Consumerism

[Lotobear]

Setting aside the fact that we are all going to have less disposable income once this st storm passes, I've been finding just how little you actually need to live on over the last 2-3 weeks.

amongst other things I've started fixing things again whereas previously I would have visited a DIY shed and bought a tatty PRC made replacement and called in at the Council tip on the way back to jetison the old one, and of course call at the filling station - I'm finding it strangely satisfying.

Beer?, well I can drink that in the house much cheaper and make nice meals for far less than eating out (a superb fillet steak from Morrison's for £7 as opposed to £28 at the pub and enjoy the cooking bit. Okay the social part is a miss but it's quite an eye opener experiencing how 'self sufficient' you can actually be when it's forced upon you.

A worry for business owners and politician's must be how to re instill the 'buying habit' back into the population, how do you think they will do this ... or will they not?

[Lotobear]

CX53 said:

This is exactly the reason I'm beginning to think working long hours in a stressful job is a false economy.

I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT

Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Both of our OH's earn similar.

He has a similar house, car isn't much worse although he only has 1 not 2 (I could easily lose the extra car without any tears), goes on more holidays, has managed to save for a wedding and has a bucket load more spare time. He is literally no worse off really apart from eating out less and generally being more careful with money, but of course he has the time to do so.

I would happily do more things myself instead of paying someone else if I had the time.

This crisis really has made me rethink what's important.

Exactly what prompted my musings at the top of this thread. We are going through what is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience a period of enforced reflection and, also, the practical experience of what it means to momentarily part de couple from the wage slave model.

I doubt I will change my own ways not least because I'm getting towards the fag end of my career, however there's an opportunity for others to re appraise what is important and this has only been presented as a direct result of this unfortunate set of circumstances.

It would be interesting though if folk simply decided not to 'play' any more!

[Lotobear]

Lotobear said:

CX53 said:

This is exactly the reason I'm beginning to think working long hours in a stressful job is a false economy.

I'm by no means at PH Director level but earn around 40k on a bad year and 50ish on a good one... and have a long commute, 42hr standard week plus OT

Best mate earns 24k with a short commute and does 37 hours per week in public sector.
Both of our OH's earn similar.

He has a similar house, car isn't much worse although he only has 1 not 2 (I could easily lose the extra car without any tears), goes on more holidays, has managed to save for a wedding and has a bucket load more spare time. He is literally no worse off really apart from eating out less and generally being more careful with money, but of course he has the time to do so.

I would happily do more things myself instead of paying someone else if I had the time.

This crisis really has made me rethink what's important.

Exactly what prompted my musings at the top of this thread. We are going through what is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience a period of enforced reflection and, also, the practical experience of what it means to momentarily part de couple from the wage slave model.

I doubt I will change my own ways not least because I'm getting towards the fag end of my career, however there's an opportunity for others to re appraise what is important and this has only been presented as a direct result of this unfortunate set of circumstances.

It would be interesting though if folk simply decided not to 'play' any more!

I was prompted to revisit this thread after the one about John Lewis and folk dropping out of the world of work following the opportunity to reflect caused by the pandemic.

It seems to me that that some people may have indeed decided 'enough is enough'?