This is the kind of article that really has me spitting feathers

[emkana]

how awful not to be able to afford school fees and foreign holidays

"Let's assume the middle class family has a combined income of £100000" - who are these people?

grrr

[fortyplus]

But you don't have a spare room - I do!

[Judy1234]

If I ever manage to divest myself of the children I will have spare rooms. Presumably at some point they leave home. If they don't I can always run away to the island.

[fortyplus]

They'll be back... with the grandchildren in tow!

[skiwear]

hear hear cloudhopper (I'm not following yo honest)

[skiwear]

doh YOU

[ArcticRoll]

I agree with homemama.
Very snooty about 'plumbers, cleaners and electricians are all subject to above inflation charges'- really these oiks should be offering their services for free so she doesn't have to slum it in shared pool in Sicily.

[Caligula]

Yes I'm sure barristers' price rises are well above inflation as well.

These people are all in favour of the market usually - plumbers charge more because there is a shortage of them. Iss the market luv, wot you're normally in favour of.

Anyway, she's out of date. Since the influx of Polish plumbers, prices have gone down again.

[KathyMCMLXXII]

Can't make up my mind about the easier/harder lives thing.... it's all a matter of perspective, not just who you are but also what you think is more important.

Eg. more people grew their own vegetables 30 years ago so you could see that as better (lovely fresh vegetables instead of Dutch hydroponic rubbish) or worse (couldn't afford to buy veg).
More people used to do manual labour, but is that better or worse than call centre jobs?
Houses today are pokier and have smaller gardens (council houses from the 60s were built to a higher spec than many market houses today) but are more stuffed with consumer goods our parents couldn't have afforded.

I only know that this was one of the most irritating articles I've ever read.

[drosophila]

The real question is are we happier than our parents generation. I'm not sure. Binge drinking and the recent unicerf report seems to suggest a deeply unhappy nation of people.

[expatinscotland]

'The real question is are we happier than our parents generation. I'm not sure. Binge drinking and the recent unicerf report seems to suggest a deeply unhappy nation of people. '

For me, personally, no.

[drosophila]

When I compare my Mums life it was incredibly hard - no electricity, no running water for a time and no bathroom. On the other hand she had a support network , a social life, no mortgage and lived in a community. In some ways there is no question who has it easier but in other ways she had more. I think though she was less happy by a mile. My Dad was happier I think as material possessions (even things we consider essential now) mattered little to him.

[Gobbledigook]

I think I'm probably just as happy as my parents were at the same point in life.

Tbh, we aren't that different from how they were. We are much better off, financially, than they were when they had 3 children the same age as mine are now. Probably better off than they were at this age (I was older than my mum having children so when they were the age I am now I was the eldest and age 13 whereas my eldest is not 6 yet!!!).

We've got a lot more materially, we can afford to do more things and our children do more in terms of lessons, sport, eating out etc than we did, BUT I don't think makes us happier. They were just as happy and as a child I didn't miss out on anything iyswim.

Not sure I'm making sense here!

[Gobbledigook]

My Mum's life was harder in so many ways - no car, mortgage (I think they borrowed 6x my dad's salary at one point to get out of a high rise and into a house ), no disposable income for clothes, holidays etc (my mum made looooooads of our clothes - good job I'm not in that predicament, am crap at sewing!). But I don't think they were unhappy. They never got into debt - they just didn't buy what they couldn't afford and they had very little. I don't think it mattered but they worked their arses off to get where they are now and they didn't expect help from anyone. I admire them so much it's unbelievable.

My life is 'easy', but I do work hard for that. I work on top of being a SAHM - it's a killer but it does afford me lots of luxuries.

I don't know, it's all about choices and priorities isn't it?

[Tortington]

life chances can afford some people the luxury of more/better choices options.

education and health for instance

[homemama]

I agree, GG. I am financially better off than my parents yet I'm sure I worry more about money and affording what I want. (That sounds terrible written down )

I grew up on an incredibly poor council estate where almost everyone I knew had hand made/hand-me-down clothes and we were all on free school meals. I don't think my parents were that unhappy though as we had lots of family close by and a very strong sense of community.

I think the sad reality is that although we are often better off financially we are not necessarily happier. Perhaps we have too many choices and too much 'wider information' as I certainly know that she never doubted her parenting style in the way that myself and my friends do.

[drosophila]

All my mother canever talk about when discussing someone is about how much money they have e.g. when discussing Brittney all she could say 'and all the money she has'. Cos she had bugger all when we were young she is sure it would have been the answer to her prayers.

What is my mantra 'we have no bloody support' or 'look at how much support x has'. grass is ALWAYS GREENER.

[homemama]

Fio, you're correct that money doesn't always make you happy. However, lack of it (and by that I mean living in real poverty) almost certainly makes you unhappy in today's world. It's very arrogant for people like RJ to suggest she's in any way poor.

[expatinscotland]

My dad used to say, 'Money isn't everything, unless you have none.'

[UnquietDad]

sounds a wise man, expat

[3andnomore]

how true expat My feeling too!

[mapleleaf]

Rachel Johnson should spend some time in a poor developing nation to see how vulgar her article is. If she feels unhappy or deprived she has only her only shallow self to blame !!!

[hellywobs]

Actually I could see exactly where she was coming from - especially with houses. When I was 11-15 I lived in a four bedroom bungalow with about 1/3 acre of land in Torquay. At the time it cost my parents £45K. My dad's last salary before he retired in 1990 was £16K and my mum worked part-time and probably earned around £6K. At the time they bought the house my dad was probably on about £12K but the previous house they'd had was much smaller and had no mortgage. To get that house now would I guess cost around £500K. How many people could afford that? I earn far more than my parents did between them, adjusted for inflation and it would need a lottery winfor me to afford that amount. What I would say is that all their money was probably in the hosue and actually my parents were reasonably hard up.

I live in a very ordinary 3 bedroom detached house. That said, the plan is to have the mortgage gone in a maximum of 15 years so maybe then if I took another mortgage I would be able to afford something like my parents had. Maybe we all want more earlier and need to learn patience.

I think her point is well made though. Back then you could live very well on one person's salary and now you need two salaries to have the same quality standard of living - even though some things like electrical goods, toys and holidays cost far less in real terms. But taxation and house prices have risen inexorably. Hence why so many mums work.

Of course she was privileged and isn't hard up now - but she sees what her parents had for far less and simply makes the point that you can be very well off nowadays without actually being well off. I guess most of us expect to have a better standard of living than our parents did....and find that we don't at least in terms of the house we can afford.

[hellywobs]

Just wanted to emphasise that my point is really that money goes nowhere these days. Of course everything is relative and many people are far worse off than I am - especially outside the UK as someone said below. (I tend to come into contact with those much much better off than me with husbands who earn £800K for example - really so my perspective is a bit unrealistic at times - I need to spend more time with my harder up friends rather than the richer ones) - take all the noughts off and divide by about 3 to get my other half's salary...