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...

It is just envy IMO

Interesting. The people that tend to do the sneering are the established UMC / gentry (i.e. inherited wealth). Do you think they envy the ability to earn your own money through your own merits (as opposed to through getting a leg up from your connections)?

I know that non-wealthy people sometimes also sneer at 'new money' (you see it plenty on MN), but I think that it all has its origins in the fact that the gentry have traditionally looked down on the trade/mercantile class due to feeling threatened by them. (The way the Middletons were treated is an example.)

The MC and lower MC try to curry favour with the gentry, and therefore adopt/espouse their prejudices.

@CSJobseeker I dont move in the circles to know UC types properly. But I do remember in the village where some of my family grew up people who had made money started to buy up some of the large houses in the area that had traditionally being owned by people who inherited their wealth.
And although I am sure it is not just down to this, I do remember being aware of certain sneering from UC people at people they saw lower down the scale than them, being able to afford the property they could not.
So not as simple as jealousy. But outrage more that people they saw as social inferiors, could buy things they could not.
The aristocracy and Royal Family as well traditionally sold the idea to poor people that they were better than them. The Queen even believes that she is anointed by God. So if anyone can live their life if they make enough money, that rather challenges the idea they are inherently better than us. This the regular sneering at "new money" who does not how to behave properly - or so the myth goes.

I’ve only just read this thread so a bit behind. But I think a few posters have misunderstood the purpose of charity shops. They are not there to provide charity in the form of cheap goods to poor people. They are there to raise money for their charities, and they have a duty to maximise the amount they raise. So of course they are going to try to sell things for as much as they can, and if that means targeting fancier stuff to better-off areas then that’s just good business sense.

The charity donation point was an interesting one and got me thinking about whether different classes donate to different charities. I would imagine working class people are more likely to donate to charities like Help for Heroes or charities set up for local sick children and things like that as there tends to be a stronger sense of community. Personally I would not donate to those or Dogs Trust because I don’t see them as an effective use of money within my set of values, so I donate primarily to highly effective malaria and tropical disease charities in developing countries.

To the poster who wondered why Heron doesn’t get mentioned much on here compared to Aldi - it doesn’t exist in the south.

@PattyPan that was me and I dint know Heron did not exist in the south. So what other cheap food stores do you have?

@RoyalFamilyFan I think Farmfoods has stores in some parts of the south but don’t think there is one in my county. There is Home Bargains and B&M but my local ones seem to mostly sell snack foods like biscuits and pot noodles and things rather than actual food for meals. So where I live it’s pretty much Aldi, Lidl, Iceland. We have Food Warehouse as well but I’ve never been so not sure what that’s like. The Home Bargains and Food Warehouse are too difficult to get to without a car. We also have a lot of ethnic/independent supermarkets in my town but they are actually generally more expensive than chain supermarkets. We don’t have a market.

In terms of charities, all the evidence shows that wealthier people donate less overall. They may donate to different charities, but they also donate less.

Thanks. In my city we have ethnic independent supermarkets. They are cheaper for some things such as fresh herbs and dried pulses, and more expensive for other things.

[quote RoyalFamilyFan]@CSJobseeker I dont move in the circles to know UC types properly. But I do remember in the village where some of my family grew up people who had made money started to buy up some of the large houses in the area that had traditionally being owned by people who inherited their wealth.
And although I am sure it is not just down to this, I do remember being aware of certain sneering from UC people at people they saw lower down the scale than them, being able to afford the property they could not.
So not as simple as jealousy. But outrage more that people they saw as social inferiors, could buy things they could not.
The aristocracy and Royal Family as well traditionally sold the idea to poor people that they were better than them. The Queen even believes that she is anointed by God. So if anyone can live their life if they make enough money, that rather challenges the idea they are inherently better than us. This the regular sneering at "new money" who does not how to behave properly - or so the myth goes.[/quote]
This makes sense. Also, the emphasis on certain types of behaviour being signs of 'class' makes it more of a closed shop - it puts up walls to protect their status.

I.e. Anyone can earn money and be well off, but they won't threaten the elevated status of the upper classes for as long as the UC can maintain etiquette/behaviour/accent distinctions. This is why it is impossible for ordinary people to properly fit in when mixing with the UMC and UC, because as soon as you learn one set of rules they will add new ones. Literally the whole point of the rules is to keep people like you out - an insurmountable barrier.

We have a market, but it's better for meat (which is pricy) than fresh veg. We don't have a Heron either, despite being up north.

@CSJobseeker I totally agree that the whole point of the rules is to keep people out.
I remember The Crown when Thatcher and her husband appeared dressed for dinner far too early. That was widely ridiculed as unlikely, but Thatcher's closest aides said the feel of The Crown in how Thatcher was treated was correct. I wondered if Thatcher and her husband were judged by the RF for a so-called faux pas that would have gone over the heads of most watching the programme. So instead the programme used a more obvious example so people could "get it".

@CSJobseeker

In terms of charities, all the evidence shows that wealthier people donate less overall. They may donate to different charities, but they also donate less.

Do you know if it's less in relative or absolute terms? I'm assuming relative but which could still be more in absolute terms?

Giving What We Can/Founders Pledge type approaches are relatively popular in my circle (urban, highly educated) but have yet to go more mainstream in the wider UMC/MC I think. I need to get more evangelical

Less in relative terms. Basically a much smaller proportion of disposable income.

@CSJobseeker

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'.

The most mc or umc mums I know would "throw" a masterpiece of a cake together themselves insisting it only took an hour & it's so basic & offer to whatsapp the recipe