AIBU to think lifestyle expectations and spending habits have risen enormously?

I’m in my 60’s and as the saying ‘the past is a foreign country’ really is true.
Take for example buying a coffee out which is considered normal now several times a week and you are deprived if you can’t do so. I can honestly say I never went into a cafe to buy a coffee until I was well into my 20’s, it just wasn’t a done thing near where I lived.

Having your own caravan isn’t cheap! 😆

What is often forgotten in the narrative around people buying houses at a younger age in the past is that most people generally started work earlier. So whereas now a 25-year-old might have only been working a year or so, i had been working for 7 years when i was 25.
The standard practice was to stay at home to save up, buy a small house in a less-than-perfect area with the plan to move when you could.
Now people tend to go to uni, then rent (so no saving up), then have children and get married, so by the time they want to buy, they need a bigger house in a better area from the get-go.
It's a dufferent world now. But i can assure you that all the 20-year-old homeowners in the 80s were not buying three/four bedroom homes in lovely areas with good schools!

Absolutely. But it was second hand and was literally their only luxury. And we never had any other type of holiday 😑

It was dull, Grandad lived in the same tiny house his whole life, my Granny lived in the house from getting married so spent the first few years living with her in-laws. Note, this meant my grandparents never had to pay a mortgage and therefore had more disposable income than most as they also both worked which for 1940's Granny was probably quite unusual. Granny couldn't have more children and having only 1 probably made working possible in times when people quite often had big families and needed Mum at home. Grandad worked in a highly skilled job.

No holidays, never ever went abroad, days out were very local with a cheese sandwich and flask of coffee but generally no where that involved paying an entry fee e.g sitting on the local park bench at the beach. Lived in North East but never ventured further south than Yorkshire. I have no memory of them venturing beyond 30 miles from home in my lifetime despite them being of working age when i was born.

No going for a look round the shops just for something to do. Every purchase was considered, even their prescription glasses were a huge event.

And, when they died, they had a ridiculous amount of cash in the bank. They could easily have afforded holidays, seen the world, not had a huge portion of unseasoned potatoes with every meal, poured more than a thimblefull of fresh orange for breakfast. That to me is dull.

(These were people perfectly fit and able in the 1980's and 90's.)

What is often forgotten in the narrative around people buying houses at a younger age in the past is that most people generally started work earlier. So whereas now a 25-year-old might have only been working a year or so, i had been working for 7 years when i was 25.
The standard practice was to stay at home to save up, buy a small house in a less-than-perfect area with the plan to move when you could.
Now people tend to go to uni, then rent (so no saving up), then have children and get married, so by the time they want to buy, they need a bigger house in a better area from the get-go.
It's a dufferent world now. But i can assure you that all the 20-year-old homeowners in the 80s were not buying three/four bedroom homes in lovely areas with good schools!

It’s a good point, but the fact is that housing costs relative to real value wages have climbed massively.

The thing is, people will come on to these threads and say ‘we didn’t spend money on x, y and z’ back then, as though this was simply because they were superior and more virtuous. When actually the reason they didn’t was because in the main, those things didn’t exist. They can’t know whether they’d have spent money on them if they had existed, and if everyone around them had those things.

I have noticed this as well OP and am utterly fascinated by it. Average amount on beauty treatments is something I’m bamboozled by - I am beginning to go gray and know a lot of people who colour their hair. Thought I might try that too but it’s literally hundreds a year at the hairdresser. So I don’t. A lot of the same people are then also getting nails once a fortnight at least, eyelashes, brows, sometimes Botox. It’s a big outlay a month.

My daughter was at one stage getting genuinely upset we weren’t going on ‘exciting’ holidays - and by this she meant going outside of Europe. Literally in her friendship group some were going to Spain for weekends then Thailand at Easter and another foreign holiday in Summer holidays. US for Disney and all sorts. Our occasional trips to Greece and regular UK trips were paltry in comparison and yet I think we are quite lucky 😂 It’s hard to convince a 9 year old that actually there are a lot of people who have no holiday although obviously did remind her repeatedly!

Also people did spend money on frivolous things. The idea that fish & chips was an annual treat is nonsense when you look at the amount of fish & chips that existed. In the 40s the average person went to the cinema almost 33 times a year! Lipstick sales during the war etc.

As a 30s millennial that grew up similar to you and still lives in a pretty similar way… I think you’ve just moved somewhere more affluent, stealth boast?

Also people did spend money on frivolous things. The idea that fish & chips was an annual treat is nonsense when you look at the amount of fish & chips that existed. In the 40s the average person went to the cinema almost 33 times a year! Lipstick sales during the war etc.

I forgot about how popular smoking was

Also people did spend money on frivolous things. The idea that fish & chips was an annual treat is nonsense when you look at the amount of fish & chips that existed. In the 40s the average person went to the cinema almost 33 times a year! Lipstick sales during the war etc.

YANBU though I do drive an old second hand Audi (that Ive bashed a bit 😬). My second (second hand one) and I’m not sure I can go back to other cars now!

Also people did spend money on frivolous things. The idea that fish & chips was an annual treat is nonsense when you look at the amount of fish & chips that existed. In the 40s the average person went to the cinema almost 33 times a year! Lipstick sales during the war etc.

Yes, my sister buys a new sofa every 2 years just because she fancies a change.

I'm older than you and it is fascinating to watch how life has changed. I totally agree with your observations. My personal opinion is, that it started around the time the Beckhams became famous 🤣.. magazines and media exposure pushed brands and celebrities at us along with the lifestyle they led. Finance became available to many; people tried to duplicate their lives. Jump ahead a couple of decades and along comes the internet/social media and every second of the day we are being hounded with ads and 'lifestyle'. Again, all available on finance. I was astounded that during Covid people were whinging about 'not having a holiday - ffs it was a beautiful summer and half of us were on 'holiday' at home. I have recently downsized and the amount of stuff we had, clothing being pivotal, disgusted me. My happiest Christmas and birthday memories were when I waited all year for the doll I wanted/received. So much appreciated and remembered, paid for by my parents saving. I doubt my kids will remember a single 'stocking filler', apart from the Sponsor a Dog/Horse/Donkey we enjoyed and still laugh about now.