'What's a necessity in modern living?' poll discussion

macavity

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I didn't tick this as the internet is easily accessible in public libraries.

my library only allows a free half-hour after which it cost £2 per half hour which i think is a lot - you really cant get much done in half an hour, certainly not homework

rag31

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I must admit I'm surprised by "washing machine" appearing so highly - after all many people use launderettes

Martin, having done 3 washes last week at a launderette and spending over £20 including drying off the worst of the water - it makes NO financial sense for a family to do that instead of get a washing machine.

As a family of 6 we do around 6 washes a week and would need to spend between £30 and £40 - which equates to over £1000 a year!!! Typically it will be those who can't afford the inital outlay for a basic washing machine who will end up paying more than those with more money. Like everything else (banking, utility meters, public transport etc)

rag31

macavity wrote: »

i was in two minds whether to tick the mobile phone and the computer options, i feel they are not essential but do make life very much easier - the phone box in my village doesnt work except for free phone numbers and i rent, so dont have a land line, and people cant ask to use their neighbours phones like in the 'olden' days. having an internet enabled pc saves time and money on other purchases and saves the environment (i feel) in that you dont have to drive here and there to fetch what you need, and as a single mum it makes life much easier. my pc setup cost me a fiver on ebay so it neednt cost that much either.

when my washing machine broke down the nearest i could find was twenty minutes drive away and it was really really expensive. i have lived without central heating before but it was a cold and miserable existence and i got carbon monoxide poisoning from the calor gas heaters i was using. ive also lived without hot water and just boiled a kettle, but that is not very nice either. so you can do it, but at a personal discomfort that is uneccesary these days.

I have also lived without heating, without a washing machine and without hot water. In this case the freezing cold in winter and the damp from the ever-drying clothes around the house led to mould spores and increased breathing difficulties. In THIS country heating is a necessity - whatever kind it is.

BigMummaF

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I must admit I'm surprised by "washing machine" appearing so highly - after all many people use launderettes

I too, am in favour of households having their own machines. I am fortunate in some respects that our local washetteria is within walking distance but with a family sized laundry it would be one helluva struggle three or four times a week Plus I use their larger machines every now & again to do the duvets, pillows & things but lately have wondered if it's worth the expense as the items rarely look--& can even smell worse--better after their bath!

A phone of some description is a necessity for all sorts of reasons, primarily those occasions you need to make an appointment with the doctor & have to "ring in the morning after 8" :mad: I can see a mobile is useful for those times you need instant contact--e.g from the school--& carry one myself but unlike The Offspring, mine is just for emergencies!

As for folk making sweeping statements, I also agree that people should stop & think before assuming everyone has access to facilities you have available to you. As an example, we don't have Ald!, !kea, F@rmf00ds, etc, etc, etc down here in my neck of the woods so a greater proportion of my household budget is swallowed up in the food bill. We are supposed to be equal, but in the Real World we know there will always be the haves & the have nots so a little consideration of other people's situations will go a long, long way.

pollypenny

Re central heating, and over-lapping with those threads criticising we 'oldies' for hogging all the riches, when OH and I bought our first house we could not afford the central heating option! it was £500 dearer and would have made the mortgage unaffordable.

We managed - god knows how, though!

HeidiHi

We're all moneysavers and not given to frivolous frittering...And here we are, all reading and posting away on here outside of standard library opening hours.

So it's reasonable to assume that we consider a computer with internet access to be a necessity for us?

But strangely some of us don't think it's a necessity for other people? Specifically families with school age children?

It's not realistic to send your children to the public library after school and on weekends. Ours is a bus ride away, in an unsafe area, it's expensive and over subscribed.

Can you even be a moneysaver without your own computer & internet? Bargain hunting, price comparisons and going paperless and managing our accounts online have saved us thousands. Not to mention a very cheap online social life.

You can spot the teenagers who don't have a computer at home round our way. They're the ones hanging around on street corners at night. I prefer my kids indoors hanging out on MSN instead.

Don't you have to have a home telephone number in order to sign up for some things?

11% (at time of writing) don't believe a cooker to be a necessity? :eek:

Even though I don't personally have a mobile phone a games console or central heating, I can imagine that to someone else in different circumstances they would be essential to someone's health, safety or happiness. Satellite or cable could even be a necessity if a normal aerial set up doesn't work in your area.

I can't imagine that anybody who works and has a family could survive long without their own washing machine. Imagine if you had a bed wetter or one still in nappies?! :eek: There are 5 of us and I do about twenty loads a week. At £4.50 a time that's a lot of money. Washing it at the launderette would equate to a 25 hour a week part time job and surely it's better to earn than spend? My launderette is in the next town over which is a £4.76 return bus ride. (With smell washing one way and wet washing the other.)

In fact the only ones I don't consider a necessity are a dishwasher but it would come in handy if you haven't got hot water, and a microwave, but again, it would come in handy if you have no proper cooker.

I have survived for a time without many of the things on this list, but if we're talking about normal modern life then most of them are necessities depending on circumstances.

Reverbe

rag31 wrote: »

Hot water, central heating, cooker, fridge freezer and washing machine. Everything else is 'nice to have' but not really necessary.

However if you don't have these items then the cost of providing the 'necessity' (e.g. hot water, heating, cooked food, fresh food and clean clothes) goes through the roof and leave the family worse off financially.

Exactly what I put

Reverbe

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I must admit I'm surprised by "washing machine" appearing so highly - after all many people use launderettes

Martin with respect laundrettes are a dying breed. I live in London and my washing machine broke. I cannot afford to replace it and to do a load of laundry costs as follows

2 bus fares to get there and also 2 to get back
a minimum of £5(!!!) for a load
if using the dryer _ an option that is more or less enforced ( I would dry at home normally on rail over bath and clothes horses) another £2 at least

taking my own powder and conditioner cuts some of the cost but still this is comparison to approx 50p for a full load using my own washing machine at home.

Washing machines are cheaper and more time efficient and this is only for someone who has to do one load a fortnight etc... I dread to think what those with families/small children woudl spend in laundrettes!!

LadyGooGoo_2

It would be very interesting to know if those people who don't believe cookers, washing machines, hot water, heating etc are necessities are living without them themselves?

I have everything on the list except for a dishwasher, a microwave, a games console, and central heating but I don't have school age children.

I ticked everything except dishwasher. My reasons have already been posted by others so I won't reiterate them.

Re: The washing machine. I live alone and still manage to accrue six or seven loads a week - more in winter. Sometimes I can hardly carry it all to the kitchen, so I can't imagine having to carry it to the bus stop, and then at the other end struggle with it to the launderette.

That kind of hardship is what I find "unnecessary" in this day and age.

ScarletBea

beer_tins wrote: »

I would say that heating is essential, but not necessarily central heating! shame there is no option for that.

That was my understanding when voting too, so I didn't include central heating.