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?

So your dad could support a house on a trade apprenticeship and had secure social housing.

statistically boomers had it all and have been voting to pull up the drawbridge for future generations ever since - they have as a group

and to be fair they’ve succeeded the young adults of today are screwed in the start of their lives - rents mean many are forced to stay stunted in their family homes for longer than is necessary, education is expensive, starter jobs precarious

Boomers had their time, we should be looking at the future for the young - we are GenX - only spending on our teens - we could spend much more in the economy if we didn’t have £50k (per teen) uni fees looming (we don’t mind spending money on them they are the light of our lives) - but everything we have is currently being saved to help them get out of here.

To be a poor boomer you have been much worse with money than any youngster. So no as a group I don’t care what boomers think they’ve had it all.

I think the gulf has become wider. Some people are struggling very much indeed, many people still have plenty to spend.

I'm a bit bored of the squeezed middle, people who think they're hard up because things aren't quite as good as they'd like, despite having lifestyles way better than they might have expected even a generation ago.

I think it's true services have not recovered - dentists, builders, hairdressers, electricians, plumbers, car mechanics, handy man etc - all really busy.
It feels like a tale of two halves. We are not training to work in the trades - we make it very easy to go to Uni from school - no so easy to get a good apprenticeship. We've been suffering from a shortage of plumbers for decades. I just don't understand why we haven't invested more in our technical colleges.

I think it depends where you live. I live in one of the top 10 poorest towns in the UK. The town centre, such as it is, is full of empty shops and the ones that are open are charity shops, vape shops, bookmakers and "European" shops, all very grim.
I had a few days away with my husband in an affluent southern town and the contrast could not have been more stark. I didn't see one empty shop, people were well dressed, there were expensive shops, it was bustling, thriving. There were no desperate looking people in grey tracksuit bottoms. We had a look in an estate agents and saw the price of the houses. Our house in that area would be hitting around £1million. This country truly is divided.

I think we're getting richer and poorer at the same time. I live in Edinburgh and we no longer have a tourist season, we're rammed to the gunwhales all year round. People, many on day trips from surrounding areas, queuing up in the rain to get into the Christmas fair, where they will pay 15 quid per ride, and a tenner for hot doughnuts - if they can brave the crowds and the scramble.

Meanwhile traditional high street shops are struggling.

It's a very mixed picture, but skint people don't pay fifty quid for their 11 year old daughter's face cream, and we have queues for the privilege of doing that too.

Well there’s no point in a conversation with you is there? No thought, no nuance, just a blanket envy of an entire generation. A handy blame when the blame lies elsewhere. Good luck with that hate.

It’s as it’s always been for endless decades.. Some people are skint, some are comfortable and some are wealthy. 🤷‍♀️

Recessions and cost of living issues come and go.

Shops have changed though - my high street is full of nail bars, hairdressers beauty salons and coffee shops.

They are rarely empty, and usually rammo. 🤷‍♀️

We are definitely poorer and taking decisions accordingly. I am having my haircut next week. It will be the first time in a year because we've cut back on those types of things. We don't eat out as a family anymore as it is simply too expensive and for a "cheaper" meal, the quality just isn't worth it. We used to have a takeaway once or twice per month, that has stopped now and is rare. We will maybe go to Costa for a treat as that is more affordable but at £30 for 6 people it's really not worth it.

We are high earners but our wages have barely risen in 10 years and yet everything else has. And even with a £5k pa pay rise, the extra monthly amount is peanuts after tax (40% tax bracket, loss of cb). Yet, my water bill is £60 per month more, council tax is £90 per month more, electric and gas is £150 a month more. The cost of our weekly shop has doubled but that's not even for the same food. Mortgage set to go up £200 per month in Jan. There is just no give anymore.

Very unpopular opinion but this. I live in a deprived area and the money people spend (that they don't have) on the latest trends would shock you, because they are classed as living below the poverty line. One mum was showing me the media wall she got built in her living room, it cost £1200 but she felt it was a necessity. Her kids always have the latest trainers/tracksuits and no doubt at Christmas they will have the best stuff too, that will be in fashion for a few months then need updating.They don't spend on good food though, the DC are fed very cheap beige noodles, chips, beans sort of thing regularly. This mum (and she's fairly typical) always cries poverty, about how her kids always miss out on stuff because they are poor. My house is undoubtedly the poorest looking on the street, the neighbours would be horrified.

Um. We have a household income of about £40,000 before tax. We still need to pay dentists etc. and dont get benefits (other than the measly child benefit) so of course you do. We are also on our own with everything.

We're starting to feel the pinch.

It's food prices that are the sticking point for us. For the first time in my life I'm putting stuff back on the shelf.

We were hoping to have paid our mortgage off this year but our house decided to start falling down so we've had to extend it which is gutting. We're also paying an extra 30% each month on the mortgage.

Having said that, we're lucky. We have a safe house that we can afford. Next door is rented and their rent is more than twice our mortgage payment. We can afford to eat. We dont need to worry about our boiler breaking down. We have spare cash if we think about what we spend (eg I'm not blonde anymore as I cant justify £200 a month getting my roots done. Instead it's a £10 box of brown home dye).

Being 'less comfortable ' now is not the same as being broke. I agree that times are harder though but I wish there wasn't an ever-growing difference between the highest and lowest incomes. The rising cost of living affects those at the bottom end of the scale far more.

cafes and garages don’t sit around empty if people don’t turn up. they close. There are probably fewer cafes and garages now. hence low growth. those that still exist though still have customers, obviously. the more well off still want to spend their money after all.

Not envious - envy is a pointless emotion

just can see from boomer parents
to us GenX
to our teens (think they are alphas)

how much harder just the basics are

I am going to a foodbank today. I am in arrears with my utility bills. I lost my job last year and am a single parent. You wouldn't know by looking at me. Unless you knew me and knew I'd lost 4st and most of my hair due to severe stress and that my gums are bleeding also due to stress and not eating well.

These trades have historically always been busy though, it's not something new. Our heating stopped working last week and if it meant no Xmas presents for the DC to get it fixed then so be it, you would freeze in this weather. The plumber who came out told me he's doing several bathroom installations at the moment. The nature of his work has changed over the last 3 decades, it's more about aesthetic work and improvements now than fixing things. You wouldn't have changed a 10 year old bathroom 30 years ago just because, nowadays it's not unusual.

"Being less comfortable is not the same as being broke".

Absolutely.

People moaning about school uniforms being more expensive are not necessarily the people who dont know how they'll even pay for the school uniform.

Most people are feeling the pinch but there is a huge difference between deciding they cant afford to eat out anymore and having to budget your food to the penny or worse.

I think a lot of people need to get a grip and realise how lucky they are, even if they aren't where they'd like to be.

I went into my local town last week and the car park was full, the shops had people milling about but the tills were empty in most shops. Lots of looking not much buying.

The last few years I’ve had my hair coloured every 4 weeks ish, this year I’ve stretched it to 5 weeks and next year I think I’ll try and stretch it to 6 when I can. The prices keep rising and although I’m a high earner, my salary hasn’t. So little tweaks help balance that. You’d never know I make these decisions from the outside but I do!

I live in the affluent South East- I think people are definitely cutting back. Houses which were once sold as soon as they came on the market are languishing for months. Fewer holidays, etc. The signs are there if you look.

I’m afraid people with no money ABSOLUTELY would skip dental check ups. The fact it might end up costing more in the long run is just a risk you have to take when you’re in that position.

i think a lot of people replying to this thread have never been poor. It’s not a “necessity” to have your house cleaned. And getting a coffee when you’re out shopping isn’t just a “small amount” of extra cash! There have definitely been times in my life when this would have been unthinkable.

When you’re really short of cash you don’t go out shopping as a leisure activity and have a coffee when you’re out. You just don’t.

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.

Every time I go to the dentist, especially the hygienist, which I see as a necessity, I think there must be loads of people for whom this is just out of the question, but that's not new now.

Anyone who’s really skint won’t be buying takeaway coffees, takeaway meals, having lots of snacks always in the house, having their nails done, etc. But somehow all these often seem to be seen as ‘essentials’ now.

It was ages ago now, but I used to have a colleague who’d say e.g. ‘I can’t afford to go to the dentist!’ And yet she was spending £50 a week on bingo. That was her priority.

Plus a lot of people have come to see a lot of luxuries as necessities so they have a lot of fat to trim before they are truely 'broke' as in unable to afford absolute essentials.

I think this has always been the case - that people pick their luxuries, even if they can't really afford it - and it's just what it is that changes. In previous generations a lot more people smoked and men, specifically, often went to the pub very regularly. They were just different ways to waste the same money they didn't have as takeaway coffees.

Seeing the sheer volume of Christmas crap in the shops…
Somebody must be buying it? Not me this year, anyway!

Unfortunate minority? Oh that’s ok then. As long as only the same old unfortunate minority of people are struggling and the normal people are still shopping at M&S, we
can’t possibly have a problem.

Ever heard of wealth inequality, OP? It’s a thing. And I can assure you a decent proportion of the shoppers you saw in M&S will be staying at home in the coming years as the ‘unfortunate minority’ continues to grow into an unfortunate normal.