Middle Class/Upper middle class most frugal with money (in a good way!)

[Montana7]

Out of our friends with dc the same age as ours the most middle class & upper middle seem to be the most frugal & love a bargain.. Many are very high earners yet dc wear second hand clothes, uniforms, the families are very good with food & pride themselves on zero waste... Have great holidays think safaris, multiple ski trips pre covid but always prided themselves on getting the best deals... I think its bloody brilliant & after realising how much disposable cash DH & I fritter away especially around Christmas I aspire to be more frugal... Aibu to suggest the mc/umc appreciate the value of money more or is it just the ones we know...

Enzbear

sounds like that couple on goggle box - nutty and nutty, they look tatty, live in old clothes cut their own hair and no ideas what they drive but bets on its old, they're not short of a bob or two by any stretch of the imagination

[quote Skinnymimi]@SleepingStandingUp I am sure that you are the one example away from the rule. We all are. I actually judge people on one thing : their vibe. If you smile at me, chances we will get along just fine![/quote]
I'm not the one example away from the rule though. That's the point. There are those parents (grandparents??) at the school gate in their designer tracksuits and thick make up and false everything and there's plenty without. Hair washed and brushed and bobbles to run around after kids, nails short so you don't get poo up them, clothes basic and made to last. There's a few funky colours of hair (blues and greens) etc but that's as exciting as it gets. Plenty who live on bad credit and plenty who don't. So no, there's isn't a universal working class or MC person. You have no idea what I spend any of my saved cash for - whether it's kebabs on a Saturday night or front row at the ballet

My in laws aren’t rich but they’re really well off. They’re inconsistently frugal. They spend a fortune on good wine and eating out but my father in law drives miles to get cheaper car parking - he’d rather walk a mile and save a couple of quid.

[quote Skinnymimi]@mewkins heya! They kind of do! People open up a lot to the ones they see almost everyday! They tell me about their lives! The kids are so proud to say it’s their birthday! Some people actually come to say goodbye when they move house etc. The “poor people will load a trolley with the cheapest party food and buy for 30£ of plastic toys for the kids. Toys that break after a month which I know because they come back for it. “Rich “ people take the fanciest cake and a juice fruit. Maybe one magazine for the birthday child. 9 times out of 10, the luxury cake is cheaper than all the snacks.[/quote]
Doesn't this contradict your claim that poor people spend more?

The rich buy one nice cake that costs more than all the snacks the poor buy.

Tbh though, I don't believe what your prior post said because the rich and the poor do not tend to ship at the same places or in the same parts of town. I dont believe you can possibly make the kind of direct comparison that you claim.

I also don't believe that rich people are falling over themselves to talk to checkout staff about how much money they do or don't have.

@Pirrip1868

My in laws aren’t rich but they’re really well off. They’re inconsistently frugal. They spend a fortune on good wine and eating out but my father in law drives miles to get cheaper car parking - he’d rather walk a mile and save a couple of quid.

This isn't 'inconsistently frugal', it's just prioritising spending.

I am poor. I don't know anyone my age who does the false nails, etc. A few of my younger female relatives do. None have kids and are at the stage of dressing up, going out and wanting to find a partner to settle down with. Applies to two of them. They work and spend their own money doing this. No I don't expect them to save the money towards some future house that they may or may not buy. They are young and having fun.

@Pirrip1868

My in laws aren’t rich but they’re really well off. They’re inconsistently frugal. They spend a fortune on good wine and eating out but my father in law drives miles to get cheaper car parking - he’d rather walk a mile and save a couple of quid.

The wealthiest person I know is like this to an insane degree. He has about 7 luxury homes dotted around Europe (the chalet, the beach house, city homes etc)... We once spent two hours sailing around in circles in his multimillion pound yacht while he tried to retrieve his cheap supermarket baseball cap that had blown overboard

@ivykaty44

Enzbear

sounds like that couple on goggle box - nutty and nutty, they look tatty, live in old clothes cut their own hair and no ideas what they drive but bets on its old, they're not short of a bob or two by any stretch of the imagination

Yet they’ve said in interviews that they’ve used bubble wrap as fake double-glazing, have no central hearing, and a kitchen infested with mould — are they examples of cash-poor-but-posh boho types, or just poor?

As an example, in the nearest market town to me (northern but naice) there is farm shop which sells pricy food, organic, local, small brands, artisans stuff. There is also a Morrisons and a Tesco. If you travel to nearby towns, you will also find Aldi, Asda, and Booths.

The customer base of each shop is very different. Yes, some people shop at more than one place, but overall the Aldi definitely does not have the same customer base as the farm shop.

Do you think that a checkout worker at one of these shops could possibly claim to see a genuine cross section of society and be able to make direct comparisons between the behaviours of rich and poor at each of the shops? Of course not.

I mean, even the cake example is crazy. Someone with not much money is likely to buy their kids party snacks at Aldi or Tesco.

Most wealthy people, if they want a 'luxury' cake, would not buy one at the supermarket. They go to a nice local bakery, or Bettys, or the farm shop etc. The person buying the 'nice' cake at Tesco is probably at the mid/upper end of middle income. Comfortable enough to afford the Taste The Difference range or whatever, but not 'rich'.

Everyone here talks about ALDI as if that is a really cheap place to go. It is just a supermarket like any other. None of you talk about buying food at Heron Foods or B and M.

B&M is pricier than Aldi here? And doesn't stock a full range of food. The cleaning products are cheaper though.

Again, there is a B&M in my nearest town, and that won't have the same customer base as the farm shop.

A friend of mine is from a poor working class background.

She explained to me that when you're so close to the edge of respectability, you will take the small wins to make you seem respectable in the eyes of others. If that's a branded pair of trainers / handbag or iPhone then so be it.

She also pointed out that you're skint after you buy these things, but if you chose not to buy them you'd also still be completely skint!

In the really deprived area I lived in as a student a lot of people couldn't afford the bus into town and it was a long walk up a big hill into town, so they bought most of their shopping for excruciating prices at the local convenience store/newsagent.

@RoyalFamilyFan
Exactly. The market, Food Warehouse and Home Bargains are also purveyors of cheap food.

@CSJobseeker

B&M is pricier than Aldi here? And doesn't stock a full range of food. The cleaning products are cheaper though.

Again, there is a B&M in my nearest town, and that won't have the same customer base as the farm shop.

It is cheaper for some things and much more expensive for other things.

I used to get all my fruit and veg from a market stall. Bags of fruit and veg for a £10. Only other people there were poor people and lots of asylum seekers. Sadly closed down now. We eat a less varied diet of fruit and veg as a result now.

PegasusReturns
To answer your question. 1 k saved instead of coffees and nails..hoe could lk help.you ask.?
It could be invested and built on gradually.
Otherwise it could get a series if tutor lessons , a needed desk( education)
For property something that improves your life like an organization ststem

.

PegasusReturns
Are you saying 1 k saved instead of it being spent on nail.and coffees is not.significant ...? Why the 😀sign . 1k is 1k saved.
You must be rich if yoy dont think its significant.
It could be invested in additional tutoring , a desk, an organizational system for the house ti make life easier.invested and built upon .

@Freelady I made no comment on whether it’s significant or not, that’s entirely subjective.

I did however specify in my post that it wouldn’t help you prioritise property and education. Which it objectively would not.

It could be invested in additional tutoring , a desk

“Prioritising education” is code for sending your DC to a fee paying school it doesn’t mean a term with a tutor and a new desk.

Ok i did not kmow that term , maybe its a term more privelidged folk are familar with. I meant for a child in a crowded space without a place to work, something like a desk can be life changing amd makwe a huge difference to outcomes.. therefore in my understading that is using the money to make.educational opportunity via rhe lk saved instead of having monthy nails done or coffee amd can have huge impact.

They are certainly the meanest in terms of generosity to other people and to charities. Person who canvasses for Dogs' Trust told me it's always poorer neighbourhoods who sign up for monthly contributions. Have been 'gifted' dirty, broken tip-worthy things for my new babies from wealthier middleclass neighbours, as well as getting the free charity Snowman Christmas cards that you get through your door from them at Christmas along with a gift of half-eaten meringues.
Be frugal by all means, but dont be mean.

I think different people have different priorities. I shop at primark, I don’t see the point in spending loads of money of flashy clothes, I do spend more money on food and holidays though.

I grew up in a similar sort of household. We had several ponies and also sailed, so a yacht and a couple of dinghies. Also a tennis court. We did most of the work looking after all this ourselves - we had these amazing things and lived on a big acreage but I never ever had pocket money for sweets or bought lunches or shop bought clothes. Always home made lunches, my mother made our clothes (to a very high standard) and we never had meals out or package-style holidays (although I can remember we motored to Italy because a friend of my fathers lent us a villa for one summer - this was way before the “villa in Tuscany “ phenomenon).

We were capital rich and cash poor. Horses, but only 3 pairs of shoes. Well dressed but never brand names or recognisable fashion-y clothes. Always books in the house and going to the theatre, but rarely the cinema and no television.

It’s about what our family valued I suppose.