My mum's favourite "we had it so hard" tale explains how her and dad sat on deckchairs for the 1st 18 months of married life. Cue much sympathy if tale is told to people of her generation. You see - they waited for their sofas, they didn't buy on tick etc etc.
What she completely omits to say however is that in their mid/late 20s they were able, in less than 18 months (since they met) to save up enough of a deposit to buy a 3 bed semi in a London suburb, within walking distance of 3 different tubes, lots of bus routes, various amenities etc. Neither of them had high flying and/or professional type careers - they had "average" jobs. Right now, there is NO way on earth a couple of similar age, doing the same job, would be able to save for a 10% deposit on a 1 bed flat in their area, let alone a 3 bed semi. How many people would gladly sit on deckchairs for the rest of their days if they could buy a decent family house as quickly as they did ?
Think people like my mum really have no idea what it's like now. Quite obviously, they, like everyone else are being affected by the general rise in the cost of living but generally speaking, I really do believe a much lower proportion of that generation suffered from housing and commuting costs the way many people do now. Turn the clock back 40-30 years and, for example, many more people were able to live closer to their place of work because overall housing wasn't as expensive and fewer jobs had been centralised.
Like Polkadot, my standard of living was higher growing up than it is now. Which is just crazy when I am far better qualified than either of my parents were. Furthermore both DP and I work - not for treats, but for essentials. My mum and dad survived on 1 wage - my mum didn't go back to paid work until I was 14 ... and although money was tight and they spent very carefully indeed, they could still afford to maintain their house, and afford a holiday each year even if it was "only" a week in the UK. We can't afford to do either on 2 wages.
Right now, my mum - who retired at 58 (a pipe dream for me which would only be possible if I win the lottery) goes on 2 holidays a year, gets a brand new car every 4 years (ours is 13 years old), can afford to pay a decorator and gardener when needed, meets up with friends for lunch and/or concerts at least 3 times a month. I don't imagine that the loss of £200 would make any difference to her at all. Nor would my MIL, who cruises at least twice a year, plus 1 UK holiday, plus 3-4 trips to relatives in Europe every year, notice if £200 disappeared .... I guess it'd mean she'd have to forego a few pots of Estee Lauder face cream.
Okay I sound bitter. I'm well aware of that, but am fed up hearing from various older members of my family, who, to a fault all seem to have this entitled attitude towards the comparatively comfortable lifestyles they enjoy. They deserve the way they live because they "worked hard" yet none of them were down the mines or risking life and limb in some way - we're talking "ordinary" jobs - in backroom banking, retail, admin type roles, sales, which were 9 to 5 Mon to Fri (no anti social hours). Yet if their working life was "hard", how come there's so little sympathy for the younger generation struggling today who are often working under much more trying conditions ? - opposite shifts (so very little partner/family time), long and expensive commutes, weekend/evening working, few workplace benefits, crap pensions to look forward to. In my family at least, it feels as if the older generation have retreated into their castles and drawn up the drawbridge behind them. I honestly don't know if they're incredibly naiive (and insensitive) or are deliberately pretending that they have no inkling how many people live today .... and however "hard" you work, comparatively few will be able to improve things for themselves. I know that most of my family work "harder" than their parents did. And these are the people who automatically get a payment they don't actually need. Of course £200 isn't, these days, that "much" but for me it's the principle of the thing - and the double standards - and the smuggery. The last few years have really made me reassess how I view some members of my family - and it's not nice.