@Joseph
I don’t think this SIL learned to be happy and enjoy finer things until her mother stopped interfering in SIL’s life. Her mother denigrated all the material things she could not afford and did not have.
My OMA told all her grandsons that if they wanted to know if they would be happy with a prospective bride over the years of marriage the boys should take a good look at the girl’s mother and maternal grandmother to see what they’d be living with over the years. We do become our parents in many ways