20 Once-Normal Activities We All Enjoyed But Now Are Only For The Well-Off

Okay, hear us out. Toast was once maybe the humblest of breakfast options. It was always reliably cheap and gloriously versatile. And there’s no end to what you can add to your morning toast: peanut butter, jelly, eggs, honey, bacon, you name it. But nowadays, restaurants are getting crazy with how much they’re charging for good old-fashioned toast. Even way back in 2018, the average price of avocado toast in American cities was $11, so you can bet it’s higher today. And in lots of restaurants, it’s closer to $20. Fun fact: the most expensive avo toast in the world is worth more than $3 million! To be fair, it’s made of solid gold and not edible, but still.

Have you tried to buy a ticket for a Broadway show lately? We have — and felt like we’d need to take out a second mortgage to afford it! Theater was once aimed at mass audiences, but these days it’s almost exclusively the domain of the upper crust. Naturally, there are exceptions — community theater and shows by smaller production companies are more affordable — but most people won’t have a hope of ever seeing one of the big-ticket extravaganzas live.

Most of us had a collection of something growing up — Beanie babies, baseball cards, dolls. Nowadays, though, collectibles are big business, and manufacturers price accordingly. As an example, comic books were once semi-disposable items bought by kids in a convenience store, read and then stuffed in their back pockets. Now they cost at least $3.99 for a single issue, can only be bought in specialty shops, and their associated products — action figures etc — are insanely expensive. 

The days of paying peanuts for a greasy hot dog are long gone — nowadays most food trucks are full of high-priced gourmet items. The reason for this can be traced back to the financial crisis of 2007/08. Customers had less money to go to restaurants, so many in the industry pivoted to trucks with smaller overheads. They continued to provide the same high-quality food though — which is pricey — and over time that became the new normal.

According to Redditor lettherebemorelight, “Jeans used to be cheap and durable — clothes you could wear for years doing hard labor. Now they’re expensive and poor quality, and they come with holes already in them just to mimic the aesthetic of the working class.” While we’re not sure we agree with this sentiment entirely, there’s no doubt good-quality denim costs an arm and a leg these days.

Do you remember going to Disney World as a kid? Magical, right? Could you even imagine trying to take your family there on vacation these days, though? In May 2022 an anonymous family of four spent $8,480 on a five-day vacation to the park, including tickets, accommodation, food, and souvenirs. The mother told Fox News Digital, “I feel like Disney is pricing people out. Can the average working American family really afford this?” The most likely answer, unfortunately, is heck no.

Yes, even thrift shopping — which was once a great way to nab a bargain — has gotten more expensive over the years. We remember digging through stores to find T-shirts, bags, CDs, and jeans, yet somehow paying less than $20! Now you’re lucky if you can find one shirt at less than $10 — and we don’t even own a CD player to play our bargain discs on any more, either! What a sad state of affairs.

The housing market is crazy nowadays. How was it that our grandparents were able to buy nice houses with yards and multiple bedrooms in their 20s, but here we are struggling to find enough cash for a deposit on a tiny studio apartment with no natural light and a mold problem? And this goes even if you’re looking to buy a place at the beach. Reddit user “nakedonmygoat” posted, “My grandfather bought a house on Cape Cod when he retired from being an airline mechanic in the late ’60s. He wasn't poor, but he sure as Hell wasn't rich. Today, a normal middle-class person wouldn’t be able to do that. Even if you inherit a house free and clear, the property taxes will eat you alive if you aren't made of money.”

Of all the seafoods, lobster has enjoyed the biggest glow-up over the years. In the olden days, it was mainly eaten by the financially challenged — and their cats! But from the late 1800s to the 1950s, its reputation grew — likely because chefs began cooking it better and it was sold as an exotic item to people who didn’t live near the water. Nowadays, it’s often the most expensive thing on the menu, so only the super-rich get to enjoy it.

Seeing your favorite artists live is an insanely expensive proposition nowadays, and it’s pricing many fans out of attending gigs at all. The rise in ticket prices is due to several factors, including the dominant position Ticketmaster holds in the industry and its controversial “dynamic pricing” business model. But another factor is the decline in record sales due to the rise of streaming — these days artists make the majority of their money from touring, so they need to charge more for tickets.

When comic conventions began in the 1970s, they amounted to a small collection of like-minded nerds hanging out in a hotel basement. Today, though, Comic-Cons are sprawling events held over multiple days in convention centers, with thousands of attendees and countless celebrities/studios hawking their geek-friendly wares. Between the price of tickets, autographs, and accommodation — not to mention money to spend on paraphernalia — a trip to any Comic-Con will be eye-wateringly expensive.

Montessori schools encourage a student-centric approach, favoring encouraging children’s unique interests rather than forcing every child to obey the same curriculum. Initially formed by Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor, the schools attracted students from all financial backgrounds. By the time they made their way to the U.S., though, it tended to be only wealthier families who could afford the high cost of the schools’ fees. It’s sad, because studies have shown the approach can be hugely beneficial for kids from lower-income families.

In our youth, the only people we saw driving pick-up trucks were blue-collar workers, but these days trucks are luxury vehicles driven mainly by the wealthy. It’s infuriating for many working people who can’t afford the new fancy trucks, but also for those who can’t find old models in good condition. As Redditor Dangerous--D posted, “I know people will say, ‘but why do you care what they do with their money,’ and the answer is that they collectively work to make trucks less affordable to me.”

In 1969 thousands of peace-loving hippies paid $18 for a three day ticket to Woodstock — adjusted for inflation, that’s around $140. In stark contrast, a basic three-day pass for Coachella 2022 cost between $449 and $499. Yes, music festivals now cost more than three times as much as when they first came into being. It means most attendees are fairly wealthy, or at the very least, have rich parents to foot the bill! 

Look, we like going to the farmers’ market as much as the next person. Where better to pay through the nose for locally sourced cheese? This is a far cry from what these markets would have been back in the day, though — a place for regular people to buy cheap fruit and vegetables. In fact, many believe the events are now indulgences purely constructed for selling the farm-to-table artisan lifestyle to rich people.

Regular salt-of-the-Earth people used to live in Brooklyn, New York — but no more. According to a 2016 survey, it’s now the most unaffordable place in America! RealtyTrac’s VP Daren Blomquist revealed, “If you are making the average wage in Brooklyn you would have to spend 121 percent of your income to buy a medium-priced house. We looked at 417 counties across the country and the average is 35 percent of income to buy a medium-priced home.”

Before Storage Wars, bidding on a lapsed storage unit in order to sell the contents and make a profit was something a select few did. After the TV show — and others like it — blew up, though? Every budding entrepreneur saw dollar signs, believing all units contained treasures sure to net them a fortune. It jacked the auctions up so high that regular people couldn’t afford to bid any more, and now most of the people taking the gamble on a unit are those who already have money.

In truth, you can still find cheap campsites to pitch your humble tent in for an evening. But, on the whole, camping as we used to know it is gone. As an anonymous Redditor put it, “I have seen a large flatscreen TV sitting on a picnic table — turned on; [people] using campground water to fill a Hot Tub; satellite dishes; people cutting tree branches, so it doesn't scratch their six-figure R.V.”. That, my friends, is glamping!

The U.S. rental market is horrifying. For example, between December 2020 and 2021 the national average rental price ballooned by 14 percent. In Austin, Texas, rent increased a mind-boggling 40 percent. In cities such as New York and Miami, the average price to buy an apartment shot up 35 percent, which pushed mortgage costs up. Utilities have also gone through the roof, and in turn, landlords have charged their tenants more. All in all, renting is a rich man’s game.

If a family of four wanted to attend an NBA game, the good folks at Team Marketing Report estimated it would currently cost $326.60 for tickets, food and drink, parking, and souvenirs. How about NHL and NFL games? They come in at $359.17 and $459.65, respectively. Does that sound like the kind of thing a normal middle-class family could afford to do on a regular basis? Of course not!

There are items and activities that have actually lost their upper-class status over the years. Pineapple, for example, wasn't always just another fruit at the grocery store. Europe didn't experience the delicious zest of pineapple until the 18th century, and those who could afford the exotic fruit purchased it at a staggering $8,000 per pineapple! They didn't even eat it — they simply put it on the mantle to show off how rich they were.

Scars are very punk-rock, but 19th-century Germans and Austrians took it to the next level. Facial scars were points of pride, and even of status. When it came time for a duel, they fenced without protective gear, egging on their opponents in hopes of receiving a good, deep slash.

Even back in 3,000 B.C., humans were already making efforts to display their wealth. This discovery of expertly-crafted game pieces in ancient Turkey displays just how decorative our ancestors were. The pieces were made with shells, stones, and clay to depict intricate scenes and characters.

It's hard to imagine a time when chocolate was a rare delicacy, but in the 18th century, chocolate was so posh that the French actually believed eating it would transform you into an upper-class citizen! Are Hershey's kisses really more magical than frog kisses?

Fancy yourself a corpse? In Victorian England, rich folks would host mummy-unwrapping parties in hopes of finding themselves a few ancient wonders. Instead, they ended up with gut stains on the carpet. The whole point of mummification is respecting the body, not disassembling it at your 30th birthday!

Today, everyone knows that radioactivity is bad for us, but in the early 20th century, the discovery of X-rays led wealthy folks to get scanned "just for fun." The "fun" inevitably stopped when the vomiting, bleeding, hair loss, and skin flaking kicked in.

Forget having a guest house — what you really want is a hermit house. In 18th-century Britain, rich people hired hermits to live on their property and act as real-live garden gnomes. This dehumanizing fad quickly died out; clearly, no one enjoys being a landlord.

Up through the early 20th century, pet squirrels were an elite status symbol. They were spoiled like dogs, and given fancy collars and chains. Benjamin Franklin even wrote an ode to his squirrel, Mungo. The two travelled the country together, spreading democracy and nuts far and wide.

Gout is a body-swelling, nightmarish disease that typically affects the wealthy, due to its connection with excessive consumption of food and liquor. Historically, rich people have desired gout as an indication of wealth. Talk about crippling insecurity!

Did your parents really love you if they didn't give you custom-made footwear before you could even walk? In ancient Rome, rich parents hired shoemakers to create miniature versions of their own shoes for their babies. Babies don't even need shoes, so it was the ultimate status flex.

Today, a bag of 10 tulip bulbs costs about $13. For some unknown reason, tulips in early-1700's Holland were ridiculously overpriced. People collected tulips for thousands of dollars as if they were rare coins. Then, just like that, their value dropped, leaving many with beautiful, worthless fields of color.

White wedding cakes originally showed how pure the marriage was, and Victorian Brits were after ultimate purity when picking the baker for their big day. How did they create this ultra-stark white color? By using the most highly-refined sugar available, which back then was extraordinarily expensive.

Is it bad dental hygiene, or simply a fashion statement? Wealthy Japanese women in the 19th century drank cocktails of dark wines, teas, and spices to give their teeth the popular jet-black hue. Turns out, these formulas may have actually strengthened their teeth. Perhaps a new color will be popular in the future.

The $1 roll of foil sitting in your kitchen drawer used to be worth a fortune. When first extracted in the 19th century, aluminum was treated like gold, and rich Frenchmen manufactured everything from flatware to jewelry with it. Today, it's regarded as the earth's most common metal.

Who told elves pointy shoes were a good look? Apparently, it was wealthy people from the 14th-15th centuries. The longer the pointed toes, the higher the status. The impractical trend got so big that pointed tips were made up to 18 inches long, and had to be held up by chains attached to the shins.

Oh, to be so rich that you can build things for absolutely no purpose! Wealthy Brits in the 18th century erected what were known as "follies." These built-for-fun structures mimicked great temples, domes, and pyramids from other cultures. Guess they never heard of donating to charity...

Naturally, the more ornate the sword, the less functional it is. That didn't stop the rich from purchasing these pointless, pointed symbols of wealth and displaying them for fun on their belts. The most expensive sword ever sold went for $7.7 million!

Sick of those chompers? Let's replace them with fancier ones! Back in the day, British dentists were replacing rich folks' teeth entirely with dentures, and not just because they were old: some women had the procedure done for their 21st birthday. Clearly, they removed the wisdom teeth as well...

Think vegans can be obnoxious? Try listening to people who raise chickens to look cool. In 21st-century Silicon Valley, chicken coops have become all the rage, costing over $20,000 to maintain. OK, we get it, Googlers; you're eating fresh eggs! Who could've predicted that chickens would become a modern-day status symbol?

Foot binding was a gruesome beauty trend in China all the way up to the 1950's. Young women had their feet tied-up and bent to fit shoes that belonged on dolls. The goal was for feet to be only three inches long. The outcome: gangrene, ulcers, paralysis, and death.