AIBU to want to start my own 'working class Mumsnet'?

[shoplifteroftheworld]

I see so many topics and conversations on here that just don't relate to my own life and experiences. Lots of well off women talking about their recent purchases from Boden or Uniqlo or some other place I can't afford to shop. Chat about dinner parties and holidays abroad. I'd like a site for mums and women on lower incomes as this site can leave a lot of us feeling left out of certain conversations.

@Blueeyedgirl21 I feel the opposite! Most Mumsnetters are people who used to live in london pre kids, then moved out to the SE. However in population terms, London and SE account for over 18 million people! There is also some overlap with the Home Counties for East England which accounts for another 6 million. And I once read 1 in 4 graduate jobs are in London so quite natural a lot of people would have experiences of living in London.

As a londoner, I would support our capital moving to Manchester permanently esp since the Houses of Parliament is crumbling and it would cost millions to refurbish, would cost less to just get a new venue. It would help with levelling up. Manchester can be the new political capital but London would probably stay as the economic capital. The Queen can stay in London, there doesn't seem to be any castles in Manchester, so London is the Royal Capital as well. Having different 'capitals' work well for other countries- I would argue that Munich/Frankfurt are the economic capitals of Germany while Berlin is the actual capital. It doesn't make sense for everything to be concentrated in London, both politics and business.

It would make sense so the north doesn't feel so neglected. I thought of doing an AIBU about it, but most people would say I was BU.

@Blueeyedgirl21

I think there should be a separate London mumsnet because it seems that’s the center of the universe for a lot of people on here

Like the how did you afford a million pound house thread. Many, many replies started with bought in London.

There already is a separate London section, I don't know how active it is though.

@Blueeyedgirl21

I think there should be a separate London mumsnet because it seems that’s the center of the universe for a lot of people on here

You mean they live there?

“I think there should be a separate London mumsnet because it seems that’s the center of the universe for a lot of people on here”

We London is a global city of 9 million people. Hardly surprising a large proportion of MNers will live there. It’s no less ‘real’ than anywhere else. People just talk about their direct experiences. This is the internet. People of all levels of wealth will (and should) be reflected - just as in real life.

@FallonCarringtonWannabe disproportionate number of million pound houses are in London. London is probably one of the very few places in the UK where you could buy a perfectly normal workers' terrace on a perfectly normal street on a perfectly normal salary and then for it to be worth a million years later. I think outside London in most areas, the houses worth a million would probably always have been desirable and meant for rich people?

I mean compare this www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116837138#/?channel=RES_BUY

with this: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118266200#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY

That is a house in my area and it is actually a 2 bedroom + boxroom house. It just has an extension and a loft conversion which makes it a 4 bed house. very average or even poor people would have lived there before the london property market went insane. I know a family who lived there in the 1990s, they have moved onto whetstone and I think the dad was a builder in his younger years. They were a normal family back then but due to the london property rising so much, they have been able to afford to give all their children deposits so their children also have london houses.

This is the type of ‘mansion’ your £1m will buy where I live. A terrace house mansion

please don't automatically equate "working class" with "low income"

Same goes for the other way around too - there are probably lots of middle class mums on here that are on a low income.

@shoplifteroftheworld have you thought about booking a spa day?

Haha best thread I’ve seen in ages! I think I notice it more as I’m not English but wow, the obsession with conforming to a converse wearing, radio two listening, Guardian reading, London living, huge salad munching skinny mum with a wardrobe full of Boden or Joules or whatever is ‘in’ this decade basics is astonishing.

The majority of women on here claim to be highly educated but sprout drivel like “I finished my masters and went into a seven figure job but should OF done my PhD” and I’m astonished how they manage to have the most insanely busy life juggling jack and Jill twins and a very important professional job but post hourly on here!

The most bewildering thing about mumsnet is the outing hobbies that cannot be mentioned that their husbands do. I just get so curious and intrigued, it makes me so happy! I’m totally addicted to mumsnet, I’m not even ashamed.

Anyway, goes without saying, we’re all just human. Class, education, job, income…It…..really…..doesn’t….matter hey!

Just had a look at Boden website because I haven't seen the clothes. Very frumpy imo and I'm old.

I'm happy to be classless. Especially if it means I don' have to dress like this...

I'm boringly middle class and do enjoy a good robot vac, etc thread but I know what you mean OP. I could post a problem on here and have many empathetic, helpful replies. If I had posted that same problem with slightly poor spelling and grammar/a bit of text speak the outcome would be very different.

Why is poor grammar and spelling/use of text speak indicative of class though?

@ssd

On mumsnet you're poor if your cleaner only comes once a week

I agree @shoplifteroftheworld

Brilliant lol 🤣

@coogee

Just had a look at Boden website because I haven't seen the clothes. Very frumpy imo and I'm old.

I'm happy to be classless. Especially if it means I don' have to dress like this...

😂😂😂😂 you and me both!

[quote Muthalucka]@shoplifteroftheworld have you thought about booking a spa day?[/quote]
Why? 🤔

I’m always amazed that people are amazed that other people have hobbies . Yes I get the point about most hobbies not being “outing” per se, but sometimes people are worried that someone who knows them in real life might be reading and might put two and two together. So if the ‘hobby’ is not relevant to the actual point of the AIBU, then why should people have to specify what it is? Would you rather people said they were out doing “something?” Then they would be accused of being cryptic.

Also, I don’t think people are exaggerating their incomes on here. If anything, they are massively underplaying these things for the most part because this place can be very snippy.

The way many people find AIBU is via online research about independent schools. Often a Google search about particular schools leads you to the Education Board on MN because your query about that certain school has been or is being discussed on a thread. You can find out loads. Many people I know (including me)! discovered MN this way - they had no idea about it when their children were babies. So this may explain why talk about independent schools etc may spill over onto AIBU - as people discover this is the most active board on MN.

The most bewildering thing on Mumsnet as far as I am concerned is how many people measure their lives against others.

I don't care who owns what, how much money they have, where they went to school. Their experiences make no difference at all to my experiences. They don't have any impact on my day to day life at all. Why would it matter to me that a friend paid £500 for a new coat? Or went on holiday to Barbados? Her being able to do those things has no bearing whatsoever on my ability (or not) to do them too.

There are only two types of people in this world, nice ones and not nice ones. Everything else is window dressing.

nokidshere - totally agree. It’s like people get angry if they read about people with different lives to theirs. Or otherwise, they claim it can’t possibly be true . Such a strange way of thinking. I’m not sure what they expect to find on an open forum on the internet if it’s not a diverse range of people (in this case, women).

YANBU @shoplifteroftheworld, this is actually a really good idea.

I dunno...we all have things that we don't relate to (but I must admit I enjoy seeing how the other half live!)
I find MN really eye opening and absolutely baffling to me at times when talking about anything that involves cars, parking, or 'dropping off' the kids. Having grown up in a city and still living in one (and not rich), I ajve never owned a car and my family don't and majority of friends don't. It's so completely alien to me, and people don't realise just how different your life is when you only take public transport, walk or cycle (popping in to homebase or IKEA for example is not possible and is a mission!!) ....but I don't want to start a car-free version of MN, or a city dwellers only. I find it interesting and it helps me understand so much more about the rest of the country (and why my MIL still goes to shopping centres which I thought had died a long time ago!)
Point being...it's interesting. And if you want relatable advice, just don't click on those threads

@Sandinmyknickers non drivers are hated
On mumsnet. Apparently we all are cheeky fuckers who cadge lifts off everyone

I'm classless

[quote Bluesarestillblue]@Sandinmyknickers non drivers are hated
On mumsnet. Apparently we all are cheeky fuckers who cadge lifts off everyone[/quote]
I don't drive. No real need in a city. I think a lot of people didn't really get my post. It was a tongue in cheek dig at the middle classes. I don't have a problem with people of any class or with Mumsnet. But there's no doubt that there are some real snobs on here and their answers to my question proved it.

I don't have a cleaner but I've also never shop lifted, so not sure where I fit