How many people complaining they are broke have fancy devices?

[IRememberXanadu]

I was waiting to pay for petrol this morning when I overheard two ladies who were queuing up for the till next to mine, complain about the price per litre (of petrol). One way saying that she is really worried about the upcoming increase in price of electricity and gas, with the other agreeing and saying they don't know how they'll cope. While talking, they were looking at their phones - these were very expensive iPhones.

Later, I was relaying this exchange to a colleague, who said he has a friend who has also been going on and on about the upcoming price hikes and how worried he is, but also just bought (himself - it was not a gift or a work phone) a brand new iPhone.

So that got me thinking - while it's unbelievable that we are having to worry about utility prices in this country in this day and age - how many people are saying they are worried about how they will afford to heat their homes and use electricity, while still spending money on non-essentials? Of course we all need treats, but surely spending hundreds of pounds on nicer stuff when you could still buy something cheaper and put the savings towards essentials you are worried about affording, beggars belief? We are not hard up but have been thinking twice about buying luxuries when we are still in the dark about how much it will cost us to run our home, come this winter. Surely it can't be just us...

Sorry but why should we go about not getting hair or nails done, having cheap shitty phones or cars just so we can afford the gas bill. Fwiw I have an ancient tv because I don't feel the need to buy another and don't watch it that much but
I don't apply that to my whole life. No one goes to work with the sole purpose of affording the electricity bill.

It’s because quite a lot of people think the poor should be absolutely, permanently miserable with no entertainment, joy or social enjoyment whatsoever. How can you say you’re poor unless your life is completely shit?

What's the expression on the face, please NC12345665? I can't find it.

The rest of this is a comment on what other people have said.
I didn't say that people shouldn't have flavoured yogurts, which I think some people have inferred because they didn't read carefully. I said that when I was a child they're weren't such things in the shops. Maybe there were in really swish shops in London, but not where I lived. I am making a point that nowadays there are so many things on offer and they are so tempting, and we are tempted, but there was a time when there were many fewer things on offer and our food choices and our choices of electrical/computer-type goods was much less but people lived and enjoyed themselves with a good lot fewer material goods. You can jeer and jeer and jeer but the free person is the one who lives within his or her means, as Mr. Micawber knew.
As to the question about the cost of egg custard as opposed to a packet of cheap fruit yogurts, well obviously it would depend on how big an egg custard you were making and how many yogurts were in the pack and whether you cooked two good casseroles in the oven at the same time as you cooked the custard, and whether you'd had to buy a whole new packet of nutmegs because you'd run out, or whether you had a bit of an old one left over from the 2005 packet. If you give me the full question with all the details I'll try to work out the answer.
If you are saying," Who's Mr. Micawber?", well he was a bloke who wasn't very good at cutting his coat according to his cloth.

Who have I beaten up? 🤔
A poster asked, in general,
Is it common to get into debt for designer bags? My impression of British women is that most don't seem to care about designer bags.
And I replied that yes, it's common for people to get into credit card debt from buying designer things. I made no reference to now. Its just a general debt problem that's been going on for years. If you know different to that, fair enough, argue the point. But to accuse me of taking a pop at people using food banks is beyond unnecessary. Where have I been rude about anyone who has fallen on hard times?

Also I know a few disabled people, unable to work blabla.
Those fancy things you think they shouldn’t have because you know ‘don’t spend what you dint have’ etc… is part of their essentials. Sometimes because their disability means those fancy gadgets make their life easier (Apple pen for example for someone who can’t grab a pen well). Some times it’s about their MH.
And all would have cut in other stuff that people like @TSIFT might see essential.
And all will struggle like hell with the increase of utilities.
Like 50% of the population btw.

Thing is, when you've not much money, it can feel pointless saving, because it'll just be swallowed up by the next bill or the next thing that breaks or the next thing that needs paying for. So when a bit of money comes into your life you feel you might as well spend it on a little treat rather than just see it get disappeared away into the general cost of living. And the rise of easy (but often expensive) credit meant it was possible to get into quite a bit of debt this way. It's harsh to expect people on lower incomes to have better psychological self-mastery, foresight, etc. than everyone else, but that's what we seem to expect of poor people.

It’s also really expensive to be poor.

@upinaballoon and what a lot of posters are saying is that it’s nit because one has an iPhone that they don’t manage their money well…..

If you have bought an iPhone 12 months ago, it’s not going to change anything to the situation now. Just like the car you bought two years ago, the carpet you had replaced etc etc etc.

Its not about flavoured yoghurts, something you will need to replace on a weekly basis (because we all need to eat and we eat everyday unlike a bone or a carpet that is a one off payment/decision).
it’s about the fact the Op is judging two women only on their phone with no idea of their financial situation, how and when they bought the phone etc etc. It’s about the ASSUMPTIONS he OP is making and the judgements based on preconceived ideas that have nothing to do with reality.

Yep.

And I’d say that poor people are actually very good at budgeting and getting the best deals etc… they have to, they have no choice!

But I don’t think that’s who the OP was talking about. Nor the posters referring to ‘designer handbags’ and ‘designer clothes’. It’s not the poor who are buying those.

I’m really sceptical about the designer debt thing too, there are so, so many places now to buy designer stuff second hand or rent it, I don’t think there’s much of that in 2022 in the same way there was in the early 2000s.

it’s about the fact the Op is judging two women only on their phone with no idea of their financial situation, how and when they bought the phone etc etc. It’s about the ASSUMPTIONS he OP is making and the judgements based on preconceived ideas that have nothing to do with reality.

Oh the irony of accusing a person of being judgemental when you jump to judgements based on preconceived ideas that have nothing to do with reality yourself! 🤔

If what OP saw in the garage or what her friend told her anecdotally was being used in court as evidence of people spending money on luxuries or not living to their means - it would be thrown out.

Pure speculation, fabrication and projection.
No knowledge or evidence or fact. Totally anecdotal.

The concept of cutting your cost to fit your cloth is a sound one but not one iota of OP's illustration stands up to scrutiny. It is not 'evidence'.

OP has this theory and has found something to substantiate it and in the meantime sounds quite ridiculous.

I kind of get where your coming from OP, when national news are interviewing a mother at a food bank who couldn't afford to feed her kids. She had long fake nails, booked lips, fake tan, lovely long recently foiled hair do. I did point it out at the time but got my arse handed to me on a silver platter 😉😉

I rented a 'designer' dress for £40 for my wedding photo shoot. It was cheaper than buying new.. I think £40 isn't a bad price for a party dress honestly. I would be wearing 'designer dresses' for all future weddings and events (and maybe people would think I am feckless with money lol).

*pumped lips

So she can only talk about struggling to feed her kids if she’s what? Wearing a sack and toothless? What level of misery does she have to sink to before we can listen to her say ‘food is ridiculously expensive and food bank use is at an all time high, something needs to change’?

I know you can rent designer bags but I am not sure that has caught on. Which is why I don't think they are that common amongst 'average' people. I can't imagine spending £1k on a bag for example and i am sure most people on mumsnet can't either.

Is MN a court then? If every thread had to live up to court evidence, including hearsay and not defaming people, there'd just be probably one thread left on knitting.

Can you link to that? Do,you usually focus on womens appearance?

Is MN a court then? If every thread had to live up to court evidence, including hearsay and not defaming people, there'd just be probably one thread left on knitting.

More like pointing out there's not a jot of sense in it. It's speculation.

More like pointing out there's not a jot of sense in it. It's speculation.

Well, yeah. It's MN.

I’ve got a phone, an Apple Watch, dd and DS have i phones, my monthly contract for all 3 is £100 and that’s with DS phone being brand new in January, we all have I pads, both dc have Nintendo switches and DS has a gaming laptop and I have a laptop, stuff that was brought before the inflation rises, most people will be the same. I’m not going to sell My luxury items to fund greedy CEO’s at energy companies so they can earn 10x my salary in bonuses. I also don’t drink or smoke so not spending money on that frees up extra money which I’d rather spend on luxuries for me and the kids. Let me ask you Op do you drink or smoke? Because that’s a luxury and I bet a lot of people won’t forgo that to pay bills.

80% of single parents to be in poverty by next year, 50% of families to be in poverty by next year. Energy cap from Jan to exceed £4266.

When it is such large swathes of the population are in poverty, its the system, not the individual.

What kind of (first world) country has 50% of the population in poverty?