To wonder what people actually expect and why they can’t just be happy to live simply?

Well it depends what you call fun. My life is full of fun and enjoyment but I have always had very simple tastes.

i love country walks with friends
coffee and cake
lunch with friends (at our homes)
a good dvd
singing with my 2 choirs
my art class and time at home painting and drawing
my garden
reading
very occasional foreign travel - a treat every couple of years (no flights though)

As long as I and my family have our health I’m in heaven!

I do enjoy my every day life, I’m fortunate in many ways and settling down with a book and a cup of coffee or taking the dog out are fine ways to spend an afternoon. I also enjoy meals out, concerts, theatre and travel - I want my kids to experience the world and all it has to offer before they settle into jobs and mortgage and family, if they choose to.

Contentment is an important quality to have, but so is inquisitiveness and curiosity.

It’s not free. Most of us work to pay tax to pay for it. It is only free at the point of use. We pay handsomely for it. Ludicrous to suggest it’s all free like some magic fairy godmother pays for it. They don’t. We do. The hard working tax payer. We work we pay into a pot, and it provides healthcare, schooling, water and benefits. Our national insurance pays our pension.

free lol.

Because we always want more. It’s a well known fact that people think they will be so much happier if they have 10% more pay. Most people strive to get that little bit more, then they’ll be satisfied.
Some people are just happy with their lot.

Poor old Scrooge, he was a bit misunderstood, wasn't he?
"What reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough."
"What reason have you to be miserable? You're rich enough."

Sometimes, though, when I see the extravagance and waste of Christmas, followed by everyone being broke and miserable in January, I wonder if he had a point.

for me its because we have made compromises and work hard to be able to give our kids a good life, we used to be able to do a LOT more with our money each month and now we can't. Lots of the privileges we have become accustomed to are getting harder and harder to maintain whilst we are working harder than ever.

With no holidays,no takeaways, no stuff, no days out. Nothing. Just basic food clothes and a roof over your head. The very basics. Enjoy minions!

Years ago when I left my ex, I had to manage on benefits for a while, with 2 DC.
My rent/CT was covered by benefits. The money I got was just about enough to feed us, pay utilities and set aside a small amount for other stuff. I'd take the DC to cheap showings at the cinema on a Saturday morning, we'd go to the park etc.

I studied and trained and got a good job so we would have more than that. If I was going to be content with just that, I might as well have stayed on benefits and had all the free time! Where's the motivation if people aren't gaining anything from it, or the gains are very minimal.

Gosh that’s a little puritanical op. And Really quite sad. I mean if you’re happy having just your basic necessities met, fair play to you. But most people do want fun stuff as well. It really isn’t some heinous expectation and we don’t live in dickension times.

No, the poster means enjoy your everyday life

@user1473878824 😆😆😆

Or if they want the candle warmer they can buy the candle warmer. Some people dont like sprays especially if asthmatic. I don't like naked flames in the house with pets , some don't want naked flames around small children. The candle warmer would mean warm wax might end up everywhere but preferable to fire risk
The joys of choices

Because the majority of people aspire to more than having their basic needs met.

Unless you share the philosophical beliefs of Savonarola, there’s nothing actually wrong with wanting things.

Or just buy the candle.

I just live shut in a cupboard after I have paid the bills. I don't even bring a torch in because that's a bit frivolous.

Are you aware that a large amount of our society is deliberately set up to increase demand for luxuries, because if everyone stayed at home with a library book then our economy would shrink, and the government doesn't actually want that (because businesses make jobs and businesses and employees make tax payments)?

You’re responsible for your own happiness and contentment on what you can afford. If you think you need money and it’s the responsibility of others to bring happiness and contentment you’ll never be happy. The majority around the world look at us and think we’re incredibly fortunate.We are safe with free healthcare and education, social security, state pensions and water. It’s perfectly be possible to build happiness and contentment for the majority on top of that.

Because what a pp described upthread as a miserable existence is pretty much the way life was up until about 25 years ago.

@Katypp ?

Why can’t people just be happy that they have enough to pay their mortgage pay their bills and feed their family and clothe their children?

Despite working & paying tax many people can't afford a mortgage or dc.

When did holidays , excess “stuff” and weekends of fun days out and take away etc become a given right and expectation?

I thought holidays took off in the 60s but people had trips to UK seaside before that.

Days out have also been a thing for years.

Fish & chips took off in the early 1900s

I read that as a good bonk, which also works!

No because the boomers were an anomaly. They were the only generation to live like that. People don’t live like that before and won’t after because the huge amount of things they enjoyed just aren’t affordable particularly with an aging population.

Expect?
Well, I live comfortably, but it never occurred to me that fun, content and happiness ought to be reserved just for (lucky) children. Misery, effort and lost battles for the rest of us.
Adults deserve to be happy and content too, don't you think, OP?

I do think there is an element of truth to this, and I think a lot of it comes from social media. My parents didn’t struggle financially when we were growing up but we still didn’t do “something” every weekend in terms of soft plays, cinema, meals out, takeaways etc, we were always out on walks, parks, playing outside, activities in the house,
visiting family etc. Now I have my own children I do feel there is some pressure to be doing “something” every weekend, and I know we certainly eat out/get takeaways a lot more frequently than my parents ever did.

But equally, if you have two adults working full time then it’s not unreasonable to expect or hope that as a family you could afford to go out for dinner, or to a play cafe etc once in awhile without having to worry massively.

I have a beautiful sofa which is sagging in one place. Supposing I asked on MN of how to repair it; I would probably have received replies of "buy a new sofa" or "why ask strangers on the internet?". Yeah, £3000 for a new sofa (and it's one with a beautiful solid frame, left behind by the house's previous owners), or £10 for some upholstery webbing. Tough decision, innit? (I'd have to replace the armchairs as well, to have a matching suite.)

I looked up how to do the repair, and how to cut the webbing, and how to seal it with a flame so it does not fray. I then was bombarded with videos selling me a gadget with a heated blade, precisely for this purpose: cuts and seals it in one stroke. Fair enough if I was doing it for a living. But why would I invest in such a device, for a one-off repair?

We are constantly being sold things that we don't really need. I was brought up to be frugal, to make do and mend, and to occasionally splash out and enjoy myself.

One reason people are bitter is because we have a wider problem that everyday things now cost so much more than they did, and many of those at the top are protected by their wealth, and know nothing about this. Billionaire Sunak insulted us with "just hang in there", and shrugged "we can't help everyone" when his mate Boris Johnson snatched away the incomes and businesses for millions of people, literally overnight.