in one many years ago at an auto show and was very disappointed that the seat position was so uncomfortable for me. It also has very limited sight lines making it next to impossible to see out of. Meeting my dream car in person ruined it for me and convinced me it would not be fun to drive.

Sort of like meeting a favorite actor/actress/musician. It could be that in real life they aren't half as impressive as they are preforming a show.

I met a guy at a car show with a Delorean. Said for some reason he had problems with girls just hopping in his car without permission for selfies and pictures. Never had that problem with any other classic car. Something about gullwing doors?

[soccerluvof4]

Growing up in the inner city going out and seeing bigger homes with inground pools, basketball hoops in driveways, bigger yards, fancy cars, recreational toys. People living on lakes.

[yoda34]

Red Lobster.

Anyone that could eat at Red Lobster was super wealthy in my mind growing up. I begged my folks to take me there for my birthday and i swear they saved up for a month and took me. It's one of the best memories I have of my family.

[By the River]

In 1980, my friend had a central vacuum system in their house.  That was more science-fiction to me than just rich. 

Flying on vacation was rich to me.  I didn't fly until I was working and paid for it myself. 

[Richie Poor]

I always thought growing up that anyone who stayed in a hotel instead of a motel was pretty rich. I thought motels were middle class. If you didn't have money you slept at the rest stop in your car.

In general if you were ever in a building with an elevator there must be money flowing somewhere around there.

I second the person above that mentioned pizza delivery. If you could pay an extra couple of bucks to save yourself driving a few blocks you must make a decent wage.

[partgypsy]

child of the 70's, teen of the 80's. Dang, reading these makes me realize I was rich. Because I don't remember wanting or longing for anything, really. The few things I did not have, was from family rules than than us not being able to afford them (didn't get a barbie for a long time because parents did not approve, same thing for Easter baskets, storebought sweets, soda in house (or really much of prepared food: oil and vinegar on the table, homemade yogurt) no fast food except for once in a blue moon). Same thing, no inside pets like dogs or cats. One color tv, no cable. I identify with the big fat greek wedding scene where she is at school with her thermos of homemade food that people are making fun of. we got the nickel or dime to buy milk (regular only not chocolate milk) but otherwise I never ate any school cafeteria food (I really wanted that square pizza slice on Fridays!). OTOH since my Dad was in the restaurant business we ate out, including fine dining on a pretty regular basis.

Us kids wanted our parents to install as basketball hoop on our driveway, but they refused (again not that they couldn't afford it but again their rules). I think overall all us kids were non-materialistic (well my youngest was borderline). My older brother rebelled and was a punk rocker, while my sister and I were nerds/grunge. We thought the big hair and bright pink prep clothes and shopping at shopping malls was stupid. But then again we had the privilege to think that. Sister got her prom dress from a thrift store, and often cut her own hair and made her own outfits, though probably my Mom would have loved to pick out a regular dress with her. I still remember one time in HS our mother brought us to Lord and Taylor and said she would not leave until we each picked out at least one piece of clothing.

Once i was living on my own a fellow student summed up feeling rich was like, going to a Chinese restaurant and the bill being $20, $25 dollars and not sweating it. That's what college and grad school rich was: being able to go out to eat.

I want to add some of the things listed as rich did not apply to our rich suburban community. Even rich people didn't have swimming pools; everyone went to the public swimming pool (which was more like a club with 3 different pools). No one went to Disney world for vacation; family car trips or going to a family vacation spot was still the norm. (eta we did all go on a cruise in early 80's, and my parents went to Europe/Greece a couple times).

[DireWolf]

Flying somewhere
Going to Disney World
Eating a steak at a sit-down, non Western Sizzling sort of restaurant
Having any new car
Having whole house air conditioning. Even having a window AC unit in a room seemed extravagant (and I grew up in NC).
Going basically anywhere on vacation except our grandparents or camping in a national forest
Going to college (that I pulled this off and paid for it myself with a slight bit of financial aid still seems like a dream)
Owning a suit
Having cable
Seeing some item of clothing you wanted and being able to buy it then instead of doing layaway
Having a pair of Levi jeans instead of Wrangler
Having an Izod shirt or Members Only Jacket
(I just missed out on the whole Air Jordan shoe craze thing)

[calimom]

Red Lobster.

Anyone that could eat at Red Lobster was super wealthy in my mind growing up. I begged my folks to take me there for my birthday and i swear they saved up for a month and took me. It's one of the best memories I have of my family.

I love your parents for doing this for you.

[nnls]

Mine are (I am a 31 year old Aussie)

* A two story house
* a dryer

[deborah]

When I was a kid I thought other kids were rich if they had a barbie doll. Or a set of more than 12 colouring pencils.

[GuitarStv]

* a dryer

This is legitimately a rich person thing though.  It's an appliance that uses more energy than anything else in your home, and that's completely unnecessary (since you can just hang your laundry and it will MAGICALLY become dry all on it's own)!

[I'm a red panda]

* a dryer

This is legitimately a rich person thing though.  It's an appliance that uses more energy than anything else in your home, and that's completely unnecessary (since you can just hang your laundry and it will MAGICALLY become dry all on it's own)!

You must live somewhere that isn't humid. In a lot of the places I have lived, if i hung laundry it would magically become moldy on it's own, not dry.

[GuitarStv]

* a dryer

This is legitimately a rich person thing though.  It's an appliance that uses more energy than anything else in your home, and that's completely unnecessary (since you can just hang your laundry and it will MAGICALLY become dry all on it's own)!

You must live somewhere that isn't humid. In a lot of the places I have lived, if i hung laundry it would magically become moldy on it's own, not dry.

It gets very humid in the summer.  When it's humid you need to use a clothing line outdoors to dry stuff, indoors it won't dry properly as you mentioned.

[I'm a red panda]

* a dryer

This is legitimately a rich person thing though.  It's an appliance that uses more energy than anything else in your home, and that's completely unnecessary (since you can just hang your laundry and it will MAGICALLY become dry all on it's own)!

You must live somewhere that isn't humid. In a lot of the places I have lived, if i hung laundry it would magically become moldy on it's own, not dry.

It gets very humid in the summer.  When it's humid you need to use a clothing line outdoors to dry stuff, indoors it won't dry properly as you mentioned.

Mmm, pollen covered clothing. Fun.

I'm glad I'm rich.

[partgypsy]

Some people live where they do not have an outdoors to hang things (apartments).
Or their climate is such (humid, lack of wind) that things do not dry well outside.

I moved from the midwest to the south, and you would think from the higher temperature you that you could air dry things better down here. But the combination of humid air, lack of breeze and wooded yards (pollen, insects, debris, bird poop) makes air drying difficult. I can dry small things on my screened back porch though.

[GuitarStv]

* a dryer

This is legitimately a rich person thing though.  It's an appliance that uses more energy than anything else in your home, and that's completely unnecessary (since you can just hang your laundry and it will MAGICALLY become dry all on it's own)!

You must live somewhere that isn't humid. In a lot of the places I have lived, if i hung laundry it would magically become moldy on it's own, not dry.

It gets very humid in the summer.  When it's humid you need to use a clothing line outdoors to dry stuff, indoors it won't dry properly as you mentioned.

Mmm, pollen covered clothing. Fun.

I'm glad I'm rich.

I'm glad that you have the money necessary to battle your crippling anthophobia.

[I'm a red panda]

Some people live where they do not have an outdoors to hang things (apartments).
Or their climate is such (humid, lack of wind) that things do not dry well outside.

I moved from the midwest to the south, and you would think from the higher temperature you that you could air dry things better down here. But the combination of humid air, lack of breeze and wooded yards (pollen, insects, debris, bird poop) makes air drying difficult. I can dry small things on my screened back porch though.

It just really makes me glad I am born in the time and country I am.


When I think of people in the "olden days" or pioneers or what not. It had to have been really gross in general.

[OtherJen]

* a dryer

This is legitimately a rich person thing though.  It's an appliance that uses more energy than anything else in your home, and that's completely unnecessary (since you can just hang your laundry and it will MAGICALLY become dry all on it's own)!

You must live somewhere that isn't humid. In a lot of the places I have lived, if i hung laundry it would magically become moldy on it's own, not dry.

Gah, same. My state is two big peninsulas. In summer—especially August—the humidity is very high. It doesn’t matter whether I air-dry indoors or outdoors. Either way, they will still be damp after a full day and will reek of mildew. In-state camping is always gross in late summer because the towels never dry fully and the tent gets stuffy and mildew-y.

I’m super grateful that I can afford to run my tumble dryer, especially since we don’t have central AC.

[JLR]

From the  perspective of a kid growing up in Australia through the 80s and 90s:

- a two story house
- an ensuite bathroom and WIR
- an extra phone in the bedroom (not necessarily a second line)
- soda in the fridge when it wasn't Christmas

As I got older:

- braces
- clean houses (generally a family with parents who had a university education and a SAHM. It wasn't until I went to uni myself I met those with two working, university-educated parents who had a cleaner)
- clean cars. Inside and out.
- shoes that weren't worn until they were falling apart

[ApacheStache]

The Cedar Square West complex was in development through my childhood and was completed when I was in high school. As I watched this sparkling new building rise up I imagined myself a successful artist living in this building that resembled a piece of modern art, at my personal pinnacle of wealth.

By the time I could afford a luxury apartment, however, the official name had been changed to Cedar Riverside Plaza, it was converted to subsidized housing, and the unofficial nickname became "Rainbow Ghetto in the Sky." Now it is a haven for immigrant families and is known as "Little Mogadishu." It's a quirky neighborhood with good ethnic restaurants but I wouldn't walk around there after dark.

That's funny, I lived in the Twin Cities for ~25 years and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the quirky color patterns on the Riverside Plaza building while driving on I-94. Cedar Riverside is such a diverse area, it's a bummer that there are so many less than stellar unofficial names given to that building.

As for me, as a kid born in 1985, luxury was:
- Starter Jacket
- Car Phone
- Leather upholstery and faux wood grain panels in an Oldsmobile
- Mechanical switches in the front seat of a car that controlled the position and tilt of the driver and passenger seats

[Imma]

Funny that people name a clean house as a sign of wealth. I can still hear my grandma in my head saying 'we might not be rich but we don't live like pigs'.  My family used to be farmers so most women worked a lot but not outside of the home. The whole place was cleaned with chlorine very frequently and all the linen was perfectly ironed and in extremely straight piles.

This didn't extend to people. No one taught me how to do my hair until I discovered a book in the library and I wore mismatched clothes all the time. All the adults were dirty and smelly except on Sundays. My grandparents used to wash and dress in clean clothes when they went to town but my dad definitely didn't.

I used to think that kids who looked clean and presentable at all times were rich. Especially girls with perfectly braided hair.

[Ryder]

The absolute pinnacle I guess would have been access to supermarkets where you could find anything you wanted any time without huge lines going around the block. I remember seeing a picture of one, which seemed mighty impressive at the time.

And a gazillion other things, like color TV, foreign cars, access to Coca Cola or Pepsi.

[BlueHouse]

I remember that one of my friends had a seperate line installed at his house for dial-up internet.  Which was crazy.  I was paying nothing for internet because I used a service that was free (provided you put up with their advertising banners at the bottom of your screen all the time), but my mom was constantly kicking me off because she wanted to call someone.

Kids who got pizza from pizza delivery places. I was always a bit ashamed of the "fake" big square pizza's my mother would make every Saturday. Home made pizza dough, home made tomato sauce and all the leftovers from the week. Sorry mum :(

I grew up rurally so we'd have a lot of home made food and all our clothes were homemade too. I wanted grocery store good like all the other kids at school but she never gave in.

In the 90s school kids would go home for lunch where I lived, but we had a short break at 10.15 and kids could eat snacks then. I clearly remember one "rich" kid who got a name brand juice box every single day. Some other lucky kids had granola bars and similar store bought items. A few kids brought cut up fruit in Tupperware. My mother never gave me anything to eat during the break. You can't be hungry if you've had breakfast and if you're thirsty you can drink tap water.

This resonated with me SO MUCH. I remember when I was 12 or 13 I bought my mom a t-shirt from the GAP with my own money.
One of those ones that said GAP on the front of it so that I wouldn't be as "embarrassed" when she dropped me off at school or at events in whatever old semi-beater car we had at the time. 
I previously had been throwing huge screaming fits in order to get her to drop me off a block away (she didn't feel like that was safe, there had recently been some crime in the area) so I could walk and no one could see the car or her older clothes. 

I already had only hand-me-downs and a lot of homemade clothing, I felt like the addition of the old car and one more member of the family dressing "poorly" would exceed my social stigma quota and get me called names.  I'm so sorry mom.  I bet that made her feel like Sh!t.  I was a real rude selfish little sh!t.  My childhood behavior is one of the reasons I've decided not to have children.
But... I digress...

I also wanted those snacks.  I didn't have a granola bar until I was an adult.  OMG the little individual bags of chips?!  I was so jealous.

All those things.  me too. 

Most of the rich kids bought school lunches (only later did I find out we qualified for reduced price school lunch). 
Some of the rich kids brought their lunches and this statement goes more to just not wanting to be different, but at the time, I chalked it up to being poorer (to be fair, we were not poor, but we lived on a very limited income due to my mom being a widow with 5 kids and living on SSI benefits + life insurance).

Rich kids sandwiches were wrapped in tin foil
My sandwiches were wrapped in waxed paper. 

Every day at lunch was humiliation when I opened my bag and pulled out wax paper (sometimes held closed with a rubber band)

[jps]

Rich kids sandwiches were wrapped in tin foil
My sandwiches were wrapped in waxed paper. 

Every day at lunch was humiliation when I opened my bag and pulled out wax paper (sometimes held closed with a rubber band)

Isn't it funny that what used to seem like the biggest deal in the world is now something so small that you wouldn't even notice it?

[GuitarStv]

Rich kids sandwiches were wrapped in tin foil
My sandwiches were wrapped in waxed paper. 

Every day at lunch was humiliation when I opened my bag and pulled out wax paper (sometimes held closed with a rubber band)

Isn't it funny that what used to seem like the biggest deal in the world is now something so small that you wouldn't even notice it?

Wrapping a sandwich in tin foil seems weird to me.  It's just the wrong tool for the job.

[travelawyer]

Buying and eating food at airport restaurants or highway rest stops.   We traveled a fair amount, by plane, train, and automobile, but we were never allowed to just buy things like food that you could pack yourself for so much less.

This mine too.  I think it's more of my college definition of rich as I didn't spend much time in airports before, but 15 years later I still feel SO RICH buying a $3 soda at an airport just because I'm thirsty.

I'll also add, ordering appetizers and desserts at restaurants.  My parents were lazy about cooking (and middle class) so we ate out often, but you could only order enough to sustain you, not a multitude of items just for the variety.