AIBU to feel middle-class luxuries have become increasingly out of reach?

[cocobow]

I had to go to the local shopping centre the other day to pick up a click and collect for my husband, new work shirts so nothing fancy! I thought why not make an afternoon of it as I rarely go shopping and I could maybe get a coffee and cake and even treat myself to a little something as my birthday is coming up.

I loved some of the clothes in places like monsoon and seasalt but it was all way too expensive dresses were £80 to £100 or more same with skirts which seemed to start at £65 and I know that isn't even considered expensive today but for me it is! I went for a look in the sephora as I love skincare but again it was all really expensive. The queue for the till was full of school girls buying things I wouldn't be able to buy for myself!

To be fair they were probably there spending birthday money and probably aren't spending money like that all the time. I suppose it just feels like the goal posts on these admittedly luxury items have been moved since I was in my teens and early 20's when I imagined that by my 40's I'd be able to at least buy some of these things or buy nice clothes now and then. My husband and I both degree and post graduate educated and work in professional jobs but we have to prioritise bills, the kids and food over luxuries. To be fair we have no debt at all and we will save for an buy large purchases cash mostly but I admit to feeling a bit personally deprived at times! When my mum was my age she worked in a call centre part time in the evenings and would go round the shops most weekend and buy herself a new top or other item of clothes and exclusively used clarins skincare, I use the ordinary, cerave or boots and superdrug own brand mostly and my clothes come from charity shops. My parents were working class made good but their disposable income seemed to go a lot further than mine does. We don't even have a large mortgage.

DH and I recently looked at taking a short trip to London as a joint birthday present to each other but the cost was so expensive we seem to have quietly shelved the idea.

In the end I had a look in waterstones but even that was expensive, since when are paperbacks routinely £14.99! I never even had a coffee or bit of cake as the selection of cakes looked dry and unappetizing but would still have cost £10 in total.

Am I being unreasonable to think the cost of a middle class lifestyle with a few luxuries has had the goalposts moved by quite some amount?

You need to download whatnot and follow some of the make up sellers like hausofharlow of bluella
I was fed up of earning a decent wage but being unable to afford the odd luxury treat as our bills keep increasing and a friend told me about Whatnot. I’ve been able to buy some nice make up less than half price and brand new, brand new clothes, shoes and even a designer albeit preloved bag for the same price as a cheap Primark one. I set myself a limit in the app settings per week, so I can’t get carried away and overspend. Game changer, honestly.

If you read my post properly you would see I said not in the UK

lots of confusing class with wealth here. Many middle class people are struggling.

@SquirrelGGso your basing your opinion on your experience in another country, that makes sense!

As I said shops were never shut on Saturdays in the UK…

Inequality is the biggest problem today but it is also possibly a generational thing. Now we are in our 60s we don’t need to watch every penny but we have no mortgage, our children are adults and I can afford to splash out on hairdressers, nails, clothes, cosmetics etc in a way I couldn’t when we were younger and bringing up a family. We now pass money over to our daughters every month as we have more spare money while they like you can afford the basics but not luxuries. We also pay for a family holiday each year and regularly buy clothes etc for grandchildren. So some of it is a disproportionate amount of your money may be going on housing, bills, children and maybe you carry student loans, credit card debt or car lease or whatever. Possibly the people spending in shops are older people like us or young professionals with no children who may have more disposable income. I think we should focus on middle and low income families and maybe tax high earners and corporations more. I am sick of those at the top making excuses as to why we should not do that.

Yep so whack 2k each into pension and see what it is now?

Keep fiddling with it.

If you can’t manage it I will run it tommoz and let you know

The average universal credit claim for a couple with children was £1,030 a month in Nov 2025 when the latest figures are available - gov.uk stats https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-8-january-2026/universal-credit-statistics-29-april-2013-to-8-january-2026#claims-and-starts-to-universal-credit

There will always be a few people who get a lot more due to their circumstances, but that is the average claim. So about £12,000 a year. It doesn’t make people rich! Single people get less.

You are wrong

I think its disgusting you get fuck all if you dont have kids
Like you're getting penalised for making responsible choices

Never, open Monday to Saturday and closed Wednesday afternoon where we lived but I think this half day closing moved around a bit.