I went to visit my niece who has just moved into a brand new house yesterday . The couple work hard and earn good money and a baby is due in 6 weeks . A nice couple of youngsters.
They moved in 1 month ago , the house is beautifully dressed , thick expensive silver carpet , each room furnished in very expensive drapes and bedding , the kitchen absolutely beautiful with expensive dining table and only the best of cutlery and crockery , even the kitchen bin was £200 apparently. The garden is layed with beautiful patio slabs but not the everyday ordinary cheap ones most of us have these slabs were a white stone and cost a fortune. In the lounge was a very expensive drinks cabinet because they like their exotic gins.
As I walked around this first beautiful home that cost £5000K I remembered my first home , it was almost bear , just secondhand rugs and furniture from friends and even the dump! Paraffin heaters because we couldn’t afford to put the underfloor heating on , secondhand beds and mattresses, and I was so overjoyed with my cheap stuff . I made the curtains using a secondhand sewing machine that jumped and jarred and scrunched the material .
The new home of my niece is perfection , stunning in every way and it’s been 4 weeks , washing machine , dish washer , and that £200 kitchen bin !
I’m happy for them of course but what a materialistic world this is now , some of us here will know what I’m saying when we had very very little in the way of material comforts .
I can remember our first home (heavily mortgaged) and everything we had was gifted to us as 2nd hand. Some it was really good and others were just about serviceable. The great thing about that house was it was OUR house and we felt like the world had just opened up at our feet.
I hope they have a good housekeeper to keep all that beautiful house clean ,Susan, …I worked for a billionaire who had a most beautiful house like your niece, …what a nightmare to keep that huge house up to perfection, she had two of us, keeping it clean…full time job it was, they both worked extremely hard to build their business up, …they then sold it I heard, so she could swan off and have her nails done,etc, while we were left cleaning it,…Very happy for your niece ,
I too had very little , remember heating my house which was rented, with a paraffin stove, we even had coats on our beds as children to keep us warm in winter.
@susan_m - I know exactly what you mean. When I moved into my first house it was with a heap of books, records and crockery. No furniture as I had been living in a furnished flat before. There were a couple of auction rooms near by that dealt with ‘house clearance’ things and, at week ends, I had great fun bidding for things and then ‘doing them up’. Slept on the floor in a sleeping bag for almost a year while I saved up to buy a bed - wanted that to be new… Made my own curtains and cushions etc., Buying on Hire Purchase/Credit was frowned upon - I saved up for things I wanted/needed and lived without in the meanwhile.
It seems the current generation are an impatient lot - they don’t want to scrimp, save and make do - they want to start from where their parents left off - everything new and shiny - often bought on plastic credit. Good luck to them - but they are missing out on a lot of fun!
Is it just a daughter trait? We have one daughter, and help out regularly because she cites the fact she is still at university. Given that she has been at university since she was 18, and has acquired two degrees and a masters already, I really do hope that this course of study will be her last and she finally kick starts her career!
As I have four daughters and my only son did not survive past his first day, I can only mention my experience of daughters. I also have 7 grandchildren, and can state that the boys are far less fund seeking than the girls. But to be fair to my children and grandchildren, my wife and I have always told them all, do not go without after you have tried to self-fund before asking us for help. We do not have any other surviving relatives and as shrouds do not have pockets, we’d rather help now while we have plenty of amassed savings & investments, than wait until the last one of us had died and it’s left to the last will to distribute as directed.
We are lucky in that both of us have good occupational pensions plus full basic state pensions, so our savings etc are rarely touched for our month to month living to a good standard.
It seems to be an instant gratification and have it life today , expectations beyond my thoughts . I’m old yes but I dont have these materialistic wants and needs . The kids expect it and have it .
What happens when they instantly have it all NOW , isnt there a saying …too much to soon …
Wars are usually caused by dissatisfaction and if a generation of people used to having an easyish life, suddenly find life becoming harder after all the parental help has been squandered, war will thin them out and make those left more appreciative of what they have.
It sounds lovely and I hope they get a lot of pleasure out of it. My son has a magazine style perfect house and if they work hard it’s up to them how they enjoy spending there money
But I feel rather sorry for this generation who want everything perfect, it’s a bit of a treadmill isn’t it, working hard to have enough to buy a £200 dustbin! and all the other swish things they think are essential. And all that maintaining and keeping it perfect, not very relaxing
I’d much rather a £5 Wilko bin and £150 to spend on books, chocolate and days out, it’s all about life balance too
There are other types of young people too, of course, like the ones who upcycle and keep their environmental footprint light
And sadly those on very low incomes living in rented accommodation who can’t afford luxuries
Well, they earned it so I hope they enjoy it. Especially when the baby comes. However, i do think £200 on a kitchen bin is a tad overkill…unless it disposes of the rubbish outside all by itself!
I have been in houses where it seems so magazine perfect, and yes its lovely to look at, for sure, but I’m sorely tempted to rumple a cushion or two to make it a bit more homely
It may not necessarily be a daughter trait. It may have more to do with the influences one comes under from a certain age. My daughters are earning decent money and could both afford far better abodes than they are living in but they just don’t spend the money, well not yet, that is.
When we were, for a short period of time, needing funds to buy our current home they were able to help us rather than the other way around which is usually the case.
I remember buying our first home. We were renting a flat and when we saw a house we liked, we applied for a mortgage with a B.S. We were refused. The manager said he thought we wouldn’t be able to afford the monthly mortgage payment even though the monthly flat rental cost us more!
So we went to another B.S. offered a mortgage no problemo and went on to buy the house.
@Pesta
I was very lucky in that I was living with my paternal grandmother in her largest of her bungalow’s two double bedrooms and Nan allowed me to move my wife in too for the first few months while we were still saving hard. The mortgage on our first house, a 2 bed semi, although tight, was only easily arranged as we had saved well over £1k deposit on a £4.5k property.
We became an item when she was 16, engaged at 17 then married at 18 with our 1st daughter with us by 19. That daughter made our minds up, we really had to find a house PDQ before we overstayed our welcome with Nan.
When we became an item, she was 16 and I was 21. She was my lead singer to my band, but I first met her at 11 when her brother (a fellow guitar player and my rhythm) took me home to meet his family.
…I worked for a billionaire who had a most beautiful house like your niece, …what a nightmare to keep that huge house up to perfection, she had two of us, keeping it clean…full time job it was, they both worked extremely hard to build their business up, …they then sold it I heard, so she could swan off and have her nails done,etc, while we were left cleaning it,
