10 Things We All Owned 20 Years Ago That Are Now Literal Luxuries

Remember how people used to be able to afford things? The deal was that people went to work, did their jobs for 40 hours a week, and, in exchange, could live a nice middle-class life. Without a large and healthy middle class, people can’t afford to buy things, and when people can’t afford to buy things, companies go out of business.

Consumer trends now are about how to save money shopping for necessities, and things that used to be commonplace spending are now considered luxuries. 

Let’s stroll through memory lane and review a few things now priced out of reach for the average American.

It used to be that when young adults joined the workforce, they would move out of their parents' home and into an apartment rental that was 25–30% of their income. 

They would save for a couple of years for a down payment and then be able to get a mortgage and purchase a house.

Now, the average worker spends nearly half of their income on housing, and stability is not guaranteed. Landlords can terminate a rental agreement for almost any reason, and the renter must pay costly legal expenses to uphold rental laws. 

Renters also bear the burden of higher security deposits and moving costs.

Cable television is an excellent example of companies pricing themselves out of the market. Until pricing became exorbitant, nearly every home had cable TV. New households couldn’t afford $200 packages and instead cut the cord.

Now, streaming services are king for entertainment, but they are following in the footsteps of their predecessors and raising prices. Do you want a return to piracy? Because this is how you get a return to piracy.

It’s fair to say that cell phones are better than landlines, so it’s not surprising that nearly everybody made the switch. When people see a landline phone in a home, it signals that they are either very old and out of touch with technology or very rich and haven’t had to cut costs like the rest of us.

Considering the ever-rising costs of mobile phones and the services connected to them, it wouldn’t be surprising if landlines get a future resurgence. It might be nice not to be reachable 24/7 for a change.

There are so many different terms for “not real wood” that it’s become hard for consumers to know what they’re getting when they buy furniture. Manufactured or engineered wood, particle board, composite wood, and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) are just ways of saying “not solid wood.”

Low-quality furniture needs to be replaced often, but the price of solid wood furniture has skyrocketed, making it out of reach for many homes.

Much like landlines, cameras were replaced by cell phones. Nowadays, everybody has a smartphone in their pocket with a higher resolution than the digital cameras families used to have for capturing memories. 

People using cameras dedicated solely to photography are likely doing so professionally, with high-end equipment at an equally high price tag.

Clothing companies looked at cell phone manufacturers' planned obsolescence and asked how they could participate. Buying new, well-made clothing is no longer affordable for many people.

Everything is made of cheap polyester and falls apart after about a year of use or is priced increasingly out of range with a typical budget. This is partly why department stores such as Kohl’s, JCPenney, and Macy’s face bankruptcy — nobody can afford to shop there anymore.

Even ignoring the status symbol sneaker brands, reliable footwear costs have increased dramatically. A pair of Converse sneakers used to cost about $20 at Target. 

Now, basic canvas Chucks cost between $35 and $65, even when ordered directly from Converse.

Manufacturers' warranties used to be a year, and failures were logged as part of a quality improvement plan. 

Now, warranties are often reduced to 90 days on smaller appliances, and short-term profits are prioritized over longevity or reliability. Finding a high-quality large appliance at a reasonable price can take hours of research comparing product reviews.

It used to be significantly cheaper to buy a used car than a new one, but as fewer people can afford to buy new, the demand for used cars has increased. Combined with the accessibility of online car sales, there is fierce competition for affordable used cars now.

Unfortunately, public transportation infrastructure hasn’t been built up to accommodate the shrinking number of drivers, which is an increasingly significant problem for people who need to go somewhere other than their homes.

Books, movies, shows, video games, and computer software were all things we used to own as physical copies in exchange for money.

However, owning things has been replaced by leasing digital copies that can be removed without our consent because they are controlled by the business that sold them. Similarly, one-time purchase fees have been replaced by subscription services that eat away at everyone’s income into perpetuity.

As America’s workforce has lost buying power, it has impacted businesses that rely on large numbers of people being able to afford things.

The average worker is concerned about being able to afford things like groceries and gas, which turns anything that isn’t an absolute necessity into a luxury item. 

People are forced to “stop wasting money” on things that aren’t directly linked to staying alive, and that’s an honest economic disaster.