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

People prioritising money where they want to spend it . I am shocked at the amount of money high earners waste for example on flippant purchases or over paying for meals out school fees and random purchases you just don’t need to think about .

I am average earner ( prob the lower end to be fair) but I shop savvy buy when there is a sale , use Vinted . My kids for example appreciate clothes trainers for gifts at Christmas birthdays.
I actually feel richer than some of my rich friends because I am more frugal with my money i shop around for insurance policy’s use cash back apps for purchases we go on abroad holidays but I don’t book packages I search for cheap flights ……. These are all things I think people with excessive income don’t even consider they can get cheaper or don’t have the time because they work long hours .

what people spend there money on does concern me as long as I can afford it we can have it .

Tbf some of them also go on holiday nowadays and pay for that in instalments too. You can get your bottom dollar if you see an extremely poor family with designer gear (that isn’t knock off) and going on holiday, it’s all paid for in instalments or on credit cards.

This is definitely the case. I remember speaking with a group from London who owned cars they couldn’t afford despite London having the best PT system in the country and it just making zero sense to drive around London at all. They simply said people who use PT were deemed poor and the car was a status symbol.

Don’t be silly - compound interest will mean it’s worth far far more than that. Say the gain is 10% a year, then as that compounds, just the first £1000 is worth £45k 40 years later.

People may still decide fancy sportswear is where they want to spend their money, but there’s a reason Einstein supposedly said compound interest was the greatest human invention…..

You are quite right, I will spend money on experience, travel, hire the yacht but not buy the yacht. Experience doesn’t depreciate in value. And certainly outsourcing gives you time. Those are the only exceptions.

However material “goods” which is what in large most people talk about when it comes to consuming. That is what I should have clarified when I say consuming.

Tracksuits always remind me of pyjamas. The irony that they once represented athleticism and are often wore by people who can't be arsed to co ordinate clothes - low energy living.

I think it's to give them a slice of an affluent life. I have been in a not well off situation due to having to give up full time work. It was a treat to have high end toiletries. Now I am doing much better financially I am not fussed about those brands. I would rather focus more on building more money back of what I lost. The poster who smiles at other people's property is assuming too much. That person she visits may have multiple homes or millions. Some of the cheapest places can also be very nice and priceless or better to some.

We are considerably more richer than Yowwwwww! 😜🤣

Honestly, having grown up in an area of pretty extreme poverty and high drug use, I don't think it's surprising or confusing. People where I grew up couldn't afford holidays, didn't own homes, had rusty cars and no chance of meaningful savings. But they could save up enough or borrow enough, or get enough credit to give their kids (and themselves) things like game consoles, branded shoes, branded tracksuits etc. These kinds of luxuries feel more meaningful and important when you don't have much. You feel less like you're just scraping by in a pair of fashionable trainers that make you feel presentable and like everyone else, owning a designer t shirt bought discounted at TK Maxx even though you could never asked a designer coat, wearing a mac lipstick instead of an Essence one. You average it out buying your knickers from Primark instead of M&S, eating cheap food and wearing your shoes till the soles wear through. Ot was important to me as a teen to have these things. Now, living in a city, not a teen, feeling outside any particular culture, I don't care but I don't spend like my born middle class colleagues either - I can't imagine going to an expensive restaurant and I resent the £50 per head christmas lunch!

I had a very middle class workmate who constantly complained about this and about poor people having big TVs that he "couldn't afford". He went on city breaks twice a year, went to the theatre regularly, liked fancy real ale, his parents helped him get a deposit for a house, was making the maximum contribution to his pension and stood to inherit from his grandparents. The people he complained about had none of that - and when you're at home without any money having a good TV matters (or it did then, now it's more phones etc).

People have different reasons for wanting name brand stuff why people on a low income can afford it is probably because they don’t have a house or a car to pay for. When I was a a teenager my mum bought me name brand clothes like Nike and Reebok I didn’t dress head to toe in name brand stuff 24/7 biggest majority of my clothes came from New look and Dorothy Perkins but she would spend the money on nice clothes for me so that the kids in school wouldn’t bully me for being from a piss poor family.

Those grey or black track suits everybody wears are awful. We call them matchy-matchys.

What makes you think that builders don't earn good money?

Just thought about wealthy people's stables, housing their non-consuming horses 😂 and, of course, their multiple sets of seriously valuable jewellery and watches: some for daily wear and others for occasions.

If only the poor were as frugal as the rich, eh? They don't seem to realise how much they could save by freezing the game they shoot in season and preserving the produce of their orchards. Silly little commoners.

You mean the wealthy who spend a few weeks every winter at traditional ski resorts, summer at their homes or yachts abroad, have cellars full of wine, original art and antiques, and permanent domestic staff? Those non-consuming wealthy?

Nobody's yet explained how saving a hundred or so a month (the difference between supermarket joggers and a known brand) will make a poor person not poor.

I'm not very well off, and i ask my son what he wants for birthday/ Christmas and he says I want this tracksuit/ shoes etc. he'd rather spend his allocated amount on just one expensive item. It's not up to me to decide what value he places on clothes. I wouldn't waste my own clothing budget on expensive items. I consider myself lucky to have good budgeting skills

Why not…perhaps you spend money on things someone else would not. Or perhaps you don’t spend money and that’s why you have it!

Consuming isn’t for the wealthy, it’s a nice method of removing funds from the bottom to inflate the top. Media marketed to keep you poor and thus unable to change the system.

My SIL is always dressed in designer gear however she buys all off some shady app that ships from China.

So the grand result of putting £1,000 a year in a pension fund while your children get bullied for their supermarket sportswear? A final pot of about £40k.

Life-changing it is not. Your kids' lives might be long-term affected by the sense of social exclusion, though.

Interesting question actually... In terms of children, I think it is about fitting in rather than necessarily particularly liking the clothing. I am guilty of buying my children branded things that tbh they aren't bothered about, but I don't want them to be different. With adults, ironically often the opposite applies and they get branded statement pieces to stand out.
In terms of the cost, I think sometimes people have a (often misguided) impression that branded is superior quality. I believe there is also an element of "keeping up with the Jones's" about it, which I would say has been far worse with the rise in social media and the constant access to cameras.
I am at the complete opposite end of the income spectrum to you, being slightly above minimum wage and personally I have no interest in branded clothes for me any more and any branded items I do own will either have been given to me or have been an absolute bargain! I confess to having always wanted a Polo jumper as I like the look and they look so comfy and warm, but equally I could never bring myself to pay that much for one item, even when looking in the outlet store!
People do have different priorities though. I see people I know taking out loans for £10,000+ for a fortnight at Disney World and I just could never justify spending that much money, particularly if I didn't have it to start with. I love Disney and I love rides, but I think even if I won the euromillions I'd still find it hard to part with that much money for a holiday!

If you just stop and opt out of some if the choices that build wealth, you can have a bit more cashflow, short term.

If you live in a cheap social rent property and have never bothered to save for a house deposit or pension etc, dont bother spending on what might termed "trappings of a middle class lifestyle", you can have a surprising amount of disposable income.

They have zero money management skills, Martin Lewis is right to say it must be included in secondary schools. It’s largely fakes from places like Turkey. For the record we love Turkey and buy fakes tshirts so nothing against it, but we never buy to sell on. I used to work with a woman in my uni days who goes 5/6 times a year and the sales fund her next holiday, she’s in her fifties now and still doing it. Lots of it will be off the back of a lorry too, especially brands like Canada Goose.

As I say, as soon as money hits their hands, it’s back out again. My cleaner for example is on as much as a graduate would expect to be on an hour, but claims she is penniless. Yet her two kids aged 5 and 2 are in branded clothes and she’s driving around in an SUV. They place the value of it above saving for a house deposit and for their kids futures 🤷🏻‍♀️

I remember years ago you could pick up 'Chanel' handbags and other knock offs from Brick Lane Market.

Everyone has their own priorities. For instance a work colleague of mine is always having take aways, buying new clothes/shoes and nails done all the time, but complains they can not afford to take her kids on holiday. But then comments that I take my kid away and calls me tight as I watch every penny.

My neighbours think I'm poor but my children know we don't struggle. I wear tackies and trainers most days because I go for comfort as do dc.. I know what brands fit us better. We shop at big brand shops alongside store brands.. We don't give a fig how other people perceive us as long as we are happy ☺️