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

Anti aging products - we spend billions on them and they rarely actually do anything.

Never cleaned a chair leg. Never bleached a skirting board. I send anything that needs to be ironed to the dry cleaners.

Having just hunted under the dining table for a sock the dog stole, I definitely need to spend more time cleaning the chair legs 😐

Dyeing hair when it goes grey. I have never dyed my hair before but have noticed more and more greys. Am resisting the urge to start dying to disguise them because I know if I start then i will end up in the never ending cycle my mum is (still) in with her hair colouring. She used to have dark brown hair but went prematurely blonde around the age of 40 and is now in her mid 70s with suspiciously gingerish blonde hair. She begrudges the hours and hundreds of pounds she spends at the hairdresser each month yet still goes because she can't accept her now grey and white hair.

"Kids are expensive" - no, they are not. Childcare is expensive, kids can cost very little money.

Disagree. Surely the astronomical childcare costs are precisely a prime illustration of kids costing a LOT of money. If you give up work or go very part time to save the costs of nursery, after school club and holiday club then the lost salary is also a huge expense directly resulting from having kids.

I agree that kids don't need constant new stuff and days out and multiple weekly activities but there is still stuff like school uniform, school trips, swimming lessons (essential life skill), birthdays, Christmas, taking them on holiday. It all adds up even if you keep it minimal. I won't go on about driving lessons and uni for older kids as these aren't essential costs but honestly, when you have kids surely it's a duty to help them have a decent start in life/life skills/minimal debt if you can possibly afford it.

I only have two kids. I used to wish I'd had more but now living through the uni years I'm really glad I stopped at two, for the above reasons.

🤣🤣🤣

Jesus Christ, calm down.

I clearly stated this was tongue-in-cheek on a lighthearted thread.

For someone who has “campaigned for decades”, you’re very thin-skinned.

I’m an ex teacher and I agree with her.

I'm a relatively old bird at 60
I'd say
Weddings
PCPs for cars
Recreational shopping
Credit cards and their interest rates.
Big fancy lifestyle someone feels they need to have (cars, house, holidays, private school fees type stuff) and it's all financed on credit.

20 odd years ago I asked an estate agent friend of mine how people we both knew (not anyone specific) could afford to buy these lovely houses and have such a seemingly great lifestyle because I was concerned I wasn't being paid enough compared to others at work. He confirmed that in most cases it was all on credit, the ones who actually had the funds available to really afford to live in such a manner were pretty rare.

I just hope they kept their jobs, didn't have an extended period of unemployment and it all worked out in the end for them.

Not a scam but coming up with dinner every single bloody night.

Price hikes mid contract.

Since the UK sold its oil assets and isn't, and is unlikely to ever be, an investment haven we'll never get to be tax free by that particular route.

Somalia....which is facing a food crisis and we're taking their refugees so not a particularly good example.

And low self esteem given they're looking for the "perfect job" befitting their degrees.
Simple supply and demand, too many degree qualified, inexperience people flooding the tax constrained jobs market.

Don't agree at all. New houses are built to much smaller proportions than, say, victorian homes - with nasty poky rooms and low ceilings. There may be more ensures but the overall floor space is tiny. So the greedy developers can fit more on the plot.

I can. But I don't want to. With 6 people in the house we need two showers for sure.
And we also have plenty of wardrobes

Nope. Some might be. My new build has high ceilings and large rooms (and it's more budget range than high end)

I suspect a few of few of them would have been posting on MN over the years asking for advice about how to reduce their debts.

I won't disagree with the fact that some of us have been sold a golden dream, but NEVER tell me people were less stressed, happier or any of the other rose tinted glasses crap.

The seeming necessity of a university education in the late 90s / early noughties.

Social media lives.

Cleaning the fecking bannisters. They will look exactly as grubby as when you started by the time you reach the top. Bonus points for those, like myself, who were stupid enough to buy three storey townhouses containing an extra level of bannisters.

Okay maybe that last one is not a scam but bloody hell I'm sick of them.

Delegation.

Re not bringing drinks into venues. It’s nice to see that Wembley Arena and the 02 Arenas have water bottle refill stations.

what's a PCP please?

Yes, it really is. I do as little as possible.

Personal Contract Plan, for when you get yourself a new or used car. You pay a deposit, then up to 48 monthly payments followed by large payment at the end of the term. You can either pay this final payment or give the car back to the dealer.

Middle class. You are either working for a living or not.

Well done you

thank you! yes deffo scamsville