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.

On the education boards it seems like 60% use private education. Mostly about which public school, which super selective high etc. So I get it.
'Which school' topics generally vote private. We are two income & nice / expensive area but still can't afford local privates without massive lifestyle change. Private isn't the norm for most

@Meowwwwwww I didn't say every poor person could afford them. Primark clothes are not accessible to asylum seekers, thats why a lot of faith groups who organize drop in sessions for them have clothes banks. They live on a few quid a day contrary to the opinions of daily mail readers! And are not allowed to get jobs! I am just confused why Boden was used to represent MC women, when they have so many sale items with non crazy prices.

Its a bit like iphone. I have never seen a mumsnet thread with the title 'sick of all those posh people and their iphones' because i have seen many working class and poor people with iphones (mostly bought on contract). I buy my phone in cash so I can't afford more than Xiaomi (£130). But I wouldn't consider Iphones as symbols of the middle class despite them being in excess of £1k and me being unable to afford them...

[quote elbea]@ssd besides the point but boden doesn’t sell women’s dresses with dogs on, maybe frugi?

We don’t have a huge income but I buy boden clothes in the sale for my daughter, you can sell them on for basically what you paid for them.[/quote]
OK, so no dogs but twee as fuck.

www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/morris-waterproof-mac-navy-and-ochre-colourblock/sty-u0022-nvm?cat=C1_S2_G360

@massiveblob

On the education boards it seems like 60% use private education. Mostly about which public school, which super selective high etc. So I get it. 'Which school' topics generally vote private. We are two income & nice / expensive area but still can't afford local privates without massive lifestyle change. Private isn't the norm for most

I'm other news, there are also very busy SN boards with many posters having kids in special schools.

[quote onlychildhamster]@CSJobseeker Ah I see, thanks for explaining. Yes its a festive religious occasion but one that happens every week! Its generally shabbat dinner on Friday night and shabbat lunch on Saturday where people are likely to get invited/likely to host.

People mostly do host family but often friends and even strangers were invited. When I was first dating my DH, I tagged along to a shabbat friday dinner meal even though I had never met the host. People can also invite newcomers to the area or even young people who don't have family locally. On facebook, there are often posts 'does someone have a place on their shabbat dinner table for my niece, she is studying in the area and has no one to celebrate shabbat with, thank you kindly'.[/quote]
The term “dinner party” in the way it’s being used here is not the same as Shabbat dinner. It’s when one couple invites a few other couples over, spends several hundred dollars at Waitrose or Whole Foods and spends all day cooking a posh plated meal. The guests hire a babysitter or their nanny for £18/hour, wears expensive clothes and drinks wine until the wee hours. I guess technically Shabbat is a “dinner party” but it’s much more of a warm/welcoming family oriented occasion, usually starts around sundown and often features comfort food like roast chicken and soup. Both can be lovely and great fun but it’s a totally different vibe.

Uniqlo is not very expensive. They have very affordable basics. I got a jumper there for £12 the other day! The sale is quite good.

That being said, I totally agree that there are a lot of snobs here. Many are just totally out of touch and living in some bougie bubble. It is infuriating to see some of the ridiculous first-world problems that crop up on here. I once followed an entire post about how someone was affronted they were offered instant coffee and not 'proper coffee' at someone's house. I rolled my eyes so hard. YANBU.

@Athysuisse

Uniqlo is not very expensive. They have very affordable basics. I got a jumper there for £12 the other day! The sale is quite good.

That being said, I totally agree that there are a lot of snobs here. Many are just totally out of touch and living in some bougie bubble. It is infuriating to see some of the ridiculous first-world problems that crop up on here. I once followed an entire post about how someone was affronted they were offered instant coffee and not 'proper coffee' at someone's house. I rolled my eyes so hard. YANBU.

Well said 👍

Frankly I get tired of the working class drivel I'm given by most tv and social media sources and I appreciate the glimpses of culture I get from this site.

I’m fritefly middle class and extremely poor. Total household income in the low £20ks of which a lot is tax credits. I buy clothes from supermarkets AND second hand quality lot off eBay for the same price. We are lucky that we have no mortgage (which was £500/month) since 2019, if losing both our parents counts as lucky?
I’m here because the majority of the concerns I share with the (mostly) women on this site transcend class and income.

John Lewis has a Boden dog print shirt reduced from £55.
(Shown with some exceptionally ugly trousers but they're not boden).

www.johnlewis.com/boden-relaxed-jersey-dog-print-shirt-ivory-greyhounds/p5786588

@awesomekilick I am intrigued, what working class drivel do you see? On tv, families always live in 4/5 bedroom houses with gardens that would cost £1.4 million where i live and they are supposed to be average. Women always have full makeup on and dressed nicely. And this is supposed to be an average family.

I once read that people like watching elevated versions of themselves so that is what is portrayed. like in outnumbered, we are supposed to believe that a teacher and a wfh admin assistant could afford a 4 bedroom house in Chiswick (which apparently was expensive even in those times).

Happy new year, BTW! I'm having a knock off Baileys in my Tesco pyjama bottoms but I have got naice ham for tomorrow

@fallfallfall

please explain, some working class people earn 6-7 figure incomes...or do you think they don't work?

Ay?

working class
noun [ S, + sing/pl verb ]
UK /ˌwɜː.kɪŋ ˈklɑːs/ US /ˌwɝː.kɪŋ ˈklæs/
(UK also the working classes)

a social group that consists of people who earn little money, often being paid only for the hours or days that they work, and who usually do physical work

@Mummy1232016 my DH's colleague, a VP in an investment bank says he is working class cos he likes greggs; also owns a 4 bed house in Chelmsford that he bought on 1 salary. I once had a colleague who was taken on so many ski holidays as a child that she worked as a ski guide on her gap who said she was working class because she is from birmingham.

working class is an identity, not someone's income. A plumber who lives in a Kensington flat on the same road as Princess Diana's bachelorette flat can identify as working class because he never went to university and grew up in an ex mining town.

*gap year

I echo other pp. in some ways the posts from others give me an interesting insight into worlds that I just can't access eg Eton or an other
But state schools are overall deemed as second choice by most. But other topics I also find massively skewed. Massive distrust of men round children.. maybe I should lurk on other boards 😂

Laughing at the thought that people doing physical work earn “little money”

Many qualified tradesmen earn at least double what nurses, teachers and other university qualified professionals do.
My DHs company has allowed us to send our DD to private school. He’s from a council estate in a northern city and his parents have never worked. He is working class but he doesn’t fit the description posted up thread.

My parents were both born on council estates in Liverpool. My father was a paramedic for 30+ years as my mother was a senior finance manager for local government.
So sad to think people are judged for the rest of their lives based on where they’re born or what class 🙄 they’re born in to.

Well I’ve never heard of the places you’ve described…. Wtf doesn’t that make me?! 🤣

What’s the definition of middle class here these days?…

I must admit I'm not getting the sexism thing though. It's women that come out with this tripe to each other, in my experience. I've never heard a man say 'be kind' or stick kindness memes all over their FB page.

@saraclara

I must admit I'm not getting the sexism thing though. It's women that come out with this tripe to each other, in my experience. I've never heard a man say 'be kind' or stick kindness memes all over their FB page.

AAArgh!!! Wrong thread

Hello I earn £24k a year, buy second hand, tend to holiday in caravan parks in the U.K., don't have dinner parties and do like to go out to clubs and stuff still. Id be interested if you started a thread for us like minded folk!

What jobs do people on here define as working class?…..

We don't have a Waitrose Boden or John Lewis or Uniqlo or whatever it's called here ?

What does that say about my city I wonder

@ruthydoodles24f Nothing. Uniqlo is meant to be an affordable brand in Japan btw! I think they are better quality in Asia, I don't know why but all the stuff I bought in uk were crap, but the stuff I bought in my home country were cheaper and lasted longer.

@Starcup there are many definitions: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/23/readers-reply-what-do-the-terms-working-class-and-middle-class-actually-mean

But I agree the most with the below definition

'The defining characteristic of being middle class is the presence of a safety net. You can be a middle-class bin man or van driver if you have friends or family who can help you out when things go wrong or you can be a working-class doctor or lawyer if you have no one behind you to catch you when you fall. The upper class live above a permanent safety net. Losing a job or a failed business makes no difference to your life outcome. The trust fund sees to that.'

So its not about your job, its about your safety net. There was a time after university when I earned nothing, had nothing. But I have rich parents so even if tomorrow I earned £0, I wouldn't be working class. I do think that at a certain point, high earnings does ensure a safety net by default; its very hard to imagine someone with a £100k base and a £60k bonus would be out on the streets if he got retrenched even if he was feckless (and society would have very little sympathy for him if he was).

I have a friend who was earning below minimum wage as a paralegal in London but he is now a solicitor and his parents helped him buy a house in London. at no point have I ever considered him poor or working class or in need of money; before his parents bought him a house, he lived with them and paid no rent, wanted for nothing. This would not be an option for a working class kid; they may have no space for an adult child or no inclination to support him/her.