I keep hearing the older generation telling me that 'In my day, we lived on £300 a year and had no cars and phones and would have to do any job going for a bit of cash' and it makes me want to scream! I am no spring chicken, but still feel that the generation below me are going to be proportionally worse off. My MIL who insists on this type of story is the woman who took 5 years off work with children and MIL and FIL owned a house at 26 because although wages were low, house prices were too. At 31 I have only bought a house with DH (2 years older) 2 years ago despite the fact that we have both been working full time since 21/22. We had to beg and plead to get a mortgage despite no serious debts and as for 'do any job going to get a bit of extra cash', where are all these lovely cash-in-hand jobs now? If you need money til payday, tough. Even your employer cannot give you an advance anymore because of how everything is accounted for. I know your life was hard, but please stop telling me how easy my life is in comparison because it bloody isn't. (And yes, I do have a mobile and laptop etc but would much, much rather have been able to afford a house and not thrown £1000s away in rent over the years waiting to be 'acceptable'. Sorry, had to get that off my chest.