Nope. I’ve never been richer. I have scraped and worked like a pauper all my life and lived hand to mouth. This year was the first year I have had any savings at all. I got a new job so earn the same as DH now. We have a four year fixed mortgage at 1.2% and fixed our energy in June for two years.
I don’t feel at all bad or guilty because for me it has been a cost of living crisis all my life and my circumstances have simply changed at the age of 50.
we paid 5.75% mortgage at one point when house prices were sky high and I had two little kids. I had no childcare costs covered by the government while I worked and maternity leave was 5 months. My DH’s company did not give him any leave and he had a day off from working outside digging holes on roads.
There was a savage recession when I left uni. I had to move four hours away from home to sleep on a friends floor for two weeks in order to get a job in an office.
i have always worn thermal underwear rather than switch on the heating.
we didn’t HAVE heating or double glazing until I was in my late 20s.
It needs saying that there have been hard times all throughout history and to think that this is an exception is a complete fable.
we have all got used to cheap money in the last few years. I feel very bad for people who have just come out of fixed mortgages but contrary to what the media will have everyone believe most people at some point face recessions and hardship.
I was self employed during covid and never asked for a penny in furlough.
What has changed is the attitude and a new culture. I’m not saying if that is right or wrong what I will say though is that other generations have struggled and had to adapt and didn’t have social media to turn to in order to voice their complaints.