Modern life doesn’t work

Aren’t we lucky that’s the case for most people in the uk these days. For how many women in the past and even the present in some places that is not the case.

Totally agree OP. It’s why minimalism exists as an alternative life style I guess

Ive always been amazed at the way we’ve all bought the term ‘disposable income’ Given disposable is to throw away

At what point did it become the aim to get rid of excess funds and the norm to expect that doing so would improve the overall quality of life?

This leapt out at me. In the past, pensions paid out from aged 60 and average life expectancy was around 65 or so. Pensions were generous but not paid for long. With life expectancy increasing, I think we have to accept working for longer

@Dancingsquirrels life expectancy isn’t 65 for people who got their state pension at 60. Where did you get that from?
Healthy life expectancy hasn’t increased at all so people can’t necessarily work longer and we have an ageing population which is putting a huge strain on public services.

When the 'Right To Buy' council house stock and 'Buy To Let' mortgages became commonplace things slowly began to change. Not for the better IMO.
I see young people struggling & families blown apart with stress and feel bitter at the few who made life so hard for so many at the stroke of a pen on some legislation. Housing, with decent affordable housing so much else, finances, mental health and solid family life will prosper for the good of the individual and society.

I agree with you .

I resent the “gypsy” lifestyle. You can live like that because the rest of us play by the rules. I take it you avail yourself of the nhs?

@Fearfulsaints people don’t talk about how much work has changed. My school used to have a bar for staff.

I think lots of people make their lives too difficult trying "to keep up with the Jones".

The only thing that really matters is being happy with your family. I spend the minimum amount of time at work that I can to get the money I need from the Government and spend the rest of the time with my children. We have a fairly simple life but we are happy. I wouldn't change it.

People will have to work till they're 70 and give up all of their healthy years

This leapt out at me. In the past, pensions paid out from aged 60 and average life expectancy was around 65 or so. Pensions were generous but not paid for long. With life expectancy increasing, I think we have to accept working for longer

I bought a flat in SE London on a single person income, like many of my friends, who work in central london.

Its much harder re housing now.

Well you could look at it with half full cup eyes rather then half empty.

You earn a salary from doing a job that does a good, positive thing (finding homes for vulnerable adults). You have a lovely big house. Your DCs are in education and you also have time to yourself when your DCs go to their dad’s. I think you’re winning at life!

Microhomes are a fab idea but planning rules don't allow very much in the way of land to put them on - which has always struck me as ridiculous because they're only really another form of 'park home' and there's plenty of sites with those on all over the country.

The government would much rather create sprawling estates of cheaply-built, extortionately-priced little houses to make millions more of us mortgage and council-tax-trapped and buying into the 'ideal' of home ownership, good little consumers buying loads of shit we don't need to keep the economy chugging along.

Aside from big meaningless things like housing costs. I actually think workplace culture has become really dour and as its where peoole spend most thier time we should jolly it up again.

When I first started work it was really common for large employers to have canteens with pool tables etc and people actually took thier lunch break. Fridays a lot of senior people stopped after lunch and went to thier members clubs, actual christmas parties, paid for. There would be pranks like turning everything upside down in the bosses office.

Over time I've seen lunch breaks dissappear, you pay for your own party, alcohol unheard of. Pranks woukd be a major hr issue.

We don’t all live that way. My life is very different to that, I’ve made different choices, so we still do cope with a mortgage and bills.

And I know people who complain about their bills who still pay for multiple streaming services, is there anything you can do to reduce your outgoings?

Life seems much harder and more expensive than it when I was growing up, I think this is because the world population has doubled over the last 50 years, putting a huge strain on resources.

I agree @DeluluTaylor

Then when you finally sit down, and turn on the telly to the news 🙄 😑

Life has always been shit for 99% of the population of the planet at any given time in history.
We were led to believe that "things" like "democracy", "technology", "globalisation" would increase our quality of life.
It has in some ways, longer life expectancy, easier access to knowledge and education, but it has introduced a degree of ruthless competition for the resources that is killing us in the mental health front.
I am sorry for your troubles, OP. Good luck.

At some point, it also comes down to choices. Many of us would never had managed to buy our first property if we had decided to have our children first.

There's no right and wrong choice, but you need to accept the consequences of choices you make.

But why is it everyone else’s fault? I don’t get these posts.

When did 22 year old graduates expect to be able to buy a house in central London. They would have rented and many would have continued renting all their lives or, at least, until they were much older. It was Thatcher that raised the expectation that everyone should own their own home. When I was at school in the 60s my teachers lived in council houses or flats. When I wanted to buy a house as a teacher in London I had to move a couple of hundred miles North to be able to afford it. (Late 80s).

This sounds utterly miserable.

One parent in a large house with a large garden they're barely in, with 38p in their account. The other in a bedsit.

How are the children coping with all this?

Buying a house in central London isn't a life necessity. I bought a flat in SE London on a single person income, like many of my friends, who work in central london.

I think people wear rose-colored glasses when they think about "the past"!

I agree we should do better, a lot better, and standards are especially low in this country (England at least) but it's too easy to be blind to all the modern luxury and modern help and quality of life we actually have.

You don't even need to look back very far, It's outrageous to pretend people who lived in the poorest tenements in years and even decades after the 2nd WW had a life "that worked".

Agree. We have just downsized. I had a fear of everyone not having enough space or their own bedrooms but it has been remarkably liberating and absolutely fine.
We also have sen kids, that is the hardest part, sending them into school every morning knowing that their potential and needs are not met in the current system.
I read about people that live in microhomes, or buy a caravan and homeschool their kids and I do think there are ways out if you are willung to drastically rip up your current way of living. I am not that brave.. yet.

Very true, my 1986 AEG tumble drier is still going strong - not the case with modern tat.