People who constantly brag

I don't see anything wrong in people spending a lot of money on items they want if they can afford it. If someone wants to spend £215 on a pillow and it helps them have a comfortable night's sleep that is money well spent. I agree there is no need to tell others how much it cost.
I do find other people's ideas of not having any money can differ from mine. We have friends who say they don't have a lot of money then spend thousands on their home and buying an electric car. It's all relative I suppose.

At the moment I am just glad to hear of anything new that is happening in people's lives!
It's their news, it's their life stories and their passions. Maybe they don't have much else going on, I certainly don't at the moment unless someone wants to chat about the blue tits nesting in my garden or what I'm planning on batch cooking for the freezer. Interesting to me but not perhaps to anyone else!
What else would you prefer to talk about, what's your interesting news Madwoman11?

As my husband used to say ‘elephant bag’!

I ve had experience of this and sympathise. My male work partner’s wife was like this . After he died in a tragic accident i tried my best to stay friends with her but not only did she brag about how much money she now had due to her husbands death, she also worked for a top radio broadcaster and was always name dropping about the celebrities she’d met. Along withe fact that she always needed everybody to know how much things cost that she’d bought, I just couldn’t take it anymore. It doesn’t paint me in a very good light I know but i think i tried for a good few years before i just let the friendship tail off.

Just say, in a kind of 'mind somewhere else' voice "Good for you", "That's nice", "Wonderful". Eventually she will realise that you are not the slightest bit interested and, hopefully, save the bragging for someone else. If you start saying things like "I'm really not intested", even if you aren't jealouse, that's exactly what you'll sound like.

If you and she only have a passing relationship then perhaps she has no other common ground with you other than she knows you have a nice house so perhaps she perceives this as being something you might be interested in. She clearly seems to want to talk to you and if people are a bit uncertain/shy they want to talk but may not be good at small talk and she may not have anything else in her life she thinks you would be interested in.
Next time you come into contact with her, could you perhaps initiate the conversation and talk about something else- a topic of your choice? If necessary, you could let her ramble about her latest acquisitions then interrupt her and try to steer the conversation in another direction - (give her something else to think about for when you next talk)
Just a thought!

I have a friend who is a 'topper'. She asks you about yourself and then anything you have done she has done bigger, better, more often or if that isn't working she will rubbish anything you may have done e.g. gone to a restaurant ' Oh we hate that place. Tedious I do like her though but in small doses.

felice

Brits in Belgium,,,,, I have been ignored, patronised, spoken to in words of one syllable, and generally talked down to.
Why,, because I do not work in an office, in the EU or other organisations.
They are always bragging , where they have been, what they have bought etc.
It is mainly Women, some are trailing spouses and no better than anyone else.
I do not rise to them, including apologising for myself which I heard one lovely lady do one day, I was furious.
I tend to bring the conversation round to education, and ask which University they attended etc.
They tend to be a wee bit more polite when they hear my degrees and qualifications but not much.
Stopping now as I am getting wound up ,,,,aaarrrggghh.

How is bragging about a degree any better than say, someone bragging about what car they’ve just bought or how much they paid for their house.

Do you think that having a degree makes you in some way better, more intelligent than the person who lives in the big house but who doesn’t have a degree.

Crazy H - a colleague of mine once said that some people 'enjoy bad health'. I knew exactly what he meant

We have the opposite with a friend. He asks us the cost of things we have bought: shoes, holidays, clothes. We usually tell him less than we actually paid so as not to seem to be bragging but then he thinks we are cheapskates. Occasionally I inflate the cost for devilment.

In all fairness, I think people are finding it hard to find things to talk about after being in lockdown etc.
As for the bragging, as I'm not fussed about showy stuff, I just blandly say, 'That's nice.' Boring but not malicious so I let it pass me by.

I think people who continually brag about their possessions and purchases have something lacking in their lives. However, I know how irritating it can be. I have a friend who constantly tells me how much cleaning/housework/gardening/decorating she is doing, even though she has a cleaner, a gardener, and a decorator. She never says how much she spends but always tells me that on her two holidays to Egypt every year (except during the pandemic of course) she travels first class, and paid to stay in a private hospital after having knee surgery.
However, she has very little else in her life.

Can I say i would have said it’s an age thing. When I was in my 20/30 I’d change my home on regular basis and often bragged what I had bought or going to buy. I didn’t see it then. Now I buy quality that lasts. But I’ve bought quite a lot in lockdown. And now I’m 55 and the only reason I did wasn’t because I needed them but because I went through it alone. I don’t mind living alone but I’ve never felt alone and I did it so ppl would knock on my door and I would actually see a human person. I would buy stuff for my boys and grandkids who don’t live locally So what I’m saying is try talking to your friend and just ask them if they are ok.

I think I would do as you feel tempted to and simply tell her that you find it very boring to listen to her continual boasting about the things she has bought.

Mention that you would appreciate it, if she sometimes would listen to you talking about what interests you.

Of course, she will take offence, so it depends on why you cannot avoid her whether this would be a good idea or not.

If she is your boss, I suppose you have to grin and bear it.

I like the idea of the big yawn!!

Regarding cruises and bragging about them, these days cruises are little more than holiday camps or all you can eat package holidays. I worked in the travel industry until I retired and really noticed the changes to what used to be a rather exclusive kind of holiday.
You can still go on lovely cruises but they cost a fortune and I still wouldn't go on one.
Apologies to all who love cruising.

Dinahmo

I guess they're also people who wear what I call "prat tabs" - logos on their clothing. On holiday a few years ago I was looking in the window of a Dior shop. there was a cardigan with the full name woven down one side. The price was approaching £900 - why would anybody pay to promote a clothing company?

Because sometimes you just like the item. I have a logo on my puffa jacket but I didn’t let that stop me from buying it. I bought it because it fitted me very well and I liked it.

I’ve just remembered an aunt, who always had to go one better than anything of my mother’s - no matter what it was, she either had, or had done, something better - or else a close friend had.

My mother was once telling me about someone they knew who’d been diagnosed with a very rare disease.

My father instantly piled in with, ‘For God’s sake don’t tell Maggie* - she’ll know someone who’s had it twice!’ ?

*not her real name.

Sorry, tureen not turn...

We had a couple of friends, he and my husband were close friends before we all married, but every time this chap spoke he openly put my husband down. 'Such a shame you can't come on holiday with us', 'I know money is tight' etc...In fact my husband normally worked incredibly hard, but was 29 waiting for a hip replacement. The last straw was when we went for a meal and they spent the entire meal telling us how much the new dinner set cost...'we thought twice about the turn...it was £35 you know'. This was in the 80s. I refused to ever go for a meal at theirs again, and didn't for 25 years.

A lot of people like this, really sad individuals, nyaffs, and nudniks

GrandmaMia1

My neighbour is like this too. We both also have people in RAF and she is obsessed with rank. I am not interested in rank or how much she spends, it’s difficult but try to let it go over your head or say something about the lack of need to consume, especially since lockdown

Many years ago I remember an aunt who was married to an officer in the RAF and whose children were at boarding school in England writing to her children to remind them to address letters to Squardon Leader and Mrs.
Those officers wives, what nightmares!

I just gradually break off contact with people like this. Life is too short to have them around and besides, they are boring.

I think most of us would know someone like that. I'm not on fbook cos what I do and have is my business. My friend puts every thing she eats, drinks, buys, etc on it. I can't understand it, but each to their own.

I knew someone like this. They got their partner into the same mindset as well. We kept our distance and just smiled and shrugged if we had to mix. Sometimes a dismissive smile is enough, I didn't even bother changing the subject.
They have gone their separate ways now.
I think it is a sign that something is not right in their life, they envy people who they perceive as having it all so tell you what they have that they think is better.