Some people just seem to have unlimited money

Mupette

Worry about your own family's business not others.

Spidergirl76

Mupette wrote: »

Worry about your own family's business not others.

Thanks for your insightful words of wisdom

Spendless

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I only wish! Thank you for the suggestion.

But you see the last time we went out for a sit down meal was over 18 months ago before I was made redundant... and my DS wants to go to the 'Indian' we went to 2 years ago for DH Birthday, it was his first meal at a fancy resterant and he just loved it! He has his heart set on going, he's mentioned it a few times since then!

But he wanted to save and take me for my Birthday in April... While we were going to take him to Pizza Hut in June... so DH and I thought that since he had his heart set... that we would go halves

And you have to be impressed with a 9 year old who can save £30 of pocket money

You do indeed. Have you checked to see if the indian restaurant offers buffet nights or 'sunday lunch' buffets or any other offer such as kids eat free or free starters?

SingleSue

I used to get this at work, my hubby at the time was not on a huge amount and their partners were earning 3 times what he did....I and my colleagues earned the same.

They would say that we could afford the luxuries like Disneyland Paris because of the tax credits, so one night, we compared the incomes (including our tax credits). Turns out, even with adding in the tax credits, we still had in excess 20k less a year coming in (in one case, 40k less than one work mate) than they did...but had more excess income.

The reason? We went on holiday in a caravan in this country, at the time, £350 for the two weeks, our sofas were second hand, our car was a cheap one with no finance and our kitchen had cost us £50 out of the paper...oh and our designer labels came from charity shops, we never paid mor than £10 for an item of clothing although it looked like we spent an awful lot more.

Their outgoings on the other hand including 10k kitchens (on finance) renewed every 4-5 years, brand new or very young cars (on finance), conservatories (via loans), new sofas every 2 years (at least 3k each time) and they thought nothing of paying full price brand new for designer labels...they spent money like water on things that really didn't need the money spent on.

We just never subscribed to the have it all at any cost idea....we only ever purchased what we could pay cash for, no pennies for it meant no purchase and in the long run, more money which could be put away in savings for the 'extras' like the once in a lifetime trip to Disneyland. We didn't live to our means, our spending remained the same as it had been when our income was lower, so the extra from me working, was just that, extra.

Mupette

Spidergirl76 wrote: »

Thanks for your insightful words of wisdom

you asked for opinions, and i think you should have better things to worry about than what the Jones's have.

Spidergirl76

Mupette wrote: »

you asked for opinions, and i think you should have better things to worry about than what the Jones's have.

Yours wasn't an opinion, it was sheer blatant rudeness. Many have given opinions on this thread that have been useful and interesting to read. The abrupt few words that you wrote weren't an opinion, believe me!

robpw2

Spidergirl76 wrote: »

Yours wasn't an opinion, it was sheer blatant rudeness. Many have given opinions on this thread that have been useful and interesting to read. The abrupt few words that you wrote weren't an opinion, believe me!

i disagree what muppette said is a very fair valid opinion , instead of worrying about the jones why not just live your life to the full

Spidergirl76

robpw2 wrote: »

i disagree what muppette said is a very fair valid opinion , instead of worrying about the jones why not just live your life to the full

I do live my life to the full. I'm not bothered about keeping up with the Joneses. I am entitled to be curious about how they afford it all though.

JulieGeorgiana

Spendless wrote: »

You do indeed. Have you checked to see if the indian restaurant offers buffet nights or 'sunday lunch' buffets or any other offer such as kids eat free or free starters?

That was a great idea!

Just looked... and no

Obviously too fancy!

Oh well if you go once every 2.5 years I suppose you can pay full price

adelight

Credit? I don't actually know many families who have a lot of debt, more ones that have really nice houses but then have no money for holidays or anything to put in their big houses!
A lot of people are just born into money, the family have nest eggs ready for them or they inherit from relatives. A close friend of mine is 23 and has several 100k, all the children in the family do as they inherited it from wealthy grandparents. They've gone through university living off the interest and will buy houses as soon as they graduate, they've never had to worry about money and never will, they don't even try that hard at uni because they know they won't need an amazing job to afford a nice house. They already have the money for one! I must admit that I do occasionally get a bit jealous, not so much of the amount of the money, but that they never have to worry and are basically set for life. When their parents die, they'll inherit close to half a mill which will in turn help their children. One once lectured to me that I would have more disposable income if I invested my money and I almost decked her, she doesn't realise that the average student is forced to live off credit even when they do work a lot and budget like I do.

ETA: HAA I just realised that my parents are one of those couples that seem very well off, people think they've won the lottery as for the last few years they've gone on a nice holiday or cruise every few months and done the house up with nice furniture. Actually they just paid off the mortgage on their modest house, get cruises 75% off last minute and only buy from quality outlet stores so things last 10-20 years.