How and why do people who aren’t actually well off pay for this stuff?

It’s a crap system, although hopefully if your friend times it well the money won’t be in her account very long and there won’t be much of a penalty.

But in terms of gaining capital in order to better yourself - property or maybe equipment or a premises for a business, they’ve made it too hard to bother with.

I'm single on an okish income (just over £52k pa) very small mortgage. I drive around in an old car and dont take holiday abroad etc (unlike my colleagueswho drive brand new cars and go abraod 2-3 times a year). But I only eat organic food/local meat etc which my colleagues think is mad becuase its more expensive, no UPF and with any spare cash buy original art. It's about choices and what matters to you as an individual.

My sister in Christ let me introduce you to the black bin bag man or woman…
A delightful assortment of knock off, counterfeit and everything in between. A veritable treasure trove of goodies either shoplifted to order or having fallen off the back of a lorry in Taipei.
Or sometimes the pesky peasants just use his majesty’s currency just like you better class of citizens…🙄

They are fake, plenty pages on facebook to direct you to sellers online. Or they have been on holiday to Turkey, Spain etc......

Maybe they use pay in 3, klarna/PAYPAL or similar....

Well done, you. You're the best.

Yes a friend needs a new car. She can get a bank loan for the car. But once she gets the loan she needs to tell UC so they can deduct her entitlement.

But she needs a car to work. But she can’t get a car suitable that let’s face it won’t be broken down again in a year or two for under the 6k limit.

As a previous poster has said. It happens in every walk of life just on a different scale. I live on a council estate in a very affluent area of the country, and we have come to be friends with a wide range of people from completely different backgrounds.

The richer families do the same things to show off their status with huge houses, expensive cars, flashy holidays, pricey hobbies and half the time they’re stretching themselves to keep up that image.

And the less well‑off families do the same thing, just scaled down. Kids in the latest gear, new iPhones, nails and cosmetic treatments or whatever. It’s the same behaviour, just different budgets.

It’s not exclusive to poor or rich people. It’s a culture of showing off, people wanting to look like they’re doing better than everyone else, whatever their actual situation.

Fakes - my 22 year old nail girl has a Chanel bag, earrings and watch - got them on a holiday beach. Asda price, luvly jubbly, lifetime guarantee!!

Living in a 3 bed detached instead of a 5 means I can go to Florida every year and have 2 additional holidays. The PP can keep her smug attitude to herself in her 5 bed home that costs so much she buys second hand

And to add to that, the kind of attitude of spending benefits money on cars, clothes, fags etc, just fuels the right wing hatred that the poor are undeserving of this money. But with UC, the Tories created a system where it’s almost impossible to save enough money to move away from welfare dependency, so yeah, people are going to just spend the money as they get it.

I thought Essentials was the no-frills range in the supermarket!

Different people think of different things as aspirational. For some it's a brand new car, for others its a big house. When you don't have enough money for either of those to be possible then you downgrade your aspirations.

There is also a 'club' feeling of belonging and bonding that goes along with wearing big names.

If you know you can’t buy a house for example why save. Enjoy your money. Have the flashy car on finance.

Also the other end you can always find a dodgy place to get your knock items and the poorer you are the more likely you are to have a “meat” man. A person selling cheap toys they just robbed from the local shop. A person who can get snide designer goods.

Exactly. I got some lovely trainers that are new balance. £15 you wouldn't know they are not from JD.

I honestly think you need to take up a hobby OP.

Often, so called designer clothes are advertised/worn by their "hero's" so they are associating with them. I'm guessing brands have a tried & tested marketing strategy!

This is an excellent point and shows what a poverty trap the benefits system is. It’s impossible to save up enough for a deposit because as soon as you do, you lose your benefits. I have friends who when on the old TC system (where savings were allowed) managed to save enough to get a mortgage, and made the first step towards moving away from welfare dependency. Now it’s really difficult to do that.

I was in group therapy with a single mum who was on benefits. She was always very well made up... face, nails and hair. Well dressed. She said it was her "mask". If people saw her look well etc, then they assumed she was ok and that was the image she wanted to put across. She did not want people to know she was actually very mentally unwell.

I feel the same way about a £1000 hand bag. If I saved all my disposable income for a few months (and didn't spend it on the shit I normally spend it on) I could have a bag like that but when I see them advertised I can't really see that much difference between them and a £100 bag. Not enough to make it ten times more desirable to me anyway.

It sounds like this thread has been started to show how superior you are because you’re loaded but still don’t buy all those things chavvy people wear.

Meanwhile I spend a tenner on maybelline and five quid for Nivea eye make up remover and would be horrified at the thought of spending more but I suspect some posters would have a conniption if it admitted how much I spend on the things i like

its weird how some people prioritise different things 😜

This in a nutshell.

For various reasons, over several months, I had to regularly visit a part of my nearest city which is high on the deprivation scale. Most of the housing is council/ housing association, many flats, low income, low educational standards, high unemployment etc.

The number of large brand new cars in that area was very surprising indeed. But again, if you can't afford to buy a house, or get a mortgage, then you can make yourself look like you've achieved something if you can get together enough money each month to lease a car.

There are very slick fake websites
Flannels sell these brands in their sales and on credit

I live in a city with a lot of poverty in some areas. However, these areas always have lots of nice cars about. I personally don’t get it but I guess a monthly finance payment of a few £00 is more affordable than a holiday for £000 or a house in a nicer area for £00000s!

Perhaps the house seems out of reach but the car brings instant pleasure. Same with the tracksuits.

Absolutely - and in a similar way there are sociological explanations as to why people that don’t have much money spend money on cigarettes and alcohol for example, when they’re struggling for essentials. But it may be for a single mum with 3 kids who is hanging by a thread mentally, having a cigarette or glass of whatever at the end of the day is her treat to herself and her coping mechanism, so the cost/benefit analysis comes out with those things being absolutely worth it. Even though financially and health-wise it’s a bad choice. She’ll find the money and prioritise doing so because they’re essential to managing her life. This kind of resonated with me when I studied it because I have definitely been that single mum!