I'm shocked this is allowed to be aired.

I had never heard of Brighthouse until reading this thread , I just googled it, I see three in South Wales Valleys, in towns where unemployment is high, I want to weep, one in Merthyr where unemployment is high, which at one time was surrounded by coal mines and there was Hoovers factory, the only unemployed I knew were miners with dust on the lungs of injuries from roof falls.

Things can soon spiral, which is difficult to understand if you've never been close to this kind of situation.

PS no pension either by the way!!!!

I am now wondering if there had been such a place as Brighthouse in the 70’s would I have chosen their services in stead of taking that temp job steaming fleas off animal skins in the evenings

It must have been a horrible job Annie. Flea steamer; what a job description!
Yes though, paying 6 or so pounds a week, and having a washing machine delivered promptly, when its needed does seem a reasonable option compared to that.

MissAdventure. I haven’t recovered from it ?, the pay was good, bought a cello and a flute for my daughters , it was only temp, worked in a convent boarding school in the day and in that fishing tackle place in the evenings. Needs must .

Just as well it was temporary.
A career in flea steaming doesn't sound very inspiring!

That must be one of the nastiest jobs ever Anniebach. Ugh! I hope they were all successfully steamed and didn't infest your home. I hope you didn't have to do that job for long.

There is a Brighthouse in almost every town around here in the North East . Their website confirmed 270 nationwide . They need quite a high level of poverty to thrive, so they are probably quite choosy where they set up.

Rachel, it was a horrible job but was provided with overalls and goggles because of the steam , a box to stand in and the furs were hanging ready for steaming so never had a flea near me, can’t remember how many weeks I did it but the pay was good. I felt humiliated, thought of it now after seeing there is a Brighthouse 20 Miles from where I live, but I know I would have chosen the fleas over money lenders or H.P. Coming from a coal mining family H.P. was equal to selling your soul ?.

I brought up the flea job because I think we shouldn’t judge those who use the likes of this Brighthouse, we don’t know if they are foolish or desperate.

There might not be the option of a local laundrette today as in the past but there are websites like Nextdoor, Freecycle and Preloved, to name but a few where goods can be obtained free or for exchange or for peanuts.

Yup. IF you have a car!

Go have a look on your local one. Find heavy essentials (fridge, washing machine, bed etc) which is not "collection only".

Even if it doesnt state it it will be if you message them.

I.e. if you don't have INSTANT access to a car, as in your own car so you can pick up immediately (no holding until you can find a friend to collect) You will not get anything off freecycle etc.

Once again, in order to benefit from bargains/freebies/better rates/better deals, you have to not be dirt poor in the first place.

Hand washing clothes..
In a bath - assumes you have one.
Assumes you have a spin dryer.
Assumes you at least have a line to hang the wet washing on, whether its spun or not.

Oh, just thought of a clothes horse.
Maybe most people have one of those.
To carry on from notanan's thoughts, there is often the issue of disposing of old white goods without a car.
Our council charges £35 to take away unwanted items.
Its a huge problem for me to dispose of bulky items.
I'm going to check whether brighthouse offer a disposal service.

So many "frugle" tips only apply to the comfortable middle classes.

You can't repair/fix things up in a studio flat that the whole family has to live in with babies breathing in paint/varnish fumes etc... people who boast about how they fixed up some broken/old stuff they rescued from the tip have SPACE to do that so aren't that badly off

"Oh I buy everything from boot sales". How lovely for you to
A. have a vehicle and fuel to go to them and
B. not work in the lower paid sectors which usually include weekend work

"These young people want everything new, I save things incase they come in useful for the future". How lovely for you to have the storage space to do so, but when people are moving every 6-18 months because of the instability of renting it does not make sense to be dragging around fabric scraps and old jam jars on every short notice move. Moving from furnished to unfinished to furnished means that young people these days do not have the same pieces of furniture forever, because they cant .

The people who can nip to the next town on the gamble of a possible bargain off gumtree, without having to thing twice about the petrol if it turns out to have been a wasted trip, are not brighthouse's target market!

Assumes you at least have a line to hang the wet washing on, whether its spun or not.

Spot on! Making do in a HOUSE with a garden, and no washing machine, is a different kettle of fish to doing it in a 2 room flat with a family who are battling damp and mould as it is!

Once again, easier to be frugle if you are better off/in a bigger housr

The saying goes "it takes money to make money" but I say it also takes money to save money

Assumes you have a spin dryer.
Yes, I did, even though I didn't have a washing machine and I wish I'd kept it.
I gave it away.

A lot of brighthouse's target market are also just exhausted and worn down. From all sides: dodgy landlords, min wage zero hours shift work, mental & physical health issues..

..and so don't find it jolly fun to spend several weekends hunting down a bargain. Just want something sorted.

And this comes back to the psychology of debt. When everything is bloody dismal that's when some people go f*uck it lets have that nice tv

I havent had a new tv since I moved into my current house. You cant watch dark scenes on it because theres no definition and its becoming too small for my deteriorating eye sight. But my life is otherwise okay. So Im happy enough to make do and put some cash aside for a new one (and I actually HAVE money left over at the end of the month to do that) Im not surrounded by walls of black mould and instability and misery. If I was then I could see the appeal of at least having something nice TBH

Coming back to it taking money to be frugle:
Just look at savings rates!!
If you are poor and can only put away a few quid every other month you wont even get 1%. No wonder it feels hopeless and pointless.

If you can afford to lock away your money in a low access account (which you can only do if you also have another instant access emergency account) or commit to saving hundreds a month every month... then savings rates pay off and are appealing, and certainly beat thr temptations of credit

Without a spin dryer washing starts to smell before its dried properly, particularly if you have huge loads at once.
Being poor isn't just about lack of money, its about lack of hope, lack of resources, lack of 'get up and go' because it got up and went.
Its the relentless bills coming in, which have no chance of being paid, and which are added to in costs for non payment, so less chance to ever get straight.
Its chaotic to live like that, and very depressing.
Not the same as nipping off in the car to pick up second-hand sofa, or finding someone to take you to even look at someone else's old cooker.

I can afford to save for luxuries in my locked away 3 withdrawls a year & nice rate account because my emergency instant access crisis account is topped up AND I'm also well insured against numerous crises.

In other words, I can afford to save

When you dont have the basics then the luxuries can look so much more desirable/appealing.

Thats why often properly rich/aristocratic sorts dress the scruffiest, and people scraping by make more of an effort to look respectable

A lot of people have no idea of arithmetic and don't realise how much they are being ripped off.
Some don't care anyway, as long as they can afford £x per week.

I agree, notanan2, struggling on very little money can make it difficult or impossible to be sensible as some PPs here expect.
(Especially if that money is courtesy of the DWP, whose whole existence is about demeaning people and making them insecure.)

You know how there’s the occasional thread here about the kids running the county lines, or falling in with older gangs, or being groomed by older “boyfriends”?

What do you think the adults who prey on these kids offer them?

The very things mum can’t afford. “I can’t afford an Xbox/brand name coat/new Nikes/good phone/a fiver for you to hang out at the chicken shop with the other kids”

When you’re a kid, these things are everything, because these are the ways you fit in with the other kids. These are the things that make you normal. Kids are shamed by being different. We forget this when we grow up, but we shouldn’t: the burning need to fit in is so important to kids.

So this is how they end up falling victim to a guy who just wants them to “do a few deliveries”, or pass his name around at school as a guy who can hook you up with some gear, or just “go for a drink” with him, or “just be nice to his friends”.

And mums whose kids are growing up on the bones of their A know this. And then end up at BrightHouse paying eight hundred quid for an Xbox because at least when Jayden’s playing the Xbox, she knows where he is and who he’s with.