Article created by: Monika Pašukonytė
Let's admit right away that customs and fashion are definitely a two-way street. Throughout the centuries of human history, the rich and famous often came up with something that "mere mortals" then happily adopted. Even if following these trends turned out to be detrimental to the state of their wallet.
But there are many reverse examples - when the powers that be were inspired by the aesthetics and hobbies of ordinary people. And I must say, far from always has this inspiration led to something good. Often the opposite happens. And so, in this viral thread on the AskReddit community, netizens recall cases when moneyed people adopted the hobbies of the poor, thus nearly ruining it for them.
Quiet out of the way country cabins sitting by lakes. Now they are over priced Airbnbs.
Being able to afford a house. And even crazier it was usually on only one income.
Food banks. My local food bank put out a news article basically saying that rich people need to stop using the food bank as a “life hack” to lower their grocery bills.
Thrifting
Ebay.
It used to be so useful to get all kinds of cheap or unique things. Then more and more big commercial sellers joined the club and eventually ebay itself forgot about what and who made their platform a success in the first place.
It’s interesting reading all of the responses here. Really the underlying issue is, you guessed it - the Internet.
Lots of the things here used to be cheap because the market for them was inefficient… e.g. they were things only known by people in certain communities (certain cuts of meat, thrift stores, certain travel destinations, etc.)
Basically the internet enabled the masses to “discover” all of these things and drive demand, and thus the price, up for all of them.
Going to the farmers market
Many ethnic foods in the US. The really tasty stuff might be dirt-cheap and off the beaten path until the yuppies and hipsters get wind of it, then it’s found in every strip mall at an inferior quality for $30 a plate.
Concerts and festivals
Burning Man, Collectable Card Games, Retro Video Games, GOING TO CONCERTS...like seriously, just pick a hobby. Once the re-sellers get into it, prices go through the roof, and nobody can afford to do anything.
Buying a “fixer upper” home and spending weekends working on it. I was really looking forward to that.
Van life and tiny house living
Pickup trucks. They used to be much cheaper.
Living in warehouses in the industrial, rundown side of town.
Carhartt. Blue collar workers needed the durability, then celebrities wore “fashionably” and drove up the price
Lobster was originally food feed to prisoners
Eating salmon. Fish used to be poor man's food. Now you pay absurd amounts for the tiniest piece.
Proper local pubs, affected by expanding cities ( Manchester in my case). Ruined by greedy breweries trying to attract upmarket clientele, or selling out for demolition and the building of apartments that locals cannot afford…
Fajitas. I remember being able to get skirt steak really cheap and sometimes for free.
Camping.
Many private campgrounds require you to tell them the age of your RV. If it's older they'll refuse your reservation.
Blue-collar residential neighborhoods in the city
Unrestricted land
Everything gets an HOA now, and they try to force you into their jurisdiction.
My family fought an HOA targeting my grandmother's house. She had lived there for 10 years before the HOA was even an idea, or the new area with big houses was cleared for construction before that.
We ended up having Rock in her houses, skirting, and rock in under her deck due to not having the money to fight an HOA she never signed on to.
If an HOA comes out where I live (which might happen in the next 15 years), I will fight them tooth and nail for spite alone.
Life. "poor" people I knew were always happy with the simple pleasures. Now even this simple pleasures are almost impossible to afford unless they're necessary and your break your back to pay for them so you almost resent them. Rich people are literally ruining life.
Living in arty neighborhoods
Football (soccer). It used to be a working class sport played by and watched by working class people. Then money came into it and the working class was priced out of watching.
Cheap authentic Mexican tacos.
McDonald’s. It was originally a place for a quick eat because it was cheap, but now it’s just mid food for high prices.
Off cuts of meat.
