You know you're privileged when you have time and money for these 8 leisure activities

I spent a Sunday afternoon last month at a pottery class in Venice Beach. Two hours, sixty dollars, making a bowl I could have bought for fifteen.

Walking out, I ran into someone I knew from my Sacramento days who was working two jobs to cover rent. They asked what I'd been up to.

"Just took a pottery class," I said.

The look on their face made me realize how that must have sounded. Not just the money for the class itself, but having a Sunday afternoon with nothing more pressing to do than make a decorative bowl.

That's privilege. Not the class itself, but the combination of disposable income and free time that makes it possible.

Here are eight leisure activities that require more privilege than people usually acknowledge.

1) Regular fitness classes or gym memberships

Yoga studios, CrossFit boxes, boutique cycling classes—these cost anywhere from twenty to forty dollars per session or hundreds per month for memberships.

But the real privilege isn't just the cost. It's having a predictable schedule that allows you to attend regular classes. It's living close enough that getting there doesn't eat up your limited free time. It's having the physical and mental energy left after work to exercise.

People working multiple jobs or unpredictable shifts can't commit to regular classes even if they could technically afford them. The schedule flexibility required is its own form of privilege.

I work from home with flexible hours. I can take a midday yoga class without worrying about missing work or burning limited paid time off. That's not normal for most people.

2) Hobbies that require expensive equipment

Photography, cycling, skiing, golf—hobbies that require significant equipment investment before you can even start.

A decent camera setup costs thousands. A road bike runs hundreds to thousands. Ski equipment and lift tickets make it an expensive seasonal hobby. Golf club memberships and equipment put it out of reach for most people.

Beyond initial costs, these hobbies require ongoing expenses for maintenance, upgrades, and access to places where you can actually do them.

I got into photography a few years ago. Between the camera body, lenses, and accessories, I spent over two thousand dollars before taking a single serious photo. That's privilege, not just "having a hobby."

3) Traveling for leisure

This seems obvious, but it's worth stating clearly: leisure travel is extreme privilege.

Not just international trips, but any travel that's purely for enjoyment rather than obligation. Weekend getaways, road trips, visiting new cities—all require disposable income, paid time off, and the security of knowing your job and housing will be there when you return.

Working-class people travel for family obligations, funerals, weddings. They don't casually decide to spend a weekend in another city because it sounds fun.

I've traveled significantly over the years. I've written about lessons from those trips. Every single one of those experiences was built on economic privilege that most people don't have.

4) Regular dining out at sit-down restaurants

Not fast food or quick casual, but actual sit-down restaurants where you're spending thirty to fifty dollars per person.

Going out to dinner regularly requires both money and time. You need disposable income that won't be missed if spent on a meal you could have made at home. You need evenings free enough that cooking feels optional rather than necessary.

People with tight budgets and multiple jobs don't casually suggest going out to dinner. They meal prep, eat cheaply, and save restaurant meals for special occasions if at all.

My partner and I eat out multiple times a week. That's not normal. That's having enough money that convenience outweighs cost, and enough time that we're not scrambling to prepare food between shifts.

5) Collecting things for pleasure rather than use

Vinyl records, rare books, art, vintage items—collecting as a hobby rather than acquiring things you need.

This requires disposable income to buy things that serve no practical purpose, space to store collections, and the mental bandwidth to care about accumulation beyond survival.

Working-class people don't collect. They acquire necessities and occasionally keep things that might be useful later. Collecting for aesthetic or cultural value is a privilege.

I have a wall of vinyl records. They're not practical. I could stream everything. But I have the money to buy them, the space to store them, and the mental freedom to care about physical music media. That's privilege.

6) Taking classes to learn skills you won't use professionally

Language classes, cooking workshops, art instruction, music lessons as an adult—learning for enrichment rather than career advancement.

These cost money and time. You're investing resources in skills that won't generate income or improve your job prospects. That's only possible when you have both discretionary funds and time that isn't already consumed by survival and work.

People working multiple jobs don't take pottery classes for fun. They don't spend evenings learning a language they'll never need for work. They use their limited free time to recover from work or handle necessary tasks.

7) Maintaining multiple streaming and entertainment subscriptions

Netflix, Spotify, HBO, Disney+, Hulu—entertainment subscriptions add up quickly to fifty or a hundred dollars a month.

But the real privilege isn't just affording the subscriptions. It's having leisure time to actually use them and viewing entertainment as a regular expense rather than a luxury to carefully consider.

Working-class people share accounts, rotate subscriptions, or go without. They don't casually maintain multiple services simultaneously.

I have five streaming subscriptions. That's a hundred dollars a month on entertainment I could technically access for free or much cheaper. The fact that convenience and immediate access feels worth that cost is privilege.

8) Self-care and wellness practices

Therapy, massage, spa days, meditation retreats—practices framed as self-care but requiring significant resources.

Therapy alone costs hundreds per month even with insurance. Massage and spa treatments are additional luxury expenses. Meditation retreats can run thousands for a weekend.

Beyond cost, these activities require time, the belief that investing in your mental and physical health is possible, and the security to prioritize wellness over immediate survival needs.

People working paycheck to paycheck don't budget for monthly therapy or weekend wellness retreats. They handle stress through whatever free or cheap methods they can find, if they have time to address it at all.

Final thoughts

None of these activities are inherently bad. Having privilege doesn't make you a bad person, and enjoying these activities doesn't require guilt.

But it does require awareness.

The problem is when these activities get framed as accessible to everyone, as simple lifestyle choices anyone can make with proper priorities. That erases the real economic barriers and pretends privilege is just personal discipline.

"You can't afford yoga classes but you have money for coffee" ignores that yoga classes cost exponentially more than occasional coffee and require schedule flexibility most people don't have.

"Anyone can travel if they prioritize it" ignores that travel requires not just saved money but job security, paid time off, and circumstances stable enough to leave for a week.

I do many things on this list. I'm privileged. I have flexible work, disposable income, and time that isn't consumed by survival. That lets me take pottery classes, travel, maintain hobbies, and spend money on entertainment.

Recognizing that as privilege rather than assuming everyone could do the same with better choices is important. It's the difference between acknowledging reality and pretending economic barriers don't exist.

If you regularly do several activities on this list without thinking much about the cost or time investment, you're privileged. That's not a moral judgment. It's just accurate.

And if you can't do any of these things because you're working multiple jobs or living paycheck to paycheck, you're not making bad choices. You're dealing with economic realities that privilege pretends don't exist.