Old Finances (back in the day)

butterflylady131 · 20 July 2011 at 6:29PM

tinktinktinkerbell wrote: »

sky TV is never necessary

By the way, completely agree:)

ally18 · 20 July 2011 at 6:30PM

Hi,

30 years ago, I turned 15 and received my best ever christmas present, a portable colour tv! I was chuffed to bits and had this in my bedroom on a small table and the ariel was stuck up on the wall. And look at nowadays, my own kids expect such a lot, theres no way they would be happy with just one item. I was more than grateful with that. I think my sister got a electronic chess game and my brother a bike!

My dad was fortunate to run a car, which was an old vauxhall viva van which only had the two front seats. We 3 kids had to sit on cushions in the back 'van' part and hold on for dear life, no seat belts or anything. It was such fun but the H&S people today would have a fit! :rotfl:

I can remember having 'good hidings' when I did anything wrong, lots of 'wait till your dad gets home' from where he worked as a miner on the 3 shift system.

Because my dad had a decent wage, he and my mum made sure they paid off their mortgage early too, which is surprising because I don't think that was such an important thought back in those days. I believe they made that their most important thing to do too but we still had enough of everything. My mum worked full time and as I was the eldest, I was the latch key kid who got the tea ready when we came home from school for us 3 and then for my mum for when she came in.

Oh, what memories this conjures up.:)

Btw, we had never ever seen a macds, a take away place or any junk food at all. My mum used to buy the basic staples and food was always, always cooked from scratch. We didn't have a toaster or any of the gadgets because my dad didn't believe in them.

jannyannie · 20 July 2011 at 7:31PM

Hi all

Forgot about green sheild stamps, my Mum had books of them.. Have to add that most people did their own repairs. My Dad always used to fix his own car. Also going on holiday abroad was something most people wouldn't even consider. Ispent most of my childhood holidays camping or going to caravan parks.

I can also remember putting holding deposits on goods I really wanted even in shops like Boots and paying for things that way. By the time I moved to London 2 years later as a student, I was having my haircut in hair academys by student hairdressers paying a £1. It was very short and orange! At one point the back was shaved like a blokes!

Jan x

Chickenopolis · 20 July 2011 at 7:42PM

Hi,

Thirty years ago I was 12 . Food was cooked from scratch with the exception of Vesta meals in our house. Just what were the yellow crispy bits meant to be? Fat fryers figured predominently in every house if I recall.

My Dad was a self employed Painter and Decorater who suffered from asthma and was often working when he was poorly as he had t to support 4 kids.If he was sick he didn't get paid.

All of the men in our street were all out on a Sunday with heads bent underneath their car bonnets , my Dad was usually swearing at the bliddy car as he needed it for work to transport his ladders , dustsheets etc.You don't see this now.Cars were always breaking down!

My clothes were my cousins hand me downs and consisted of homemade knitted polo neck jumpers and flared trousers.I don't remember getting any new clothes, but that would not have bothered me too much anyway.

The houses in our street had large gardens and the "top" garden was usually a vegetable plot. With loads of neat rows of veg.

My folks were the first in the street to get a mortgage. The house cost £3k!. The neighbours thought my parents were mad buying their property.

Ida_Notion · 20 July 2011 at 8:14PM

With regard to having to save up for things before you could have them, it's true that credit cards were more or less something you just saw fleetingly on your black and white rented telly, but catalogue shopping seemed very popular in the late seventies, especially for clothes. You'd pay for this stuff over forty weeks, and my mum would get us three girls identical dresses every summer. My first ever pair of jeans came from a catologue when I was about nine - they were ordinary denim but had little bright red felt polka dots all over them and I'd cringe with lack of street cred every time I had to wear them. Fortunately for me I was the oldest, but my youngest sister had the middle sister's polka dot jeans handed down to her after she'd grown out of her own, and then after that she had to wear what was left of mine once middle sister had finished with them. I always thought catalogue clothes had a very recognisable 'look' to them (not least because apart from polka dot jeans, everyone else had been bought the same thing!), and think Kays, Brian Mills and the need to escape from a uniform of bri-nylon blouses and crimplene dresses was probably more responsible for the punk movement then everything else put together

Mostly though, our clothes came from jumble sales. Not that I'd admit it at the time unless forced to, although I was never spotted at one locally because my dad preferred the pickings over on the posher side of town. I can well remember my sister once wearing a scarf that my mum had knitted to a jumble sale - she didn't realise that the end of it was draping itself over the table with everything else as she was going through the goods on offer, until some somebody took a fancy to it, grabbed it and nearly strangled her. They can be dangerous places, jumble sales

In many ways though, things were just as commercialised as they are now. We all wanted Bay City Rollers outfits at school in the early seventies - complete with dodgy tartan-trimmed three quarter length trousers - but even the 'well-off' kids just got as far as a pair of nylon socks with The Osmonds' faces printed up the sides. The rest of us could only look on in misguided envy

tallyhoh · 20 July 2011 at 8:28PM

Ooooo, green shield stamps, I worked at Tesco in the early 1970's & when we did our own shopping our colleagues would always keep their finger on the stamp machine to give us extra. I remember having a kettle & chopping board from the Green Shield stamp shop in birmingham.

Also remember saving the coupons out of my no 6 cigarettes for stuff.

ELACLA · 20 July 2011 at 8:50PM

Thirty years i was a full time mum 2 children aged 2 and 4
we didnt have a lot of money but seemed to get by
we didnt have a car but did have a colour tv
when i got married 35 years ago we didnt even have a fridge or washing machine
i used to go to my mums once a week to do it all
life seemed easier then

sairy2010 · 20 July 2011 at 8:52PM

30 years ago I was 34 and had two children (age 1 and 3), a dog and a cat or two. My husband was made redundant and was starting his own business (which he did for the next 30 years) in the spring. We had to get through the winter with very little money.
I had a job paying £30 per week. He applied for social security (as it was then) and was awarded £44 per week. The mortgage was £48 per week so we had to manage on my money.
My parents helped out a lot, and I started the winter with a freezer full of food. I had also made jam, bottled fruit etc. We kept hens as well. So we actually managed quite well. The bills were paid (not always on time) and we didnt go hungry. Although we did have an awful lot of egg based dishes.
I cant remember any of the actual amounts the bills came to but I know we couldnt afford to run the car. It stayed parked in the front garden all winter and we biked every where.
You cant do that now you have to declare a sorn.
We didnt manage any nights out or any thing like that but did take the children out on walks etc.
When he finally started the business it wasnt much better as it didnt make much money for the first year or two but the government gave us £40 per week for the first year as an award for new businesses. After that we were on our own but we managed OK.

butterflylady131 · 20 July 2011 at 8:54PM

Oh my gosh, I remember the offers on the coupons in my mums ciggies!
We too shared clothes, toys and stuff, and yes we didn't have a lot of money, but I smile when I think about how we loaded up the car, and tourer caravan and took off to Whitby straight from school when we broke up for school holidays. Sometimes dad would load the caravan and car on a Friday, and surprise us at school, and we'd just go for the weekend.
And now I have a family of my own, guess where we're going on holiday this year? WHITBY!!!!!

MRSTITTLEMOUSE · 20 July 2011 at 9:08PM

Thirty years ago I was 26,I'd been married 10 years and had three girls aged 9, 7 and 5 and four cats.
My husband earned a straight £40 a week and we got child benefit which was around £5 a week at the most (can't remember the exact amount).
Our priority was to keep a roof over our heads,keep us fed and clothed and pay the heating bills.
I can't remember the rent we paid but we were'nt able to buy a house till a few years later when my husband was promoted a few times.
We never had any money left over at the end of the week,no holidays either but it did'nt bother us as we seemed to do ok.
Christmas and birthdays etc were a real struggle but somehow you seemed to get by,god knows how but we did.
Like Mardatha's husband my husband cycled to work too as we did'nt have a car and no money for travel.
We only had one black and white TV for the whole family,no gadgets even in the kitchen.
I remember I felt very lucky as I had a next door neighbour who had girls just older than mine and we used to get loads of stuff from them for my girls,we in turn used to pass them on to a girl round the corner who had four daughters younger than ours.
No one seemed to mind having the stuff passed on as every little helped.
We were realy happy back then though despite having relatively nothing .

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Old Finances (back in the day)

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