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

[SlothfullyYours]

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?

Oscar Wilde wrote the Happy Prince back in the 1800's, which was all about how easy it is to overlook poverty in plain sight.

You don't see the poor woman sewing to keep her family from starving or the child selling matches in the street.

All you can see is privilege, unless you really open your eyes and look beyond the visible signs of wealth at the suffering that gets hidden from view.

Money in circulation for things like a coffee, or children’s swimming / piano / sport lessons, hairdressers, trades people like decorators, all of this provides income. If the money have to spend on those things gets taxed, I will stop doing them. The knock on effect means people stop and suddenly more people are out of work. It’s worrying for many of my friends who earn their living in these occupations.

I work in a supermarket so see how the prices are rising daily, it used to be the odd 5p increase but now 50p is the norm. Wages are not going up to reflect this so I can’t see how people have the same amount of disposable income that they had a few years ago.

I agree Gen x got totally shafted, but sadly it hasn't improved for the subsequent generations. Something went seriously wrong in almost all Western countries.
And Gen x are the ones who have parents living into their 90's , due to advances in technology, that they need to support and many still have children to support due to having babies when older.

'Everyone is skint' is media nonsense. A better way of describing it is 'most people's disposable income has decreased over the last few years'.

Plus a lot of the people who say they are 'skint' are so because they spend all their money, which you've seen in action.

I also think there's been a lot of change in working patterns that means more people don't work Mondays and/or Fridays so leisure or retail outlets experience weekend levels of busyness on those days. I've started avoiding our local retail park on Mondays for this reason. A couple of times I thought I'd go on a Monday lunchtime but took ages to get parked and queues so long (wanted to run in Ikea for a few bits and some lunch) but it took more time than I had available.

You are not looking at this scientifically/economically. You can't see how much a person has to spend by seeing them at an airport. People who would have gone to a restaurant now go to a cafe. Someone who would have gone on holiday for two weeks now goes for one week. Someone who would have bought a £200 coat now buys a £100 coat. What does all that do to a) business income b) tax revenue?

Brexit has reduced the tax take and increased business costs. The impacts are real.

Inflation has raised costs rapidly. Wages have been fairly stagnant since 2010. The impacts are real.

The cost of living crisis is real.

Good for you if things seem OK on the surface OP but don’t presume how things are for others and elsewhere. The media haven’t lied about the statistics. You can look things up.

We’ve been fucked over as a country by Brexit, Covid, the Ukraine invasion, now a runaway cost of living on top of these decades of Tory underinvestment in the NHS, in schools, adult social care, the police force, mending roads, you name it.

We’re stuck in low productivity, low growth, and this government seems to be already out of ideas how to fix it. And our physical health and mental health are through the floor nationally as a result of all this so it’s not surprisingly things are feeling harder for everyone but the very very top% earners. We’re an ageing society. We need more housing built and a better, cleaner energy and public transport infrastructure so it can be more affordable to live, and to run a business and to employ people. Basics like a stable home are unaffordable for so many people.

When I look round the high street it is mostly charity shops or empty and boarded up units. Theres a food bank thank goodness in an empty church. We now have one of those barber shops that are notoriously fronts for organised crime. So I’d say yes, we’re in a bad state locally and nationally at the moment.

This is nonsense. Dental appointments and car services are essential items.

The point is what do people have left at the end of the month? The reality is: less than they used to have.

You don't seem to really understand economics. A garage can be 'full' and have fewer staff, serving fewer customers who have a lower average spend, while the business has higher costs = lower profits, lower tax paid. You also don't know if the garage directly employs the mechanics (which affects tax paid) or if this garage is busy because another one in the next town has closed.

There's loads of factual information out there to read.

The thing about the “avocados and coffees” trope is that some people don’t understand that when people can’t afford the big ticket things (houses, cars, holidays) they use their money on other smaller joys. Because if we can never afford a house then why not spend what little we have left on a coffee and eating well (at M&S etc). We can’t have an entirely joyless existence otherwise what’s the point?

I skip these things and I'm sure I'm not the only one. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. I can afford it at the moment but still skip them.

@SlothfullyYours I was in Central London on Sunday and there were queues to get in to the big department stores at opening times. So I wondered the same thing @SlothfullyYours . A lot of those are probably were going to spend tons regardless on credit cards as its Christmas. Saying that, restaurants after 6 were relatively empty whereas before London would be buzzing for a long time after.

But I have friends in the financial sector who have been out of work for a couple of years now. I pay a cleaner but at the same time pretty much all my gifts this year will be from Shein or Ali Express! I budget very carefully for food and always now cook at home. And Im on a decent income. I honestly dont know how others manage as things are so tight nowadays. Locally now we have loads of busy charity shops, no vibrant high streets.

Our country now has way too many people, hence your snapshot op. Everything is full to bursting in certain areas.

Well in terms of everything being booked, I think that many businesses have less appointments because due to tax implications there is no incentive to work harder/more. Profits will just get eaten up by tax. My hairdresser does a three day week as she doesn’t want to reach the rateable business threshold as it would mean working a lot more bit not seeing much financial benefit.

I notice gym, Costco and coffee shops etc are busy because I’m on mat leave. I wonder if it’s people working from home popping out and I think many people just work part time because why would you reach that threshold that sees the loss of tax free childcare etc ?

I do think Britain is broken though. Middle class is being squeezed and lead much the same lifestyle as those on welfare. Services are rubbish like you say. Can’t book anything unless months in advance. People are miserable.

I agree with you op,every where I go the places are packed,the coast,Alton towers,zoo’s to name but a few,I have noticed though that no shops are advertising for Christmas workers in my city.

Well, you're choosing a strange hill to die on, but you do you.

🤣🤣🤣

I agree with you btw, new coffee shops every time I go into the nearby towns.

My asda shop 2 years ago was £57 a week, same shop today is about £88 a week.
So now I have less money to spend. I don't eat out anymore etc
And that's the same for other things, shoes have gone more expensive etc

Maybe all of the poor people were at home stuffing their shoes with newspaper?

My local town in a country area with few jobs other than hospital, police etc is very busy too - strange - there are lots of retirees so it must be them.
It frustrates me when we hear about all the children living in poverty - who are they, why? are they all the children of mentally unable to work, drug takers - so much state money paid out on benefits but still they are living in poverty.
Feel the Gov need to scrap everything and start again.

I agree. Honestly, some people really are living in their own little bubble if they think people still have routine dental checks when they are struggling with the cost of living. Like you I can afford it at the moment but still don't go as often as recommended.

It’s all retirees, living their best lives.

This infation calaculator is a handy way to see how much things have changed.
I put in the salary of my first proper "middle class" job. £25000 in 2005.

In today's money that's £44,632.80. For a 25 year old, living in a shared house. No wonder i felt rich.

My salary today, in a similar role but with 20 years experience is £32000. I'm £12,636.80 worse off per year. And now I have a mortgage and two teenagers to think of!

I'm not skint. I put the heating on. I grumble at the checkout but I don't put things back. I save for holidays.

But I'm a well off person on a good wage. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to understand how people on lower wages are doing.

Have you not noticed the rise in the cost of those things? In conjunction with a relatively static income for most people?
some of you are doing well and can shop in M&S and take European trips, which is lovely but it's not a representative sample. Yes, some of us forego dental check ups, haven't holidayed in years and can't afford premium price foods although we're in professional jobs and those numbers, according to the data, are increasing

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

Excellent post @WhenIwasayoungster