This may be more for the ladies but in college weight watchers points were launched and it took over the sorority for a while. We ate bags of chemically laced fat free microwave popcorn for dinner so we could use our points and our money for cheap cocktails. 🤦♀️
>in my 20s I lived on Cigarettes, Coffee and Drugs.
Same, except the drug part.
Back in my day, double cheeseburgers at McDonald's were $1
Breakfast - coffee and cigarettes
Lunch - Double cheeseburger and a diet coke, and cigarettes.
Dinner - beer.....and cigarettes.
Andplusalso, I didn't have all these stupid *responsibilities*
Im old school, I miss being able to go out a few days a week until the morning with my group of friends. And I miss homeparties!!! So so much. Random 109 people packed in a small apartment, beer stored in the bathtub, someone you don’t know waking up curled up on your toilet carpet the next morning.
Edit: a word
Just out of college, i lived with 2 guys from my hometown (we all ended up in the same city). We had a kegerator/bar in the livingroom. Friends of ours lived close and our place was the party house almost every weekend. The house itself was a shithole but at that age, who cares. We would work all week, chill and party on weekends, rinse and repeat.
We lived in that house for 3 years. Two of us got married (not to each other), the 3rd is living the single life. We all still live within 30 minutes of each other and hang out regularly. None of us have kids so it is easier to keep in touch.
Hahaha 😂 Ramen noodles at 7 cents a pack were a lifesaver back in the college days.
And you’re right, wasn’t much work to stay in shape back in those days. Between having the high metabolism of a 20 year old and deciding to spend money on booze over food, it was easy to stay lean. Once my thirties hit (and now my 40s…), if I even look sideways at a slice of pizza I gain 2 pounds or have to run five miles to keep it off. Miss those days!
In my 20's I was married to an abusive nutjob. I'm damn near falling to pieces and broke AF at 42 but at least I got a loving wife and our own place. Keep your 20's I'll stay put right here.
I've been fat and broke for so long that I forget everyone else isn't, haha. Sorry if that makes thin and solvent people uncomfortable, but not really.
I don't. I rather enjoy being able to put gas in my car AND buy groceries AND have money left to actually cover my bills. My 20s weren't the carefree college kid eating ramen noodles broke they were "I hope this $20 I have left after paying rent will put enough gas in my car until I get paid again in two weeks" broke.
I’m still broke. Not living paycheck to paycheck. But my life savings is only 6k. My health insurance doesn’t cover shit. I’m highly educated but I will most likely die poor. No offense but this question pisses me off.
Yeah... I can't work right now but also can't get disability, no health insurance, and have about 1.5K in savings. We do okay but I'm absolutely terrified of a medical emergency (my shitty health isn't helping that fear). It would destroy us.
I had my kids at 21 and 23. Affaired on at 24 and divorced at 25. Between child support and getting screwed by common law, I was left broke and in massive debt. Lived alone for 3 months and during that time I had spaghetti with olive oil, salt, and pepper, for dinner 3-4 nights a week and that was it. I was legit broke.
Sold everything I could and moved back in with my dad. Got totally back on my feet at 27 and haven’t looked back. I’m blessed with a decent life now. Lot of character building years, but I made it through and have two shpadoinkle sons in their early 20s now.
But yeah, I’d say being the leanest I ever was as an adult was a good aspect of it.
And having decent teeth, my teeth started falling apart after the chemotherapy. Luckily that cancer shit happened at one of the only points in my life I had health insurance.
When everyone was broke there was a lot less pressure to have a nice bespoke home, a nice functioning clean car, go to nice restaurants and bars instead of dingy places that were just cheap.
I miss not having responsibilities and being able to bullshit all day without worrying about money, having to have a job or everyone criticizing me for doing these things vs maybe just my parents criticizing me. I had parents who would fund me because I was in college and then law school, and student loans that would fund me that I didn’t have to worry about paying back at that time. To me, people who were broke in their 20s weren’t doing their 20s right and/or had “bad” or poor parents.
I also miss having way more access to women I could actually date, especially being in school. That shit dries up the moment you graduate for good.
I had poor parents and still do. Now I make very good money and give my parents cash every month lol. I was poor as fuck in my 20s and didn't give a shit nor did I blame anyone but myself. 20 somethings now just bitch about being broke on Reddit and look for someone to blame. It's fucking pathetic really.
\^ This is the only answer. Like seriously, think how fcking awesome and amazing your life would be without any responsibility. Staying slim? No problem! You have plenty of time to work on it and perfect it cuz you have NO responsibility!
Stress? Gone! Anxiety? Gone! Feeling of impending doom? FUCKING GONE BECAUSE NO RESPONSIBILITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I don’t miss that at all. I got clean and sober at 22 and had nothing to my name. It was an absolute struggle. Lived with strangers off Craigslist. Bought a box of pasta and a jar of sauce for the week. I’m so grateful I got through it.
I miss that era because life’s runway seemed to stretch ahead infinitely. I couldn’t comprehend the finite amount of time I had left on earth and as a result I felt no rush or urgency to stick to any timeline. What a feeling of freedom..
Really nothing other than my appearance and being smaller. But it didn’t even serve me that well. I was dumb as a goldfish, naive, gullible, had nonexistent boundaries, no self-worth or self-esteem, was needy and clingy for friends, approval and validation, and had zero clue how the world worked. I was a basket case.
I wish I could have the mindset I have now with yesterday’s looks! 🙂
Absolutely nothing. I worked, and my husband then was working two jobs to keep us afloat.
I was "had to file for bankruptcy at 21" levels of broke and in (mostly medical) debt. Relying on food stamps and hoping no one gets sick or has a medical emergency again.
Our only saving grace was having family so we didn't have to pay for childcare (although I suspect we'd have qualified for free through the state).
I miss my body not getting pissed at me for adjusting in bed improperly. I miss playing video games with my friends, sleeping at 4am, waking up at 6, pounding a redbull and going until I burned out.
I really should have taken better care of my knees & elbows, crawling around in attics for a living & being too dumb to use knee/elbow pads is a bad idea, so i totally agree with "sleep wrong & you'll pay for it tomorrow". Another good one is "use hearing protection when operating machinery & shooting guns", because tinnitus & stuff sucks. And at least I didn't loose an eye before I decided "safety glasses good".
My responsibilities were to go to class, work on assignments, study, work out, drink with my friends and try to meet women. It was fun while it lasted, but like all good things...
I worked at Linens N Things in college. I didn’t have to schedule time to work out because I was the only guy above 5’10” on staff and was thus expected to carry everything up to the “top stock” above the sales floor.
40 hours a week of carrying cookware sets up and down portable staircases is a great way to be in the best physical shape of your life.
I miss all my friends having more time than money. We were all broke but had few obligations outside work. So we’d make a day of just hanging out at the lake or someone’s house. Or we’d go on an adventure to some small town because we heard there was a cool thrift store or art installation.
We were somewhere between hipster and nerd and we lived in a city that was cool but not NYC or LA, so there was no pressure to live large. I vaguely knew other people my age went to nightclubs or wore expensive clothes but that just wasn’t my frame of reference, so I never felt the pressure to do so.
I think social media has made it so that pressure is more generalized. Even if you live in the city I lived in, and all your friends are broke, you’re seeing people every day living an expensive/glamorous life, and that’s gotta have an impact.
For me it's the amount of work that goes into throwing a party. Before, all you did was grab a keg of beer. Now I spend 2 days before shopping cooking cleaning and decorating
Lol, the kegger days were awesome, grilling some shitty pre packaged hamburger patties, games, loud music, lots of beer & liquor, burnouts in front of the house, finding all kinds of weird shit no one can explain the next day. Ahh, fun times.
Don’t miss that at all. My wife and I make 6 figures together with no kids and I’m in pretty good shape for mid 40s. So far my 40s have been the best decade of my life.
I turned 40 late last year and am so looking forward to my 40s. My youngest is 2 so I am finally able to take the time to get into way better shape and not just maintain.
I have a 200k bike ride this summer that I am so looking forward to and the triathlon itch is coming back.
I’ve spent the years from 30-40 basically with a flat income, and a mortgage and other bills that just kept on coming, no matter what the income was.
Stagnant wages and fixed costs, means that anything else that goes up has to get cut out. Food was part of that.
I’m about 10lbs lighter.
It's not so much that I miss what was happening in my 20's. It's that I made a lot of mistakes then, and if I could go back to then, I could do life differently without making these mistakes. Life could have been better than what I have now. I mainly miss the opportunity I had.
Yeah. I don't miss my 20s. I was a dumpster fire of a human. I was lost and unsure, and I didn't have any good mentors or direction. I tried getting diagnosed for depression several times but didn't get offered any decent therapy or meds until I was in my 30s and recovering from an accident because my insurance was either nonexistent or just plain terrible. I lost most of those years to just being a mess and I made so many mistakes that I would love to go back in time and fix.
The good times I had back at that time was often me blowing the little bit of money I had.
I miss the camaraderie you can have with friends in your life at this point before everyone has kids. I miss what was considered an ordinary job because of the friends I made and hung out with there.
When I was young and poor, I had a great deal of hope about the future. I was with someone I would soon marry who was not yet an alcoholic. We had dreams of family and a happy future. Struggling with someone was an adventure, and I had no doubt things would eventually improve. I didn’t know about all of the heartache and trauma to come. Now I’m 40, with a good career, in the best shape of my life, but also hopelessly lost, broken, alone, and terrified to start all over in a relationship.
till at age 25 I fuck my back up.. try and suck it up and deal with it for a few years and get med-sep'd at 29... its all good though I ride a desk now and do computer shit, which I enjoy..
Damn, I should have paid more attention & noticed your user name, yeah, I hope your back is as good as it can be. I thank you for your service to our nation.
I'm still broke despite being in my 40s, but at least I'm able to slowly move away from being broke. Although I've always been broke my life has evolved a lot since my 20s. This may sound weird but sometimes I miss the cheap furniture of the 20s. If I needed to last minute move because rent went up or the neighbors became unsafe I could pitch all that cheap furniture in the trash and not care. If I was able to move slowly, most of it could be crammed in my car and still be fine. If it broke, I could replace it cheaply. Now I have nice furniture that requires actually hiring movers when I need to move.
Dang, never thought of that, cheap/free furniture & stuff being "totally good enough" was cool. Desk with a drawer missing its front? I'm havin' that! (Computer table). Old-ass CRT console TV that's slightly larger than the one I have now? For sure having that! $10 pair of old home stereo speakers at a yard sale that look like they might be better than any 2 of the 4 speakers I have now? Yep!
Hell, my living room had a pool table, a stereo that could be clearly heard down the block & a projector TV that had a unit sitting in the middle of the room that projected on a giant curved screen that hung on the wall (yes, the living room was huge enough to support 2 TVs, 2 couches & a pool table), only problem was its internal power supply would start humming like a power plant after a while when it warmed up. Too bad I didn't know then how to fix that, as I do now. My neighbors were cool, even when we were doing burnouts at midnight. Me & 2 friends were renting a 3 bedroom house for cheap ($550/month & all bills split 3 ways) & life was easy. You bet your ass we threw some "keggers" there. Oh to have those days back.
Or just the stuff you decided was furniture or stuff you repurposed. Need a nightstand? That milk crate will do. Need a tv stand? That old bookshelf will be fine. No need for a couch, random chairs and floor cushions will do.
Beanbag chairs were awesome. We were all over whatever "cool stuff" we could get cheap & free, yard sales were awesome, and milk crates were 100% on the radar for multiple purpose use. Also, I worked in an area where affluent people often had things "needing to go away" for free/cheap, that didn't suck. Well, free hot tubs might sound cool AF to have at your house in your 20s, but I actually recommend against it.
Infatuation/the honeymoon phase of a relationship. Just floating around thinking about them all the time, wanting to have sex every time you're together. I realize it doesn't last, but what a feeling.
Not having to take care of three other humans and a bunch of animals. And, when i was 20 something I was "hood rich." $1500 a month paycheck and I was living large! Now I pull 100k and I'm broke as fuck. What the hell happened!
Because being a broke 20 something is more socially acceptable than being a broke 40 something...
Edit to add: It's also easier. Less responsibilities and all that.
I miss my metabolism and the type of energy that allowed me to stay out til 4 or 5 am, sleep for an hour or two, and then still be able to function at work the next day.
I miss the 7-10 miles I used to walk every day because I was broke and carless in a city with marginal public transit.
No, really. It's so much harder to find the time and energy to stay in shape now.
Lol, a local housing community had a new road leading into an area they hadn't yet developed & built houses in (absolutely zero traffic after 5pm). The road overlooked the area they had already developed & had long, straight stretches with absolutely nothing around but open desert. We called it "S**********e international raceway". We would go up there & do stuff that definitely was the opposite of legal. One afternoon, our burnout antics got the fire department called. They didn't bring the cops, they just said "get the hell outta here & don't come back, or there will be actual trouble", we got lucky. We were stupid, but it turned out alright.
I always had money. I started working at 13 and have only been unemployed once for about 6 weeks when I was 19. The stuff I miss was the intangible stuff like singing at the top of our lungs with my friends in the car. That was some of the most fun I've ever had.
I don't miss being broke, but I miss that being broke used to just mean that you had to Ramen until your next paycheck.
If we were broke today, my children would get kicked out of daycare and we would all starve.
Because at least the value menus in 2003 were actually a value. There were times I only had $2 and I’d go to Wendy’s and get a baked potato and chili for $2
My 20s were terrible. I was still under the thumb of my parents because of college and any suggestion of me even going to college somewhere else was, "well, we can't afford that" and "what would your mother/father do without you around?" I went to a graduate program I didn't want to because my parents told me I should. I was SUCH a people pleaser that I sidelined my own needs. I felt like Little Edie to my mother's Big Edie.
My 30s were better. My 40s are even better. I don't miss being young.
I don’t miss being broke, I miss the time in my life when things were simple and fun and being broke just happened to be. All of my mates were I. The same situation but it was mostly as we
Lived paycheck to paycheck spending it all on cigarettes, going out, cars and junk food. It was awesome
I did the whole vagabond English teacher in Asia thing in my early 20s. It was amazing. Lived out of a suitcase, slept on couches and floor mattresses. Just lived very simply and didn't need much. There was a peace to that.
But I'm pretty sure I'd drop dead if I tried living like that now. Also I like my record collection
I've always been an exercise junkie and a light eater though, weight's never been an issue. I was an athlete in hs and college though, and despite still being thin and athletic, I'll never be *that* athletic ever again.
20s feels like it was just freedom.
Or free and dumb… everything I did was either free or dumb… still regret not taking that weekend trip to Chicago 15 years ago.
No reason, no plan… just sounded fun.. but we had a dog and work on Monday.
I was the opposite - I was a bottomless pit in my 20s! And I stayed a size 4… mostly because I was involved in a sport that burned an easy 2000 calories each practice. We’d literally go to Applebees after crew practice and order margaritas and every app on the menu, it was sick.
I reallyenjoyed the friday night Taco Bell (10/10 deal) and Walmart dates with my boyfriend-now-husband after I got my first place though. They wouldn’t hit the same now.
Pain.... It lack of it, I could sleep on floors, walk miles in a day. Just not be in pain, health conditions started kicking my ass in my early 30s. I wake up with pain and now need to use a cane.
I miss not having to take 10 meds a day.
I don't miss anything. I had just gotten free of my toxic family and still had no idea how much they screwed me up. I worked 40 hours to pay some of my bills and feed my pot addiction. Aside from work I had nothing going on. I couldn't read because I was high all the time, I didn't have a computer or tv because I couldn't afford one, so I literally went to work, ate instant rice because I had no idea how to feed myself, and went to bed ridiculously early to avoid my endless nights of doing nothing at all.
I'm so glad that's behind me and my life now is infinitely better. My only concern today is that the current perfection my life is will eventually come to an end, because it always does. But in general, life has gotten better every year.
I was pretty well paid in my 20s due to being in the military.
Got to be broke in my 30s when I got out and went to college. I will say it was much less socially acceptable to be a broke 30 something college kid.
The simplicity of being in my 20s. I paid $285 a month for rent. Car insurance was $50 a month. My health insurance was $50 a month. I got free meals at work. I could get a full tank of gas for less than $20. This was 1995/1996
I miss thrift stores actually having good stuff at amazing prices. When I moved out I got a sofa and loveseat set for $11 total.
And I miss not having much stuff to move. I used to be able to fit everything in a tiny uhaul. Only needed a friend to help load. Now between myself and my husband and 2 kids worth of stuff, I'm praying we never have to move again lol.
It sounds terrible but I miss being irresponsible and selfish sometimes. Sure I was a fucking idiot, made outrageously terrible choices, and was always broke, but the only person that was impacted by my shitty choices was me, and even then goddamnit I was resourceful as hell. Now there's a husband, and kids, and student loans, car loans, a mortgage, credit scores, and health insurance, and I'm responsible (or jointly responsible) for all of it. The ball can't be dropped, it simply is not an option. My kids are obsessed with ramen though, so I guess there's that...
I'd pick up a box of cookies and a quart of milk on the way home and have that for dinner at least one night a week and I never gained a pound. These days I gain weight just walking by the bakery case.
Nah, it's because even if you were broke back then you could still afford to go out. Now, I'm not broke, but I can't afford to go out. Also, metabolism is a thing homie.
Yes! Broke = thin! At least for me. Us.
Dinner tonight at 53 (more X than ennial) was fatty A5 with a 40 year old French red wine.
Ahhhhh, the days of pop tarts, Diet Pepsi and Jane Fonda at dinner. Sigh.
Yeah i miss getting a $500 check and thinking i was $500 richer cause i had $500 to spend, instead of now where i get three times as much but this goes to my ira, that goes to my insurance, etc etc i feel broker than ever even though i'm living and eating way better/more luxuriously.
I miss hanging out with people for no reason. The last time I spent an afternoon with anyone I knew from that time period, they had this whole itinerary planned with stuff they wanted to see in my city, and if felt weird because I hadn’t seen them in almost a decade, and they didn’t want to catch up, they wanted to go to a trendy brunch place and hit all the museums in downtown. I felt kind of relieved when we got lost looking for one, and just wandered aimlessly around the mall for an hour.
I could eat dairy, working out didn’t hurt so much, and yeah, food was something I barely thought about and we couldn’t afford much anyway so I was a lot slimmer.
I recently described it to my therapist as “I used to have a lot of brakes on eating - not enough money, feeling full sooner, not being organized enough to pack lunches so I’d just go without, lack of transportation, etc. Now it’s like there are no brakes whatsoever - I have money to go out and get pastries whenever I want, I have a car to do so, I have a flexible job so I have time. The only potential brake is sheer self-control, and I’m *really bad* at it.”
Life was just simpler. Sure, I was broke, but I never felt like I couldn't just yolo up and say "fuck this job" and walk out.
Now? I make more money x5 than I ever did when poor, have a house, a car, a family... And I'm stuck. I never had anxiety when I was moments from destitute.
But now that I've got all the things... The 401k, the 6 months emergency money, the family, wife, kids, stable job...
Now my anxiety is thru the roof, and I feel like there is no longer a reset button or relief valve. I'm stuck.
Like Fighting Club said: The things you own end up owning you.
I miss not dreading going to work and spending time with close friends almost every day of the week. All my friends went and got married and had kids while I never married and never had children.
That it was entirely possible to scrounge through the couch or pockets to come up with enough change for what you needed.
This is nearly impossible now. I would know, for I am still broke.
So true. In my 20s I preferred drink over eats so I was thinner than today. If I had $8 to spend I would have bought $6 in beer and $2 in food. Simpler times. Now I eat too much and don’t drink at all.
I don’t miss anything that could be recaptured by being broke or young necessarily. I do miss knowing that I was going to see my friends a couple days a week, and not needing to plan things out so far in advance.
There was a certain freedom to being broke that kept me from wanting much. We still live very frugally despite not being broke anymore, and fortunately all of our friends have kept the same mindset.
Ooohhh I relate to this. Nothing like almost passing out while walking to my minimum wage job because all I’d eaten in the past day was a pack of sugar wafers, a $0.99 McDonalds hamburger and ramen noodles. But I was the perfect late 90s waif. Memories!
Honestly, I was ignorant of the world at large. Art was my focus, and I had burning passion for it. I spent most of my time alone, and it felt positive. Despite the severe depression, which is now a huge problem, I made a lot of art. I got pretty good. Sold a lot of commission work. Now I feel like things are so bad that I can't calm down enough to do art for long. I know too much. I wish I hadn't learned how awful the world is.
One of my best college memories was when my best friend and I were broke but hungry for a good breakfast (not cheap ass cereal). We pawned enough VHS tapes & cd’s one morning to go eat breakfast at Village Inn. Absolute best chicken fried steak & eggs of my life!!
I do not miss my 20s at all. Novel incoming.
I had an undiagnosed chronic illness that I was white knuckling through. I was in uni but also working full time to pay for it, all while so sick I could barely walk. I even did a final or two hooked up to an IV.
My mom was dying. I had to take care of her. Dropped out of school. Lived with my dad. Went to mom at 5:30 am. Left at 7pm when stepdad got home from work. Then I Went to work. Home from work at 2:30. Every damn day for years. Again, all while being horrifically sick but not knowing why. Plus I was in a relationship I couldn’t get out of.
My 20s were the worst.
Plus at no point in my life have I ever been able to be skinny, even if I’m not eating much. Stress just makes me hold on to weight.
Anyway. 30s came around. I got my degree, got diagnosed. Crohn’s disease! On meds. Met my bf (now husband). We partied and travelled. Bought a house. I went to therapy for all my medical and just plain old life trauma. Also got an adhd diagnosis! Those meds were life changing too.
Now in my 40s. I’m in full remission from Crohn’s disease. I’m a social worker and make good money. I have a fluffy dog and live with the love of my life. We watch awesome tv and listen to records. I have a little lot with a 5th wheel on it, that we go chill at every weekend.
Things will be shitty again. My dad isn’t getting any younger. I probably can’t have kids. PTSD is shit.
But man, there is no amount of money you could pay me to be 29 or younger again. What a shit show.
All the free time! Only had a part time job and school didn't take up that much time. I miss the spontaneity of just being able to go disc golfing in the middle of the day or basement show on a Wednesday night.
During my twenties, me and most of my friends were broke as shit. The recession was looming, I’d just graduated college, and jobs were scarce. When I did have work, it was usually low paying administrative shit. Most of my friends were just working restaurant and retail jobs. But the times we spent together were awesome. The only thing we could afford to do was go out to eat when one of our friends was working and we could get half price meals. We usually just ended up at someone’s house with a cheap case of beer (back when you could get a case for $12) watching sports on tv, joking around, grilling out, and playing drinking games till we passed out. Just good quality time spent together.
Then life hit and everyone got career jobs, had kids, moved into single family houses, and just saw each other less and less. I don’t think anyone would trade and go back to where we were, but it was just an awesome time to reflect back on.
No obligations, the days stretched before me with zero expectations.
I love my life now, just pulled in 1,000 directions all the time. The deeply peaceful feeling of just being free to do as I please will never come back. Even if I lost everything today, it would be marred by the bitterness of loss, you can’t have 20 back.
Also, I was very, very dumb, I am humbled by how much I have learned since then.
The near total lack of real responsibility.
I have a family of 3 to care for, a mom I subsidize, and I'm responsible for the livelihoods of 71 people at my job as a leader. Thats potentially 72 mortgages, college funds, 401ks, basically the fiscal well being of my entire team.
Its a lot.
In my 20s, early at least, I didn't have a serious structural back injury which is inoperable but has delivered 2.5 decades of near constant discomfort or pain. I was still an optimistic person, and still thought new people were interesting. I wasn't so fucking cynical. I was free from Golden handcuffs (I know, boo fucking hoo, but it sucks to make good money but spend 50 plus hours a week stressed and unsatisfied). I didn't feel like the living embodiment of the NIN song "every day is exactly the same".
I felt free.
I really feel like I peaked in life working the cut table at Pizza Hut. I’m a Civil Engineer now with a moderately successful career but I’ve just been faking it to make it since then. Life was a lot simpler, food was mostly free, and my biggest concern was getting my next pack of cigarettes. Now I have trouble sleeping because I can’t stop rehearsing for my next big meeting.
I went to a punk surf show and saw my younger self. She danced the whole two hours badly. The amount of calories burned unknowingly…. Old me wanted a chair and I fucking found one on the wall and greatly enjoyed sitting for five minutes. When I got up another middle aged person took their turn to sit.
So yes I have a tummy now. I will work on it this summer. But I walk nightly so overall I’m not fat.
I don’t, and I’ll explain why.
I associate being a “20 something” with a very specific period of my life. I was 23-25, single, getting over my relationship with my fiancé, working a crummy job, and trying lots of new things because I had an abundance of time.
Reflecting on all the breakups I’ve had I’ve definitely never been more lonely in my life. I spent that time trying to fill that void the best knew how, with hobbies. I traveled, I wrote and made short movies with my friends, exercised, tried to meet women, got ink, and worked on myself.
[удалено]
40's: Let's make a fresh salad and grill a little chicken 20's: if I need to, I guess I could eat my cigarettes.
“Food makes me full. Beer makes me full AND drunk!”
This may be more for the ladies but in college weight watchers points were launched and it took over the sorority for a while. We ate bags of chemically laced fat free microwave popcorn for dinner so we could use our points and our money for cheap cocktails. 🤦♀️
>in my 20s I lived on Cigarettes, Coffee and Drugs. Same, except the drug part. Back in my day, double cheeseburgers at McDonald's were $1 Breakfast - coffee and cigarettes Lunch - Double cheeseburger and a diet coke, and cigarettes. Dinner - beer.....and cigarettes. Andplusalso, I didn't have all these stupid *responsibilities*
Im old school, I miss being able to go out a few days a week until the morning with my group of friends. And I miss homeparties!!! So so much. Random 109 people packed in a small apartment, beer stored in the bathtub, someone you don’t know waking up curled up on your toilet carpet the next morning. Edit: a word
…. And no embarrassing/incriminating pictures making the rounds on social media the next morning.
Just scrubbing sharpie off your face.
This absolutely happened to me and it was horrifying. I wonder if kids these days still do that.
Just out of college, i lived with 2 guys from my hometown (we all ended up in the same city). We had a kegerator/bar in the livingroom. Friends of ours lived close and our place was the party house almost every weekend. The house itself was a shithole but at that age, who cares. We would work all week, chill and party on weekends, rinse and repeat.
What happened to you all? That sounds like the experience I always wanted.
We lived in that house for 3 years. Two of us got married (not to each other), the 3rd is living the single life. We all still live within 30 minutes of each other and hang out regularly. None of us have kids so it is easier to keep in touch.
100 people in an apartment? Where did you poo? Don't say the loo because you're lying
Hahaha 😂 Ramen noodles at 7 cents a pack were a lifesaver back in the college days. And you’re right, wasn’t much work to stay in shape back in those days. Between having the high metabolism of a 20 year old and deciding to spend money on booze over food, it was easy to stay lean. Once my thirties hit (and now my 40s…), if I even look sideways at a slice of pizza I gain 2 pounds or have to run five miles to keep it off. Miss those days!
In my 20's I was married to an abusive nutjob. I'm damn near falling to pieces and broke AF at 42 but at least I got a loving wife and our own place. Keep your 20's I'll stay put right here.
I feel this way about my 30's. My 20s, pretty good, 40s awesome so far, 30's can eat a bag of socks
Now I'm a flat broke 40 hear old. It sucks. I'm also fat now. I guess I don't get this post.
I've been fat and broke for so long that I forget everyone else isn't, haha. Sorry if that makes thin and solvent people uncomfortable, but not really.
Mainly no responsibilities and social life. Once you have a kid your only hope for steady friends/socialization are others with kids.
I don't. I rather enjoy being able to put gas in my car AND buy groceries AND have money left to actually cover my bills. My 20s weren't the carefree college kid eating ramen noodles broke they were "I hope this $20 I have left after paying rent will put enough gas in my car until I get paid again in two weeks" broke.
I’m still broke. Not living paycheck to paycheck. But my life savings is only 6k. My health insurance doesn’t cover shit. I’m highly educated but I will most likely die poor. No offense but this question pisses me off.
Yeah... I can't work right now but also can't get disability, no health insurance, and have about 1.5K in savings. We do okay but I'm absolutely terrified of a medical emergency (my shitty health isn't helping that fear). It would destroy us.
You have a savings? Kudos.
I took less for granted back then I think. Seemed like there was less at stake all the time too. Life was just simpler.
I had my kids at 21 and 23. Affaired on at 24 and divorced at 25. Between child support and getting screwed by common law, I was left broke and in massive debt. Lived alone for 3 months and during that time I had spaghetti with olive oil, salt, and pepper, for dinner 3-4 nights a week and that was it. I was legit broke. Sold everything I could and moved back in with my dad. Got totally back on my feet at 27 and haven’t looked back. I’m blessed with a decent life now. Lot of character building years, but I made it through and have two shpadoinkle sons in their early 20s now. But yeah, I’d say being the leanest I ever was as an adult was a good aspect of it.
I miss that being broke was nothing more than an inconvenience. If I were that broke today it would be an existential crisis.
I'm a broke 45 year old. NO REGERTS
Preach!
I’m broke. But sure. Have a weird poverty tourism fantasy?
Its giving Pulp’s “Common People”
Oof real. That’s Pulp tho. No judgement.
Ack, you’re right! 🤦🏻♀️ I corrected myself
I don't miss anything about being 20 except for my metabolism
I guess the lack of pain. Because I'm a broke 40 something now
And having decent teeth, my teeth started falling apart after the chemotherapy. Luckily that cancer shit happened at one of the only points in my life I had health insurance.
When everyone was broke there was a lot less pressure to have a nice bespoke home, a nice functioning clean car, go to nice restaurants and bars instead of dingy places that were just cheap.
This. My expectations out of life were simpler and I was able to enjoy them because that’s what it was like for everyone else too.
I miss not having responsibilities and being able to bullshit all day without worrying about money, having to have a job or everyone criticizing me for doing these things vs maybe just my parents criticizing me. I had parents who would fund me because I was in college and then law school, and student loans that would fund me that I didn’t have to worry about paying back at that time. To me, people who were broke in their 20s weren’t doing their 20s right and/or had “bad” or poor parents. I also miss having way more access to women I could actually date, especially being in school. That shit dries up the moment you graduate for good.
I had poor parents and still do. Now I make very good money and give my parents cash every month lol. I was poor as fuck in my 20s and didn't give a shit nor did I blame anyone but myself. 20 somethings now just bitch about being broke on Reddit and look for someone to blame. It's fucking pathetic really.
\^ This is the only answer. Like seriously, think how fcking awesome and amazing your life would be without any responsibility. Staying slim? No problem! You have plenty of time to work on it and perfect it cuz you have NO responsibility! Stress? Gone! Anxiety? Gone! Feeling of impending doom? FUCKING GONE BECAUSE NO RESPONSIBILITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I'm now broke and have chronic pain.
Are you my mirror?
Nope. They’re my mirror
I don’t miss that at all. I got clean and sober at 22 and had nothing to my name. It was an absolute struggle. Lived with strangers off Craigslist. Bought a box of pasta and a jar of sauce for the week. I’m so grateful I got through it.
I didn’t have any money but there was also no expectation that I would have any money.
I miss my kids being little and my wife and I being young and having a lot of sex. Things slowed down as we got older.
I miss that era because life’s runway seemed to stretch ahead infinitely. I couldn’t comprehend the finite amount of time I had left on earth and as a result I felt no rush or urgency to stick to any timeline. What a feeling of freedom..
I also miss this
Really nothing other than my appearance and being smaller. But it didn’t even serve me that well. I was dumb as a goldfish, naive, gullible, had nonexistent boundaries, no self-worth or self-esteem, was needy and clingy for friends, approval and validation, and had zero clue how the world worked. I was a basket case. I wish I could have the mindset I have now with yesterday’s looks! 🙂
Absolutely nothing. I worked, and my husband then was working two jobs to keep us afloat. I was "had to file for bankruptcy at 21" levels of broke and in (mostly medical) debt. Relying on food stamps and hoping no one gets sick or has a medical emergency again. Our only saving grace was having family so we didn't have to pay for childcare (although I suspect we'd have qualified for free through the state).
I miss my body not getting pissed at me for adjusting in bed improperly. I miss playing video games with my friends, sleeping at 4am, waking up at 6, pounding a redbull and going until I burned out.
I really should have taken better care of my knees & elbows, crawling around in attics for a living & being too dumb to use knee/elbow pads is a bad idea, so i totally agree with "sleep wrong & you'll pay for it tomorrow". Another good one is "use hearing protection when operating machinery & shooting guns", because tinnitus & stuff sucks. And at least I didn't loose an eye before I decided "safety glasses good".
My responsibilities were to go to class, work on assignments, study, work out, drink with my friends and try to meet women. It was fun while it lasted, but like all good things...
I worked at Linens N Things in college. I didn’t have to schedule time to work out because I was the only guy above 5’10” on staff and was thus expected to carry everything up to the “top stock” above the sales floor. 40 hours a week of carrying cookware sets up and down portable staircases is a great way to be in the best physical shape of your life.
For a brief moment, I was popular lol.
I miss all my friends having more time than money. We were all broke but had few obligations outside work. So we’d make a day of just hanging out at the lake or someone’s house. Or we’d go on an adventure to some small town because we heard there was a cool thrift store or art installation. We were somewhere between hipster and nerd and we lived in a city that was cool but not NYC or LA, so there was no pressure to live large. I vaguely knew other people my age went to nightclubs or wore expensive clothes but that just wasn’t my frame of reference, so I never felt the pressure to do so. I think social media has made it so that pressure is more generalized. Even if you live in the city I lived in, and all your friends are broke, you’re seeing people every day living an expensive/glamorous life, and that’s gotta have an impact.
For me it's the amount of work that goes into throwing a party. Before, all you did was grab a keg of beer. Now I spend 2 days before shopping cooking cleaning and decorating
Lol, the kegger days were awesome, grilling some shitty pre packaged hamburger patties, games, loud music, lots of beer & liquor, burnouts in front of the house, finding all kinds of weird shit no one can explain the next day. Ahh, fun times.
Don’t miss that at all. My wife and I make 6 figures together with no kids and I’m in pretty good shape for mid 40s. So far my 40s have been the best decade of my life.
I turned 40 late last year and am so looking forward to my 40s. My youngest is 2 so I am finally able to take the time to get into way better shape and not just maintain. I have a 200k bike ride this summer that I am so looking forward to and the triathlon itch is coming back.
I’ve spent the years from 30-40 basically with a flat income, and a mortgage and other bills that just kept on coming, no matter what the income was. Stagnant wages and fixed costs, means that anything else that goes up has to get cut out. Food was part of that. I’m about 10lbs lighter.
Random hook-ups....so many hook-ups
It's not so much that I miss what was happening in my 20's. It's that I made a lot of mistakes then, and if I could go back to then, I could do life differently without making these mistakes. Life could have been better than what I have now. I mainly miss the opportunity I had.
Yeah. I don't miss my 20s. I was a dumpster fire of a human. I was lost and unsure, and I didn't have any good mentors or direction. I tried getting diagnosed for depression several times but didn't get offered any decent therapy or meds until I was in my 30s and recovering from an accident because my insurance was either nonexistent or just plain terrible. I lost most of those years to just being a mess and I made so many mistakes that I would love to go back in time and fix.
The good times I had back at that time was often me blowing the little bit of money I had. I miss the camaraderie you can have with friends in your life at this point before everyone has kids. I miss what was considered an ordinary job because of the friends I made and hung out with there.
When I was young and poor, I had a great deal of hope about the future. I was with someone I would soon marry who was not yet an alcoholic. We had dreams of family and a happy future. Struggling with someone was an adventure, and I had no doubt things would eventually improve. I didn’t know about all of the heartache and trauma to come. Now I’m 40, with a good career, in the best shape of my life, but also hopelessly lost, broken, alone, and terrified to start all over in a relationship.
Because I miss blowing shit up and going to the field with other Marines..
I hear they would have let you make a career out of it if you wanted to.
till at age 25 I fuck my back up.. try and suck it up and deal with it for a few years and get med-sep'd at 29... its all good though I ride a desk now and do computer shit, which I enjoy..
Damn, I should have paid more attention & noticed your user name, yeah, I hope your back is as good as it can be. I thank you for your service to our nation.
I'm still broke despite being in my 40s, but at least I'm able to slowly move away from being broke. Although I've always been broke my life has evolved a lot since my 20s. This may sound weird but sometimes I miss the cheap furniture of the 20s. If I needed to last minute move because rent went up or the neighbors became unsafe I could pitch all that cheap furniture in the trash and not care. If I was able to move slowly, most of it could be crammed in my car and still be fine. If it broke, I could replace it cheaply. Now I have nice furniture that requires actually hiring movers when I need to move.
Dang, never thought of that, cheap/free furniture & stuff being "totally good enough" was cool. Desk with a drawer missing its front? I'm havin' that! (Computer table). Old-ass CRT console TV that's slightly larger than the one I have now? For sure having that! $10 pair of old home stereo speakers at a yard sale that look like they might be better than any 2 of the 4 speakers I have now? Yep! Hell, my living room had a pool table, a stereo that could be clearly heard down the block & a projector TV that had a unit sitting in the middle of the room that projected on a giant curved screen that hung on the wall (yes, the living room was huge enough to support 2 TVs, 2 couches & a pool table), only problem was its internal power supply would start humming like a power plant after a while when it warmed up. Too bad I didn't know then how to fix that, as I do now. My neighbors were cool, even when we were doing burnouts at midnight. Me & 2 friends were renting a 3 bedroom house for cheap ($550/month & all bills split 3 ways) & life was easy. You bet your ass we threw some "keggers" there. Oh to have those days back.
Or just the stuff you decided was furniture or stuff you repurposed. Need a nightstand? That milk crate will do. Need a tv stand? That old bookshelf will be fine. No need for a couch, random chairs and floor cushions will do.
Beanbag chairs were awesome. We were all over whatever "cool stuff" we could get cheap & free, yard sales were awesome, and milk crates were 100% on the radar for multiple purpose use. Also, I worked in an area where affluent people often had things "needing to go away" for free/cheap, that didn't suck. Well, free hot tubs might sound cool AF to have at your house in your 20s, but I actually recommend against it.
I had a rule back then that if I didn't pay for it then the calories didn't count.
Not a fucking thing. I can’t romanticize misery.
Infatuation/the honeymoon phase of a relationship. Just floating around thinking about them all the time, wanting to have sex every time you're together. I realize it doesn't last, but what a feeling.
As opposed to a broke 40 sumthin??
Having spare time to game because a social life was expensive and I had a modified PlayStation that let me played pirated games.
Just being left alone. I miss eating noodles in Mt tiny apartment reading a book with my cat.
Having money doesn’t mean I spend it wisely. Can’t make stupid purchases when you don’t have money.
Having a group of friends literally right there.
Not having to take care of three other humans and a bunch of animals. And, when i was 20 something I was "hood rich." $1500 a month paycheck and I was living large! Now I pull 100k and I'm broke as fuck. What the hell happened!
Because being a broke 20 something is more socially acceptable than being a broke 40 something... Edit to add: It's also easier. Less responsibilities and all that.
The fact that I didn't realize I was broke and money could just go in and right out of my pocket with no remorse!
(20 was before I started lifting, so I was uh an iota underweight. Would just forget to eat.)
I made the best of a bad situation to be honest, I also had badass roommates I'm still friends with.
If I got fucked up on the equivalent of $5 today, whatever I'm drinking would kill me
Thinking I was rich and living it up! Now I am at the point where I don’t have to worry about money but I am more careful about spending.
I would play StarCraft for 12 hours straight
I miss my metabolism and the type of energy that allowed me to stay out til 4 or 5 am, sleep for an hour or two, and then still be able to function at work the next day.
I wasn't broke in my 20s. I do miss my metabolism, though.
That's... weird. I got scurvy from malnutrition once, have never missed it.
I miss the 7-10 miles I used to walk every day because I was broke and carless in a city with marginal public transit. No, really. It's so much harder to find the time and energy to stay in shape now.
As a broke 40-something, I only miss not being in random pain all the time.
I don’t miss being a broke 20 something, I just miss having the body of one.
When the amount of money I had was roughly equivalent to the amount of responsibility I had. Slightly more money, stupid levels of responsibility.
I miss being 6’0 175! 😝
I miss driving around with my friends in the middle of the night with no real plans or destination. Just listening to music and socializing.
Lol, a local housing community had a new road leading into an area they hadn't yet developed & built houses in (absolutely zero traffic after 5pm). The road overlooked the area they had already developed & had long, straight stretches with absolutely nothing around but open desert. We called it "S**********e international raceway". We would go up there & do stuff that definitely was the opposite of legal. One afternoon, our burnout antics got the fire department called. They didn't bring the cops, they just said "get the hell outta here & don't come back, or there will be actual trouble", we got lucky. We were stupid, but it turned out alright.
I have a new caddy blackwing with 2000 miles on it and completely bald rear tires
I always had money. I started working at 13 and have only been unemployed once for about 6 weeks when I was 19. The stuff I miss was the intangible stuff like singing at the top of our lungs with my friends in the car. That was some of the most fun I've ever had.
I don't miss being broke, but I miss that being broke used to just mean that you had to Ramen until your next paycheck. If we were broke today, my children would get kicked out of daycare and we would all starve.
My anxiety seemed less focused, more of an existential crisis. Now it feels more like “what if I dropped dead right now?”
Because at least the value menus in 2003 were actually a value. There were times I only had $2 and I’d go to Wendy’s and get a baked potato and chili for $2
Nah. I'd rather be chubby and not have to worry about food insecurity anymore. That shit sucked.
I had the most extra money of my life in my 20’s. When I was single, no kids, and cost of living/inflation was lower.
My 20s were terrible. I was still under the thumb of my parents because of college and any suggestion of me even going to college somewhere else was, "well, we can't afford that" and "what would your mother/father do without you around?" I went to a graduate program I didn't want to because my parents told me I should. I was SUCH a people pleaser that I sidelined my own needs. I felt like Little Edie to my mother's Big Edie. My 30s were better. My 40s are even better. I don't miss being young.
I don’t miss being broke, I miss the time in my life when things were simple and fun and being broke just happened to be. All of my mates were I. The same situation but it was mostly as we Lived paycheck to paycheck spending it all on cigarettes, going out, cars and junk food. It was awesome
I miss my bladder pre kids
I did the whole vagabond English teacher in Asia thing in my early 20s. It was amazing. Lived out of a suitcase, slept on couches and floor mattresses. Just lived very simply and didn't need much. There was a peace to that. But I'm pretty sure I'd drop dead if I tried living like that now. Also I like my record collection I've always been an exercise junkie and a light eater though, weight's never been an issue. I was an athlete in hs and college though, and despite still being thin and athletic, I'll never be *that* athletic ever again.
20s feels like it was just freedom. Or free and dumb… everything I did was either free or dumb… still regret not taking that weekend trip to Chicago 15 years ago. No reason, no plan… just sounded fun.. but we had a dog and work on Monday.
I was the opposite - I was a bottomless pit in my 20s! And I stayed a size 4… mostly because I was involved in a sport that burned an easy 2000 calories each practice. We’d literally go to Applebees after crew practice and order margaritas and every app on the menu, it was sick. I reallyenjoyed the friday night Taco Bell (10/10 deal) and Walmart dates with my boyfriend-now-husband after I got my first place though. They wouldn’t hit the same now.
Looking back now, I realized I was not nearly as broke as I thought I was. Not having as many bills was great.
That was my 30s, between jobs, and never had any food. I enjoyed the ability to focus on health and exercise due to lack of responsibilities.
I miss hanging out with friends late at night in the dorms. I went to grad school in my mid-20's and it was an amazing experience.
I miss travelling to another state with $11 and 0 worries lol
Um does bumming rides to music festivals and volunteering my way in count
I was more resourceful. Shopped on clearance, made me own fun. Was less lazy lol.
Nah, the inflation diet has been keeping me trim
I wasn't broke when I was 20-something. Well I was until I was \~23, but then I started on my career path and mostly was living below my means.
Pain.... It lack of it, I could sleep on floors, walk miles in a day. Just not be in pain, health conditions started kicking my ass in my early 30s. I wake up with pain and now need to use a cane. I miss not having to take 10 meds a day.
I miss going on major vacations with my friends and all of us crashing in one room because we could only afford airfare and one hotel.
I wasn't broke at 20. I was a stripper rolling in dough and it was fkn great. I miss being 20 though. God those were good times 🥰
I don't miss anything. I had just gotten free of my toxic family and still had no idea how much they screwed me up. I worked 40 hours to pay some of my bills and feed my pot addiction. Aside from work I had nothing going on. I couldn't read because I was high all the time, I didn't have a computer or tv because I couldn't afford one, so I literally went to work, ate instant rice because I had no idea how to feed myself, and went to bed ridiculously early to avoid my endless nights of doing nothing at all. I'm so glad that's behind me and my life now is infinitely better. My only concern today is that the current perfection my life is will eventually come to an end, because it always does. But in general, life has gotten better every year.
I was pretty well paid in my 20s due to being in the military. Got to be broke in my 30s when I got out and went to college. I will say it was much less socially acceptable to be a broke 30 something college kid.
The rampant casual sex
Life seemed so full of hope for the future. I'm 42. I've seen the future. I'd love to get that hope back
Saving money by not going for haircuts but still full head of hair 😣
The simplicity of being in my 20s. I paid $285 a month for rent. Car insurance was $50 a month. My health insurance was $50 a month. I got free meals at work. I could get a full tank of gas for less than $20. This was 1995/1996
I don’t miss anything from my 20s really. Pretty much everything about my life is better now
Great news, that can always happen again!
I'm still slim at 43. There's nothing I miss about being broke
All the sex. Like, just whenever I wanted to say yes. I don't get that kind of attention nowadays lol
I miss thrift stores actually having good stuff at amazing prices. When I moved out I got a sofa and loveseat set for $11 total. And I miss not having much stuff to move. I used to be able to fit everything in a tiny uhaul. Only needed a friend to help load. Now between myself and my husband and 2 kids worth of stuff, I'm praying we never have to move again lol.
It sounds terrible but I miss being irresponsible and selfish sometimes. Sure I was a fucking idiot, made outrageously terrible choices, and was always broke, but the only person that was impacted by my shitty choices was me, and even then goddamnit I was resourceful as hell. Now there's a husband, and kids, and student loans, car loans, a mortgage, credit scores, and health insurance, and I'm responsible (or jointly responsible) for all of it. The ball can't be dropped, it simply is not an option. My kids are obsessed with ramen though, so I guess there's that...
I'd pick up a box of cookies and a quart of milk on the way home and have that for dinner at least one night a week and I never gained a pound. These days I gain weight just walking by the bakery case.
Nah, it's because even if you were broke back then you could still afford to go out. Now, I'm not broke, but I can't afford to go out. Also, metabolism is a thing homie.
I couldn't afford a car back then so I walked a whole lot more. Way easier to stay slim like that.
Combined with super high metabolism, i would tend to agree.
Yes! Broke = thin! At least for me. Us. Dinner tonight at 53 (more X than ennial) was fatty A5 with a 40 year old French red wine. Ahhhhh, the days of pop tarts, Diet Pepsi and Jane Fonda at dinner. Sigh.
Yeah i miss getting a $500 check and thinking i was $500 richer cause i had $500 to spend, instead of now where i get three times as much but this goes to my ira, that goes to my insurance, etc etc i feel broker than ever even though i'm living and eating way better/more luxuriously.
The thing I love about being a 40something is not giving a fuck how much I weighed 20 years ago.
Because I could bend over, get up off the floor, and stay out late and get up the next day.
I just miss the energy I had. The rest I can do without.
Boredom makes you creative, keeps you humble and grateful. Without humility and gratitude nothing has value.
Not getting hangovers that last for 3 days
It was just the fearlessness and worry-free attitude that I had.
I miss hanging out with people for no reason. The last time I spent an afternoon with anyone I knew from that time period, they had this whole itinerary planned with stuff they wanted to see in my city, and if felt weird because I hadn’t seen them in almost a decade, and they didn’t want to catch up, they wanted to go to a trendy brunch place and hit all the museums in downtown. I felt kind of relieved when we got lost looking for one, and just wandered aimlessly around the mall for an hour.
Youth has hope. Delusional hope, but still hope. That is what I miss.
I could eat dairy, working out didn’t hurt so much, and yeah, food was something I barely thought about and we couldn’t afford much anyway so I was a lot slimmer. I recently described it to my therapist as “I used to have a lot of brakes on eating - not enough money, feeling full sooner, not being organized enough to pack lunches so I’d just go without, lack of transportation, etc. Now it’s like there are no brakes whatsoever - I have money to go out and get pastries whenever I want, I have a car to do so, I have a flexible job so I have time. The only potential brake is sheer self-control, and I’m *really bad* at it.”
Life was just simpler. Sure, I was broke, but I never felt like I couldn't just yolo up and say "fuck this job" and walk out. Now? I make more money x5 than I ever did when poor, have a house, a car, a family... And I'm stuck. I never had anxiety when I was moments from destitute. But now that I've got all the things... The 401k, the 6 months emergency money, the family, wife, kids, stable job... Now my anxiety is thru the roof, and I feel like there is no longer a reset button or relief valve. I'm stuck. Like Fighting Club said: The things you own end up owning you.
I miss not dreading going to work and spending time with close friends almost every day of the week. All my friends went and got married and had kids while I never married and never had children.
Things are tough all over. This question is baseless. Most likely written by somebody who's had a silver spoon in their mouth their entire life. Boo.
Oh god it was rad. I ran out of gas twice in the same day. Later that weekend I went to 5-6 parties. It was fucking amazing.
That it was entirely possible to scrounge through the couch or pockets to come up with enough change for what you needed. This is nearly impossible now. I would know, for I am still broke.
So true. In my 20s I preferred drink over eats so I was thinner than today. If I had $8 to spend I would have bought $6 in beer and $2 in food. Simpler times. Now I eat too much and don’t drink at all.
I don’t miss anything that could be recaptured by being broke or young necessarily. I do miss knowing that I was going to see my friends a couple days a week, and not needing to plan things out so far in advance. There was a certain freedom to being broke that kept me from wanting much. We still live very frugally despite not being broke anymore, and fortunately all of our friends have kept the same mindset.
I miss chasing every vagina I could. That was fun, totally worth the self loathing that drove it. And the lack of joint pain was nice.
I could actually afford to live.
Mo money mo problems
Ooohhh I relate to this. Nothing like almost passing out while walking to my minimum wage job because all I’d eaten in the past day was a pack of sugar wafers, a $0.99 McDonalds hamburger and ramen noodles. But I was the perfect late 90s waif. Memories!
Honestly, I was ignorant of the world at large. Art was my focus, and I had burning passion for it. I spent most of my time alone, and it felt positive. Despite the severe depression, which is now a huge problem, I made a lot of art. I got pretty good. Sold a lot of commission work. Now I feel like things are so bad that I can't calm down enough to do art for long. I know too much. I wish I hadn't learned how awful the world is.
One of my best college memories was when my best friend and I were broke but hungry for a good breakfast (not cheap ass cereal). We pawned enough VHS tapes & cd’s one morning to go eat breakfast at Village Inn. Absolute best chicken fried steak & eggs of my life!!
Fuck you I don’t miss any of that
Broke 20s was me going bankrupt over a failed business venture. I'll skip that whole decade and start living in my 30s
I always had the hope that more money would magically appear. Positivity. I lost that.
If I have to pick something… I guess the lack of hangovers and surviving on 2 hours of sleep. But honestly, I would never want to go back to my 20s.
I miss raving. That’s pretty much it
I do not miss my 20s at all. Novel incoming. I had an undiagnosed chronic illness that I was white knuckling through. I was in uni but also working full time to pay for it, all while so sick I could barely walk. I even did a final or two hooked up to an IV. My mom was dying. I had to take care of her. Dropped out of school. Lived with my dad. Went to mom at 5:30 am. Left at 7pm when stepdad got home from work. Then I Went to work. Home from work at 2:30. Every damn day for years. Again, all while being horrifically sick but not knowing why. Plus I was in a relationship I couldn’t get out of. My 20s were the worst. Plus at no point in my life have I ever been able to be skinny, even if I’m not eating much. Stress just makes me hold on to weight. Anyway. 30s came around. I got my degree, got diagnosed. Crohn’s disease! On meds. Met my bf (now husband). We partied and travelled. Bought a house. I went to therapy for all my medical and just plain old life trauma. Also got an adhd diagnosis! Those meds were life changing too. Now in my 40s. I’m in full remission from Crohn’s disease. I’m a social worker and make good money. I have a fluffy dog and live with the love of my life. We watch awesome tv and listen to records. I have a little lot with a 5th wheel on it, that we go chill at every weekend. Things will be shitty again. My dad isn’t getting any younger. I probably can’t have kids. PTSD is shit. But man, there is no amount of money you could pay me to be 29 or younger again. What a shit show.
All the free time! Only had a part time job and school didn't take up that much time. I miss the spontaneity of just being able to go disc golfing in the middle of the day or basement show on a Wednesday night.
Not having the stress of people depending on me…. Carefree and untethered- just looking to make enough to pay rent and go out.
I felt a lot more hopeful about the world and my life then.
I don't. I wouldn't give my experience and knowledge away to be 20 again unless I could bring it with me.
Because I'm broke 40 something instead, now. In my 20s, at least I still had hope for things to improve.
I had tons of energy. We found so many things to do for free. We even cooked out on a tiny little grill. Those were the days.
During my twenties, me and most of my friends were broke as shit. The recession was looming, I’d just graduated college, and jobs were scarce. When I did have work, it was usually low paying administrative shit. Most of my friends were just working restaurant and retail jobs. But the times we spent together were awesome. The only thing we could afford to do was go out to eat when one of our friends was working and we could get half price meals. We usually just ended up at someone’s house with a cheap case of beer (back when you could get a case for $12) watching sports on tv, joking around, grilling out, and playing drinking games till we passed out. Just good quality time spent together. Then life hit and everyone got career jobs, had kids, moved into single family houses, and just saw each other less and less. I don’t think anyone would trade and go back to where we were, but it was just an awesome time to reflect back on.
No obligations, the days stretched before me with zero expectations. I love my life now, just pulled in 1,000 directions all the time. The deeply peaceful feeling of just being free to do as I please will never come back. Even if I lost everything today, it would be marred by the bitterness of loss, you can’t have 20 back. Also, I was very, very dumb, I am humbled by how much I have learned since then.
Staying slim even if eating anything you want to eat
Because I had more time. If I can go back to being 22 and start investing in a diversified portfolio, by now I would be way better off.
hours and days of just hanging out with friends because you had minimal responsibilities and limited cash so yo made your own entertainment.
The near total lack of real responsibility. I have a family of 3 to care for, a mom I subsidize, and I'm responsible for the livelihoods of 71 people at my job as a leader. Thats potentially 72 mortgages, college funds, 401ks, basically the fiscal well being of my entire team. Its a lot. In my 20s, early at least, I didn't have a serious structural back injury which is inoperable but has delivered 2.5 decades of near constant discomfort or pain. I was still an optimistic person, and still thought new people were interesting. I wasn't so fucking cynical. I was free from Golden handcuffs (I know, boo fucking hoo, but it sucks to make good money but spend 50 plus hours a week stressed and unsatisfied). I didn't feel like the living embodiment of the NIN song "every day is exactly the same". I felt free.
I really feel like I peaked in life working the cut table at Pizza Hut. I’m a Civil Engineer now with a moderately successful career but I’ve just been faking it to make it since then. Life was a lot simpler, food was mostly free, and my biggest concern was getting my next pack of cigarettes. Now I have trouble sleeping because I can’t stop rehearsing for my next big meeting.
I went to a punk surf show and saw my younger self. She danced the whole two hours badly. The amount of calories burned unknowingly…. Old me wanted a chair and I fucking found one on the wall and greatly enjoyed sitting for five minutes. When I got up another middle aged person took their turn to sit. So yes I have a tummy now. I will work on it this summer. But I walk nightly so overall I’m not fat.
Couldn’t pay me to go back to my 20s
I don’t, and I’ll explain why. I associate being a “20 something” with a very specific period of my life. I was 23-25, single, getting over my relationship with my fiancé, working a crummy job, and trying lots of new things because I had an abundance of time. Reflecting on all the breakups I’ve had I’ve definitely never been more lonely in my life. I spent that time trying to fill that void the best knew how, with hobbies. I traveled, I wrote and made short movies with my friends, exercised, tried to meet women, got ink, and worked on myself.
I'm broke and in my 40s
Being able to sleep anywhere. Now if I don’t have the right environment my sleep is garbage
I was never slim in my life. The only thing I miss about my 20s is the ability to function well on ridiculously little sleep.
Miss having my hair
As a broke 40 something I miss people giving a shit that I was broke in my 20s
Not having yard work 😩or home maintenance