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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Do you think Brits are really as broke as the media makes out

347 replies

SlothfullyYours · 25/11/2025 00:32

I took some flexi leave this afternoon to run some errands and do some "life admin."

Started off in town. The shoppers' car park was packed, the shops were packed, coffee shops packed. People spending money.

Came home and tried to book car in for a service - garages booked up weeks in advance. Tried to get some trades round to quote for work on the house - all too busy (have been trying for months!).

Friend popped round. Recently started as a self employed cleaner. She says all her slots for house cleaning have been snapped up - and she's charging £20 per hour and we're in the Midlands!

My hairdresser & dentist (private) - have to book weeks/months in advance.

Are we really as skint as the media makes out?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
chipsticksmammy · 25/11/2025 12:56

Work9to5 · 25/11/2025 12:54

That's the thing, I don't think I am. I only got the notification this morning so this evening will be checking what it should be and if I am!

The bah humbug feeling is as much about having already been taxed at source already. I'm sure a lot of people must feel the same way.

Taxed at source, taxed when you keep it, taxed when you spend it and perhaps from tomorrow taxed again if your ISA is over £12k.

Cant win.

Luckyness45 · 25/11/2025 13:00

Yes I think they are, I have two friends always going on holidays always going to shows, meals out etc. I've never had many debts just small things on credit which I paid off when I got divorced. My friend was asking me how much debt i am in. I said I have 0. She said she has maxed out credit cards and financed to the hilt on everything. I then asked my other friend who are always going away, she said shes drowning in debt. Just because people are spending, its often on credit cards or overdrafts. I'm not judging people who do that, yet I live and spend what I have and only things I've ever had on credit is pay in 3 in concert tickets, or my sofa I brought on interest free which is now paid off. I do go on holidays and have meals out, and love concerts and festivals. Yet I go having paid it all off before and have the spending money I need. I would be so stressed if I was in debt as my ex husband was really bad with money, despite being a high earner. I just always managed money well and have done all my life. I am a bit of a spender yet I can afford what I do spend, and would never get in debt for a holiday. I have no credit cards or overdraft and don't want either.

SlothfullyYours · 25/11/2025 13:01

Whereismyjoiedevivre · 25/11/2025 07:39

How rude.

This is a serious topic - poverty - but you’re now claiming it’s light hearted?

I think you posted hoping for a tirade of venom against poor people along the lines of how dare they buy coffee and go out for dinner?

But we see what you’re doing.

Oh dear.

Just a bit of banter with another MNetter.

The only "tirade of venom" has been from people who can't engage in a discussion. That would be ... you.

OP posts:
TheWytch · 25/11/2025 13:19

People are certainly being a lot more careful about where they are spending their discretionary money.

Footfall is significantly down where I am in the local markets. They would normally be buzzing last weekend - it was deathly quiet.

WhenIwasayoungster · 25/11/2025 13:20

gloriousrhino · 25/11/2025 09:20

Tony Blair's big mistake was to encourage everyone to go to university thus confirming the conservative elite's attitude that academia is all in all.
What he should have encouraged, and what true socialism is, was acceptance that every job however "lowly" contributes to society and should be respected and properly valued. So funding of apprenticeships, and proper technical colleges.
Now we are stuck with overeducated unemployable entitled people who won't get their hands dirty.

This is so true.

Other better performing countries place value on technical and vocational training not just on academia and realise that for society to function better, you need to have a mix of a manufacturing base as well as services.

If we gave people who were less academically inclined better opportunities for skills training and invested in them and didn't look down on them for not choosing the university route, maybe youngsters would have more self worth and want to contribute to society, rather than giving up and living on benefits or minimum wage jobs needing universal credit top ups.

And of course, we need the government to stop subsidising employers, allowing them to pay their workers wages/salaries that people can't live on without universal credit top ups. But at the same time we need to rein in private rented accommodation and massively increase true social housing building or conversions. This country doesn't need "affordable housing" which it never is if people at the bottom can't afford it (or the government paying for it in benefits), we instead need a massive increase in social housing, where the rents paid go back into council or social landlords coffers to create more council/social housing and pay for other council services like youth clubs etc and not go to lining the pockets of private landlords.

Lastfroginthebox · 25/11/2025 13:21

Work9to5 · 25/11/2025 12:54

That's the thing, I don't think I am. I only got the notification this morning so this evening will be checking what it should be and if I am!

The bah humbug feeling is as much about having already been taxed at source already. I'm sure a lot of people must feel the same way.

I think people who earn or have income over a certain amount have a lower savings interest threshold, so maybe you fit into that category? Either way, it's worth checking. If it's right and you understand why, there may be ways to legally reduce the tax bill, such as using ISAs. Good luck!

verybighouseinthecountry · 25/11/2025 13:38

Bumblebee72 · 25/11/2025 09:57

Different mindsets. I can afford a house, but I can't afford coffee. You take your choice....

This is what it's down to. There's an interesting book called Poor Economics, outlining why poor people often make expensive choices. If you have a fiver to last three days it's absurd to spend £3.50 of it on a McDonalds meal, especially when you have a cup of lentils in the cupboard. But for someone who has always had a scarcity of money the immediate 'rush' is priority over worry about the next 2 days.
I'm a long term benefits user but have never had any debt or gone without. I go on a budget holiday several times a year. But I grew up having a fairly MC life and with the attitude that you never buy what you can't afford. I don't feel bad not buying designer clothes for the DC, good food and money for educational activities is much more important. I don't feel any need to show status with clothes or possessions.

ElizaMulvil · 25/11/2025 13:39

frozendaisy · 25/11/2025 07:29

Except affordable housing
An easier welfare safety net
Didn’t have to pay for any further education
Final salary pensions

You would swap all that for the so called luxuries of today?

Boomers are utterly ignorant of today’s financial limitations they wouldn’t last 5 minutes and then call the youngsters snowflakes!

Edited

So I was in a class of 56 ( primary) in a relatively affluent area of Manchester. Salford by contrast couldn't get teachers for love nor money. My cousin taught there uncertificated ( not supposed to have more than half a class) she had 90 pupils.

The 11+ meant the vast majority of children ( 75-80%) had to leave school at 15 with no qualifications. No access to GCSEs let alone A levels or Higher education. Girls were discriminated against even if they passed the 11+ as there were not enough places for those girls 'passing', in Grammar Schools.

Most Universities discriminated against girls so eg low quotas for Girls trying to study Medicine. Oxbridge had about 3 college each for girls v 30 for boys.
Almost no maternity leave for women. Even in teaching my sister had just 7 weeks after birth.

No sex discrimination act. Women were routinely sacked if pregnant or even if married ( banks notoriously). No equal pay. Women were paid 60-80% of men's pay for doing the SAME work eg Teaching where the NHS ( National Association of school MASTERS, campaigned against equal pay and then split from the National Union of Teachers on this issue.) Women were not allowed mortgages.

Most people had no pension provision from their work. It was retired Union leaders ( Jack Jones etc) and members who campaigned long and hard for better pension provision.

Very little security at work ( people could be sacked on a whim or if they complained about working conditions). ( The Current Government hopefully is stopping 'fire and rehire'.) Many eg dockers had to line up each morning and hope to be picked for a day's work., no health and safety at work. My grandfather was killed at work in a textile factory. His wife and son ( my father ) carried his body home. They got no compensation or help in any way.

All the above ( and much more) is why that generation you despise and envy so much spent their time fighting for better conditions for YOU. Often at great cost to themselves. People who complained, organised strikes etc were blacklsted so they couldn't get work. My uncle was blacklisted for 10 years for protesting.

Whatever rights you now have were fought for by brave people you now despise. Hopefully you too will now join a Union and fight for the rights of people like you at work. ( BTW Unite eg has a Community Section for people not in work.)

If you don't and buy into false histories your problems will become the same as those of who fought through the 50s, 60, 70s etc. Employers are interested in profits, less so about employee welfare unless they are forced to. Unionised workplaces have a better paid work force btw.

It is vital that you inform yourself of the true state of affairs when your parents and grandparents were at work. Being taken in by false narratives plays into the hands of unscrupulous employers and Governments and the super rich ( the richest 50 families in the UK own the same as the poorest 50%, yes HALF the population of the country !, and their wealth has been growing and growing over the last decades.)

They are happy, very happy, for you to target working people of a previous generation as it take your eyes off THEM. It will be too late for you when they have removed the benefits retirees now have, and you are paying the price in your 60, 70s 80s etc.

TheRealMagic · 25/11/2025 13:43

verybighouseinthecountry · 25/11/2025 13:38

This is what it's down to. There's an interesting book called Poor Economics, outlining why poor people often make expensive choices. If you have a fiver to last three days it's absurd to spend £3.50 of it on a McDonalds meal, especially when you have a cup of lentils in the cupboard. But for someone who has always had a scarcity of money the immediate 'rush' is priority over worry about the next 2 days.
I'm a long term benefits user but have never had any debt or gone without. I go on a budget holiday several times a year. But I grew up having a fairly MC life and with the attitude that you never buy what you can't afford. I don't feel bad not buying designer clothes for the DC, good food and money for educational activities is much more important. I don't feel any need to show status with clothes or possessions.

"When you are approaching poverty, you make one discovery which outweighs some of the others. You discover boredom and mean complications and the beginnings of hunger, but you also discover the great redeeming feature of poverty: the fact that it annihilates the future. Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you worry. When you have a hundred francs in the world you are liable to the most craven panics. When you have only three francs you are quite indifferent; for three francs will feed you till tomorrow, and you cannot think further than that. You are bored, but you are not afraid. You think vaguely, ‘I shall be starving in a day or two—shocking, isn’t it?’ And then the mind wanders to other topics. A bread and margarine diet does, to some extent, provide its own anodyne." - George Orwell, 1933

CuriousClaimant · 25/11/2025 14:00

BudgetBuster · 25/11/2025 10:20

I haven't read every post on the thread because it's quite large but I think the word broke or skint really depends who you are talking to.

Myself & my husband both work full time have 2 kids, one more on the way. We own our house with a mortgage, which has increased in recent years, we bought our cars using loans which we have now paid off. We waited 10 years to have kids because we wanted to ensure we could afford them! We don't buy branded clothes, I get my hair done maximum twice a year (birthday and Xmas), we shop in Aldi not M&S, we don't have any annual holiday. I've become a fan of Vinted for used clothing, clothing and shoes are only bought as required. I cannot remember the last time we had a meal or a night out. On paper, we are rich but the last few days of every month are a struggle.

My SIL and her husband on the other hand, also have 2 kids, had kids within a few months of getting together. Live in social housing (nice new build), paying very little rent and they have solar panels for reduced electric bills etc. No car but free bus travel, neither have EVER had a job, they go to food banks twice a week before they go and do the grocery shop. They go out twice a week for dinner or to the pub, they wear expensive clothes, they go on holidays every single year. On paper, they should be skint but they seem to have more "disposable" income than me!

That makes me so angry

Cheeseontoastghost · 25/11/2025 14:01

Bumblebee72 · 25/11/2025 10:10

It's not just the coffee. It's the mindset. The compound interest means that actually it is 12 years. So someone would have had enough money to put down a deposit at 32 if they hadn't started their coffee habit at 20.

Different people have different mind sets on what is affordable

Agree with this

I post this on every single one of these threads and people still don't get it
Let's say £10 a day on coffee and lunch

365 x 10 = £3,650 x 3 = 10,950
However if it's in a LISA then add over £3K top up

Over 3 years 13950 x 2 for a couple
= 27900

Still, people are going to warble on sarcastically about " haha yes lets buy a house for £10" but actually it adds up fast.

Add vapes, takeaway, nails, hair, lips and it is astronomical but people need their " treats" it's become some people's personalities 🙄

ElizaMulvil · 25/11/2025 14:06

Oxfam has found the richest 1% own more than the lower 70% of the population.

it is a myth that the very rich contribute disproportionately to national wellbeing: the opposite is true since assets are taxed more lightly than incomes and wealth is hoarded ( often off shore) while wages are spent.

Our state has outsourced most of its social functions - and has transformed essential services into revenue streams for profiteers. uninterested in the services themselves, driving up the cost of NHS procedures, care homes, public transport, prisons etc. this is why the state can no longer stand up to the Bond market to borrow.

Nationalisation of rail means freezing fares is possible, nationalising water and energy would do more for household budgets than tweaking tax rates.

The question is who should own Britain the boardrooms of (often foreign) companies or the PEOPLE!.

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:11

Cheeseontoastghost · 25/11/2025 14:01

Agree with this

I post this on every single one of these threads and people still don't get it
Let's say £10 a day on coffee and lunch

365 x 10 = £3,650 x 3 = 10,950
However if it's in a LISA then add over £3K top up

Over 3 years 13950 x 2 for a couple
= 27900

Still, people are going to warble on sarcastically about " haha yes lets buy a house for £10" but actually it adds up fast.

Add vapes, takeaway, nails, hair, lips and it is astronomical but people need their " treats" it's become some people's personalities 🙄

That’s not an economy though, citizens going without any luxuries so they can dedicate 10 years to not buying anything non essential so they can reach the heady heights of qualifying for a large debt to buy a house to live in. How shit are our expectations?!

how does the barista or nail tech or take away owner even reach these heady heights when they have no business revenue to save because no one spends money? Who, in this economy is still earning so they can execute this frugal lifestyle?!

Lastfroginthebox · 25/11/2025 14:24

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:11

That’s not an economy though, citizens going without any luxuries so they can dedicate 10 years to not buying anything non essential so they can reach the heady heights of qualifying for a large debt to buy a house to live in. How shit are our expectations?!

how does the barista or nail tech or take away owner even reach these heady heights when they have no business revenue to save because no one spends money? Who, in this economy is still earning so they can execute this frugal lifestyle?!

Not buying an unnecessary and overpriced coffee isn't 'going without luxuries', not does it mean living a miserable and deprived life. There are plenty of other ways to have fun and treat yourself. Thinking that a bought coffee is a 'treat' or that it's worth giving up the chance of buying a house for just shows a lack of imagination.

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:27

Lastfroginthebox · 25/11/2025 14:24

Not buying an unnecessary and overpriced coffee isn't 'going without luxuries', not does it mean living a miserable and deprived life. There are plenty of other ways to have fun and treat yourself. Thinking that a bought coffee is a 'treat' or that it's worth giving up the chance of buying a house for just shows a lack of imagination.

From the post:

”Add vapes, takeaway, nails, hair, lips and it is astronomical but people need their " treats" it's become some people's personalities”

Lastfroginthebox · 25/11/2025 14:30

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:27

From the post:

”Add vapes, takeaway, nails, hair, lips and it is astronomical but people need their " treats" it's become some people's personalities”

It's a shame we are so vulnerable to marketing. There's always someone wanting to part us from our money and it's sad that spending has become such a prevalent hobby.

verybighouseinthecountry · 25/11/2025 14:30

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:11

That’s not an economy though, citizens going without any luxuries so they can dedicate 10 years to not buying anything non essential so they can reach the heady heights of qualifying for a large debt to buy a house to live in. How shit are our expectations?!

how does the barista or nail tech or take away owner even reach these heady heights when they have no business revenue to save because no one spends money? Who, in this economy is still earning so they can execute this frugal lifestyle?!

No one is saying never have a coffee or a sandwich out, but don't do it everyday. These things used to be a treat, now I see school children queuing outside Caffe Nero in the mornings buying hot chocolate and coffee at £5 a time and my DD told me they go after school too. What were once luxuries are now everyday necessities.
Hair, nails, botox etc are also viewed by some as necessary. Last year there was a local news segment regarding the lack of NHS dentists and children being left in pain for months as hospital waiting times for dental work had become much longer. One mum interviewed was saying her young daughter had been crying every night as she needed a decayed tooth extracted and it kept getting infected and how it would cost £85 for a private extraction. She was very made up and looked like she had lip fillers and false eyelashes. The interviewer asked her if she considered paying privately and she said she couldn't afford it and besides, "it's not my responsibility". The comments on the news page were 50:50 between she should forego her own beauty treatments to pay for a private extraction and it's the governments duty to pay for it. I honestly couldn't believe someone would leave their child in pain for months just to prove a point.

BunnyLake · 25/11/2025 14:30

MsGinaLinetti · 25/11/2025 06:27

Oh my goodness! The grocery shop alone. At the checkout in Lidl recently on seeing the total I to look up and check I'd not gone to Waitrose by mistake

I did a shop at Lidl a few weeks ago, I didn’t feel the bill was a good bargain the way I used to. When I got home, out of curiosity, I did a like for like dummy shop on Tesco and the difference was just something like 98p! I was shocked. I remember the first time I ever went to Lidl (about 12 year’s ago) and I felt like I’d won the lottery, the amount of food I got for a small bill.

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:34

Lastfroginthebox · 25/11/2025 14:30

It's a shame we are so vulnerable to marketing. There's always someone wanting to part us from our money and it's sad that spending has become such a prevalent hobby.

Late stage capitalism ain’t it

Bjorkdidit · 25/11/2025 14:41

verybighouseinthecountry · 25/11/2025 14:30

No one is saying never have a coffee or a sandwich out, but don't do it everyday. These things used to be a treat, now I see school children queuing outside Caffe Nero in the mornings buying hot chocolate and coffee at £5 a time and my DD told me they go after school too. What were once luxuries are now everyday necessities.
Hair, nails, botox etc are also viewed by some as necessary. Last year there was a local news segment regarding the lack of NHS dentists and children being left in pain for months as hospital waiting times for dental work had become much longer. One mum interviewed was saying her young daughter had been crying every night as she needed a decayed tooth extracted and it kept getting infected and how it would cost £85 for a private extraction. She was very made up and looked like she had lip fillers and false eyelashes. The interviewer asked her if she considered paying privately and she said she couldn't afford it and besides, "it's not my responsibility". The comments on the news page were 50:50 between she should forego her own beauty treatments to pay for a private extraction and it's the governments duty to pay for it. I honestly couldn't believe someone would leave their child in pain for months just to prove a point.

More shockingly that someone would prioritise their own fripperies over their child’s health and comfort. <awaits inevitable whataboutery>

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:44

There have always been shit parents. They’re not related to the worsening finances of the uk. 20 years ago it was fags and vodka now it’s coffee and lip fillers.

It’s a distraction whilst the elite exploit our resource

we need to be smarter to see through it

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 25/11/2025 14:58

Lastfroginthebox · 25/11/2025 14:24

Not buying an unnecessary and overpriced coffee isn't 'going without luxuries', not does it mean living a miserable and deprived life. There are plenty of other ways to have fun and treat yourself. Thinking that a bought coffee is a 'treat' or that it's worth giving up the chance of buying a house for just shows a lack of imagination.

Yeah, unfortunately I got turned down for a mortgage because they saw a Starbucks transaction on a bank statement from 2007.

On what planet does buying a coffee equate to "giving up the chance of buying a house"?

If young, professional people can't get on the property ladder in what is still one of the most affluent countries on the planet, it's got absolutely fuck all to do with their takeaway coffee habits.

When I bought my first house, my 100% mortgage was just over 4x my annual salary. These days you are looking at 10x in most cases, and in certain parts of the UK 30x or upwards. The issue is sod all to do with coffee.

Cheeseontoastghost · 25/11/2025 15:02

ElizaMulvil · 25/11/2025 13:39

So I was in a class of 56 ( primary) in a relatively affluent area of Manchester. Salford by contrast couldn't get teachers for love nor money. My cousin taught there uncertificated ( not supposed to have more than half a class) she had 90 pupils.

The 11+ meant the vast majority of children ( 75-80%) had to leave school at 15 with no qualifications. No access to GCSEs let alone A levels or Higher education. Girls were discriminated against even if they passed the 11+ as there were not enough places for those girls 'passing', in Grammar Schools.

Most Universities discriminated against girls so eg low quotas for Girls trying to study Medicine. Oxbridge had about 3 college each for girls v 30 for boys.
Almost no maternity leave for women. Even in teaching my sister had just 7 weeks after birth.

No sex discrimination act. Women were routinely sacked if pregnant or even if married ( banks notoriously). No equal pay. Women were paid 60-80% of men's pay for doing the SAME work eg Teaching where the NHS ( National Association of school MASTERS, campaigned against equal pay and then split from the National Union of Teachers on this issue.) Women were not allowed mortgages.

Most people had no pension provision from their work. It was retired Union leaders ( Jack Jones etc) and members who campaigned long and hard for better pension provision.

Very little security at work ( people could be sacked on a whim or if they complained about working conditions). ( The Current Government hopefully is stopping 'fire and rehire'.) Many eg dockers had to line up each morning and hope to be picked for a day's work., no health and safety at work. My grandfather was killed at work in a textile factory. His wife and son ( my father ) carried his body home. They got no compensation or help in any way.

All the above ( and much more) is why that generation you despise and envy so much spent their time fighting for better conditions for YOU. Often at great cost to themselves. People who complained, organised strikes etc were blacklsted so they couldn't get work. My uncle was blacklisted for 10 years for protesting.

Whatever rights you now have were fought for by brave people you now despise. Hopefully you too will now join a Union and fight for the rights of people like you at work. ( BTW Unite eg has a Community Section for people not in work.)

If you don't and buy into false histories your problems will become the same as those of who fought through the 50s, 60, 70s etc. Employers are interested in profits, less so about employee welfare unless they are forced to. Unionised workplaces have a better paid work force btw.

It is vital that you inform yourself of the true state of affairs when your parents and grandparents were at work. Being taken in by false narratives plays into the hands of unscrupulous employers and Governments and the super rich ( the richest 50 families in the UK own the same as the poorest 50%, yes HALF the population of the country !, and their wealth has been growing and growing over the last decades.)

They are happy, very happy, for you to target working people of a previous generation as it take your eyes off THEM. It will be too late for you when they have removed the benefits retirees now have, and you are paying the price in your 60, 70s 80s etc.

👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

Cheeseontoastghost · 25/11/2025 15:07

Bambamhoohoo · 25/11/2025 14:11

That’s not an economy though, citizens going without any luxuries so they can dedicate 10 years to not buying anything non essential so they can reach the heady heights of qualifying for a large debt to buy a house to live in. How shit are our expectations?!

how does the barista or nail tech or take away owner even reach these heady heights when they have no business revenue to save because no one spends money? Who, in this economy is still earning so they can execute this frugal lifestyle?!

Who said 10 years?
A couple living reasonably but making their own lunches/ coffees can save that over 3 years .
Im surrounded by people doing this

Walk/ cycle instead of public transport
Packed lunches
Boil a kettle - drastic I know 😉
No nails, hair, botox
Avoid debt for stuff like holidays

berlinbaby2025 · 25/11/2025 15:10

@XDownwiththissortofthingX I was just about to post a similar thing, the problem isn’t about coffee, for crying out loud. It’s never been harder to buy your own property, because of the exponential growth of property prices with wages not even semi-close to catching up. In my city in the north, two bedroom terraced houses with no gardens in my very average area (some would say a bit rough) sell for the best part of a quarter of a milllion.