To not know whether to admire Darren and Shanine or not

[CathyMedici]

He's 24 going on 68 and she's 22. They've just bought their first home with a 20 year mortgage which they might pay off in 13 if they stick to their life plan of having no fun at all.

Darren says 'I've always been a saver. I hate spending money. The problem with most people is they don't understand the value of money"

They don't do foreign holidays but enjoy letting their hair down in Dawlish. No flash cars or kebabs.

Daily Mail link

[MarthaArthur]

What patronising arses they are.

[BlueNeighbourhood1]

They've just sucked all the fun out of their lives in order to get a story in the Daily Mail. I was reading it thinking 'what boring people you actually are'

[MarthaArthur]

I am on a zero hour contract min wage job and i save like hell. I dont have credit cards or go on holiday (even in the uk) and live with my mother. And theres no chance I will be getting a morgage this century. How patronising that he has a good job earnimg a lot of money and they have the audacity to say anyone even on a min wage can do it.

[LaurieMarlow]

I don't agree with them that 'anyone can do it' but they know what they want, have gone all out for it and have their heads screwed on.

They've prioritised what's important to them and I can't fault them for that.

[Rankellior]

I can’t quite work out how they’ve got such a large mortgage on a “low income” - even at a conservative 4x salary you’re talking £65k joint salary otherwise they have a ridiculously high deposit - they can’t have been working that long in these low income jobs to save such a large amount...

[greendale17]

They really haven't thought it through have they?

I assume they will one day want to get married and have children? Where's the money for that?

Also their house looks like it needs a renovation- new bathroom,kitchen etc.

[ShirleyPhallus]

Their friends must absolutely hate them. Imagine being at the pub with a couple that tight - i bet they never ever get a round in

[LaurieMarlow]

greendale I don't get your point. They don't strike me as the type to splurge big bucks on a wedding. You can get married for less than a grand if you want to.

They appear to know the house needs renovation and it said in the article what they're prioritising (can't remember off the top of my head). He seems to have the skills to do a lot of it himself.

[Ecureuil]

What an awful article.

[CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal]

They say they’re in low paid jobs but he’s a plumbing and maintenance engineer. Maintenance engineers where I am, (in the North not known for particularly high wages) can earn up to £75,000 a year.

Also, as someone else said, what happens when they want kids?

[PinkSquash]

Why on earth in all the gorgeous parts of Tivvy they could own a place in, they choose that one?

[CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal]

But apart from that, is ‘Man and Woman buy house’ what passes for news these days?

[poorbuthappy]

He’s a plumber. How low is his income?

[DonkeyPunch88]

While I admire them for saving really hard and clearly being dedicated to getting their own home, I can’t help feel that they’re so young and they’re not going to make the most of being the perfect age to really enjoy life and have some great experiences and then settle down.

[Ecureuil]

My early 20’s were spent living in various cities around Europe with my now DH. We had an amazing time. We’re early 30’s now with 2 DC and a mortgage. I look back on those times so fondly.
We might not pay off our mortgage in our 40’s as a result, but we had a really great time.

[ShirleyPhallus]

To be fair to them, I bet they had no idea what a pair of smug, self-satisfied wazzocks they'd be painted as in the article

[NoCryLilSoftSoft]

Their friends must absolutely hate them.

As if they have friends!

A pair of boring, patronising, privileged and just pure lucky bastards.

Lucky they met so young (14 and 16) and were both so boring at such an early age that they could combine boring life plans and boring bank accounts and sponge off their parents until they could borrow enough to buy a house. Lucky they were supported by parents, lucky they stayed together, (a single person could do all they did and would never get that mortgage), lucky they had a successful education, lucky they didn't get made redundant again and again, lucky they didn't get ill, lucky they live in a cheap area.

Yawn.

[ShirleyPhallus]

were both so boring at such an early age that they could combine boring life plans and boring bank accounts and sponge off their parents until they could borrow enough to buy a house.

[Papafran]

Yeah, I don't understand the maths for the mortgage either, but it doesn't state their combined income. It may well be 70k or something in which case, big whoop that they bought a 265k house.

So, they were lucky in terms of having the level of income that can get them a fairly large mortgage at such a young age. At that age, I was a postgraduate students with large loans which is the position many young people who chose to study will be in (although I am sure Dazza and Shazza's advice is to ditch uni).

Their second piece of advice is to live at home and save money that would otherwise be spent on rent. Not an option for many. There were no postgrad jobs in the area I grew up in- I had no option but to move away to an expensive city. I also would not have been able to live at home rent-free and nor would I have wanted to.

Their other piece of advice was don't go on holiday to Florida and don't spend all your money on booze. Again, an insult to those on a low income and students. I didn't go on holiday anywhere until I was about 25 and could pay for it myself. I scraped by on about £7,000 a year as a student and worked during uni holidays. When I started my first job, my pay was not great and I had student debt to pay off. No way did I blow £100 in a night which is what they suggest that others their age do.

So basically, they just sound quite smug and put their luck down to 'hard work'. But they are perfect for the DM- traditional, hard-working, bashing other young people and making out they are irresponsible alcoholics. Perfect role models for all of Middle England.

Oh and I won't even say anything about the decor in that house... Needs updating? You don't say.

[histinyhandsarefrozen]

It's an article for babybooming Tory brexiteers who can pretend they haven't fucked over young people "coz there was this very ordinary couple in the paper and they've managed to buy a house"

[Argeles]

Bloody good for them. I think they are brilliant examples for others, to show that buying a property doesn’t always have to be out of reach.

They may sound boring to a lot of people, but I think they’re very sensible.

I think more younger people will be forced into being ‘boring,’ as they realise that they’ll never stand a chance of owning a property otherwise. There was a lot of press coverage last week on the fact that millennials are spending far less on things like alcohol and socialising than older people. Some will be saving money, others will be spending ludicrous amounts of money on rent.

[Ecureuil]

They may sound boring to a lot of people, but I think they’re very sensible

I guess it depends on what you value in life. Being mortgage free at 40 isn’t the be all and end all. Its not something I’ve ever particularly aspired to. I’ve had some amazing experiences, which I wouldn’t have had if I’d decided to take the path that they’ve taken.

[NoCryLilSoftSoft]

I think more younger people will be forced into being ‘boring,’ as they realise that they’ll never stand a chance of owning a property otherwise.

I hate to break it to you but plenty of us are already forced into being boring with no carrot of renting a house from a bank owning a house dangling infront of us. I'm a boring bastard due to having fuck all money to do anything more exciting than paying my credit card before it's due. I'll likely never own a house.

[RuggerHug]

They say in it they don't buy rounds and their friends were thrilled to come to a house warming that involved stripping wallpaper. How did they not make it to a CF thread here?

AIBU, my friends invited me to their housewarming (had been distancing myself from them due to skinflinty ways). They took my bottle of wine,hid it away to regift back to me at Christmas and put me to work on their living room, no nibbles or thanks came. Should I demand my wine back or just run away?

[histinyhandsarefrozen]

It's so transparently nasty.

Most young people are whinging lazy snowflakes- but here are two who show that if you work hard anyone can have a detached house.

Utter bollocks.