Bad attitude to os?

[Deleted User]

calleyw wrote:

The point I was trying to make was that yes housing is expensive unless you bought say 7/8 years ago.
And to be blunt you don't have to buy we are rather obessed in this country.


Re buying a house rather than renting by choice.
This is very much OS. Almost everyone wanted to own their own home. The benefit comes later in life when the mortgage is paid and there is no rent to pay and of course, over time, inflation does make paying a mortgage cheaper than rising rents

Now, renting when older makes sense to me. Release of capital and no maintenance costs

shetitasatic

A couple of years ago we camped at a very 'green' camp site in L'Estartit in Spain, and as part of our welcome info they gave us a natural cotton bag with shoulder length handles to carry the morning bread etc. in. This is ideal to keep in my handbag for shopping and best of all is the exact size to take Saturday's Telegraph or the Sunday Times, which the plastic carriers can't cope with!!

We were in Midhurst in Sussex on Easter Sunday (after looking at some lovely Downland churches) and were very surprised to find a charity shop OPEN. I couldn't resist and bought a lovely Monsoon dress ,and ended up walking around with a Cancer Relief charity placcy bag on Easter Day - who cares - I was doing my bit for charity!!

moggins

I just don't understand how people can actually get on the property ladder anymore, it's a completely ridiculous situation. I bought my house 7 years ago and even then we had to opt for one in the cheapest area in the county, everyone told us not to move here, that it was an awful area, yes it has it's moments but the community spirit is one that is rarely found anymore.

We paid £32,500 for a 3 bed terraced, now it's been valued at £120,000. Strange to think we couldn't even afford our own house if we had to buy it now DH only earns £17K, that must work out at about 8 times his salary.

[Deleted User]

moggins my DS at 31 has just bought his first home at £129k

two tiny bedrooms, a galley kitchen, a lounge, one bathroom and no garage

Our first house was a large 4 bed detached with a large garden, at the end of a cul de sac. It cost £4,500 and we couldn`t afford carpets but thankfully we got on the property ladder. We were very OS in those days otherwise we wouldn`t have been able to pay the mortgage

I think it can still be done today but only by sacrificing the `must have it now` mentality and getting rid of credit cards etc. My DH had a bar job in the evenings after a full day`s work

If you look most people buying in aldi, they seem to be older (and probably wiser). The younger generation need to be encouraged to forgo the designer image with the aim of home ownership in mind

moggins

Kittie that is so true, I've spent the last 21 years raising 3 more OS'ers to plug a few gaps. They wouldn't dream of spending money on labels when they know they can get more for their money by going to charity shops and if they want a fashion item then it comes from Primark.

Bargain_Rzl

kittie wrote:

moggins my DS at 31 has just bought his first home at £129k

two tiny bedrooms, a galley kitchen, a lounge, one bathroom and no garage
...The younger generation need to be encouraged to forgo the designer image with the aim of home ownership in mind

No need to tell me, kittie

I'm nearly 28, with a total income (from two sources) of about the same number of £000s as my age. A good income, esp. for a single person. But it is only because I have been resolutely OS not just since discovering MSE but also for the previous 10 years (i.e. making damn sure I didn't graduate with lots of debt, and living in reasonably priced shared accommodation ever since) that I am managing to put together a reasonable deposit. I'm saving every spare penny at the mo, as you can see from my signature - my last two payrises have both gone straight into the savings budget.

I'm in London, and looking at buying early next year, and with the balance of deposit size/income multiple/monthly outgoings, I should just about be able to raise £115k. For that I will be lucky to get a flat with 2.5 rooms (living/studio room, kitchen, and partitioned bedroom off the living room) and I'm purposefully looking in an area that's cycling distance from Central London because cutting my travel bills is the only way I will still be able to afford a "life" (which is the reason I'm in London in the first place).

I wish I could have bought 7 yrs ago when I graduated but I was on £11k at the time - what can you do? As it is, because I'm so determined to save for property, I'm barely better of now in terms of truly "disposable" income than I was when I earned £11k.

calleyw

moggins wrote:

I just don't understand how people can actually get on the property ladder anymore, it's a completely ridiculous situation. I bought my house 7 years ago and even then we had to opt for one in the cheapest area in the county, everyone told us not to move here, that it was an awful area, yes it has it's moments but the community spirit is one that is rarely found anymore.

We paid £32,500 for a 3 bed terraced, now it's been valued at £120,000. Strange to think we couldn't even afford our own house if we had to buy it now DH only earns £17K, that must work out at about 8 times his salary.

We sold a one bedroom flat last year for just shy of £100K and let me tell you it was nothing special. And we sold it to a FTB.

We could not afford to buy are own flat on are wages. But because of the huge increase in price bought it for 35K about 7 years ago. It allowed us to move.

A reason why we bought is because we could not have rented the flat or the 3 bed house we have for the cost of the mortgage. So for us it is way cheaper to buy. Rent on 3 houses around here are £500 a month plus bills. All are house bills including mortgage only come to £500 a month.

Buying is nice. But when you get older and your income goes down and if you are still renting you would get help with Housing Benefit and council tax help etc.

Also renting means you are more mobile. In europe a lot of people don't buy but rent all there lives. And if you go back a few generations ago no one ever bought it was rented or came with the job.

Yours

Calley

mummysaver

Sweet_Pea wrote:

I love this thread. I have a snobby relative who works in an office. She was going out at lunchtime to do a bit of shopping in Asda and there was something going on in the city centre that she was working and someone spotted a news reporter. She did her shop at Asda then put the whole lot into Waitrose bags in case she happened to be in the background of the news report!
I was a bit worried about sending my dd's to school with something in their lunchboxes which was obviously from Aldi, (where I do my shopping) 'cos I didnt want them to be teased, however DD1 came home and reported that half her class had the same "fruity shots" (Aldi's version of Fruit Shoots) also one of her best friends who is the daughter of a gp and a headmaster.
We live in an affluent area but it seems to be the more money the family earns the larger house they have but the more moneysaving they are, lots of hand me downs, shopping at Aldi, buying kids toys at the school jumble sale etc. In our area the kids with the designer or more expensive sportswear are the ones whose mums got into debt to buy it and the ones who are also the worse off. The better off they are, the less likely it is that their children will have TVs DVDs or videos in their rooms, no playstations or wide screen TV's or designer clothing, trips to McD's or ready meals. What they do have is piano lessons, horse riding lessons, lots of books, camping holidays in France and at least a few days away at every half term, more brothers and sisters and (old) people carriers, better but hm meals.
Maybe its posh to be Old Style?

Do you live near me? We go camping, the children ride and we have four children!

We often see clothes that have been worn by my children on others, and often someone we know will stop us and say "oh I remember when my little one wore that"! My children love the bags of clothes that do the rounds, and they love charity shops, they know that they have far more chance of me buying them something "new" in there than elsewhere! Strangely I was talking to a couple that I know the other day, they have very little money but were horrified by the fact that I offered them a bag of clothes that dd3 had grown out of!

The carrier bag bit made me laugh! I was trying to find a smallish carrier bag for ds this morning, and he refused this little Harrods one I pulled out (left over from our trip in January to the HMV and Waterstone sales!), saying it was too embarrassing, and so off he went clutching his Lidl bag! Much too big for the few bits it needed to hold, but apparently less embarrassing!

We always go to Lidl's for the cold meats, as does just about everyone we know, but I shall be looking out for the coffee cream choc now too! Friends from Germany love Lidls, and can't believe the snobbery about it over here!

If homemade food couldn't be taken in for parties at my childrens' schools, I don't think that they would have much to eat! The children round here seem to take pride in taking in something that has been made at home, rather than from a shop - though I don't think they'd like to give up the party crisps and choc, they aren't that good! This morning I was stopped by a new mum at dd2 and dd3's school, and asked for some recipes for the stuff they take in their lunchboxes! They've been sharing out their food again - good job I put extra in if it's something new they're trying out, or if it's pasta salad I always put in a huge amount, plus spare forks!

I've really enjoyed this thread, and reading about the funny snobbery of some people! I know we all have things that we wouldn't want to compromise on, but some things have really made me smile! :T

HopeElizzy

Hester wrote:

I'm thinking of weddings - reception always used to be at the bride's home.

Does this mean I'm posh OS? :rotfl:
When I was married my mum cooked a meal which we had at her house, my childhood home. Admittedly there was only 9 family members and a dog so that made the catering easier but I really couldn't see the point in hiring and hosting a huge party somewhere else - besides I think that would have been my idea of a hellish wedding!

moggins

Calley, I know exactly what you mean!! We pay £329 a month for our mortgage, it's a lovely sized house with 3 big bedrooms and a separate dining room, a cellar and 110 foot back garden. We couldn't even rent a bedsit for that.

I don't know what's going to happen in the future as DH is 10 years younger than me but after seeing the problems my parents are causing by refusing to even think about going into sheltered accommodation (even though they live in a council house) and they are both in their 80's with severe health problems, there is no way I am going to do that to my children and I'll be looking for a little bungalow or something as soon as I hit 65