Women Who’ve Lived A Privileged Life Share The Experiences They Thought Were Normal Until They Spent Time Around Regular People
Gyorgy Barna | ShutterstockMost people don't realize how different life experiences can be, especially when it comes to financial disparity. It isn't until they are exposed to a wider variety of people and start having conversations that they realize just how different their lives are.
Women who grew up living privileged lives recently shared on Reddit the experiences that made them realize just how different their lives are from normal people. These wealthy women revealed that what they once thought was a common upbringing just wasn't the case for the average individual.
Women who've lived privileged lives share the experiences they thought were normal until they spent time with regular people.
1. Parents paying for all their schooling
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Many wealthy women admitted that they never had to worry about or even consider academic expenses. From private school to college, tuition costs, housing, books, food, and miscellaneous expenses were never a concern. That meant starting off adulthood with zero debt.
But that's not the case for everyone. A data analysis from the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that most students have unmet need and experience gaps between what their families can pay and their college costs.
At least 90% of students who received a Pell Grant, federal financial aid for low-income students, still struggle to make ends meet, compared with 56% of students who never received a Pell Grant.
2. Traveling often
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Many wealthy women grew up thinking frequent travel was just a normal part of life. Family vacations happened multiple times a year to the most exotic places. Traveling to them wasn't a luxury at all, but just part of their family traditions. It was simply what they did during breaks from school and holidays.
After talking to the average person, though, they realized traveling wasn't normal for every family. A survey from Bankrate found that only 46% of U.S. adults are planning to travel during the summer months, and 65% of those not planning to do so said affordability was the reason keeping them at home.
3. Staff cleaning their homes
It was just an assumption among wealthy and privileged women that people usually had cleaners come to their homes often. Many of these women admitted that their floors were always clean and their bathrooms were constantly tidy.
Laundry was always clean, and growing up, they never had to worry about dirty living conditions or carving out time to clean themselves.
Regular people grew up doing chores and cleaning their homes themselves. Having cleaners is not a universal experience, as much as some people definitely wish it was.
4. Eating out more than once a week
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Growing up, many wealthy women admitted that going out to eat was just as common as traveling for them. Multiple times a week, they would go out to fancy restaurants with their entire family.
Cooking at home may have happened, but dining out wasn't treated as something reserved only for special occasions.
But for people who didn't grow up privileged, eating out once a week is considered a luxury. According to a survey conducted by LendingTree, half of Americans said it’s difficult to afford food, and only 22% of the 2,000 people polled reported no difficulty at all.
5. Getting a brand-new car once they got their license
A lot of wealthy and privileged women grew up believing that it was normal for teenagers to be given a brand-new car from their parents upon getting their driver's license.
In their families and even among their wealthy friends, driving around in an expensive, new car was a rite of passage. But for most regular people, their first car was most likely used or a hand-me-down from a family member, if they got a car at all.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
