General life is different to years ago

[kmr24]

Hello,

I'm just thinking of how everything thing has changed over the past 5 years . No one has a lot of disposable income , rent and food is higher and just general things are not the same... I've heard taxes are going up now also! I feel low with it all and I need to find a new house I've been in for 10 years as the landlord wants to sell and I can't find anywhere to rent. And the council have a very long waiting list. There's a lot of people in this boat it's sad how we have to live like this.will the climate ever change or is this how it is now?

Well hopefully after 14 years of the tories plundering any resource they can get their hands on, labour will start getting the country back on its feet, although nothing will happen overnight. And if that includes "what you've heard" about taxes going up, so be it.

I know this doesn't exactly answer your dilemma...

But I do think a lot of it has to do with our expectations today and what we class as 'essentials'

Years ago people would accept hand me down furniture, would go without a sofa whilst they saved up for one when in their first home. No TV subscriptions, no latest mobile. The 'on tick' options weren't available or everyone knew it was unwise to do it.

As a nation we're just not willing to compromise on our lifestyle. I don't know anybody who would go without a mobile phone or swap their car for a bike to save up for a mortgage deposit for example. We will all make excuses for why we can't or won't do it. Today's life is so much more complicated and 'busy' not to mention competitive. Years ago there just wasn't the gadgets and choices and amenities about that are commonplace in every household, all these things devouring cash.

Add this to static wages, Increasing interest rates/fuel prices/ mortgage rates etc etc and it's a recipe for disaster. I think the horse has bolted though.

I'm not suggesting you do those things by the way OP - just generally how society has changed. Higher prices yes, but also higher expectations of what we all want/need.

I do agree, but we also have a lot more now that people see as essentials than we did when I was growing up, and that has to be paid for.
I grew up in the 80s/90s in East London, hardly anyone had a car definitely not two in a family, lots of people didn't have a landline until later on, let alone mobiles, broadband, netflix, Spotify etc. People had TVs either on lease or you had to put 20/50p in the slot to keep them going.

We also desperately need investment in public services and that has to come from somewhere

In 1968 50% of households didn't own a fridge.

Our lives are vastly different than five years ago. We had so much more disposable income and we could go on regular adventures with the kids etc. Ours isn't just cost of living related, I have also become disabled in that time which has hugely affected our day-to-day experiences but we still managed to do a few nice things with the kids over the holidays and they have been on two holidays this year (one with my mum) so not too shabby.

Things are very different though and I wonder how much more we can be squeezed before people just start to pop... I see a huge difference in how many people are booking foreign holidays etc for example, I think everyone is feeling it.

No one has a lot of disposable income

They do. Lots of people do. What I presume you mean is "people in your social circle".

A huge part of the way society has gone backwards in the last 20 years or so (but particularly the last 14) is that the divide between rich and poor has grown hugely.

there is not any issue with a shortage of money across the whole country. The issue is that the balance of those who are well off and those who have very little is so very wrong.

Definitely this.
Expectations and the need to have the best of everything, social media doesn't help.
Don't get me started on people who complain they can't feed their kids yet have lip filler, nails, tattoos etc,
Priorities are very different

Obviously this only applies to some..

I also think, particularly in this country, many things were very cheap for a long time, compared with previous generations. Food, fuel, clothes, white goods etc etc are very cheap now, yes still, compared to what they used to be as a proportion of people's income. Even interest rates and rents were historically higher. Housing has become more expensive, but everything else, not so much.

I was reading the other day about how the way we spend our money has changed. As a nation, we have never spent such a low percentage of our wages on food. The cost of housing has gone up in proportion to incomes, but we expect much for that money (more bedrooms than people, multiple indoor bathrooms, non-shared kitchens, no spinster relatives in the box room, utility rooms etc. etc.). Private vehicles (sometimes multiple in a household).

Combine this with the climb down from peak affluence, and it's no wonder people are feeling the pinch.

Also, cars are a prime example, you don't see younger people with old cars anymore. I'm still fairly young, but even a decade or so ago, your first car was always a run down old banger !

I do get frustrated when you hear people claim how poor they are and you look down at their hands nicely decorated with gel nails, and get in their brand new mini cooper that's on tick.....

Sometimes, it is down to poor choices, but I think some people are so normalised into it that they're oblivious.

If you're as poor as you make out I can assure you any labour tax increases won't affect you in the slightest.

Unless you are making a fortune in capital gains, or stand to inherit millions, or are non-domicile for tax purposes.

I don't find it to have affected me much yet. I live alone, with a mortgage and I still have enough to do things I want to do. I am not rich, not a high earner but not on minimum wage either. My mortgage has gone up slightly but not enough to cause any significant impact.

I can still save, not much but enough to have a bit of a cushion if anything was to go drastically wrong.
I guess I don't live beyond my means? Perhaps that's it. I've no qualms driving an old (but nice enough) car for example. As other posters have said. I don't need expensive gadgets, I've no interest in them, or 50 different TV packages.

I think that there are a range of factors. For me, I am definitely less well off then 10 years ago, due to a combination of public sector wages reducing in real terms, cost of food, fuel, cars etc have increased and child care, interests rates and holidays have increased.

However, looking back to the early nineties, on a full time wage of 7k in London, I lived in v basic shared housing (single room, bathroom shared between 6), no car until I was in my early thirties, second hand furniture and clothes, buying electronics second hand from classifieds, no landline etc. My kids laugh at this now, and I think that they will expect to stay at home in comfort until they can afford to. My friends older kids are moving out in their mid/ late twenties, having saved deposits to buy (cheap area), and have cars on finance, holidays, and much better lifestyles than I did. But they will probably all end up having to pay for their home until they are 70 and who knows with pensions.

Lots of factors and lots of change.

The price of housing compared to wages has gone up massively.

Getting rid of a phone (which is totally impractical for day to day life now) is not going to mean you can suddenly afford a £500k mortgage.

Yes, terrible for many people. Add the weather misery and the hopeless new government worse than the one before to feel the doom. If taxes were the answer we would have been better since with Tories we paid high taxes. It is just a different type of ideology and nothing would changed for the better. People are deluded if they think they will be better off when the middle class that supports everything is going down with Labour.

If started a long time back when Maggie gave away / sold cheap council houses

Effectively giving out money into the hands of a small number of people who got houses cheap

Result - screwed hosing market and everything that follows that

And we don't pay particular high taxes - countries that do education and health better are paying more

We do have chronic wealth inequality- it's not true that no one has any spare cash - the inequality is horrible and many people ( most) are actually ok financially ( flnancial mismanagement and greed aside - although greed is a natural outcome of inequality)

5 years ago I thought nothing of going to Alchemist and downing cocktail after cocktail, wouldn't dream of doing that now!

Also confined to the past: holidays abroad, takeaways, buying clothes at the 'right' time of the year ( ie not the end of season sale) , city break/ dirty weekend type getaways.

Yup but all those things weren't common years ago either - perhaps it's my age as five years ago doesnt seem like years ago !

I always considered those things as full on luxury.

that said, I heard the Alchemist is expanding so they must be doing all right.

I think the point I'm making is that I, and presumably many others, could afford some luxury activities before. But alas no longer.

I think far too many had things on lease or contracts to live a certain lifestyle whereas before we wouldn't have or it wouldhave been essentials like washing machines etc. People were happier buying second hand cars, We pay out for so many things that simply didn't exist internet, multiple devices, electricity to charge said devices, subscription services lots of people don't seem to secondary guess their £30 pm phone contract as long as they get a new handset. £6 Starbucks drinks / £4 meal deals my parents would have taken packed lunch.

Housing has obviously gone up but when I was younger lots of men would have joined the military, lived in the mess, saved up their wages and bought a house when they did their 6 years. Now most young people wouldn't even think of the military even for non frontline jobs or those that have great training and go straight in to renting £££

Getting rid of those modern things may not change whether you rent or own a property but your disposable income would increase substantially over a year - I reckon if we cut back to a similar 90s upbringing it would be enough for a two week holiday somewhere toasty although you can keep your single glazed windows and ice on the inside

Years ago people would accept hand me down furniture, would go without a sofa whilst they saved up for one when in their first home. No TV subscriptions, no latest mobile. The 'on tick' options weren't available or everyone knew it was unwise to do it.

Not sure I agree with this. For one people buying houses are a lot older now so of course people have different needs & plenty of people still buy 2nd hand otherwise eBay, vinted, gumtree wouldn’t exist. Plus not having a phone won’t magic up a house. Things progress particularly tech & just because smart phones didn’t exist in the 70s it doesn’t mean people are more wasteful now.

Wages have stagnated for yrs which has had a huge impact, low interest rates masked it.

Younger people today won’t be able to build the wealth & security of older generations unless they are in the cohort that inherit.

It's interesting as I can see both sides of the divide in my business

I provide what I would class as a luxury group of services using niche products and 30 years of experience and skill.

I have clients from all walks of life ,some that think nothing of spending £200 plus every 6 weeks as they build it into their budget and those clients come from minimum wage earnings with big mortgages and the other end of the scale.

It's a lot about what people class as a necessity and won't sacrifice on.

I also have just adult and mid twenties adult dc and they have all the gadgets go out eat out in nice places nice clothes etc and when you mention having a budget they look at me like I'm mad. They have grown up with everything available instantly and that's carrying on through adulthood.

I grew up with skint parents in a council flat in a shitty area but as soon as I could I grafted and started from the bottom and am now reaping the rewards of my hard work

The younger generation of today seem to want and expect the same level but from now

Whenever we go into our main city it's packed
People are out spending a lot.

We are tightening in because we have a big holiday coming up next year and the school uniform and shoe shop has just come in at £500 but I realise we are really lucky to be in that position

It was t that long ago we were on the breadline and we didn't have holidays for years only had one car had a strict food budget and didn't eat out for many many years.