What happened to … ‘Living within your means’ ?

When I was a child I was taught to save my pennies if I wanted something, and never to borrow money.

 “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”… My mother would quote to me, and by and large I have stuck to it, with the major exception of a mortgage to enable me to set up home and the minor one of the odd item of furniture purchased on the ‘never never’ hire purchase system back in the early1960’s, so that my new wife and I would not have to sleep on the floor.

If I fancied a holiday in Bournemouth or later Benidorm, it was a case of putting so much per week away in the old Post Office savings account, and it took bloody years before I could afford my first car.

At times I have been short of a few bob and payday often seemed a long time coming, but I rarely resorted to ‘my flexible friend’.

Now it seems that in our ‘must have it now’ society millions of people are in what is called a ’spendemic’ which is largely fuelled by their desire for an instant ’celeb’ lifestyle.

A new report reveals a huge rise in the amount that people spend on ‘non-essential’ items, which includes restaurants, hotels, jewellery and holidays, and during the last ten years a typical person’s spending on these items has increased by 65 per cent. During the same period the number of credit cards in this country has doubled.

It would seem that while many people in this country struggle to ‘make ends meet’, millions of others … “are caught in a spiral of conspicuous consumption”.

It’s being called the ‘Hello ! factor’ after the magazine for people who never read. I presume that …

…   must also include their bank statements.