how tough is it in suburbia now?

hi all,

i may be sheltered to some extent of the world and i guess many of us here are the same (and i dont want to sound like a snob or whatever), but how tough is it for the average joe now?

I've recently noticed myself of the increase in grocery, petrol prices and a few other basic necessities going up in price, but being in Canberra and being in a unique position immunes myself from the typical suburban, or apartment style lifestyle of the majority of our fellow Australians.

So how hard is it now for the average Australian? Do you think many people are really finding it tough or stressful? I'm not talking about how difficult it is too get a deposit for your latest IP, but how hard is it for the average family just to make ends meet - let alone, to get ahead?


Thanks


g
 
hi all,
So how hard is it now for the average Australian? Do you think many people are really finding it tough or stressful?
g

Tough? No I don't think so,
A couple of years ago we were paying 3% higher interest rates and had lower wages on similar mortgage levels.

Stressful? Maybe, there is shortage of housing and rents are going up and world events are worrying
 
So how hard is it now for the average Australian?


Not as hard as 10 years ago. And 10 years ago was not as hard as 20 years ago. 20 years ago was much better than 30 years ago. Continue on forever more.

Look at houses now? They are incredible. If things were so hard we could easily build cheaper simpler smaller houses.

I think everyone is getting softer, myself included.

I'd bet 10,000 years ago it was very hard, then someone invented the wheel, and so 9,990 years ago it got easier.


See ya's.
 
Looking at all the 'stuff' that we have no compared to even 30 years ago, it certainly seems life is easier. However, it's a lot more complex. People have many more choices about pretty much everything, and those choices have consequences. It becomes 'hard' when people make the wrong choices early on. But no one is really around to teach you how to make the right choices.
 
So how hard is it now for the average Australian?

No idea. I've yet to meet one.

Do you think many people are really finding it tough or stressful?

I'm sure quite a few are. But no-one of my acquaintance is really doing it tough financially, definitely if they chose to make some simple changes which they aren't yet prepared to.

The people I know who are really doing it tough are those plagued by illness, such as a mental illness or cancer.

I think everyone is getting softer, myself included.

Yes, I have definitely noticed this. The number of office workers I passed on my bike who were clutching a coffee on their way to work this morning is truly phenomenal. The number of people I know with diabetes, obesity or other "lifestyle" illnesses who just "can't seem to find the time" to get off their bum, get some exercise and change their diet is truly mind-boggling. Just so much easier to pop a pill and kid yourself you're doing the right thing by walking from the bus to the office. Likewise, all the things we kid ourselves we "need" that are actually just "wants".

Looking back on people I feel privileged to have known from previous generations who lived very "hard" lives and yet had pride in their considerable achievements has convinced me that my generation is as weak as pi$$. :(
 
Food is still cheap and I'm amazed at how much people throw out and waste.

When I see food treated as a scarce commodity, I might believe things are tough.

I think we are still in an age of excess.
 
What's your definition of tough? I think it changes each generation.

My mother tells me of the tiny 2 bedroom condemned weatherboard home, which had a draft and no heating, she grew up in with her brother and mother, her father died young and they were very poor. Could barely afford food, all her clothes were second hand and my mothers bedroom was shared as a lounge room.

Then myself growing up, we had a nice little new weatherboard house in the suburbs, my sister and I shared a room, pay day was good, then food quality got worse throughout the month until the next pay day. Very old cars but bills were paid, we had new clothes, but not brand names or anything fancy. When we were really young, it was worse, Mum reminds me of a time they couldn't even afford eggs to make my brother a birthday cake in the very early days. I remember going to McDonalds in the early days was a massive treat and was a rare event! Later on though we ended up in private schools and things were better.

Myself today, I own property, live comfortably, don't have to add up my shopping list to make sure I have enough money and have never been late with a bill. I'm on higher than average salary, but even taking me back to average, when I first started working full time about 10 years ago. I had a mortgage and was never what I considered poor or struggled. I bought an old unit and drove an old car, but always paid my bills and could buy what I needed. People seem to be "poor" or struggling these days if they can't afford a new car, renovated/new house, latest gadgets, eating out frequently, foxtel etc. I don't know what they'd call themselves if they were living in my mothers/grandmothers days of growing up. Maybe that'd be considered 3rd world in today's society. :rolleyes:
 
hi all,

i may be sheltered to some extent of the world and i guess many of us here are the same (and i dont want to sound like a snob or whatever), but how tough is it for the average joe now?

I've recently noticed myself of the increase in grocery, petrol prices and a few other basic necessities going up in price, but being in Canberra and being in a unique position immunes myself from the typical suburban, or apartment style lifestyle of the majority of our fellow Australians.

So how hard is it now for the average Australian? Do you think many people are really finding it tough or stressful? I'm not talking about how difficult it is too get a deposit for your latest IP, but how hard is it for the average family just to make ends meet - let alone, to get ahead?


Thanks


g

What's the average Aussie now?

It was once a married couple with 2.3 kids, a dog a 3 x 1 house and one car.

They almost never went out for dinner, and take-away was once in a blue moon - fish and chips. They only had one tv.

The husband worked, and the wife maybe had a part-time gig in between picking up the kids from school.

They paid cash for everything, or lay-buy, or got a personal loan if they were lucky.

It was much harder to get a house because they had to save 20% of the purchase price in actual savings. They only had P&I loans for 25 years.

As for whether the current crop are doing it tough; it all depends on how much they want, compared to what they earn.

The problem is, there is sooo much advertising in our lives, bombarding us with pressure to buy stuff; it's hard to resist and wait until we can afford to buy it.

So, most people don't wait; they buy on the Hardly Normal never-never, buy the Iphone on a plan and so on.

Even very high income earners can live from week to week, hoping their money lasts until payday. They spend what they earn in many cases - just like the lower earners, but the lower earners have less (expensive) toys..

We all do it, and have all done it, but some just never see the forest for the trees.

These people will be finding it tough.
 
We're doing it tough.

We're buying the expires-tomorrow meat from the supermarket to save money. Still the nice stuff, just much much cheaper. Back in the day we would have been out trapping rabbits or shooting 'roos.

I will have 3 children in a 3 bedroom house. If we stay here, we have the utter hardship of having to put the 2yo in with the 9yo or a boy and a girl in a room together. The 9yo has a laptop and lego in her room she doesn't want the 2yo to play with and needs more sleep than the 2yo so this would be shockingly tough on the 9yo.

We've only got one living area and no study. This is also really tough, and has meant we've had to put the computer collection in the kitchen, and we only have room for one television.

Because having more than one child per bedroom is so tough, we're building a new 4br house. Again, from lack of funds, we're building a weatherboard one not brick (very tough, not sure how we'll cope). Without a double garage. The new house will have two bathrooms because it is too tough to have a family of 5 sharing one bathroom.

Believe me, my parents and grandparents rub this in all the time since we said we were building new. Back in THEIR day, people raised 6 kids in a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 1 living area house with no problems. Why on earth do I need a 4br house with two bathrooms? Its just so excessive! :rolleyes:
 
Nice work Marc and Rumple....couldn't have said it better...!

Those Hardly Normal adds hey.....it gets to me so much I switch off the radio while at work as the noise just bombards you....:eek:

Wonder how long before we'll be able to get interest 'free' for 5 years...?
It's now out to 3yrs 'ain't it...?

I've never used it and never would....
Mum & Dad always saved up for the new fridge or washing machine or car or whatever big ticket item and us kids certainly had no pocket money or fancy food.....pumpkin and peas.....yuk! (at the time, but I love 'em now)..:D

People want way too much today....don't we all sound old now....LOL!
 
Believe me, my parents and grandparents rub this in all the time since we said we were building new. Back in THEIR day, people raised 6 kids in a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 1 living area house with no problems. Why on earth do I need a 4br house with two bathrooms? Its just so excessive! :rolleyes:

Back 'in my day', we had 5 people in a 3 bedroom house with one bathroom. Bathroom never seemed to be an issue, we all showered at different times throughout the day so never really thought much of it being inconvenient. Admittedly, with the children there was only 2 years difference between my sister and I so we shared, much to my horror, which also resulted in many many fights and screaming arguments. :)
 
gosh - back in my day us three girls all shared a room. granted it was a big room but no privacy or room for stuff. mind you, we never really had any "stuff" as kids. our toys were the dirt pile out back, the bush behind the fence, the rusty old pram etc. oh, one bathroom as well - you just made sure you got in before dad with the paper.

my ex hubby has 4 boys to one tiny bedroom growing up - packed in bunkbeds and no wardrobe.

somehow we all managed.
 
Back 'in my day', we had 5 people in a 3 bedroom house with one bathroom.


That sounds like luxury.:)

Back in my day we couldn't afford to put in a septic system. We had a pit toilet, a wooden outhouse over a big hole in the ground, and as those things are so stinky it was 50 metres from the house down wind of the prevailing breeze. Had this till I was 8.

Shoulda seen the commotion when mum was sitting on it and noticed a big brown snake down below.


See ya's.
 
this topic has veered into a luxury discussion - but the point of my original question, was not to ask about outside toilets, shared bedrooms and snakes in the pit, but more about the cost of living, income vs outgoings, increase in electricity, food and petrol, threat of layoffs, instability in workplaces, working longer ours etc etc.

Basically, has the cost of living risen and other stresses caused life in suburbia to be very worrying for many people now - or has it been the same over the decades?


Thanks

g
 
We had the dunny out the back, but no pit. The "Can Man" came each week and replaced the old with the new. Yuck! We lived in an old miners cottage which was extremely small. My room was an enclosed verandah and my sister had a storeroom off of my parents bedroom. We had to walk through the parents bedroom to get to the bathroom. There was no running hot water, just a nasty instant heater for the shower/bath. If you wanted to wash the dishes you had to boil the kettle.

When I moved out and rented a little unit I remember my mother telling me how nice it was because I had an indoor toilet.

Mind you, our house was a lot worse than it needed to be. Both my parents worked but they were spenders. Had to have a new car every two years and they both smoked heavily. They could have bought a reasonable house if they cut back, instead we were basically squatters, living in a home that was bought for peanuts because the mine owned the land. We were there for years before the mine sold the land to the residents, and then this was at a very good rate, as the land was not completely stable.
 
Admittedly, with the children there was only 2 years difference between my sister and I so we shared, much to my horror, which also resulted in many many fights and screaming arguments. :)
Hehe ... this is actually my problem. Thanks to the wonders of modern contraception, I have two kids a healthy 7 years apart - and will be a total age spread of 9.5 years overall. Back in the day, such big age gaps were unusual.

If the two girls were closer in age (or at minimum the little one was a good sleeper) I'd just whack em in the same room together.

As to toilets, we've got an outdoor loo we use as a toolshed and an indoor one that is in the bathroom. Child Elder point blank refuses to go into the bathroom if anyone else is in there for any reason, nor will she let my partner go in there if she's in there because he's a BOY and depending on who's in the bath dictates whether the screams are "OH MY GOD I MIGHT SEE HIS DICK" or "OH MY GOD HE MIGHT SEE MY FANNY" :rolleyes: (remember this is coming from a child who admits to peeping at my partner through the crack in the bathroom door because she *wanted* to see his dick, and who looks at little boy's dicks behind the shed at school, and generally has been harping on about dicks a lot in the last 3 years, and I'm locking her in a tower with a chastity belt on when she hits puberty, but I digress)

She hasn't yet figured out that if either of us are running a bath - which is a process that is hard to miss as we have to chase down a squealing toddler first - we're going to be in there for at least half an hour and it would be a good idea to go to the loo FIRST. So we're quite used to her hopping around outside the bathroom door for half an hour each night because she's BUSTING :rolleyes:

Meantime, I'm hoping that having a little boy baby in the house will cure the dick fixation *before* she hits puberty or I'm going to have some major issues.

Apologies to the mods for all the dick references but I'm feeling silly this morning :)
 
To get the thread back on topic :)

I haven't really noticed many changes in the habits of my neighbours or adult children.

I do have one friend complaining of difficulties with interest rates on mortgages. I find the mortgage complaint a bit odd as they have a better rate now than when they took it out.

I also have a friend that has lived in the same house for 23 years and still owes about 80% of it CURRENT value :confused:

I haven't really seen any sign of people doing it tough, most families still have multiple cars, shopping trollies with soft drinks and packets of sweets.

The only people who seem to shop for generic groceries here are the old age pensioners.
 
And in the food court of the local shopping centre earlier in the week, mum with 2 kids doesn't seem to have a problem spending nearly $20 on lunch at KFC! And they pile out of Big W with the trolley's laden.
 
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