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

My MIL changes her decor all the time, does my head in , suppose it's just her thing though

Yes, but the business isn't doing so well. Less people getting married.

Yeh with the decorating thing it’s why I never go for something ‘fashionable’ although tempting. I always remind myself that what I think I love I probably don’t really it’s just what’s fashionable. And then I think back to the maroon walls and thick gold pelmet’s curtains swags and tails shit, and stencils, - how expensive rhat was and how a year later I realised how shit it was.

since then if it’s a big thing like new sofas or kitchen I go simple and plain so I can’t hate it later.

Turns out Mobility Cars are a scam.... Keeping car sales up and car dealerships financially viable. And banks charging high interest to do the loans into the Scheme. It's a total racket. See the grifters on Tiktok promoting the scam.

1 of every 5 new cars are now bought through The Mobility Scheme, purportedly for disabled drivers.

Turns out that those applying for the cars are often not those who are driving them daily. No, its often family members that are using them for a daily commute given three drivers can be put FREE on the insurance.
All costs are covered inc servicing &insurance & a replacement car every 3 years. All they pay for is fuel!
It benefits sales numbers, dealerships and banks and the Government needs to get a grip asap.....BUT will they?

Corporation pop? Has to come from the North West though it would be Vimto for me to retain my NW credentials, before they went national and did weird things!

Agreed!

A lot of this nonsense has come about because of social media, no-one knew, or gave a damn about, Mrs Rooney's home decorations, family pjs etc., to just pick an example, there are 1000s of others.
What many people don't realise is that the better known you are the less you have to pay, companies are falling over themselves to be seen decorating the homes of the famous, a bit like they get free holidays on the TV that cost them nothing, in fact they will be gettig paid.

To answer the question, I realised pretty quickly that AVON is an MLM or pyramid scheme and when my family was telling me to be come an Avon girl.

if you look into it its 100% an MLM and theres no way in hell you would be able to make good money off it if thats your sole income.
no one will believe me when i say this and thinks its normal and they have a good name

People are tricking you. What do you think marketing is? In the 1950s marketers either out that they could sell much more stuff if, rather than telling you about the product, they told you how much better your life would be with this product, how much happier you’d be if you only had x, how much more successful, or attractive you’d be. And it’s been downhill since then. It’s very hard to fight against something that’s being constantly fed to you, and this messaging is picked up and run with by everyone around you, meaning that it’s not just pressure from the ads etc themselves, but also societal pressure, constantly telling you you need more “stuff”, That’s the scam. And I think it’s helpful to remind yourself that’s what it is, as you may then have half a chance of fighting these constant unconscious messages.

Would you share, where you had your dress made please. Thank you

So true. I hear this all the time but it’s the adults who seem to want to live outside their means. Once upon a time before manufacturing in China people made do with less and they valued quality. Now everything is disposable and cheap but it’s actually a much more expensive way to live. Same with eating out - this used to be a luxury for a special occasions now people eat out all the time and no surprise they are not as as older generations who cooked at home

Most of the science now shows that for most people it's about what they eat and not exercise. Isn't this also what sliming clubs promote?

When everyone else on the thread is saying they've never cleaned a chair leg in their life, the marketing team at the Chair Leg Sanitation Board aren't doing a very good job.

Light-hearted is not the same as stupid.

Regarding home decor...

I once got an absolute steal on ebay. Displayed but unused Kitchen Aid mixer, so basically brand new, for £150.

The description said "Selling as doesnt match my new kitchen accessories" It was fucking BLACK!!! Black goes with everything and they were £450 new at the time!

Some people would stick tenners up their bums if you told them it was fashionable!

Are you OK? What's going on in your life that makes you so nasty?

Eating out anywhere has become a real scam. Mostly the price of desserts which are usually catering packs cut up with a piece of fruit on top and some icing sugar and priced over 7 or 8 pounds per item.

Not everything in the past was good quality! People put up with it because it was a) what they could afford and b) all that was on offer.

I know my dad has told me about the horrifically cheap clothes available to buy when he was a teenager in the 60s. Cheap material, badly fitting but that's all there was. Or the shoddy furniture, not everyone could afford a quality wood table, for example, so you had the cheap stuff that you had to keep for 20 years because you couldn't afford to replace it. It wasn't about valuing quality, it was necessity of keeping what you could buy for as long as possible even if it was crap because you couldn't afford to buy again.

It's like people glamorising armed forces uniforms from WW2 - the UK uniforms were awful dross because the materials weren't there. All the stuff people wanted to get were US army uniform because that country could afford the proper material.

So maybe the glamorisation of the past is another scam. Constantly used to tell people "we did so much more with less back then, it was good quality and lasted well, young people these days are.so wasteful" when the reality isn't as rose tinted.

Definitely agree about mobility cars - I drive a perfectly good 18 year old car. Why can't mobility cars be refurbished 10 year old cars (new brakes, tyres and a battery)? Why should I drive in an 18 year old car whilst paying taxes to pay for someone else to drive a new one? I accept they may need a car but they certainly don't need a new one!

Some use the mobility benefit to lease a car. Others use the mobility benefit to pay for taxis, etc. What does it matter how an individual spends their mobility benefit if it means getting around is easier,?

I take your points but must add that motability cars are NOT 'free' to the user.
Additionally, there are strict rules about who can drive them & a mileage limit.
You pay ALL of your higher motability benefit every month (so around £400).
Most cars also require an upfront payment of some £1-4K. Not refundable.
The car can be taken back at any point if you have DWP reassessment which decides you no longer 'need' it.. At the end of the 3 years it's taken back.
It's a car leasing scheme. It is most helpful for those who need adjustments to the car (ie foot steering paddles etc) but some of these are being 'taken back' by the Govt. through rogue reassesments (if you needed steering paddles before as you have no hand grip (or no hands) how would you suddenly be 'cured'.

I’m always intrigued when people complain about council tax. How else to finance local services?

This is why utility ware was designed.
The 60's were the beginning of fast fashion, cheaper clothes and often poorer quality in the name of consumer economics. My folks were both capable clothing makers and when I was little my mum often made mini me copies of the latest designs, mostly so when I wandered off she could point to her own outfit and say, 'she's wearing an outfit like this.' 😁For similar reasons she made matching jumpers for all of us 😂

Our furniture was inherited, made by my grandpa or 'recycled', friends with matchy matchy furniture were scathing about our mismatching oddments...made of cedar, oak, mahogany, beech......but not fashionable.

I don't have rose tinted glasses for the past or the present.

yes. I think a lot of people don't understand what the mobility benefit actually is! Its money paid as the mobility componenet of DLA for people to use as they please. They can use it to access the MOTABILITY scheme but they don't have to. https://www.motability.co.uk/how-it-works/

I'm getting on a bit, so see through most scammy type stuff.. never been to Uni, don't run a car, (use Ubers) my jeans are George at Asda, pay my bills direct debit so I never have to be bothered with anything, downsized my house to a 20 yr old one with neat little gardens & a great heating system / insulation, won't have a smartphone so I don't get pestered, furniture is neutral colours & I love it as much as the day I bought it, some is inherited so I love that for the memories.

Never been to a gym (my worst nightmare!) I eat when I'm hungry, mainly plain stuff, most of the time, shop online as the delivery charge is cheaper than going out, & most shops (of the few that are still around) all sell the same stuff. I don't live rurally but there are many canals, rivers & parks around, you don't need to go far for a nice walk.

I've never been out of the country - which IS a slight regret - maybe too late to start now, but the UK is wonderful when we get nice weather. Kids aren't at school any more, I found that one of the most stressful things, all the letters, asking for this, that & the other. We got rid of netflix (I never liked it anyway.)

I don't iron, haven't for years. Basically, I don't do much, & that's just how I like it!