Years gone by

Pobby

Just thinking. In the 50`s, when I was a small child it was uncommon for Mothers to go out to work. Yet people were able to purchase a house on one income, have kids, a telly and a car. I had plenty like that in my family in the South East. Not grotty over priced studio flats, but decent senis and detached.

My dear Dad bought a brand new car in 1965, however it was , I think, £700. When I was 25 ish, mid 70`s, I was earning £6k a year. My Mum was amazed. Tbh honest, Dad was a railway engineer, retired in 1975, and never earnt anything like that.

I rarely see this now. Just about everyone I know has both couples at work. Kids or not.

It is fine talking about the average wage but I know lots that are no where near it.

I was , I think, 25 when we bought our first semi. Inflation, including wage inflation, just took the debt away. I see inflation at a point that is not fully taken in to account by the government. To leave the massive HPI out of the equation, to me, is almost criminal.

0.5% is not about the economy doing well. It is about financial survival. Even so, the banks are having a field day. Not paying savers but shafting people who borrow.

I can see what it has done to savings and pensions.

Here is a baby boomer that says the old days were far better.

Davesnave

I have mixed feelings about the 'good old days,' but maybe that's because I suffered some hard times as a child.

For a while, we had the nice semi and the car, but the safe, comfy image of the 50s & 60s proved somewhat fragile in our case. I'm bu99ered if I'd go back there......

.....although it was pretty good at the Marquee Club in 68/9!

PasturesNew

My mum always worked: part-time jobs in canteens and offices. I remember my older sister would look after us during the summer holidays, but once I got to 10-11 it gets a bit hazy... we moved house and mum got a new job, but I think that might have been term-time only, but I can't be sure.

I know my dad paid £40 for our car in the early 1970s. He was 40 when he bought his first house, unheated, single-glazed, really froze your nads off in winter when there was ice on the inside of the windows. We only had heating in the living room, rest of the house you just froze your nads off.

Dad's money paid for the mortgage/bills/commute. I think mum's paid for food/household goods/clothes/holidays. Clothes were mostly 2nd hand from her friends though, holidays cost about £15 for a 1950s caravan in a farmer's back field.

Most of our furniture was old/2nd hand even when my parents were 50-60... they still have the wardrobes/drawers that I remember them having in the 1960s (and they weren't new then).

wymondham

PasturesNew wrote: »

My mum always worked: part-time jobs in canteens and offices. I remember my older sister would look after us during the summer holidays, but once I got to 10-11 it gets a bit hazy... we moved house and mum got a new job, but I think that might have been term-time only, but I can't be sure.

I know my dad paid £40 for our car in the early 1970s. He was 40 when he bought his first house, unheated, single-glazed, really froze your nads off in winter when there was ice on the inside of the windows. We only had heating in the living room, rest of the house you just froze your nads off.

Dad's money paid for the mortgage/bills/commute. I think mum's paid for food/household goods/clothes/holidays. Clothes were mostly 2nd hand from her friends though, holidays cost about £15 for a 1950s caravan in a farmer's back field.

Most of our furniture was old/2nd hand even when my parents were 50-60... they still have the wardrobes/drawers that I remember them having in the 1960s (and they weren't new then).

excellent post. Can you see many people these days putting up with a cold house, 2nd hand clothes ... peoples expectations have risen sharply and so have the costs to fund these expectations.

maryotuam

Imagine being sensible enough not to get into debt in the first place (not me unfortunately but I never let it get out of hand) and living an MSE type lifestyle. Imagine not getting dragged into the mad consumer lifestyle. So much more of our earned income would be our own and not squandered away on interest payments. Also imagine being content with second hand furniture and even clothes until we were able to afford new.

If we can encourage our youngsters not to make the mistakes we have been lured into making, then their life could be much richer and more fulfilling despite the recession.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Pobby wrote: »

the old days were far better.

Nonsense.

In the 60's, it took my parents two full time incomes and a gifted deposit to buy a house, and even then it was heating in one room only, single glazing, horrible decor, second hand furniture, cold, drafty and damp, etc.

Interest rates were high, taxes higher, costs of food and clothes higher as well, and they could barely afford anything for a decade, even though inflation did raise incomes, they were always a year behind the cost increases.

Then in the 70's you had endless union unrest, the winter of discontent, strikes all the time, rubbish piling up in the streets, bodies piling up in the mortuary, 3 day week, rolling power cuts, and general misery.

The 80's brought another recession, and the 90's too, with the house price crash and resultant misery from reposessions running at twice todays levels, the mass unemployment higher than today, the youth unemployment that cost a generation their opportunity early in life, etc.

Anyone that thinks the "old days" were better is delusional.

ukcarper

Pobby wrote: »

Just thinking. In the 50`s, when I was a small child it was uncommon for Mothers to go out to work. Yet people were able to purchase a house on one income, have kids, a telly and a car. I had plenty like that in my family in the South East. Not grotty over priced studio flats, but decent senis and detached.

My dear Dad bought a brand new car in 1965, however it was , I think, £700. When I was 25 ish, mid 70`s, I was earning £6k a year. My Mum was amazed. Tbh honest, Dad was a railway engineer, retired in 1975, and never earnt anything like that.

I rarely see this now. Just about everyone I know has both couples at work. Kids or not.

It is fine talking about the average wage but I know lots that are no where near it.

I was , I think, 25 when we bought our first semi. Inflation, including wage inflation, just took the debt away. I see inflation at a point that is not fully taken in to account by the government. To leave the massive HPI out of the equation, to me, is almost criminal.

0.5% is not about the economy doing well. It is about financial survival. Even so, the banks are having a field day. Not paying savers but shafting people who borrow.

I can see what it has done to savings and pensions.

Here is a baby boomer that says the old days were far better.

How many people?

I was bought up in one of the most affluent parts of the South but in a working class family. Very few of my friend’s families owned a car let alone a new car or even considered buying a house. Although my dad had a reasonable job we didn’t have hot water, bathroom or an inside toilet. It might have been easy for a professional person but not for ordinary working class people.

mystic_trev

Pobby wrote: »

Here is a baby boomer that says the old days were far better.

Ditto! My parents struggled to bring us up and pay the mortgage on a three bed semi. Dad used to have to repair and service the 'old bangers' we had and didn't get a new car until he was in his 50's. Holidays were a rare thing, and I didn't go abroad until I was 18

I left school in 71 with three 'O levels' and started work in the City. Today I'd need a good Degree and have to pass Professional qualifications as well.

Retired nearly 15 years ago, aged 42 :j

ukcarper

mystic_trev wrote: »

Ditto! My parents struggled to bring us up and pay the mortgage on a three bed semi. Dad used to have to repair and service the 'old bangers' we had and didn't get a new car until he was in his 50's. Holidays were a rare thing, and I didn't go abroad until I was 18

I left school in 71 with three 'O levels' and started work in the City. Today I'd need a good Degree and have to pass Professional qualifications as well.

Retired nearly 15 years ago, aged 42 :j

I agree lots of things were better especially the opportunities that were available to you if you left school at 16 with few qualifications. I left in 1966 with 1 O level but manage to get an apprenticeship and went on to get good qualifications in electronics, I believe that was the main advantage of being a babyboomer.

iolanthe07

You only needed 5 GCE's (2 of them at A Level) to be articled to a solicitor or accountant in those days, but it helped if your dad could afford to pay a hefty premium, and you didn't get paid for the first couple of years. Lots of teachers were non-graduates too. Of course, GCE's even at O level were a lot harder than their so-called equivalent now.

kabayiri

Pobby wrote: »

...
Here is a baby boomer that says the old days were far better.

I'm not sure we have a sustainable society right now. I think it was more sustainable in years gone by. That doesn't mean it was better in all respects.

Do we really need a new mobile phone every year, and a television in every room? If the cost of that is both parents commuting 25 miles+ to work and not seeing their kids until 7pm, and then being too tired to ask about their day, is that progress?

The concept of Dave's "Big Society" is a bit too sound bite-ish with a lack of substance, but it seems there is a recognition that we have lost some direction as a society.