How We Used To Live

We sold our car to pay the deposit on our first flat in mid80s, then didn't spend more than £500 on a car for the next 5 years ( cheapest motoring ever!). Buying anything new, apart from building materials, never entered our heads. Bed, dressing table and two wardrobes all for £15 and lasted years. Reconditioned fridge, washing machine - certainly no dish washer or tumble dryer. Second hand kitchen units refitted - probably better than we would have afforded new anyway. Hours spent making curtains. We also had the skills to do this and weren't afraid to have a go at it, calling someone in as a last resort. Those skills have stayed with me all my life and I'm shocked how little younger folk seem to do for themselves, often simple DIY and RR repairs.

When I got married in 1970 , the mortgage was 3/4 of our joint incomes. We had to get my father in law to vouch for us as we were both under 21. We had no car , no central heating .We had a cooker, a bed and two chairs . Our families bought us a table and 2 dining chairs as a wedding present and that was it for furniture .We improvised with a couple of rails for clothes and we were given a second hand chest of drawers . We didn't have fitted carpets so we used to buy old rugs. No washer, no phone, no TV ,no mod cons . No curtains .We couldn't afford to go on holiday. I used to use the launderette over the road .When the babies came along I continued to use the launderette .I had Terry nappies to wash too.
I still haven't got central heating as I can't stand over heated rooms! I do have a dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer now.

Remember twin tubs, that was second hand from my grandmother, I literally felt tied to it boiling the washing then having to heave out the washing and rinse and spin. Couldn’t believe the luxury of an automatic washing machine when we could eventually afford one!

When we bought our first house we had a bed ….one two bar electric fire…..no cooker….no central heating ….no fridge….. no freezer….no tv, in fact no -nothing . It was four weeks before the gas company found fit us a cooker …so we borrowed a friends o E-burner calor gas camping ring…. and turned the electric fire on its side and heated up beans or scrambled an egg in that. Couldn’t afford a ‘takeaway’ …and both of us working full time. Oh and as regards the no fridge …this was the summer of 1976 and is there one of us who can’t remember how hot it was from April through to September …not just the 2 weeks of summer we had this year!!! Youngsters these days would not contemplate living as we were just for sake of owning g your own home. Snowflakes!!

Hellogirl, your post reminded me I did get a wringer while I lived in the caravan. It stayed outdoors of course, and it was very very useful.

We married in 1963, for the first few years we had no washing machine, I took half to the launderette, did the rest by hand, had an old fashioned wringer given me to squeeze the water out. We rented our TV by putting money in the slot at the back. No fridge or freezer, so shopping was done daily. The only other gadget we had was a radiogram for which we took over the payments from my grandma, who I`d lived with.
Also no bathroom or hot water supply, and the toilet was across the yard, shared with another house.

1954 . Our first marital home was a 22 ft caravan on a RAF caravan site. My husband dug pit for water soakaway, trences for electric cable, and clean water from a tap at the side of an old hangar that had to be turned off and on to refill the small caravan storage tank.
Solid fuel stove for heating. Calor gas for lighting and cooking. Electric lights after husband dug the trench.
Chemical toilet was emptied as part of the ground rent .package.

I soaked the baby's nappies in a large basin stored under the caravan, and washed everything by hand. Dried out of doors on a line as there was no other way except for the tiny airing cupboard for baby's clothes.

It’s still not unknown now for young people to make do. When dd and SiL bought their first house in around 2010, they had both been working abroad and possessed not so much as a teaspoon. Everything in that house - apart from an old sofa and a bed the former owners left behind - was 2nd hand donated - from crockery and cutlery to bed linen. Luckily a SiL of mine had kept a load of stuff from her DM’s house after she died.

They still have some of it, but many of the replacements have still come 2nd hand from charity shops, FB marketplace, etc. Must say my dd has found some incredible ‘preloved’ bargains that way!

Reading some of these posts of how others had to scrimp and save to furnish a home or get onto the so called housing ladder makes me even more cynical of those who have it in for boomers (how I hate that word). Now people want instant gratification and throw their toys out of the pram and whinge if they dont get it. Their idea of a catastrophe is misplacing the charger for their smart phone.

grannyactivist

I moved into furnished married quarters in 1970 and had nothing else at all except a transistor radio. No TV, washing machine, fridge etc. - those things were only acquired after years of saving.

Until ten years ago almost all my furniture was ‘inherited’ from parents, grandparents - and the sofa I’m sitting on right now came from one of my children, as did my dishwasher!!

grannyactivist it's very posh to own inherited furniture ?

DH and I married in 1966, and lived in sometimes sparsely furnished Army married quarters with very few mod cons. You were limited in the amount of stuff the Army allowed to accompany you from place to place. No furniture. We had to rent a TV. Our first car was a banger, and we had a series of bangers thereafter. We bought a twin tub washing machine in 1971 and I had that for ten years. We managed to scrape enough for a mortgage on our first house in 1981 which we had to furnish from scratch. Second hand dining furniture, kitchen table and a three piece suite DH’s sister had given us some years previously which we had reupholstered. My sister’s old fridge freezer. Only the beds and cooker were new. If emery serves me, the rate for new mortgages then was 13%.

1964 newly weds. We only managed to buy a house thanks to the (then) LCC which gave out one hundred percent mortgages to those people who lived in London. Took most of our combined earnings to pay this. After six weeks decided we really did want to have a tv. Managed to buy one in a second hand shop about a mile from where we lived and then carried it home between us I can still remember how heavy that large box tv was. Every time we found a flat topped front garden wall, we would put it down to have a rest. Took us nearly 45 minutes to get it home. That wonderful Bush TV lasted for many years. Eventually we gave it to my brother when her returned home following a disastrous attempt at emigration.

Had no carpets anywhere, but then was not something we were used to - both of us came from Council flats. Someone gave us an old fridge - my Dad was concerned as to its safety and gave us the money to purchase a new one.

With 48 hours we discovered the house had to be totally rewired, which took all our wedding pressies and savings. I can so remember this electrician asking how many points I wanted in the little scullery kitchen. Apart from the fridge and a toaster - I could only think that I might one day have a wonderful Kenwood Mixer, so just asked for two doubles!!!

When I had my small kitchen completely re-done this year, I needed a minimum of 16, preferably more!!!!

In the 60's we had never experienced central heating, we did have a gas geyser that supplied hot water to kitchen and bathroom. Only toilet was outside the house, All furniture was second hand. We found in a second hand shop an old table, onto which someone had fixed a hinged flap. The flap I made into a 'lovely; coffee table (could purchase set of four legs very cheaply), This coffee table lasted us several years and then went on to Sister-in-Law for a further couple of years. The table itself I rubbed down and painted and covered top with laminate. Painted and re-covered four old, but good condition, dining chairs.

Our bed was given by Mother-in-Law who had decided to treat herself to a new one. Hubbie cut off the bits at the foot and head, so we could make it look like a divan. Made a headboard on the wall bed was pushed up to. An old, second hand chest of drawers made into great bed-side cabinets.

We saved hard and in 1967 managed to purchase a small, second hand mini traveller. We felt so 'middle-class' having our own house and a car!!!!!

I dragged a huge old chest of drawers out of my grandparents shed, where it was full of tools and odds and ends, painted it, and had it for many years before one of my daughters took it

I moved into furnished married quarters in 1970 and had nothing else at all except a transistor radio. No TV, washing machine, fridge etc. - those things were only acquired after years of saving.

Until ten years ago almost all my furniture was ‘inherited’ from parents, grandparents - and the sofa I’m sitting on right now came from one of my children, as did my dishwasher!!

I grew up in a home with no gadgets at all - just the radio. We had an electric kettle eventually, and TV when I was twelve - a 9" set with a magnifiying screen. When we married in the sixties we had a fridge and a new cooker, and a kind relative bought me a hand held Kenwood mixer . That was it for several years, but as time went on we acquired a twin tub, a freezer, a colour TV and in the mid to late seventies a microwave. We had no car until we were in our mid twenties, and that had to be sold when I left work to have our first child. However, we felt quite lucky to have our own comfortable home, decent clothes (necessary for our jobs) and enough to pay bills. No holidays though - just a fortnight off work to go out for days. A happy life - I wistfully look back on those days.

There was a lot to be said for those days Sara, proper good neighbourliness and looking out for each other

When we first moved in, an old lady who lived up the road, who I’d never set eyes on, knocked on the door with an armful of pots and pans, said she didn’t cook much anymore.
I don’t think that would happen now, and if it did, they’d likely go straight in the bin.

We saved very hard for a deposit and moved in not able to afford carpets or even a lawn mower. Every stick of furniture was second hand, the only new thing was the mattress. It is all relative, we grew up poor and made our way in life through sheer hard work

MIL was brilliant, gave us many used items, like pans. My husband and I were both good at making things, handyman stuff and making do and I think that is the difference to today. We were content with what we had and saved for what we needed

We married in 1975 wedding paid for by my parents,wewere very lucky to get a brand new 2 bed and boxroom semi detached council house with a grage /lockup across the road and the central heating included in the rent from a central system.
We had loads of great wedding presents .the whole house carpeted apart from the stairs was a wedding gift ,brown and cream shag pile in the living room ,our suite was a sectional cream suite from Habitat ,our Bed and a spare from OH's Granny ,we got every small appliance that was on the market ,blender ,food processor ,mixer ,slicer for meats pressure cooker an iron and board .China,glass and chrystal, bedding and towels
My OH made built fitted wardrobes and decorated and we stayed there for 8 years until our daughter was ready for school and our business was on its feet . Then we bought our first flat We moved a quarter of a mile from the business and the school was inbetween .
We didn't get a fridge freezer although my mothers next door neighbour gave us cash to buy one ...we were tempted to buy a beautiful chess set on our way to pick the FF...
we've had a fair few fridges and freezers since then but we still have our much loved chess set .

I was married 73 years ago in 1949 during the post war years when food and clothing rationing was still a great issue.
No houses to be had then because many had been bombed during the war and were still being rebuilt.
Hubby and I had to go in rented accommodation until many years later in the 1980s when we could afford to buy our bungalow.
My washing facilities was a massive mangle and a big zinc tub that ans a wash ponch that I ponched the clothes with and scrubbed with a wash board.
Whites were done first so that they could be put in the old copper with a fire under it to bring them to the boil.

When I did finally get a twin tub for that to do the hard work it made me feel guilty at first because I wasn't doing it.
Sounds nuts but true.

We married 45 years ago, moved into a tied cottage on FIL’s tenant farm.
We had very little, and it pretty much stayed that way for 23 years, living hand to mouth. No holidays, old bangers and make do and mend with occasional hand downs from family.
Bought our house 23 years ago, 16% interest rates.
Now we live comfortably, occasional UK holidays. I have recently got the house up to scratch so should be ok for next few years m never had the money before.

We married in 1965. DH had just qualified as an engineer and I worked in a bank. The bank wouldn’t give females a mortgage in those days but all male employees had them. We lived in a rented flat with a baby belling. We bought a second hand tv for £12 and used the local laundrette on Friday evenings. I did wonder whether life would ever improve. DH joined the RAF a few months later and we rented rural slums as we couldn’t have a married quarter as he was under 25 years old.
We bought our first house when he was 42. It was difficult with two teenagers and a mortgage rate of 15%.
Fast forward to the present day and our standard of living has improved considerably.
I think many of us had to scrimp and save for a deposit while house prices were going up faster than we could save. Young people that I know today do not know the meaning of doing without.

I was surprised when a man I work with, considerably younger than me, told me about this trend in boomer bashing, I haven’t encountered it.

We have worked very hard for what we have now, are still working. We have a nice house, and nice things, nothing madly extravagant. We only holiday in the UK now, we aren’t extravagant by anyones standard.

I am often staggered at what some people are earning these days, yet it never seems to be enough.

As far as I recall, virtually everything except housing was relatively a lot more expensive! Electrical items, clothes and household goods…..
Who else remembers ordinary glasses being given away with petrol - who’d bother now, when you can buy basic ones for relative peanuts?

Presumably it’s because so much is now made in countries with much lower labour costs. Anyone else remember the signs in M&S saying over 99% of their goods were British made?
I doubt if it’s even 1% now.

I well remember buying a small, basic cassette player in the early 1970s - IIRC the first thing I ever bought on my new Access credit card. It cost a quarter of my monthly take-home salary at the time, and I was earning reasonable money - enough to be completely independent in a house share, anyway.

Married in 1968, rented a flat where we shared the bathroom with the elderly lady owner and another lady who lived on the attic floor.

After 18 months we bought a house. We didn't have a phone, a tv or a washing machine. We were both in professional jobs so not particularly strapped for cash, but could see no point in getting them until we were home enough to need them. We got all three when our first child was born.

£ years of flat living meant I had kitchen equipment, saucepans, knives and such like and since for various complicated reasons it took 9 months from the time we put a deposit down on a new house until we finally moved in, each week on my way home, I would go into Woolworths and buy a lamp shade, or light bulbs or front door bell or clothes pegs etc. These were stashed into boxes in my parent's house awaiting the move

Mortgage rate was around 7% when we bought our first house and never went below that until about 2000, when it was just about paid off.

Most of our furniture was secondhand, again not unsurprising. DH's grandfather was an antique dealer and ran the local china and household goods shop - we didn't get any discount - his children got discounts, but not grandchildren. My grandmother loved antiques but on a war widow's pension, relied on having a good eye, buying things 'at fault' and being a good negotiator. So we went to auctions, haunted junk shops, gratefully accepted gifts from our parents. Most of this furniture we still have