Shops' seasonal tat!

[Passaggressfedup]

Society is in economic decline. The average family struggles to afford their bills. They can't afford to save let alone any form of luxury. This is what is shared through whatever social media platform.

So it makes me wonder? Who buys all the tat that covers whole shelves of supermarkets or shops selling cheap stuff? Christmas is over and here comes Valentine tat. Big teddy bears, huge chocolate boxes, cards that cost £10. Then the same for mother's day. The next day, all the shit for Easter? Easter family pyjamas, decorative pillows, duvet, garden stuff with bunnies on them...and it goes on, theme after theme, tat after that.

Surely this happens because it sells, and sells very well. So who has the disposable income to buy that absolute unnecessary stuff? Not even luxury, things that will end up in the bin.

Are the media selling us fake stories about families on the brick of financial crisis? Or are all these shops selling stuff that are recycled every year because it's not selling?

Uk population is what. 68 mil? 50mil+ of over 16.
If 40% buys a single thing that's 20 million of items sold. Many buy more than one.

Cannot be a surprise that it's in shops. These things can cost only few quid.

Are you claiming that people are not poor because they can spend few quid on something that they think is nice and you seem to have forgotten more than 1000 people live around?

Well, I have the disposable income to buy it, but I don’t because it’s all shit!

OP, I don't think it's a reflection of the state of the Economy, I think it's a reflection of consumerist culture that permeates modern society. It's not an insignificant issue as it leads people to be individualistic and just satisfy their compulsive whims. IMO it's not a reflection of people having excessive disposable income
I agree with that. But when you dare saying that some people in need maybe need to budget better, you are made to feel you lack empathy and don't understand how hard people have it.

I can't help but wonder how many families who go on about how they can't afford healthy food for their kids, who have to freeze in the winter because they can only afford the heating for 2 hours a day, who can't afford travel insurance when they take their annual trip abroad, or can't afford their kids new uniforms are people who can't stop themselves buying some of that tat when they do their Tesco shopping because they can't resist the temptation.

I’m medically retired.

my pension is paying out. I don’t have life insurance not least because no bugger will insure me. I own my own house (see medical retirement)

i don’t expect to live long enough to use up my pension in any meaningful sense and I have full state pension contributions. I also get pip and esa.

i buy tat.

i buy full price Tat.

i have very few joys in my life (see medically retired and don’t expect to live long) and if an Easter wreath makes me feel happy I’ll damn well buy it.

I always wonder about this when I go to retail parks. Nowhere to park, every shop is rammed, all the cafes are full.

Personally I think these days a lot of people have certain expectations which they see as baseline essentials, which wasn’t the case when I was younger. For example, my overdrawn student son is constantly moaning about lack of money, as are all his student friends. But they regularly go out for meals, get takeaways, buy fancy coffee at Starbucks etc. When I was a student those were considered impossible luxuries.

When I was young, the only beauty treatments we paid for were haircuts. Everything else (nails, make-up, hair dye) we did ourselves. Now a regular slot at a manicurist, eyebrow/lashes place, Botox clinic etc is seen as a basic human right.

So I think in general society has increased the level of retail that they consider to be standard. There are things to be bought for every occasion, however small and short it might be!

Yes, I pay into my pension, savings, and emergency fund. I don't have life insurance because I don't have any beneficiaries.
However, skipping on Easter PJ bottoms isn't going to get an average person any closer to being able to afford to buy a house, for example (but, ironically, skipping on pension contributions might). So, in that sense, I think there is a massive gap between generations in terms of quality of life. Yet, here you are (assuming you are of an older generation), proposing essentially the same "avocado on toast" argument.

Really? 😳
Mumsnet seems to be the epitome of people with an extraordinary amount of income. Only this morning I was reading a thread about someone who was thinking of buying a flat because they had so much money they had nothing else to do with it.

The majority of what I read here is nothing like what I experience in real life.

Uk population is what. 68 mil? 50mil+ of over 16. If 40% buys a single thing that's 20 million of items sold. Many buy more than one
40% of the population sounds totally unrealistic. But even if you consider that every shopping trip include £30 tat, that's still £1500 a year. That's fine but not when you then cry you can't afford fruit and veg for your kids.

I could afford it but I think it's chavy and a strain on the environment.

My Granny always said “take care of the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves”.

One pair of Easter pyjamas might not make a difference, but it all adds up.

I think you're right that a lot of people are doing all those things regularly and if you move in circles where it's seen as the norm it might seem like everyone, but I doubt whether the majority of women are having their nails done regularly, for example. Some because they don't want to, some because they can't and some because they don't see it as a good use of whatever fun money they have.

I think the reason retail parks and restaurants seem busy, despite the COL crisis, is that the gap between rich and poor has widened, and there are more people living in poverty, while many others are still doing very well.

Yes, and it's true. It really really does make a difference. It's still people's personal choice of course, but once it's spent it's spent.

The average family struggles to afford their bills. They can't afford to save let alone any form of luxury. This is what is shared through whatever social media platform.
So it makes me wonder? Who buys all the tat that covers whole shelves of supermarkets or shops selling cheap stuff?

Sounds like the social media platforms might be full of liars! Who knew?

Well there are certainly a great number of people rich enough to fill the retail parks.

I have some Easter decs that were bought before I was born, over 30 years ago, from Germany and made of wood.

I too have wooden Easter decs from Germany, must be almost 50 years old, they get hung on a few catkin-like twigs and that's my Easter done. Similarly a lot of the Christmas decorations are from Germany days, pyramid, smoking men etc. very little has been bought recently.

If everyone in a supermarket catchment area buys one item it would soon sell out. Obviously not everyone would, but some will buy none at all, some will buy one and some will buy multiple items. Also people need little treats. I was most cheered to see several Easter eggs in the food bank donation box the other day. People shouldn't just be expected to live on plain dried pulses and rice.

But it doesn't have to be 30 every shopping trip. How did you get to a-30 and b-every shopping trip.

I think it is quite realistic to say that 40% of over 16s buy something you consider tat once in a while. It doesn't have to be bank breaking to do so. Once or twice a year buying something for less than half of adult population is giant number of items.

I’m always surprised when I read threads on MN saying things like “I’ve had some unexpected bills so I think I need to economise. I’ve realised that if I cut out my daily Costa, do my own nails, stop buying new clothes every week, not eat out every weekend, reduce the takeaways, take lunch to work rather than eating in Pret, and only get my highlights redone every 2 months rather than fortnightly, I can save £500 a week. I’m amazed!”

Shock News - buying lots of shit costs lots of money!! Who knew!!

I know the point youre trying to make, but it just proves the point about generational wealth, if not financially, culturally. The working class families buying "seasonal tat" dont have 3yo decorations from Germany. It's just not somehting that would feature in their lives.

Me too.

I walk into somewhere like Home Bargains, TK Maxx, The Range and just see acres of landfill waiting to happen. It is not designed to be carefully cherished and brought out year after year, it is designed to be cheap and disposable. The people buying this tat are not on the bones of their arse they are the people spending £100 a month on Shein shite too.

Yes, there are. There are also a great number of people using food banks.

Not everyone is struggling. I live in a deprived area in the NE and every weekend the pubs and shops are heaving.

People buying tat in supermarkets is not a good measure for the economy.
People being unable to buy houses, cars, holidays, new kitchens, meals out, etc. are what the politicians worry about (as well as GDP and the stock market / bond markets)

Perhaps people who can no longer fly abroad twice a year are buying tat to console themselves? 😏

But it all adds up.

Buying lunch/posh coffee at work every day, and having a takeaway every weekend, amounts to about £30k over 10 years. A couple could have a deposit on a house within 5 years if they cut back on non essentials like that.

But op, you're missing one huge fact about economics and money spending trends. Poorer people will absolutely spend more on perceived smaller treats- so the odd cushion here, piece of Easter household shit there- because it is just about manageable on their budget, and crucially it makes them feel better in the moment.

If you can't afford private dentists, nice holidays, or whatever zeitgeist trappings du jour are deemed desirable, then smaller more fun purchases can be very inviting.

Being genuinely destitute, and being skint but still seeking dopamine and fun via these seemingly inconsequential smaller and arguably pointless purchases are two very different states.