Middle & upper class more money savvy than most?

[Southerngal5]

DC in very mc school with very affluent parents... The talk non stop is about energy bills, bragging about getting free toys on Facebook groups (but they sell their stuff😉) their dc wear second hand clothes... Is this just my area? Forgot to mention they gave an obsession with Aldi & Lidl...

[quote StripyHorse]@JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon

Why hasn't Martin Lewis been knighted?

I think it is because he is saving us ordinary folk money. Certainly with this government...more money in our bank accounts = less money for their donors or to HMRC. For example, Martin Lewis publicised the working from home tax relief. Take up has been so good they are looking to close it.

"The Telegraph reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is to be given a report from HMRC that could see changes to eligibility criteria.

It quoted a Treasury source saying: “This is a tax relief that existed before Covid and it was there for legitimate reasons, but the take-up is now much higher so it needs to be looked at.”[/quote]
I think you have hit the nail on the head there! I nearly included something similar.

It isn't just about government money, his campaigns have cost the banks, credit card companies, energy companies, insurance companies, and various other big businesses lots of money. The Tories know they need big business behind them.

My aunt is a hobby Frugalist. She loves a Lidl bargain and will drive out of her way to get cheaper petrol etc. But it's just a game to her. She's actually a very wealthy widow, who lives in a £750K Georgian cottage.

Martin Lewis has an OBE, he was talking about it on the (entertaining and informative) podcast of the section he does on the radio show on 5 live with Nihal.

Maybe he will be promoted to 'Sir Martin' in time.

Is it the age of their parents rather than class? Boomer parents who grew up post war are more likely to have been quite frugal and passed that down. Those with younger parents have had a generation in between so haven't had that instilled so much.

I'm from probably a lower middle class background (grandparents solidly working class but parents had professional jobs) and used to be terrible with money. The last 7 or 8 years though we got our shit together and life is so much easier with savings, mortgage overpayment etc. As a pp said I learned all I know from Martin Lewis, God bless him.

My two cousins who had probably a less well off upbringing. Actually there was plenty of money but their father was mean with it and now it's all on it's way to care home fees but that's beside the point. One of them really resented not being brought up with money in abundance so worked extremely hard and now is very well off. She wastes so much though. Doesn't shop around for gas and electricity, leaves lights burning all hours of the day in her very energy inefficient house, wouldn't dream of meal planning. I've been on holiday with her and we did a big shop at the beginning of the holiday then she continued to buy food daily. I was desperately trying to use up what we had and not to waste it, moving stuff to the freezer that was going to expire. At the end of the holiday she announced she couldn't be bothered to take any of the food home (even stuff like ketchup, tinned foods) so we could either have it all or bin it.
I could save her thousands!
Her sister has neither money nor a clue how to manage it. She'll spend a fortune on her kids buying designer clothes they don't need, hair extensions, lip fillers etc but when her car broke down she had to ring her sister to pay the bill as she never has any savings. Who knows how she will ever pay her interest only mortgage off. She snipes at me for not splashing out all of the time but she's never been able to take her kids abroad on holiday and never has money for necessities. We can always cover our bills and unexpected costs but yeah we aren't happy to split a bill with her when she's spent most of it on alcohol for her. I just find her childlike really.

In terms of using Aldi or Iidl, I did try it but I absolutely detest shopping in person and found that a lot of the stuff went off faster or was already off when I bought it or we wouldn't find it as good quality as we were used to. I was spending a lot of time complaining about items with no customer service counter to return it to. So we went back to my beloved tesco delivery pass. I can control the amount we're spending easily rather than just chucking stuff in a trolley and hoping for the best and we like the quality and that it's delivered.

Is it the age of their parents rather than class? Boomer parents who grew up post war are more likely to have been quite frugal and passed that down.

I think it is. My parents have plenty of money but my mum is pretty frugal (within limits). She loves buying things from the charity shop (partly because she volunteers there) and hates wastefulness.

This also translates into frugality over home improvements. Their kitchen was fitted in 1981. The drawers have had to be mended numerous times by my husband and don't shut properly. They could easily afford a new one but think it's rather wasteful when the one they have is adequate. They have lots of inherited furniture that my mum hates but won't replace.

Our generation grew up with Changing Rooms etc and is happier to spend money on home improvements and interior design. I have respect for my parents as their way is far more environmentally friendly.

Op the question is are they chatting or bragging? A lot of posters here seem to think it's bragging whereas this is the sort of stuff people talk about. When we were poor I avoided these conversations at all costs, I NEVER spoke about money. Now we're out of it I can see it from both sides- when you're poor you have very little leeway, as someone said above you can't afford certain things that ironically would save you huge money. We threw money into heating our old rented non insulated house while hearing people talk about triple glazing etc. We paid higher everything because we couldn't pay bills by direct debit or pay yearly. The generalization that you buy a lot when poor was the truth for us, we bought takeaways etc because we were miserable and wanted gratification, our ils still do, that doesn't mean all poor people do. I do take issue with people saying mc people have more time, there was another class thread recently where it was assumed wc people worked harder. My brother and his wife and cousin and her husband all work in management jobs in pharmaceutical jobs and they're in all hours. They earn good money but are near broken for it!!

I think it's a combination of chat & a brag... But then Hugo's violin exams or the midterm ski holiday get thrown in at the end so the families are very affluent & could live not having to scrimp.. But they're obviously scrimping to splurge on the kids education & travel..

feb, good point. I moved into this house in 1997 and it has a 1990 kitchen and bathrooms and I will never change them nor the furniture. Actually that is also to do with the fact that all spare money has gone into other things like school and university fees and helping 5 children buy a first home but it is also because they work - the kitchen and bathrooms work so I cannot see any point in spending huge sums on changing them - I think I am just content with what I have. I do have all repairs done quickly as I don't want the house to go down hill but I certainly am happy to keep the c. 1990 kitchen for life.

I like to watch house improvement programmes sometimes but never really feel any need to have all those modern things. Eg my oldest son bought a newly built Bellway detached house in Oxfordshire about 18 months ago which is really lovely. I am not normally a fan of new built but it is lovely. He has 2 upstairs bathroom and a downstairs cloakroom and they are obviously modern - look really nice but coming back from that or staying at a modern hotel does not make me wish I had a new one. My parents survived WWII in the UK and had rationing etc so it may be partly due to that.

In the 1980s we had very very little money and 3 children under 4 and both worked full time etc and we took furniture from my husband's grand mother which was basically junk (not antique) and a standalone cooker and I still have the fridge freezer because there was no Ikea in those days and new was just far too expensive and I don't think we had a throwaway culture - in fact it was better then for the planet as things could be used for years and years. Yet when mmy parents died in their house of 50 years the company clearing it said just about nothing had much or any resale value, even the books were likely to have to go to recycling and none of the furniture could even be sold. At the council tip later when I took a leather sofa no one in the family wanted again the waste men did not want it but they swooped on 3 bikes and old DIY tools. It was interesting to see what was desirable and what was just junk these days.

However I always say each to their own - if you have come form nothing and want that £50k car as plenty of people around here do that is absolutely fine. People are not worse for that than others who might drive my older volvo. Neither view is better than the other.

Hi @Xenia, I haven't seen you post on mumsnet in ages, hope you keeping well?! I always enjoy your posts.

Thank you. All well here. I have been on the Higher Education threads quite regularly (as my youngest 2 children are students) but probably not on too much else as the children are getting bigger. My second (lawyer) daughter is now married too and she and her husband had their first baby just before Christmas so I have 3 grandchildren now.

you should have been able to donate furniture to charity shops surely in the 80s - as long as there is a fire safety notice.

@Xenia

Thank you. All well here. I have been on the Higher Education threads quite regularly (as my youngest 2 children are students) but probably not on too much else as the children are getting bigger. My second (lawyer) daughter is now married too and she and her husband had their first baby just before Christmas so I have 3 grandchildren now.

Congratulations @Xenia

( I’m a very old Mner who name changes a lot )

Mrs, I may have confused things over the 1980s. We certainly took old furniture from husband's grandmother. I agree it would have then been possible to obtain old second hand furniture - eg when we needed a cot we looked in the local paper for someone selling it in the small ads and drove to their house and bought it second hand from them in 1984. New furniture felt much more expensive then and I think even things like antique dark brown coloured antique furniture was more valuable than now as people today prefer new on the whole. Anyway things change all the time of course and Ikea provides a very useful service for many who can afford it. It even now takes furniture back although not in pieces and we have a massive double bed a year old from there in the garage disassembled and I am not sure what I am going to do with it.

There were no charity shops at all in the town I lived in the 80s in. People did buy second hand - adverts in the newsagents. But brown furniture - I have some - is seen by some as depressing and old fashioned. And it was in the 80s too.

I'm not a fan of brown furniture either