[Closed] Modern life - all about the £?

2. - I always do my train bookings over the phone.

Overall though, I think we've all been conditioned - mostly by TV - to expect more. More of everything. So, we are struggling to get everything with our normal income, hence trying to get it all cheap.

I hate to admit it, but I would be happier if I had more money. It's horrible, but true.

3. Seemingly everything bought (by those of us with moderate incomes) on price and price alone.

I agree. I really want to replace my broken iphone 3gs, but am struggling to justify the doubling of my monthly payment. If I could stay on £17 per month I'd get one tomorrow.

But on the other hand, people point and laugh at our 32" widescreen CRT and say we should replace it. But why? It works really well.

I used to work with a guy who's favourite phrase was 'the bean counters rule the world'. I wrote it off as him being a middle aged cynic.

But slowly I'm realising that he is right. At the end of the day, everything boils down to finances. Not wrongs or rights, not truth, not justice, just money. So Jessie J is most certainly wrong.

Its not [i]just[/i] about the $$$$, don't forget about the hoes, drugs & fast cars too ❗

PS: P O W E R is really where its always been at!

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The £ (without grafting for it) and the obsession with needless crap. I would also add the unrelenting selfishness of 99% of the populace and their unstinting belief in 'their' rights.

Can you imagine a world without money?
Can you imagine a world without love?

[I think there is a song in this somewhere]

If someone asked me I'd say I could quite happily live on half our income and without all my nice things. I kind of realised Ive been lying to myself over this while I was at the checkout in dunelm for the third time in as many weeks having spent another £150 on stuff that really is just frivolous crap but makes my house feel nice. Everything is money orientated these days.

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Yep as I get older things mean less time means more.

I often think that if I never saw another advert for anything ever, I would be so, so much better off.

@ ska49,
there is a lot of truth in that quote.
i often think how nice it would be to (for example) win the lottery, or at least have a bit more money than i do now, but speaking to other folk tells me that most people want 'a bit more' than they have.
i think the truth is more like, 'i was happier when i didnt have to think about money at all'
truthfully, if i won £100m on the euromillions i would probably give most of it away to family/friends.

the truth is more like, 'i was happier when i didnt have to think about money at all'
truthfully, if i won £100m on the euromillions i would probably give most of it away to family/friends.

oh nice.. share the misery why don't you..!! 😉

Given the amount of threads on here whinging about how people who do job x/y/z earn too much/don't do enough hours/don't contribute to the economy then you would have to say there is a fair amount of truth in the thread title

ska...an amazing image. Where is it from?

lol @ yunki, and you mate, id give you some too lol.

Duggan - Member

I often think that if I never saw another advert for anything ever, I would be so, so much better off

Get yourself to Cuba. I went there a couple of years ago and it was so refreshing to be somewhere where you're not bombarded with inane adverts.

I saw it on some ones blog and I love it. Thought I should share the idea. Think I'll get it printed.

Makes me feel bad for pursuing a career in oil and gas but I may try and follow the EM side of it. Im still at Uni and I am so grateful that I dont have to pay taxes and other costs to the same extent as an 'adult'. Still burying my head in the sand somewhat.

Went into law for the money. Discoevered that, while the money is there, it's only available for a few, and it's insanely hard work on the way.

A lack of time has always been made up for with money, but TBH I can always find ways to spend far more than I have.

And that's the point - if you let your guard down, you find yourself handing over money for a more and more complicated - but no more sophisticated - lifestyle.

Need to adjust my attitude to the conveyor belt.

Overall though, I think we've all been conditioned - mostly by TV - to expect more. More of everything. So, we are struggling to get everything with our normal income, hence trying to get it all cheap.

I agree with all this. I am trying to get a stress free (or at least less) life and work less so I can spend more time doing the things I want to and to. See my family grow up. Unfortunately my wife wants a bigger house and spends too much on clothes/food. Whereas I am trying my hardest to pay off our mortgage so we can be free of debt and stress.

What's the point...

johndoh,does your wife work?

i'm lucky, we live on benefits, so we don't have issues with too much money

😆

Yes she does - part time because our children are pre-school age.

Money is fine - I earn plenty, I spend plenty more. It can bring happiness, it can bring misery. When it becomes an obsession, it becomes a problem. Don't lose sight of the really important things and let it take over your life and it isn't a problem. I earn money, I spend money, I have debt - I rarely get worked up about it though.

I spent my first 14 yrs of work underpayed and doing 50 hours a week, I then went self employed and then earned a slightly above average wage for 55 hours a week.

I'm now father to a 21 month old boy, I'm 41 and have cut my hours to 41 a week.

So I have earnt a crap wage, a half decent wage and a now I earn less again. I have never cared about fancy stuff and my only loan apart from mortgages was for 3 yrs of fast motorbikes, the fact that I needed a loan proved that I couldn't afford them!

At the end of year you will remember the time spent with friends and family doing great stuff not the new handlebars/shoes/car you bought...

Trains are a good example.

When the train network was created, it was all private enterprise, and only the rich could travel. Normal people could afford one trip a year, to the seaside. And the rest of the time they had to walk.

So maybe modern life is LESS about the money than it has been.

People all over the world have children from the wealthiest to poorest and no real economic reason for having kids for either.It's the reason why we are all able to comment on here.Don't give up on everyone just yet.The future isn't ours .

I've been thinking about this and the "does money make you happy" thing for a while. Whilst having no money to survive is just plain impossible, I think there is never a limit where "if only you hard a little bit more, it would be so much better". Whatever you had or have it's never quite enough.

I certainly think the old adage "money doesn't make you happy" has a ring of truth about it. But it depends on where you think you are on the wealth scale. Someone who doesn't have enough to cover the basics will certainly agree more would be better. But what about someone who has, say £40k a year. They will definately cover the basics and still more than enough for the nice things. But do they need the nicer things than they already have? They will be in a position to be wanting the even nicer things, and so starts the "if only I had a little bit more, everything would OK" cycle.

By earning your way to more wealth, I don't think you would ever break the cycle. By winning the Euromillions multi-rollover, going from an average income to becoming a multi-millionaire, would "solve" all of the wants and desires. But it would just bring other worries and stresses.

Mind, I would like to try it out for a bit, just to see. 😉

Money doesn't make you happy obviously, but it does enable you to do lots of fun stuff which in turn can make you happy.

Reminds me of this.. (apologies if posted before!)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/sep/14/do-britons-feel-rich-poor

Dunno, I reckon people need to feel happy within themselves. No amount of money can buy that.

It can, if your burning desire is to travel the world. No money, no travelling.

Or, say, you meet the love of your life and they live a long way away. The money to buy travel tickets will be the money that buys you a good chunk of happiness 🙂

No, you just have to get real. We all need to learn some humility.

Money doesn't make you happy obviously, but it does enable you to do lots of fun stuff which in turn can make you happy.

At the other end of the scale it also keeps you in the basics of life. Not quite that serious, but my wife found out that one of her relatives could be spending winter (where winter = -30C) in an unsealed property because she couldn't afford to fix the windows.

One thing I have realised getting older (41 next month :D) time is more important than money.

[b]BUT[/b] to enjoy that time how you wish, you need the money 😯

Aye, money gives you time. You just need to understand when to stop earning it and when to start spending it.

I like that this thread-
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/will-i-ever-have-disposable-income-again

Is right underneath this one!
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It's how everyone's thinking right now. Just about to go to bed.. before starting another week of the daily grind. ;O)

I never go on holiday. I can't be bothered dealing with the hassle (i know it could probably be no hassle at all if it was done right,but I'd consider it a right hassle no matter what!) so I just laze about here in the highlands and go biking locally. On a nice day I could be in heaven on the bike,over the west,listening to my music.. pottering along at my own pace. Not a soul in sight. All for the price of fuel (7 quid if that) and a few energy bars to keep me going.

Todays ride was only 19 miles from home and I rode some new singletrack that brought me out onto a beach. A beach I have been on many times but the trail spat me out at a different part of it. I wasn't expecting to end up so close to the beach as I thought I was further inland so it was quite a nice surprise to be greeted with the scene,blue sky,nobody around,some very fitting music.. and a warmth in the air that nobody was really expecting today. Again,£5 quid fuel and 2 energy gels.

:::shrugs::: :O/ :O)

^like^

I really don't want my life to be all about the money in whatever way. but of course it is. when I work 160 hrs over 4 weeks for a corporation for 4 years on a 22 hr a week contract, but making up the hours on random shifts, just to get by. I'd like to think that company saw me as a hard worker willing to do whatever it takes. So I'm on a 33 hr contract now, still working full time (+40 p/w ) and more hrs.
Why don't they just contract me a full time job??

you on night shift ?

no

These guys have got the right idea.

you know the answer to that one , is there a union in your w/place, if its gmb your goose d --- nothing worse than grafting and being undervalued-- i doubt that they give two hoots about you as an individual, not personal its just how big corps work

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From the OP on everything is about the price - value seems to have gone out of the window.

Cheaper is better even if it's not as good or the support is missing.

If STW is to be believed everything costs too much, everyone else earns too much 🙂

Yeah, but my moanday morning dilema is whether to spec Engineered wooden plank flooring or to go for parquet flooring.
Oak, or course.

Damn !.
😉

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The thing is, half of that isn't true.

Once you've experienced losing the lot, material possession wise, it tends to sort out your perspective on things, going forward.

Got a roof over your head? 3 meals a day? Friends and family around you? Yes? Stop whining then.

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off to photoshop some armchair philosophy onto a funky background

I agree. Today people seem to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Its the rat race, and it is designed by the high-ups to keep us suppressed and preoccupied with [i]having more[/i].

I know what that feels like. Just yesterday (yes thats right, Sunday...) I stood in a store holding yet another item I had thought I [i]needed[/i].

I stood there, looked at the box in my hand, looked back at the shelf, at the next model up in the range, for only £5 more...........

I then put the box back on the shelf and walked out. I decided that I didn't need another thing to clutter up my life / apartment yet [i]another[/i] possession. I decided instead that I'd make do with what I already have.

And in future, I'm going to start reducing what I own. You know, the stuff that owns me....

;0)

off to photoshop some armchair philosophy onto a funky background

Wow I wish I could be as cool and cynical as you.

Never said I agreed with all of it, but I like the old codger and think he makes some interesting points, so there.

It's how everyone's thinking right now. Just about to go to bed.. before starting another week of the daily grind. ;O)

If none of the above applies then the outlook is a bit more rosey

Just wear the right clothing (or being self employed wait for a ride break midweek and go for a ride in better weather) 🙂

I am seeing all of this from the other side too - I have such a materialistic sister in law. She drives me up the wall - even went as far as asking us how much the play kitchen we bought for our girls' birthday cost (commenting something like 'Ohh that looks very expensive - how much did it cost you?'. Like it is any of her business.

And recently she has announced she 'needs' an Audi Q7 (even though they only have 3 children) because 'I might have to ferry their friends around too'.

Everything she does and says comes across as a competition and I really can't be arsed with it or her. We buy our girls new shoes, she gets some for her kids, my wife buys a new coat, she does, we get a new car (company car) so they get one (more expensive of course).

I want to kill her to death, horrible excuse for a life that she is.

Get yourself to Cuba. I went there a couple of years ago and it was so refreshing to be somewhere where you're not bombarded with inane adverts

[url= http://www.visitcuba.com ]This ^^^^[/url]

and I do wonder if those rebellious young rock and roll stars would be so supportive if we were to sneak into their concerts without paying.

and before you ask... yes, i am

work less, buy less stuff, don't concern yourself with what other people own.

don't concern yourself with what other people own

don't concern yourself with what other people [s]own[/s]do

nothing worse than grafting and being undervalued-- i doubt that they give two hoots about you as an individual, not personal its just how big corps work

and...

I stood there, looked at the box in my hand, looked back at the shelf, at the next model up in the range, for only £5 more...........

I then put the box back on the shelf and walked out. I decided that I didn't need another thing to clutter up my life / apartment yet another possession. I decided instead that I'd make do with what I already have.

...this. After thinking aboutr a thread I'd posted last week (about an employee assuming credit for my work, which turned into a career progression thread), my recent desire to upgrade my iphone 3GS, and the fact I was a bad dad yesterday (didn't go to a B'day party with Jnr 'cause the F1 weas on) I've realised that I have ajob which pays the bills, I can use my company Blackberry to telephone people / recieve calls, and my priorities are with Jnr.

So I shall turn up, do my job and pay the mortgage / bills for the family and be happy with my lot and my 1 soon to be 2 great kids. Holidays, iphone 5's and other shiny things other people have may come our way and if they do great. If they don't, who care's, I'll always have my wife and kids and a home to appreciate them in.

Lucky you bought that new road bike before your epiphany kryton? 😉

I even go into TK Maxx now, pick up a pair of cheap shoes, then decide they aren't worth £20 really and that I don't really need them.

johndoh - you can't control your sister in law so just leave her to it.

Another thing when I'm rambling on - when buying stuff, think about how long you had to work in order to obtain said item. There are a few range rovers etc sat in the office car park representing a few years of the owners life.

JD.

An acquaintance of mine had a wife who played the possessions / one-up-man-ship game. All it really meant is that he got into massive debt.... and then she left him.

😯

johndoh - Member

I even go into TK Maxx now, pick up a pair of cheap shoes, then decide they aren't worth £20 really and that I don't really need them.

cynic-al - Member
Lucky you bought that new road bike before your epiphany kryton?

Damn. But yes. 😳 8)

It's not about the money. Well that's what that Jessie whatsherface wrote after she'd made her fortune.....

The world seems to be full of wannabes & gottahaves driven by the media. A mate spent from 5am until 3.20pm last Friday queuing for a couple of poxy iPhone 5's just so his wife could have one before any one else she knew. Pointless.

That said, I'm starting to see signs that some folk are actually re-evaluating what's important to them, in light of the recession, which should be a good thing.

work less, buy less stuff, don't concern yourself with what other people own.

The prevailing idea on here seems to be that the ONLY reason anyone buys anything is because someone else has one.

You all have reasonably nice bikes, I bet?

That said, I'm starting to see signs that some folk are actually re-evaluating what's important to them, in light of the recession, which should be a good thing.

Cynic-al, Nobby just wrote my get out of jail free card here. You see, its good for me to have a road bike, as its important that I am fit & healthy and able to work hard to keep the family going and have a roof over thier heads. However, an Iphone 5 will be no more useful in keeping me in contact with my family than my work Blackberry - see my logic?

Hold on though, talking to the kids using Facetime might be nice... 😀 😉

Hold on though, talking to the kids using Facetime might be nice...

Then get a 4 - you don't [i]need[/i] a 4S or 5 to do that.

It was tongue in cheek Nobby...... I have work laptop to home laptop and skype if I need it.....

So was I 😛