Biggest scam you didn’t know was a scam

[Sillysausage2]

Lighthearted 😂
I saw an Instagram post earlier about the biggest thing you don’t realise is a scam and we all accept as normal.
We all have stories about how our parents raised 7 kids etc in a 3 bed if they were lucky, my grandparents had 9 in a 2 bed 😂
the aim for everyone now is buying or building massive houses, 3 en suites at least, we spend the weekends in Ikea, home bargain etc buying shit we don’t need and cleaning the houses with the 4 bathrooms!
I swear I’ve spent more Time cleaning the legs of chairs than is reasonable and I seem to wash the walls of my bathroom far more than people ever mentioned.
I don’t remember my mother ever cleaning the panelling on the walls.
is it all a scam? Are we busy fools?
sometimes I got to centre Parcs like places and think how simple my life would be if we al only had one suitcase each

We have moved from a big house to a small house and I’ve never been happier. Much less cleaning. Can only really entertain in the summer! I work full time and weekends are taken up with DC’s clubs so this works much better.

I would only live in a big house again if I could afford a cleaner and a gardener 😁

I don’t think it’s the size of the house, more all of the stuff we have in them. Realistically how long would it take to clean an empty room?
Take handbags as an example. As a young woman I had a smart leather one for work, a canvas one for casual and a little clutch for going out. I used them until they wore out then replaced them.
Now I must have about 20 bags taking up space, collecting dust etc so cleaning takes much longer.
Perhaps I need to get off MN and start decluttering.

@Fairyliz no need to get off MN, we have a long running decluttering thread on here 😄

Being an adult, why did grown ups sell it as a really exciting thing?!

Most things which are sold as capitalist heaven are scam. Especially when it comes to raising children. "Kids are expensive" - no, they are not. Childcare is expensive, kids can cost very little money. Babies don't need an automatic bottom wiper with built in Bluetooth heart monitor slash bottle warmer. Teenagers don't need the latest iPhone and driving lessons as soon as they start secondary school. Life is definitely better with just one suitcase of stuff (I am currently away for 8 weeks with a little carry-on. Something I do every year). Car payment plans are definitely a scam - you pay obscene amounts of money for the new car for three years and then you have to give it back. What the hell is this? What am I paying for?!
Multiple streaming service subscriptions just to send you into choice paralysis...
Storage solutions (clue - if you need shit to store shit, you have too much shit). Storage units, for that matter. If you pay for one, when was the last time you went there? Do you even remember what's in it?
Mobile phone cameras. We worry so much about documenting every experience we forget to actually experience it...
I can go on.

My teenage daughter thinks school is a scam! 😂

I wouldn’t call any of that a scam. To me all those things are trends or fashions, that you can follow or not, as you choose.

As for large families in small houses, for a start decades ago ordinary people had far less ‘stuff’, e.g. far fewer clothes, and children had far fewer toys. ‘Stuff’ in general was a lot more expensive since it’d largely be U.K. made, not imported from Bangladesh or China.

Not to mention that pre central heating, small rooms in small houses were cheaper to heat, when the cost of coal would have been a major expense.

Adulthood. I feel like a child that just got taller.

I am not sure the OP is totally true. Certain parts of society have always had plenty of space; they just used to have domestic servants to clean them.

I can honestly say I have never cleaned a chair leg in my life, or considered that any could get dirty enough to require it. Someone has definitely scammed you into unnecessary cleaning!

Where is this please? I think I need it.

Weddings. Massive, massive scam. So much so that people can’t afford to get married till long after they’ve started their family. They run their friends and family into huge expense to celebrate it with them, all the while anyone involved in the wedding business is laughing all the way to the bank. Insanity.

Constant upgrades with payment plans be it cars or phones. Subscriptions for multiple streaming services, tv, music, online media. Buy now pay later for everything from make up to sofas. Before you know it you’re drowning in overheads as your money flows out every month and for streaming you own nothing.
I dread the car model becoming unavoidable as EVs are so expensive and the battery life/depreciation makes an outright purchase an option that no longer works.

Council Tax.

Ironing is a scam. Waste of life and electricity. Low spin. Shake it dry. Absolutely fine.

@manysausages

Decluttering thread 10 - Spring is here, time to get those surfaces clear! www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/5283887-decluttering-thread-10

Sorry, I don't know how to do links so hope this works!

I agree they are vertical so generally the dust wouldn't land on them.

Weddings - add this to an event and venues charge ££££

No one needs alterations if you order a correctly fitted dress in the first place. I had a custom made dress ordered from China. Sent my measurements and a perfectly fitting beautiful dress turned up 3 weeks later that looked and felt every bit as good as the dresses I tried on at a bridal boutique that cost 5x more + more for alterations.

I don't think any of these things are scams. They are just things you can choose to do or buy if you want to. Nobody is tricking you into paying for big weddings or big houses without you knowing they are expensive. Nobody is tricking you clean chair legs. I don't! Also you don't have to constantly upgrade your phone or car.

I don’t clean my bathroom walls or chair legs. Yes if you’re spending your weekends cleaning or buying things to clean then you’re a busy fool. Go outside.

Long mortgages.

I assumed you got a 35 year mortgage and kept it for 25 years. It was only after a few years we had a light bulb moment that we could pay more and reduce the term and pay less interest.

I know not everyone can afford to, hut it had literally never occurred to me as a thing that could happen so it felt 🤯

But yes to decluttering. I've finally lost the last stone that's been hanging around for a decade and now i need to declutter A) the suff that's too big B) the stuff that fits again but looks very dated (not all of it! Some is still very me 🙊)

But "going shopping" as a fun activity is a fools errand to me. Fine if you're on a mission to find XYZ hut I've long said goodbye to just going into town for the day to spend money because I'm now hard-core into decluttering, saving and planning for a retirement full of travel!

My DH has a thing about cleaning chair legs. I just leave him to it.

Was just coming on here to say that.

Inflated prices for holidays and trips during school holidays.
Not Allowing people to bring their own food/drinks to an event and then charging extortionate prices for these.
Charging for parking in hospitals.

The world reaction to covid.

Hipefulku lessons learned will
make sure it can’t happen again