Old Finances (back in the day)

luxor4t

DH grew up in a small town in the Scottish borders.

They had a first floor "house" (flat) with three rooms - a living room with a sink & cooker in a cupboard, a double bed room and a single bedroom -he shared a single bed with his brother till he was 9 then they had bunks. There was no bathroom and they had their own toilet on the communal staircase for day time and potties at night. There was a shared yard and a wash-house outside. MiL thought well of herself as they were a 'private' rent rather than council tenants!
He was 12 before they had a bathroom, 13 before they rented a TV and 15 before they had a fridge. (MiL & FiL both worked, but cigarettes were a major expense it seems.)

Just in case you are wondering, he's 55.

modern_millie_2

Looking forward to reading this thread.

30 years ago, me and my then boyfriend (now DH) had just left Uni and had our first flat together. It was one large room sub divided into kitchen, bedroom and living room. There were 2 bathrooms between 16 flats (!!!!) and we paid £90 per month in rent. It was so cold in winter the pipes froze for about 2 weeks. I had a clerical job with the NHS on £3,500 a year. DH had a temp job, then was out of work for about 5 months. My wages were made up with £5 a week in benefits, so we must have been poor! We had an old Morris 1800 that we went out in sometimes to get warm (am I drifting into Monty Python territory here?). I don't remember never having enough to eat. DH could afford to smoke real ciggarettes in those days - now rolls his own. We shared a payphone with everyone else in the building. I think we were better off when we were students, because we both had full grants! Those were the days.

After about a year we were earning enough between us to afford a mortgage on a terraced house, parents helped out with the deposit. We had lodgers for the first year to help out, and second hand furniture. We were perfectly happy and considered ourselves lucky to have jobs and a roof, and not to be in debt. We had a budget wedding and our honeymoon was a week in a caravan in North Wales, off season - try suggesting that to any prospective newlyweds now!

THIRZAH

We were married in 1977. My wedding dress cost £29!. My mother and her friends catered for the wedding reception in the village hall, my grandma and aunt did the flowers in the church(and got asked to do a couple more weddings as a result), my grandad grew te flowers, a friend played the organ and my uncle drove us to the church.My mother pointed out at the time that if I hadn't been so inconsiderate as to marry a Catholic in a Catholic church instead of the village chapel we could have got my cousin who's a minister to marry us!

Our first home was in a rented flat, two rooms and a shared bathroom. It also had slugs as my husband discovered when he got up to go to the loo in the night and stood on one.

DH was still doing accountancy articles at the time.They didn't pay much in those days. His salary just covered the rent and his bus fares. I was earing more but was working 50 miles away so a third of my salary went on fares. On the Saturday after pay day we'd go out and buy a months meat(we had a freezer for a wedding present) a cook large batches of chilli, pasta sauce etc.

If we had a lttle money to spare we'd go to an Italian restaurant in Manchester and have a pizza and a glass of wine-never more than one course.

It was a real struggle at times as DH had to wear suits for work and I had to dress smartly .

butterflylady131

Wow, I can't believe so many people have posted. I'm loving reading these stories.
And yes, I do believe that priorities have changed. We are no longer the people and communities we once were. Road Rage and Anti Social Behaviour and are now commonplace in our world. And we seem to have forgotton our way. I wonder if we faced a global catastrophe, how would we cope? Would we band together and provide support and reassurance? Or would it be, each to their own?
I discovered recently that our council has a Noise Team! To report loud anti social noises such as parties, fights etc. There would have been none of this in my dad's day, as if there had been any parties, all the neighbours would have been invited. There would have been no one to complain!
It makes me sad, for what has been, and what could be again, if only the world wasn't filled with such greed and envy.
It makes me glad though that there are people like you (and me!) who want to keep the old style ways alive, that we won't get beat by global multi national corporations, we won't get ground down and stood upon and that we know the value of our pound, and how to use it wisely.
So, reading all this has made me decide. I am on a mission to improve the quality of my life, for me, and my daughter. I will not rely on supermarkets or huge corporations to provide me with products and services I don't need. I will stand up for myself, and learn to live old style as much as I can. And not because it's the "trendy" thing to do, but because I believe wholeheartedly in it.

Now......where's my pinny?:D

Wee_Pilsbury

I was born in 1966 and can remember loads of things including the change-over to decimal money :eek:.

In our council flat there was no central heating; just a coal fire in the living room. Come winter time, there was thick ice on the inside of the bedroom windows and I can remember my mother wearing a hat in bed (plus a few other layers as well of course )

I can't remember exactly when we had a fridge but I know we didn't have a freezer until I was about 12. I remember Smedleys Sausage Rolls in tins - once you squeezed them out of the tin you baked them in the oven - and cans of soft drinks that had no ring pulls. To get your pop out of the can you had to pierce 2 holes in it with a special tool - this let the pop flow out.

Ah those were the days - loving this thread

Gigervamp

Ooh, another thing I've just remembered! My nan used to knit me bed-jackets. Anyone remember those?

valentina

Oh yes, I had a bed jacket, it was green and I think it was crochet...
I also had a crocheted poncho!!!!!!!

ChocClare

notatvstar wrote: »

When we 'messeaged' each other what we used to do instead of FAceAche, was to bluetack a clean piece of A4 on our door when we went out, together with a pencil (not a pen - as that would get nicked). If anyone wanted to get in touch with you they would leave a scribbled message on your door...

The looks of horror I get from them are amazing!

This brought back SO many memories! I can remember nicking bits of bluetack from various doors so I could fix a message to friends who were out and who had inconsiderately LOCKED their door!

I moved to Bloomsbury straight after college; we lived in a garret just behind the British Museum. Our door entry system consisted of opening the window and chucking the keys out to visitors four storeys below

notatvstar

valentina wrote: »

Oh yes, I had a bed jacket, it was green and I think it was crochet...
I also had a crocheted poncho!!!!!!!

... OH NO! not the crochet. I had to wear a crochet skirt to school. I have never forgiven my Mum. It was a 'woman's weekly' special.

The horror.

<starts crying>

ani_26

Wee_Pilsbury wrote: »

cans of soft drinks that had no ring pulls. To get your pop out of the can you had to pierce 2 holes in it with a special tool - this let the pop flow out.

Ah those were the days - loving this thread

This just reminded me of cremola foam