pressure today.

Buzzybee90

Caroline_a wrote: »

I do think that in those days people took what jobs they could get - there was a stigma about being out of work that isn't always present today. Additionally people have more 'things'. I was a child in the 60s but when I got my first house in the late 70s all my furniture was second hand, passed down from relatives. We didn't buy new until we could afford it outright.

Also we had very little of the technology that is so much a part of life today, if you were lucky you had a colour tv - black and whites were still quite common though. Some people had "stereos", but that was it. No Ipads, mobiles, computers, etc etc. So you didn't need to earn as much. Going out for a meal was a very rare occurrence, normally birthdays or anniversaries, all food was home cooked from scratch as it was a lot cheaper.

If people "need" more money for these sort of things then they will "expect" to have to earn more, and won't be content with a cleaning or sweeping up job, which many people did back then to make ends meet.

There's still a stigma, I feel anyway. Not being unemployed but still paying your way, but living off benefits.

FBaby

I don't expect there were many families working only 24 hours a week that could afford decent accommodation, nice meals, clothing, school trips, a car and even holidays in those time. Either both worked, or when only one did, it was rarely under 40 hours a week.

thorsoak

The pressures are different to those we experienced in the 1960s, as were the expectations.

For instance, in the early 1960s, we lived under the very real threat of total nuclear war - in 1962, I can remember wondering if we would even live to be married (look up the Cuban Missile crisis -it was really worrying). We were lucky enough to get one of the first 100% mortgages from the then London County Council just before we married in 1963, and moved in happily with a second-hand bed, a new cooker and a kitchen tale & chairs which cost £5.5s.0d plus two old armchairs from my parents. Jobs were easily accessible - working in the city in London meant that there were almost as many job agencies as there were jobs - we could walk out of one job on a Friday afternoon and start another on the Monday morning.

We didn't have another holiday after our week's honeymoon on the Norfolk Broads for two years - and the only weekends away were spent with our families - and when we had baby no 1 3 years after we married, we sold our old car in order to buy his pram!

Today, expectations and pressure on young couples are much, much higher - and I do think that we had the better time.

trailingspouse

Go back to a time without automatic washing machines and dishwashers? To all the pollution caused by lead in petrol and factories pumping out god knows what? Where married women weren't really expected to do anything other than be housewives (or possibly nurses or teachers)? Where houses were so cold the inside of the windows would freeze over because there was no double glazing or central heating?

I'm old enough to remember all of that - give me the 21st century any day.

valk_scot

I may be off on the exact date but a mother didn't have any rights to say where the children of a marriage were educated, it was the father's decision till 1967. There was no decent contraception unless you were married and abortion hadn't been legalised, it was either backstreet stuff or suffer the stigma of being an unmarried mother. Or marry the bloke that had done it of course. Women got paid far less, sexual harassment was rife and you were expected to leave your job when you got married and stay at home to look after the kids. Mortgage? If you found a bank prepared to lend to you then you'd better have your dad ready to act as guarantor. Girls even got less pocket money, my OH tells tales of getting 6d a week from his gran while his sister, a year older, got 3d.

starrystarry

notanewuser wrote: »

You've been unemployed for at least 7 years, OP and appear happy to remain so for the forseeable. Exactly what pressure are you under?

7 years! No wonder the job centre are on OP's back. I can't see how it's possible to be unemployed for 7 years if you actually want a job. I know it's hard nowadays, but 7 years? Come on.

notanewuser

starrystarry wrote: »

7 years! No wonder the job centre are on OP's back. I can't see how it's possible to be unemployed for 7 years if you actually want a job. I know it's hard nowadays, but 7 years? Come on.

AT LEAST. Taking the p15s, this one!

claire21

I'm not to sure what pressure you are talking about?

It can't be your life as you have a car, sky tv , a tablet, a short uk holiday and were thinking about a Siamese cat...

Do you mean pressure as in you are expected to find work and stop claiming benefits?

Or do you mean pressure some people have when have absolutely nothing and no way out of what must be a bleak situation ?

Just asking?

j.e.j.

red_devil wrote: »

Oh and i were talking about how life is much harder today and people are under so much pressure and no wonder people snap.

He grew up in the 60s. He said people met someone, married and it was so much more easier to get a house than it is today. Councils werent beseiged with requests for housing.

He briefly signec on for a few months while he wad between jobs and he said it was easier than it is today. You had a card stampef and uou got your money there and then. There wasnt all this jobseekers allowance rubbish and being put under pressure. You were unemployec and you were paid.

There were other things as well. Thought it was an interesting discussion. Why is life so pressurised. Its not suprising people snap sometimes.

You're probably talking about the baby boomer generation. Yes they did have it a lot easier, but try telling them that

meer53

I don't have any pressures in my life. I'm a single parent with 2 children. I have a full time job, own my own house and have a car.

I have a full time job so that i can have the house and the car and feed and clothe my family. I manage to save enough for a holiday every couple of years.

It's not difficult, you should try it OP.