'Raising a family of 5 on a single income': 27 Modern Luxuries That Were Pretty Standard Back in the 90s

Do you remember your first computer? Regardless of its behemoth size or proclaimed 'portability', owning a computer back in the 90s was a luxury. You could scroll the internet, talk to strangers, or even play your favorite games like Sim City, Tomb Raider, and Half-Life. My first computer was the size of a microwave and had a pixelated screen and that screaming dial-up Internet, but even then, I knew it would never be obsolete.

Nowadays, our luxuries are a little different. 

Since the 90s, manufacturers have adopted this concept called 'planned obscenity', where products are intentionally built to fall apart so that we have to keep buying them–thus making those well-made purchases of the past invaluable. We still have a computer (and likely even have a smaller version in our pocket right now), but the things we took for granted back then have earned a place on our newly updated coveted luxuries list. In 2024, wooden furniture is a luxury, but if you told that to your 1990s self, lugging around your parent's armoire because they 'like it better in that corner', you probably wouldn't believe it. 

There are a whole slew of things in our modern era that Gen Xers, Boomers, and Millennials alike took for granted back in ye olde days. Keep scrolling for the nostalgic list of OG commodities that we definitely took for granted in the 90s.