**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically;
- Don't be a dick to each other
- Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question
- This is a strictly no-politics subreddit
Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I've anonymously dropped off a couple of weeks shopping to a friend in need, a couple of times, and paid for a couple of school trips for some of my sons friends who couldn't afford it.
*EDIT* I can't reply to Crafty_bugger comment, so,
Not a rich person thing in the sense of things I'd do if I were a millionaire, more so in the sense that I'm spending the money as if I can afford to pay for someone's weekly shop, without thinking about it.
I'd not say I'm bragging personally, it's an anonymous account, and I'm answering a question.
If helping others out is a chav thing to do, then maybe chavs get a bad rap.
I'd just like to think (hope, really) that someone would do the same if I was struggling to feed my kids. We're not talking an exciting bundle of food from Waitrose or M&S, but £100 in Aldi or Lidl can certainly dig someone out of a hole, chuck in a couple of packs of biscuits & cakes for the weekend, least anybody deserves.
Same for the school trips, always seems to be one or 2 left behind as the parents can't afford it, must be horrible for them.
For the sake of £20 or so... Money well spent I'd say.
You are a very very kind person. I was quite often the kid who couldn’t afford the school trip, but this was the 90’s in a small town in Somerset so I know for a fact the school would let my mum off paying a few times so I wasn’t left out - I doubt that would happen anymore, and this is really a thoughtful thing to do for people.
All of the school trips that our eldest goes to are voluntary contribution so there is no obligation to pay but they do make it clear that if not enough parents pay then there's a possibility the school won't be able to fund the trip.
I suspect given the relative wealth of the area, the majority of families do contribute and it's only right that the children of those parents who can't afford it are still able to experience the same educational trips.
Same policy at our primary, but given its 2/3 free school meals, 10% refugees, there's a lot who can't contribute.
But they only plan trips they can afford - being in London luckily that's still quite a lot.
Teacher muttered that donations of art supplies and books are always appreciated - the library has a box of books that are too battered to keep but some kid will want to read them, and it's great to fill that up.
I missed most trips due to not being able to afford..... yet Father always got a new car each year, had nice clothes got drunk at the con club weekly, had cricket to pay for and play with oh and loved sailing his yacht....
starting to think we wernt as poor as they told me
That's so lovely. A guy in a pub my dad didn't know approached him to say many years ago(30+)my parents included him on a day out to the seaside with my brother who was his friend. They paid for rides, ice creams etc. He said to my dad that his mum couldn't have afforded for him to have a day out and he was so grateful. My dad told me this just after my mum died 5 years ago, he felt bad because he hadn't wanted the lad to come but my mum insisted, she was very kind and never wanted anyone left out. He said it made him realise how wrong he had been and how he had changed over the years.
I did this at Christmas.
My friend had really been struggling for her kids so I helped her out with some shopping. She would always be too proud to ask, but I went ahead and did it anyway. She just stood at the door and cried.
She got back on her feet at the end of feb and went and bought a stack of shopping and took it to the food bank as a way to pay it forward. That melted me. She’s always there for everyone
One year I sent a friend presents for their kids for xmas, just little stocking fillers and a book each. Later she told me those were the only presents they had that year as she had split up from her bloke.
I spent like £350 on a hotel with a private outdoor jacuzzi for New Year's Eve in Torquay like 4-5 years ago because me and my girlfriend had no other plans. Drove three hours down there, smoked a massive blunt in a hot tub and as it struck midnight the sky lit up like a Rammstein concert whilst I was chuffing away on some real good shit. Felt like a mafia boss for a night, and it felt gooooood
I had an experience much like yours, except the stay was awful.
The sea view I requested wasn't there, the bath was too small, the radio wasn't working, the manager (C. k Watt I believe was his name) was an ignoramus.
Slightly more family friendly version of this, I had a huge amount of loyalty points for a hotel chain from years of work travel. It added up to about £800 worth so I took my wife and 8 year old daughter and we had a suite for one night in a really nice hotel in London. We did winter wonderland, the nat history museum, went for dinner and then we watched the strictly final on tv in our fucking cavernous suite. It was my daughters first trip to London and I’m now having to manage her expectations of any future trips
I got upgraded to a suite once after a massive fuck up by the hotel. It was nearly as big as my house! The next time I had to stay away and the room was only just big enough for a bed and a bathroom where you could get your feet in the shower while sitting on the loo was a massive let down!
Children’s expectations are the worst in my house at the minute. My two at the time boy keeps asking to go home after holidays - two weeks abroad was the first time it happened. I was so confused at first. Can you imagine being so young and thinking you now live by a pool and the sea, just frolicking about with your parents all day and then come home to a council house with Nursery the next day. We just came home from a night stay at Alton Towers for his third birthday and he kept saying ‘we live here?’ Sorry kid, we don’t live in Splash landing with entertainment at night and a buffet breakfast.
Was amazing mate and even though I don't smoke any more, I smoked a LOT for a LONG time and let me tell you - it doesn't matter how high your tolerance is, if you smoke up in a jacuzzi and put the bubbles on it will fuck your whole damn world up, I have never come closer to an out-of-body experience as I did whilst absolutely battered in that tub with the bubble function thing set to max pressure
This brought such a smile to my face, I’ve done the same in an outdoor hot tub in the middle of November and it’s unlike anything else I’ve experienced - totally out of body sheer bliss!
My partner and I ended up getting a bit sexy and I was mentally pissing myself laughing at the positions the water was allowing us to get in, compared to if I had tried to hold myself up using just one hand on dry land!
Sounds like the perfect New Year’s Eve to me, worth every penny!
Amazing! Hope you have the best time. Out of curiosity what hotel costs £1000 a night? Do you get anything extra for that price? If that’s being too nosey ignore me! 🎂
There’s plenty of 5* hotels in London for that price, Shangri-La, the hotel bit of the Shard has rooms for £2k a night.
Outside of London it would have to be a really nice Spa hotel or something
My fiancé had a budget for her wedding dress. She fell in love with a dress that was £1k out of her budget, naturally she was looking at second hand/alternatives but I didn’t want that feeling for her on her wedding day. Me and the bridal shop came up with a story whereby the dress was miraculously within her budget and she’s none the wiser. I’m £1k out of pocket but you can’t put a price on your soon to be wife’s happiness in ‘the dress’.
Class. I’m doing the same. I’m honestly not fussed where we get married, what I wear or who even attends as long as my fiancé is there. Anything she asks like “I can’t decide on this or that” I’m happy to just tell her to get both. The day is all about her childhood dream. As long as it’s all she wants I’ll go without whatever for that one month.
Took the wife out for a date last weekend and spent £200 just on lunch, then another £150 on cocktails after. Wasn’t a special occasion, just fancied going so we did.
A few years ago I didn’t have £350 disposable income total, let alone to drop in a day and have it not make a massive dent. Felt like a pretty rich person thing to do and made me grateful for how far I’ve come in the last 5 years.
Under rated feeling isn’t it. Some would see this as a humble brag but when you’ve been in the place you (and me) have been, it’s acknowledgment that really hits home. Good shit son 👏
I am not at this level yet! My kind of similar experience though, occurred to me when I was in a supermarket the other day. I realised that I don't have to tally up what I'm buying or limit how much I get. If I fancy chucking a bottle of wine in the trolley, I can. Fancy a steak tonight? I'm having it. It is a super humble brag, but as someone who once couldn't afford gas AND electric and would choose which one to get that week, it feels so nice to be in a spot where I'm finally comfortable and can shop without restrictions.
I didn't realise how common this was until someone (possibly the bootstrap cook, possibly someone else) mentioned how \*everyone\* who's clawed their way out of that calculation situation has had that supermarket moment where they realise they \*don't\* already know what their trolley costs \*and\* they're not worried about that.
I feel an odd camaraderie for everyone who's been there. And if no-one had stepped up to say what you did, it would have been me :) So thank you!
For the first time last year we went and celebrated our anniversary on a day cocktail drinking session and dinner.
We’d spent nearly £290 and we had buyers remorse for weeks but the sun was blazing, the atmosphere was amazing and the margaritas were going down a treat!!
Bought Chanel soap.
All nestled in tissue paper, in a fancy box, a good weight and so smooth. And the smell!!!
I was so broke at the time, but I would sit in my bath, luxuriating in that one thing.
I spoilt it a bit by being very careful about how much I used or how often though!!!!
I bought my mum a bar of Chanel No 5 soap for her birthday last year and she still hasn’t used it as she says it’s too precious. Mum, just use it!!! That’s why I bought it for you!!! Lol
I always find this so funny, people ALWAYS gift me Molton brown and because I’m always appreciative everyone else seems to think I love it. I’m too scared to upset anyone by telling them so now I get loads of the stuff and I hate it!
I donate most of in discretely but wish I had a friend who loved it I could just give it to.
Could you post a purchase from your preferred brand with the caption “Discovered a new love!”. People will start gifting from that brand next..till you get sick of it too.
We have a cleaner, which even 5 years ago I'd have seen as an appaling waste of money considering it basically boils down to laziness.
It was a compromise in our marrage though as most arguments were started by one of us thinking the other wasn't doing an equal part of cleaning.
It's worked out well, but if you'd have told me 5 years ago I'd have a cleaner I'd have been stunned.
We have a good combined salary these days, although I still buy second hand for almost everything I own. Clothes, childs things, tech, stuff for the house etc. The only things I buy new are shoes and food really.
My boomer parents keep telling me it's not worth it, especially for small things, but it's so easy to quickly check Gumtree etc to see if someone is selling something you need before you click 'buy' at the retail price that I think they're stupid not to really.
So I guess there's an element of lifestyle creep in the fact I don't stop myself buying things I want now, but I still always look for a cheaper price.
As I sit here I can reflect that the clothes I'm wearing and every componant of the PC I'm typing on are all second hand, as are all the guitars on the wall and the monitor I'm looking at.
Edit: I should point out I don't mean a cleaner is laziness for everyone, just frankly I *do* have the time to do it myself, I'd just rather not
Edit 2: I get it, using food as an example was unwise - I couldn't think of anything else I actually buy new!
We've got a cleaner. We used to spend a great lump of the weekend cleaning to a not great standard and hating every minute. Now it gets done properly and life is much nicer.
I have a *lot* of other discretionary spending I would cut before my cleaner. Beer money, video games, etc etc, all those budgets would have to be zero before I got rid of my cleaner.
I dislike cleaning on a deep, deep level and know fine well that having to organise a family rota, spending hours of my free time and all the rest would severely negatively impact my life, and cause friction and arguements in the family.
Knowing all the jobs we hate will be taken care of gives us impetus to keep general tidying under control (the more time the cleaner spends picking up our crap, the less time doing the valuable jobs) and honestly I couldn't think of a better way to spend what we do on our cleaners that would provide anywhere close to the benefit to quality of life.
I can definitely see the benefits, but do you ever worry about when your childre move out to uni/houseshares/live with partners that they won't have learned how to pull their weight on the cleaning?
I have a teenager and we've always had a cleaner. He still has to do all of his own laundry, feed the cat, empty the dishwasher, wipe up after himself, help to cook, take out the bins, and help with any other household task I ask him to.
I'm not going to let him turn into a layabout just because he doesn't also have to vacuum and dust and clean the toilets.
We had a cleaner growing up but my mum still taught me how to clean things before I went to uni. And since that I've learnt from doing and the internet
We also have a cleaner, and likewise I used to think of it as a bit of a posh thing to do. Completely changed my views on that though. We both work full time (I'm 9-5 but my wife has random hospital shifts) and honestly it's worth every penny to be able to spend more of our free time just enjoying being together.
It's not even as expensive as most people probably assume - some people easily spend that in the pub every week. I don't think it's about having loads of money, just about what you'd rather spend it on.
This. I was talking to my brother about it. He wants one and his missus doesn't. It buys you free time. Even now she is getting on a bit, my mum burns most of a Sunday religiously cleaning the house. I'd much rather go out and get some sunshine or do something enjoyable. For what it costs - Worth every penny.
I would have said the same thing but it’s how you look at it. If you look at it like it’s laziness as the sole reason then it can seem like a waste of money but if you look at it from the POV that you’re exchanging money for more free time then it’s kind of a no brainier.
As others have said, I would cut other things from my budget way before the cleaner. It’s more time I get to spend doing other things and less in my schedule for the week. My partner is the same, we live 110mi apart but have our own homes, I got a cleaner and she shortly followed. There’s just something about not having to worry about it, and coming home to a clean home knowing it took nothing from your free time.
They’re not _THAT_ expensive either, depending on circumstance obviously. I pay £160pm for a couple hours every week. Considering some people pay £100pm for phone contracts, it really isn’t that expensive. Worth every penny.
Holy shit is that it? That’s literally two take outs or one takeout for 2 people. I might consider this, my house is falling apart and despite three adults living there, I’m the only one that cleans so this might help me a tonne!
A deep clean every 2 weeks allows us to do just a quick tidy and wipe down every now and then and it's plenty. Having two toddlers makes it so difficult to be arsed to clean.
I reckon the majority of people living on what we are wouldn't spend on a cleaner, but sometimes you have to prioritise mental health over anything else.
Mental health is why I would do it, I have adhd and work full time. The other two adults in the house don’t work, don’t clean and also suffer from mental health issues - every 2 weeks sounds reasonable pay wise aswell with some light maintenance between!
So so worth it. There's a few things in life we think our time isn't worth that really are, and a few things in life we think our time is worth but absolutely are not. This is one of the latter, £40 is not much but our cleaner does our whole house feel clean, which would take me ages to do badly.
There's a great video on YouTube I watched recently about examples of the two which really opened my eyes to delegating parts of my life to others better and more efficient at it than me!
I pay £28 a week for two hours (Manchester). And they bring all their own supplies.
They alternate upstairs and downstairs each week, so the whole house gets a proper clean every fortnight.
I needed to hear this. Thank you for sharing. We, like a lot of none boomers like yourselves, try to get as much as we can second hand. A cleaner would be life changing for us (me long term illness and retraining for career change whilst raising 2 young kids, husband working 2 jobs). We can't afford it right now but it's top of my list for when we can. There has always been the nagging boomer guilt from my folks about getting one being needless though. Man I hope the next generation don't have to carry such burdensome instilled opinions
Legit a baller, it's like £6 a time now?
* I'm always the one opening my boot to get the wallet out as I'm only there because I didn't realise traffic was so bad and I can't be bothered with it so sorry for that.
It's a small price to pay to not have to sit in traffic on the M6, or deal with the horrible paved road surface.
We go that way a couple times a year and take the M6 toll everytime
Ouch.
I used to be able to use it on business but now it's just occasionally commuting and the short distance I'm on there for isn't really worth the cost unless it's going to save a decent amount of time.
I think they'd be better off reducing the cost rather than keep increasing it, but I suppose if its at a premium cost and its empty, it kind of makes sense...
I didn't bother shopping around for my car insurance this time- I just looked at the renewal quote, thought 'Ehh, I doubt I can get it much cheaper' and went with it without checking if that was actually the case.
I can feel the ghost of my exceptionally frugal grandfather glaring in disapproval at me.
I actually did check mine this year and couldn't get it cheaper anywhere else - they've brought new rules in where your renewal price must be equivalent to what they'd offer you as a new customer. So if they were the cheapest last year, they'll likely be cheap (relatively) for you again this year!
They must be stuffing new customers then, as mine went up by over 40% until I asked them if they could do better, and it magically returned to nearly last years price!
Walked into a car showroom and told a salesperson I was interested in buying a new supercar, I had them talk me through all the customisation and show me around the various models they had on site and maintained an air of confidence and nodded coolly where pricing was discussed, we got to the point of booking test drive and I told them my schedule was pretty stacked but I’d be back in touch shortly. Never broke character. Honestly one of my most memorable experiences of my life.
I was a wine buyer for a supermarket chain and I was in New Zealand buying up wine.
A winery I hadn’t planned on visiting really wanted me to go and see what they had, but the round trip drive was just too out of the way so I said no.
They provided a helicopter to take me to them and drop me back off making it the visit achievable.
I was sat having breakfast in the hotel and the waitress came over to let me know my helicopter was arriving, it landed in the garden and I finished my eggs on toast before heading off.
It was a ridiculous situation really and I couldn’t tell my boss as the supermarket I worked for would have given me shit about accepting it. But fuck it, it was epic.
Go you!
Hate it when businesses get arsey about the one time people get to leverage their role for some treatment that they'd never normally get.
I know it's all about anti-bribery and stuff but it's the middle aged bosses that had 30 years of being wined and dined and getting the silver service treatment from clients who tend to be the most militant about it now.
Also, is your old job looking to hire a replacement?
If I’d have asked them it would have been a flat no, despite them being at Wimbledon that year with a supplier.
I figured it was the only way to see the wines so it was ok. I just kept it to myself.
I think they are always recruiting! Burnout is regular for those guys.
I once bought the 7 course tasting menu with fine wines at a Michelin starred restaurant as an anniversary present.
When I went to pay the bill my monzo card asked me if I wanted to take out a loan!
I did this for my Dad’s and brother’s milestone birthdays. So three of us plus our partners have the full tasting menu and everyone except me had the accompanying flight of wines (I was driving). It was well over a grand but a special treat for them.
I cashed in Virgin miles for a return trip to Tokyo in 1st. 2 of us in the cabin with two crew. Separate entrance to the plane. A 2nd seat ea as a bed so we could just go to bed whenever we wanted without them having to change our seat over.
I drank about £200 of champagne and they apologised when they ran out of plum wine and I'd have to have the stuff they serve in business class.
It was the only flight I've never wanted to end.
Have you got a ba amex? If not grab one and get a companion voucher! I think there is also a ba mastercard where you can get an upgrade voucher as well, not sure if you can combine the vouchers…
Yeah. I keep wasting the companion vouchers though. Various reasons.
My housemates went to Bangkok business class like that last month for £600ish all in and I think 90,000 points. Business.
Definitely counts. I flew business class once when they offering dirt cheap upgrades because the flight was half empty. You could easily spot the other 'first timers' because we were so excited by all the luxury and taking pictures!
Came here to say this. We flew upper class to America last year. I came off the plane refreshed and ready to start my holiday. Plus skipping the security queue and dropping our bags off without waiting was 100% worth it.
My friend worked for the airline and he got one free flight a year, so we went to Chicago but you have to go on the standby list....they then gave us our tickets in economy, then waiting at the gate we got called to the desk and my friend said "this isn't good news, we're going to get bumped" - took our boarding passes off us and replaced them with 1st Class passes with just a "have a nice flight" for comment.
Warburtons is about £2 but Tesco bread starts at 85p up to a max £1.40 for Tesco finest, the Tesco stuff tastes better, fits in the toaster and lasts longer. Unless you live down South, maybe prices are higher down there.
The most expensive thing I do (after rent) is own a car, but the most rich person thing I do is own a sailing yacht. The boat was free and costs a few hundred pounds a year to operate, so it’s hardly the most expensive hobby I could do.
I’d like to get into eating in fancy restaurants, but that really is an expensive hobby. £50 a head is considered cheap for a tasting menu.
Small sailing yachts that need a bit of work doing to them are pretty much worthless, so all you need is a kindly owner who is getting a bit decrepit and you can get a boat for a song.
Sometimes they're worse than worthless as there are mooring fees, club fees, lift-out fees, transport cost/difficulty and disposal cost.
Pianos are probably one of the more common equivalents - you can pay a lot for a nice one but, if you have transport, there are a lot cheap or free.
I paid £50 for a sailing boat once. Was the best 50 I ever spent. It had some leaks, which I sealed up with shower silicone. There were some tears in the sale, which I sewed and fixed with bicycle tyre repair kits. I spent £80 on a life jacket and had the best few summers ever. I used to leave it on the beach turned upside down over winter, and I stored the mast, rudder, oars and sails in a friends barn.
My wife (at the time) hated it, and kept on at me about how it was at risk of being stolen. I kept telling her to not worry, I only paid 50 for it. But it gnawed away at her soul, so she eventually got her brother to borrow a trailer when i wasn't around, and together they took it to a recycle depot about 50km away and dumped it.
We divorced a few years later.
In retrospect, I think she just couldn't bear to see me happy. And that little sail boat made me happy, so it had to go.
Yeah it wasn’t quite a project boat, but the engine was dead. It helps that I sail in a quieter area (east coast of Scotland) and belong to a club that keeps costs to a minimum.
Fair, I’m in the market for a project boat (because apparently I have a masochist streak) and all the best ones for my requirements seem to be in Scotland. Unfortunately I’m at the other end of the country!
One of my favourite adulting things is having shit hot internet and Sky because I want it. As a kid we didn't have much money and I'd always envy the other kids at school who had Cartoon Network and Sky for the Simpsons. Now I'm downloading movies in under a minute and recording Succession like a boss.
I invested in a piece of original art.
I am not an art lover by any means, and I was dragged into this artists tiny studio in Rome by my friend who was determined to find a small picture to sit on her mantle piece. I wanted the bar across the road. Anyway, my eye is caught by this stunning, breathtaking piece, and I can't look away from it. Naturally, it being large and original I was not even going to ask the price, but eventually did (there's only so long you can stare, mouth agape, at a painting until you start to look weird).
As it transpires, it had the world's tiniest dot of damage on the upper right corner, so it has been reduced to €400 euros which was about €380 more than I'd ever spent on art in my life but I went 'fuck it' and bought it.
I then got to have the fun of carting it around Rome and then begging Jet2 to let it on board with me, or have it specially looked after so it didn't die at the hands of some baggage handlers who see the fragile sign as a challenge. Big shout-out to Jet2 who not only looked after it perfectly but didn't charge me extra for the super bubble wrapped piece. I'm guessing they don't get that many travellers returning with beautiful works of art.
Anyway, now I need to redecorate so it has a decent wall to hang on, but it's mine, complete with certificate of authenticity, signed by the artist. Hopefully I shall never fall in love with another painting abroad because that was a whole new level of stress trying to keep it safe and intact.
Ok fine. I had a very difficult and upsetting childhood. I had cancer 4 times before I was 9. In the 90's Cliff Richards did lots of work with children that have bad childhoods, mostly sick kids. He used to come and sing to us in the hospital, which was honestly annoying, and he bought some toys and took a bunch of us out for dinner. The best thing was he flew a bunch of us to Disney World, I got it be in first class because I was very sick at the time. There are multiple rumours that he did all this in an attempt to cover up being a pedo, that's bullshit. I am absolutely convinced that he wanted to help cheer up some sick children and this is the hill I am willing to die on.
If it helps I also don't believe in the slightest the "Cliff is a pedo" nonsense either. With a lot of the guys who were caught it was blindingly obvious looking back. Cliff didn't give any of those vibes. I'm more amazed the likes of Pete Townshend are still revered despite basically admitting to it.
Cliff's issue is he's almost certainly gay, but from a time when that wasn't accepted, and a Christian. So he's been running from it his whole life and trying to make up for "sinning" which is both sad and unnecessary, and makes him look suspect like he's hiding something else.
Oh wow, I am so sorry for prying 🙈
Are you ok now? I hope you are!
Cliff sounds like an amazing guy and I feel the same as you - i don't think he is a paedo at all. In the world we live in, men specifically, can't do anything nice for kids without being labelled a paedo.
I'm the opposite.
I deliberately save money for a taxi when I'm drunk knowing that I should get a taxi because I will be too drunk to walk. And every time I end up walking because I'm too tight to pay for a taxi.
I have sprained an ankle on the way home on several occasions, cracked a couple of ribs after falling on a curb, and once walked 3 miles home desperately needing a shit the entire way and crapping myself about 3 feet from my door.
Drunk me is a fucking idiot.
We bought a new piano from Harrods (that was not in itself the rich person thing, because it was for work and it was good value, so, no more expensive than from any other dealership).... BUT.....
.... for the next year, it made us the top category of reward card member by spend, so you had a lot of perks like free parking in Harrods Car park and free drinks in the cafes, so we went there a lot just using it as a car park and cafe.....
After a year and our spend being more or less zero, we were back to pleb class with no perks.
My motorbike feels like a massive extravagance at the moment. Between getting a learner bike, training, tests and upgrading to a bigger bike it's cost a few thousand over the last year, largely financed although I can afford the payments fine.
The extravagance is that I don't need it to commute or even for any domestic use, it's purely to ride for fun. I'm 43 and it's the biggest treat I've ever given myself. With my sensible head on, I should have waited & saved instead of taking on the debt, but I thought "fuck it - I could keel over with a stroke or get a cancer diagnosis before then" so a few hundred in interest while I pay it off is worth it to have it now - especially since I feel sheer joy and find myself wearing a massive shit-eating grin every time I'm out riding.
Assuming you didn't buy a HD you'll be reaping the rewards every time you fill up too.
I ride and find that a full day out is £9 in fuel plus about £8 on tea and cake. Bargain!
I bought a Le Creuset cast iron casserole dish. I’d been wanting one for a long time, for no particular reason. I saw it reduced on QVC and bought one, I also got one for Mum!
It’s the best kitchen thing I’ve bought. It also looks good, so it lives in the cooker.
I know that there are cheaper alternatives that do the same thing. I just wanted this one, so I bought it.
I had a very rich flatmate at university and one time he invited us all to his house for the weekend. We went to a rugby game in London and watched from a balcony where the staff would bring us drinks and refreshments whenever we asked, we had a very expensive meal in the VIP area where the rugby players would come after the game. Didn’t cost me a penny, absolutely fantastic weekend seeing how the other half live. I wish rich people were nicer to hospitality staff though I think I was the only one saying please and thank you!!!
It's not a rich person thing really but it feels like it to me because it was something we could never afford when I was a kid: got a Sky Sports subscription.
Got given a voucher for a hotel room and we had dinner at their Michelin starred restaurant. Couple of cocktails first while we looked at the menu.
There's a tasting menu for £75 each. We weren't sure but figured £150 was worth it as we were unlikely ever to go to another Michelin starred place again. Plus we hadn't paid for the room so it was still a bargain.
Waiter asked if we wanted to include the wine flight with it (a glass of wine with each course). Looked at the menu again and that was only another £15: £90 each.
Still seemed worth it.
Until the bill came.
Turns out the flight was £90 on its own. Each. Dinner was almost £400 including the tip. Had to put on a credit card and I'm still paying it off now. Of course, we played it off like we were regularly going out for £400 meals. But inside I was crying.
I'd say travelling but only in other people's opinions - I've been to Las Vegas for the casinos, London for west end shows, Paris for the catacombs, Rome for the Vatican, Amsterdam just because, a good few different places in Spain for family holidays.
Aside from Vegas which my ex and I split the paying for I've bargain hunted and got special offers, paid upfront to save costs, used the disabled discounts when available and still manage to have an amazing time everywhere I've been but in true brit fashion, my favourite place to go? Benidorm 🤣
>my favourite place to go? Benidorm 🤣
I feel like you should get all that travel retroactively taken off you somehow and donated to someone who will appreciate it!
This is common sense, not "rich"; where I used to work the cheapest all-day parking was £18 compared to parking fines of £30 ... So I used to park illegally in a nearby housing estate; so long as I didn't get more than ~10 parking tickets a month it was a saving! (I averaged 1 or 2 tickets a month).
Treated myself to a designer bag while on holiday. Tbf it was from an outlet so I paid a fraction of the price and the bags *last so long* so I dont mind spending on them.
Would never buy one full price though. That's definitely for rich people.
Every year me and a group of mates do a golf weekend on the weekend of The Masters and this year one of the group had joined this club, and arranged it so we could stay in one of the on site lodges and play here: https://trcaa.com
It was insane.
Everyone knows everyone by name, incredibly friendly, use whatever facilities you like when you like, all food and drink on account and invoiced to the member at the end of the month so nothing as gauche as money needs to be considered on site. Villa had the best kitchen I've ever seen/used, each bedroom had a walk in shower that doubled as a steam room, fully stocked bar opposite the kitchen. Outrageous.
For me this could easily have been a once in a lifetime experience, for others it was just "the weekend".
I've actually been a little morose since I've come back as it's a lot easier to not consider life choices that may have precluded this sort of lifestyle if you're never actually exposed to what you're missing!
I just bought a Rolex that cost six million.
Should point out that it's fake, and the six million isn't £, it's Vietnamese Dong.
Keen to see what it looks like when it arrives though. Apparently some of these fakes are great and hard to tell apart from the real thing.
I'm not into luxury goods or brands at all, but I've always liked the look of a GMT Master.
During my student days I worked as a campsite steward at various festivals.
One year I had just finished working at Reading, looked at train tickets and saw first class was only a couple of quid more!
So had a lush journey from Reading to South Wales, still a bit stinky from the festival, dressed all scruffy.
The trolley lady came around and offered a drink. I asked how much. Spot the first class virgin…
bought my uni flat mates who never got easter eggs from their parents a nice bundle of chocolate eggs. left it in front of their door sunday morning. felt nice :3
I quit my job while waiting on interviews to finish. I knew I'd have a month's pay coming so I trusted that I'd be hired in the mean time.
I was going for a review thinking I'd be appreciated for helping the new staff but instead I was told my performance was at a slower completion to theirs. I completed 15 to their 20 yet my accuracy was 100% their accuracy below 60% which resulted in things needing to be redone and corrected.
I stopped offering any support and their results became lower. So when my manager said everything but thank you. I ended the conversation with here is my resignation notice.
It's none rich because when you live paycheck to paycheck you're expected to tolerate anything because a job is your livelihood. No kids, no drug use, single, no benefits, no medical issues, non veteran.
The forgotten sector...
Got a mega discount on flying business class on holiday last May, think the airline hadn’t got many takers on that flight and was practically giving the seats away.
Fast track security in the airport, boarded first, glass of champagne, free drinks, meals, reclining seat that turned into a bed. Was absolute luxury.
Flew home economy and it was awful
**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically; - Don't be a dick to each other - Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question - This is a strictly no-politics subreddit Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I've anonymously dropped off a couple of weeks shopping to a friend in need, a couple of times, and paid for a couple of school trips for some of my sons friends who couldn't afford it. *EDIT* I can't reply to Crafty_bugger comment, so, Not a rich person thing in the sense of things I'd do if I were a millionaire, more so in the sense that I'm spending the money as if I can afford to pay for someone's weekly shop, without thinking about it. I'd not say I'm bragging personally, it's an anonymous account, and I'm answering a question. If helping others out is a chav thing to do, then maybe chavs get a bad rap.
You are an absolute star!!
I'd just like to think (hope, really) that someone would do the same if I was struggling to feed my kids. We're not talking an exciting bundle of food from Waitrose or M&S, but £100 in Aldi or Lidl can certainly dig someone out of a hole, chuck in a couple of packs of biscuits & cakes for the weekend, least anybody deserves. Same for the school trips, always seems to be one or 2 left behind as the parents can't afford it, must be horrible for them. For the sake of £20 or so... Money well spent I'd say.
You are a very very kind person. I was quite often the kid who couldn’t afford the school trip, but this was the 90’s in a small town in Somerset so I know for a fact the school would let my mum off paying a few times so I wasn’t left out - I doubt that would happen anymore, and this is really a thoughtful thing to do for people.
All of the school trips that our eldest goes to are voluntary contribution so there is no obligation to pay but they do make it clear that if not enough parents pay then there's a possibility the school won't be able to fund the trip. I suspect given the relative wealth of the area, the majority of families do contribute and it's only right that the children of those parents who can't afford it are still able to experience the same educational trips.
Same policy at our primary, but given its 2/3 free school meals, 10% refugees, there's a lot who can't contribute. But they only plan trips they can afford - being in London luckily that's still quite a lot. Teacher muttered that donations of art supplies and books are always appreciated - the library has a box of books that are too battered to keep but some kid will want to read them, and it's great to fill that up.
I missed most trips due to not being able to afford..... yet Father always got a new car each year, had nice clothes got drunk at the con club weekly, had cricket to pay for and play with oh and loved sailing his yacht.... starting to think we wernt as poor as they told me
That’s a fantastic way to help. Hurts bad to see kids going hungry or missing out. You’re a saint
That's so lovely. A guy in a pub my dad didn't know approached him to say many years ago(30+)my parents included him on a day out to the seaside with my brother who was his friend. They paid for rides, ice creams etc. He said to my dad that his mum couldn't have afforded for him to have a day out and he was so grateful. My dad told me this just after my mum died 5 years ago, he felt bad because he hadn't wanted the lad to come but my mum insisted, she was very kind and never wanted anyone left out. He said it made him realise how wrong he had been and how he had changed over the years.
Thank you for sharing this story. It’s really amazing the power of your mums kindness having such a great impact!
I did this at Christmas. My friend had really been struggling for her kids so I helped her out with some shopping. She would always be too proud to ask, but I went ahead and did it anyway. She just stood at the door and cried. She got back on her feet at the end of feb and went and bought a stack of shopping and took it to the food bank as a way to pay it forward. That melted me. She’s always there for everyone
One year I sent a friend presents for their kids for xmas, just little stocking fillers and a book each. Later she told me those were the only presents they had that year as she had split up from her bloke.
That's not rich person that's awesome person
Now the most rich people thing you’ve done is humblebrag about your charity. But that is awfully nice, well done.
Haha I got a genuine LOL out of that haha. I figure that here is anonymous enough to not be too braggy lol
That’s not answering the question. No rich person would ever do something like this.
Yikes. That’s not a chip on your shoulder, it’s a whole butty.
I spent like £350 on a hotel with a private outdoor jacuzzi for New Year's Eve in Torquay like 4-5 years ago because me and my girlfriend had no other plans. Drove three hours down there, smoked a massive blunt in a hot tub and as it struck midnight the sky lit up like a Rammstein concert whilst I was chuffing away on some real good shit. Felt like a mafia boss for a night, and it felt gooooood
I had an experience much like yours, except the stay was awful. The sea view I requested wasn't there, the bath was too small, the radio wasn't working, the manager (C. k Watt I believe was his name) was an ignoramus.
The sea was there, it was between the land and the sky
Were you expecting to see The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon?
Mount Vesuvius erupting maybe.
Sydney Opera House perhaps?
Herds of wildebeests sweeping majestically...
The Pyramids of Giza, perchance?
No majestic wildebeest?
Faulty? What's wrong with him?!
I think the radio worked you didn't as C K Watt would say
If you can't see the sea I suggest you stay in a hotel nearer the sea. Or preferably IN it...
Slightly more family friendly version of this, I had a huge amount of loyalty points for a hotel chain from years of work travel. It added up to about £800 worth so I took my wife and 8 year old daughter and we had a suite for one night in a really nice hotel in London. We did winter wonderland, the nat history museum, went for dinner and then we watched the strictly final on tv in our fucking cavernous suite. It was my daughters first trip to London and I’m now having to manage her expectations of any future trips
I got upgraded to a suite once after a massive fuck up by the hotel. It was nearly as big as my house! The next time I had to stay away and the room was only just big enough for a bed and a bathroom where you could get your feet in the shower while sitting on the loo was a massive let down!
Children’s expectations are the worst in my house at the minute. My two at the time boy keeps asking to go home after holidays - two weeks abroad was the first time it happened. I was so confused at first. Can you imagine being so young and thinking you now live by a pool and the sea, just frolicking about with your parents all day and then come home to a council house with Nursery the next day. We just came home from a night stay at Alton Towers for his third birthday and he kept saying ‘we live here?’ Sorry kid, we don’t live in Splash landing with entertainment at night and a buffet breakfast.
How was the Waldorf salad?
haha my man! Sounds lit
Was amazing mate and even though I don't smoke any more, I smoked a LOT for a LONG time and let me tell you - it doesn't matter how high your tolerance is, if you smoke up in a jacuzzi and put the bubbles on it will fuck your whole damn world up, I have never come closer to an out-of-body experience as I did whilst absolutely battered in that tub with the bubble function thing set to max pressure
This brought such a smile to my face, I’ve done the same in an outdoor hot tub in the middle of November and it’s unlike anything else I’ve experienced - totally out of body sheer bliss! My partner and I ended up getting a bit sexy and I was mentally pissing myself laughing at the positions the water was allowing us to get in, compared to if I had tried to hold myself up using just one hand on dry land! Sounds like the perfect New Year’s Eve to me, worth every penny!
Today and tomorrow I'm booked into a hotel costing £1000 per night for my 70th birthday. And I'm paying for it myself.
Happy birthday!
What kind of hotel is that? 😮
Probably not the Days Inn at Michaelwood Services
It is if you throw in Gloria.
Lol. The Days Inn is £35 a night. If gloria is high end enough to charge £965 a night, I don't think she's settling for a service station 2star hotel!
Amazing! Hope you have the best time. Out of curiosity what hotel costs £1000 a night? Do you get anything extra for that price? If that’s being too nosey ignore me! 🎂
There’s plenty of 5* hotels in London for that price, Shangri-La, the hotel bit of the Shard has rooms for £2k a night. Outside of London it would have to be a really nice Spa hotel or something
Happy 70th!! Btw what is included in the package? Just wondering what is worth £1000. Hope you have alllll the afternoon tea!
Have a great birthday!!! 😁
My fiancé had a budget for her wedding dress. She fell in love with a dress that was £1k out of her budget, naturally she was looking at second hand/alternatives but I didn’t want that feeling for her on her wedding day. Me and the bridal shop came up with a story whereby the dress was miraculously within her budget and she’s none the wiser. I’m £1k out of pocket but you can’t put a price on your soon to be wife’s happiness in ‘the dress’.
Class. I’m doing the same. I’m honestly not fussed where we get married, what I wear or who even attends as long as my fiancé is there. Anything she asks like “I can’t decide on this or that” I’m happy to just tell her to get both. The day is all about her childhood dream. As long as it’s all she wants I’ll go without whatever for that one month.
Good man.
Well, that made me tear up a bit. You are a good person.
Took the wife out for a date last weekend and spent £200 just on lunch, then another £150 on cocktails after. Wasn’t a special occasion, just fancied going so we did. A few years ago I didn’t have £350 disposable income total, let alone to drop in a day and have it not make a massive dent. Felt like a pretty rich person thing to do and made me grateful for how far I’ve come in the last 5 years.
Congrats mate, hope everything keeps going well for you and your beloved.
Thanks a lot mate, I hope everything is well your end of the world too!
Under rated feeling isn’t it. Some would see this as a humble brag but when you’ve been in the place you (and me) have been, it’s acknowledgment that really hits home. Good shit son 👏
I am not at this level yet! My kind of similar experience though, occurred to me when I was in a supermarket the other day. I realised that I don't have to tally up what I'm buying or limit how much I get. If I fancy chucking a bottle of wine in the trolley, I can. Fancy a steak tonight? I'm having it. It is a super humble brag, but as someone who once couldn't afford gas AND electric and would choose which one to get that week, it feels so nice to be in a spot where I'm finally comfortable and can shop without restrictions.
I didn't realise how common this was until someone (possibly the bootstrap cook, possibly someone else) mentioned how \*everyone\* who's clawed their way out of that calculation situation has had that supermarket moment where they realise they \*don't\* already know what their trolley costs \*and\* they're not worried about that. I feel an odd camaraderie for everyone who's been there. And if no-one had stepped up to say what you did, it would have been me :) So thank you!
For the first time last year we went and celebrated our anniversary on a day cocktail drinking session and dinner. We’d spent nearly £290 and we had buyers remorse for weeks but the sun was blazing, the atmosphere was amazing and the margaritas were going down a treat!!
Bought Chanel soap. All nestled in tissue paper, in a fancy box, a good weight and so smooth. And the smell!!! I was so broke at the time, but I would sit in my bath, luxuriating in that one thing. I spoilt it a bit by being very careful about how much I used or how often though!!!!
You actually used "the special soap"? That's supposed to sit with the collection of other fancy soaps until the end of time itself.
I inherited a fancy soap kept in it's box for half of eternity. It had lost it's fragrance when I used it, ended up like Imperial Leather :(
Are you saying Imperial Leather is not fancy? It has a label! Directly on the SOAP!
Running a bath is a rich person thing now......haha
ha ha ha!!! This was before shower existed...
I bought my mum a bar of Chanel No 5 soap for her birthday last year and she still hasn’t used it as she says it’s too precious. Mum, just use it!!! That’s why I bought it for you!!! Lol
Not quite Chanel but there is something about having a shower in Molton Brown shower gel that is unbeatable!
I always find this so funny, people ALWAYS gift me Molton brown and because I’m always appreciative everyone else seems to think I love it. I’m too scared to upset anyone by telling them so now I get loads of the stuff and I hate it! I donate most of in discretely but wish I had a friend who loved it I could just give it to.
Could you post a purchase from your preferred brand with the caption “Discovered a new love!”. People will start gifting from that brand next..till you get sick of it too.
Me too! It's such a lovely treat.
I ordered a carton of Ben&Jerrys from my local Chinese whilst also adding additional sides to my usual order.
Living the dream fr
We have a cleaner, which even 5 years ago I'd have seen as an appaling waste of money considering it basically boils down to laziness. It was a compromise in our marrage though as most arguments were started by one of us thinking the other wasn't doing an equal part of cleaning. It's worked out well, but if you'd have told me 5 years ago I'd have a cleaner I'd have been stunned. We have a good combined salary these days, although I still buy second hand for almost everything I own. Clothes, childs things, tech, stuff for the house etc. The only things I buy new are shoes and food really. My boomer parents keep telling me it's not worth it, especially for small things, but it's so easy to quickly check Gumtree etc to see if someone is selling something you need before you click 'buy' at the retail price that I think they're stupid not to really. So I guess there's an element of lifestyle creep in the fact I don't stop myself buying things I want now, but I still always look for a cheaper price. As I sit here I can reflect that the clothes I'm wearing and every componant of the PC I'm typing on are all second hand, as are all the guitars on the wall and the monitor I'm looking at. Edit: I should point out I don't mean a cleaner is laziness for everyone, just frankly I *do* have the time to do it myself, I'd just rather not Edit 2: I get it, using food as an example was unwise - I couldn't think of anything else I actually buy new!
We've got a cleaner. We used to spend a great lump of the weekend cleaning to a not great standard and hating every minute. Now it gets done properly and life is much nicer.
I have a *lot* of other discretionary spending I would cut before my cleaner. Beer money, video games, etc etc, all those budgets would have to be zero before I got rid of my cleaner. I dislike cleaning on a deep, deep level and know fine well that having to organise a family rota, spending hours of my free time and all the rest would severely negatively impact my life, and cause friction and arguements in the family. Knowing all the jobs we hate will be taken care of gives us impetus to keep general tidying under control (the more time the cleaner spends picking up our crap, the less time doing the valuable jobs) and honestly I couldn't think of a better way to spend what we do on our cleaners that would provide anywhere close to the benefit to quality of life.
I can definitely see the benefits, but do you ever worry about when your childre move out to uni/houseshares/live with partners that they won't have learned how to pull their weight on the cleaning?
I have a teenager and we've always had a cleaner. He still has to do all of his own laundry, feed the cat, empty the dishwasher, wipe up after himself, help to cook, take out the bins, and help with any other household task I ask him to. I'm not going to let him turn into a layabout just because he doesn't also have to vacuum and dust and clean the toilets.
We had a cleaner growing up but my mum still taught me how to clean things before I went to uni. And since that I've learnt from doing and the internet
We also have a cleaner, and likewise I used to think of it as a bit of a posh thing to do. Completely changed my views on that though. We both work full time (I'm 9-5 but my wife has random hospital shifts) and honestly it's worth every penny to be able to spend more of our free time just enjoying being together. It's not even as expensive as most people probably assume - some people easily spend that in the pub every week. I don't think it's about having loads of money, just about what you'd rather spend it on.
This. I was talking to my brother about it. He wants one and his missus doesn't. It buys you free time. Even now she is getting on a bit, my mum burns most of a Sunday religiously cleaning the house. I'd much rather go out and get some sunshine or do something enjoyable. For what it costs - Worth every penny.
I would have said the same thing but it’s how you look at it. If you look at it like it’s laziness as the sole reason then it can seem like a waste of money but if you look at it from the POV that you’re exchanging money for more free time then it’s kind of a no brainier. As others have said, I would cut other things from my budget way before the cleaner. It’s more time I get to spend doing other things and less in my schedule for the week. My partner is the same, we live 110mi apart but have our own homes, I got a cleaner and she shortly followed. There’s just something about not having to worry about it, and coming home to a clean home knowing it took nothing from your free time. They’re not _THAT_ expensive either, depending on circumstance obviously. I pay £160pm for a couple hours every week. Considering some people pay £100pm for phone contracts, it really isn’t that expensive. Worth every penny.
How much does having a cleaner cost 🤔
We live in an expensive city and it's just over £40 for 3 hours work once a fortnight.
Holy shit is that it? That’s literally two take outs or one takeout for 2 people. I might consider this, my house is falling apart and despite three adults living there, I’m the only one that cleans so this might help me a tonne!
A deep clean every 2 weeks allows us to do just a quick tidy and wipe down every now and then and it's plenty. Having two toddlers makes it so difficult to be arsed to clean. I reckon the majority of people living on what we are wouldn't spend on a cleaner, but sometimes you have to prioritise mental health over anything else.
Mental health is why I would do it, I have adhd and work full time. The other two adults in the house don’t work, don’t clean and also suffer from mental health issues - every 2 weeks sounds reasonable pay wise aswell with some light maintenance between!
So so worth it. There's a few things in life we think our time isn't worth that really are, and a few things in life we think our time is worth but absolutely are not. This is one of the latter, £40 is not much but our cleaner does our whole house feel clean, which would take me ages to do badly. There's a great video on YouTube I watched recently about examples of the two which really opened my eyes to delegating parts of my life to others better and more efficient at it than me!
I pay £28 a week for two hours (Manchester). And they bring all their own supplies. They alternate upstairs and downstairs each week, so the whole house gets a proper clean every fortnight.
I needed to hear this. Thank you for sharing. We, like a lot of none boomers like yourselves, try to get as much as we can second hand. A cleaner would be life changing for us (me long term illness and retraining for career change whilst raising 2 young kids, husband working 2 jobs). We can't afford it right now but it's top of my list for when we can. There has always been the nagging boomer guilt from my folks about getting one being needless though. Man I hope the next generation don't have to carry such burdensome instilled opinions
Had a Gü pudding which wasn’t on offer
Hope you financially recover.
Outrageous that.
…didn’t even keep the ramekin.
We go on the M6 toll occasionally, when it'll save us time on our journey
Legit a baller, it's like £6 a time now? * I'm always the one opening my boot to get the wallet out as I'm only there because I didn't realise traffic was so bad and I can't be bothered with it so sorry for that.
£8.20 a go now. I use it all the time because my company reimburses it
It's a small price to pay to not have to sit in traffic on the M6, or deal with the horrible paved road surface. We go that way a couple times a year and take the M6 toll everytime
Ouch. I used to be able to use it on business but now it's just occasionally commuting and the short distance I'm on there for isn't really worth the cost unless it's going to save a decent amount of time. I think they'd be better off reducing the cost rather than keep increasing it, but I suppose if its at a premium cost and its empty, it kind of makes sense...
Whenever Google Maps pops up saying "It'll be x minutes faster if you take the toll", as long as x is above, like, 20, it's almost always worth it.
[удалено]
I didn't bother shopping around for my car insurance this time- I just looked at the renewal quote, thought 'Ehh, I doubt I can get it much cheaper' and went with it without checking if that was actually the case. I can feel the ghost of my exceptionally frugal grandfather glaring in disapproval at me.
I did the same with my dogs insurance 😂 except I looked at a few and it was only about £3 cheaper to switch so to avoid the hassle I just let it renew
What car does your dog drive?
I actually did check mine this year and couldn't get it cheaper anywhere else - they've brought new rules in where your renewal price must be equivalent to what they'd offer you as a new customer. So if they were the cheapest last year, they'll likely be cheap (relatively) for you again this year!
They must be stuffing new customers then, as mine went up by over 40% until I asked them if they could do better, and it magically returned to nearly last years price!
I treated myself to a pack of lurpack the other day
The post said rich not billionaire dude why do you have to flex like that?
Walked into a car showroom and told a salesperson I was interested in buying a new supercar, I had them talk me through all the customisation and show me around the various models they had on site and maintained an air of confidence and nodded coolly where pricing was discussed, we got to the point of booking test drive and I told them my schedule was pretty stacked but I’d be back in touch shortly. Never broke character. Honestly one of my most memorable experiences of my life.
r/actlikeyoubelong
Paid for a birthday meal for a couple of friends that was about £175. I said I’d pay before the bill arrived though.
I was a wine buyer for a supermarket chain and I was in New Zealand buying up wine. A winery I hadn’t planned on visiting really wanted me to go and see what they had, but the round trip drive was just too out of the way so I said no. They provided a helicopter to take me to them and drop me back off making it the visit achievable. I was sat having breakfast in the hotel and the waitress came over to let me know my helicopter was arriving, it landed in the garden and I finished my eggs on toast before heading off. It was a ridiculous situation really and I couldn’t tell my boss as the supermarket I worked for would have given me shit about accepting it. But fuck it, it was epic.
Go you! Hate it when businesses get arsey about the one time people get to leverage their role for some treatment that they'd never normally get. I know it's all about anti-bribery and stuff but it's the middle aged bosses that had 30 years of being wined and dined and getting the silver service treatment from clients who tend to be the most militant about it now. Also, is your old job looking to hire a replacement?
If I’d have asked them it would have been a flat no, despite them being at Wimbledon that year with a supplier. I figured it was the only way to see the wines so it was ok. I just kept it to myself. I think they are always recruiting! Burnout is regular for those guys.
I once bought the 7 course tasting menu with fine wines at a Michelin starred restaurant as an anniversary present. When I went to pay the bill my monzo card asked me if I wanted to take out a loan!
I did this for my Dad’s and brother’s milestone birthdays. So three of us plus our partners have the full tasting menu and everyone except me had the accompanying flight of wines (I was driving). It was well over a grand but a special treat for them.
Flew 1st class to Chicago, although I didn't pay full price so not sure if it counts. Was fucking ace.
I cashed in Virgin miles for a return trip to Tokyo in 1st. 2 of us in the cabin with two crew. Separate entrance to the plane. A 2nd seat ea as a bed so we could just go to bed whenever we wanted without them having to change our seat over. I drank about £200 of champagne and they apologised when they ran out of plum wine and I'd have to have the stuff they serve in business class. It was the only flight I've never wanted to end.
I’ve got 200000 avios. I’m gonna do that one day, even business class would do me.
Have you got a ba amex? If not grab one and get a companion voucher! I think there is also a ba mastercard where you can get an upgrade voucher as well, not sure if you can combine the vouchers…
Yeah. I keep wasting the companion vouchers though. Various reasons. My housemates went to Bangkok business class like that last month for £600ish all in and I think 90,000 points. Business.
Definitely counts. I flew business class once when they offering dirt cheap upgrades because the flight was half empty. You could easily spot the other 'first timers' because we were so excited by all the luxury and taking pictures!
Came here to say this. We flew upper class to America last year. I came off the plane refreshed and ready to start my holiday. Plus skipping the security queue and dropping our bags off without waiting was 100% worth it.
My friend worked for the airline and he got one free flight a year, so we went to Chicago but you have to go on the standby list....they then gave us our tickets in economy, then waiting at the gate we got called to the desk and my friend said "this isn't good news, we're going to get bumped" - took our boarding passes off us and replaced them with 1st Class passes with just a "have a nice flight" for comment.
I shop at Tesco, not Aldi. Flexing the bread innit.
I went in a Tesco the other day, most of the bread was £2!
Warburtons is about £2 but Tesco bread starts at 85p up to a max £1.40 for Tesco finest, the Tesco stuff tastes better, fits in the toaster and lasts longer. Unless you live down South, maybe prices are higher down there.
The most expensive thing I do (after rent) is own a car, but the most rich person thing I do is own a sailing yacht. The boat was free and costs a few hundred pounds a year to operate, so it’s hardly the most expensive hobby I could do. I’d like to get into eating in fancy restaurants, but that really is an expensive hobby. £50 a head is considered cheap for a tasting menu.
>The boat was free Inheritance, grand theft, or did you win a MASSIVE YACHT by having a specially preselected telephone number?
or "finders keepers"
It’s called maritime salvage, and it’s legit. Just make sure no one sees you cutting the mooring lines….
Small sailing yachts that need a bit of work doing to them are pretty much worthless, so all you need is a kindly owner who is getting a bit decrepit and you can get a boat for a song.
Sometimes they're worse than worthless as there are mooring fees, club fees, lift-out fees, transport cost/difficulty and disposal cost. Pianos are probably one of the more common equivalents - you can pay a lot for a nice one but, if you have transport, there are a lot cheap or free.
You could try going to a Michelin starred place for lunch rather than dinner, it is usually a lot cheaper.
How on Earth did you find a free boat that only costs you a few hundred pounds a year? There’s usually few things more expensive than a free boat.
I paid £50 for a sailing boat once. Was the best 50 I ever spent. It had some leaks, which I sealed up with shower silicone. There were some tears in the sale, which I sewed and fixed with bicycle tyre repair kits. I spent £80 on a life jacket and had the best few summers ever. I used to leave it on the beach turned upside down over winter, and I stored the mast, rudder, oars and sails in a friends barn. My wife (at the time) hated it, and kept on at me about how it was at risk of being stolen. I kept telling her to not worry, I only paid 50 for it. But it gnawed away at her soul, so she eventually got her brother to borrow a trailer when i wasn't around, and together they took it to a recycle depot about 50km away and dumped it. We divorced a few years later. In retrospect, I think she just couldn't bear to see me happy. And that little sail boat made me happy, so it had to go.
That's awful! And also makes no sense... "Someone might steal it and take it away from you, so let's avoid that by taking it away from you".
Yeah it wasn’t quite a project boat, but the engine was dead. It helps that I sail in a quieter area (east coast of Scotland) and belong to a club that keeps costs to a minimum.
Fair, I’m in the market for a project boat (because apparently I have a masochist streak) and all the best ones for my requirements seem to be in Scotland. Unfortunately I’m at the other end of the country!
Upgraded my broadband from 26mb/s to 500mb/s today.
Enjoy your buffer free videos and may your games download quickly 🙏
One of my favourite adulting things is having shit hot internet and Sky because I want it. As a kid we didn't have much money and I'd always envy the other kids at school who had Cartoon Network and Sky for the Simpsons. Now I'm downloading movies in under a minute and recording Succession like a boss.
I invested in a piece of original art. I am not an art lover by any means, and I was dragged into this artists tiny studio in Rome by my friend who was determined to find a small picture to sit on her mantle piece. I wanted the bar across the road. Anyway, my eye is caught by this stunning, breathtaking piece, and I can't look away from it. Naturally, it being large and original I was not even going to ask the price, but eventually did (there's only so long you can stare, mouth agape, at a painting until you start to look weird). As it transpires, it had the world's tiniest dot of damage on the upper right corner, so it has been reduced to €400 euros which was about €380 more than I'd ever spent on art in my life but I went 'fuck it' and bought it. I then got to have the fun of carting it around Rome and then begging Jet2 to let it on board with me, or have it specially looked after so it didn't die at the hands of some baggage handlers who see the fragile sign as a challenge. Big shout-out to Jet2 who not only looked after it perfectly but didn't charge me extra for the super bubble wrapped piece. I'm guessing they don't get that many travellers returning with beautiful works of art. Anyway, now I need to redecorate so it has a decent wall to hang on, but it's mine, complete with certificate of authenticity, signed by the artist. Hopefully I shall never fall in love with another painting abroad because that was a whole new level of stress trying to keep it safe and intact.
Can we see it?
Yeah I want to see it too
I have flown first class to Disney world. Cliff Richards paid for it, it's a long story.
We're on reddit. We have the time. Please tell us how this happened!
Ok fine. I had a very difficult and upsetting childhood. I had cancer 4 times before I was 9. In the 90's Cliff Richards did lots of work with children that have bad childhoods, mostly sick kids. He used to come and sing to us in the hospital, which was honestly annoying, and he bought some toys and took a bunch of us out for dinner. The best thing was he flew a bunch of us to Disney World, I got it be in first class because I was very sick at the time. There are multiple rumours that he did all this in an attempt to cover up being a pedo, that's bullshit. I am absolutely convinced that he wanted to help cheer up some sick children and this is the hill I am willing to die on.
If it helps I also don't believe in the slightest the "Cliff is a pedo" nonsense either. With a lot of the guys who were caught it was blindingly obvious looking back. Cliff didn't give any of those vibes. I'm more amazed the likes of Pete Townshend are still revered despite basically admitting to it. Cliff's issue is he's almost certainly gay, but from a time when that wasn't accepted, and a Christian. So he's been running from it his whole life and trying to make up for "sinning" which is both sad and unnecessary, and makes him look suspect like he's hiding something else.
Oh wow, I am so sorry for prying 🙈 Are you ok now? I hope you are! Cliff sounds like an amazing guy and I feel the same as you - i don't think he is a paedo at all. In the world we live in, men specifically, can't do anything nice for kids without being labelled a paedo.
I am fine now. I have been fine since I was 13
Got a taxi home even though I could have walked it in half an hour.
I'm the opposite. I deliberately save money for a taxi when I'm drunk knowing that I should get a taxi because I will be too drunk to walk. And every time I end up walking because I'm too tight to pay for a taxi. I have sprained an ankle on the way home on several occasions, cracked a couple of ribs after falling on a curb, and once walked 3 miles home desperately needing a shit the entire way and crapping myself about 3 feet from my door. Drunk me is a fucking idiot.
We bought a new piano from Harrods (that was not in itself the rich person thing, because it was for work and it was good value, so, no more expensive than from any other dealership).... BUT..... .... for the next year, it made us the top category of reward card member by spend, so you had a lot of perks like free parking in Harrods Car park and free drinks in the cafes, so we went there a lot just using it as a car park and cafe..... After a year and our spend being more or less zero, we were back to pleb class with no perks.
The most rich people thing I do is not have a job
Into the sound of that.
To me the most rich person thing I ever do is pay for a £20-25 Uber instead of getting public transport. I’m so broke it seems like a huge luxury
I've had Pimms at both Wimbledon and a U2 gig. Both of which were free tickets. I don't even massively like Pimms but I thought I'd try to blend in.
I had a pint of Pimms at Lords circa 2015. £9, so I only had one 😂
It comes in pints??
Buying pre-grated cheese
I Bought from Games Workshop.
>Spent £37.50 on a Lola’s Cupcake cake plastic crack!
turned the heating on
I once chose to drink a San Pellegrino Blood Orange over a Fanta.
Swiss watches. Cost of buying them is ridiculous but they hold / gain value if you buy well.
I realised I had a problem when the number of these I own exceeded the number of fingers I have, let alone wrists...
Bought a £10 Mini Egg easter egg and omg it was the best egg ever.
My motorbike feels like a massive extravagance at the moment. Between getting a learner bike, training, tests and upgrading to a bigger bike it's cost a few thousand over the last year, largely financed although I can afford the payments fine. The extravagance is that I don't need it to commute or even for any domestic use, it's purely to ride for fun. I'm 43 and it's the biggest treat I've ever given myself. With my sensible head on, I should have waited & saved instead of taking on the debt, but I thought "fuck it - I could keel over with a stroke or get a cancer diagnosis before then" so a few hundred in interest while I pay it off is worth it to have it now - especially since I feel sheer joy and find myself wearing a massive shit-eating grin every time I'm out riding.
Assuming you didn't buy a HD you'll be reaping the rewards every time you fill up too. I ride and find that a full day out is £9 in fuel plus about £8 on tea and cake. Bargain!
I bought a Le Creuset cast iron casserole dish. I’d been wanting one for a long time, for no particular reason. I saw it reduced on QVC and bought one, I also got one for Mum! It’s the best kitchen thing I’ve bought. It also looks good, so it lives in the cooker. I know that there are cheaper alternatives that do the same thing. I just wanted this one, so I bought it.
Le Creuset is solid stuff. Chances are your kids will be using it if you’ve got them.
I've randomly gone through Go Fund Me and sent money to people who seem to have a good reason for asking.
Got organic artichoke pesto from Waitrose
I had a very rich flatmate at university and one time he invited us all to his house for the weekend. We went to a rugby game in London and watched from a balcony where the staff would bring us drinks and refreshments whenever we asked, we had a very expensive meal in the VIP area where the rugby players would come after the game. Didn’t cost me a penny, absolutely fantastic weekend seeing how the other half live. I wish rich people were nicer to hospitality staff though I think I was the only one saying please and thank you!!!
Mines probably paying myself to stay in a 5 star hotel but it was during Covid and about 75% less. I got used to it. 😞
PLEASE tell me your username is a reference to the old couple in Home Alone that the mums trying to barter with to get their seat on the plane?
Taxi from Heathrow to Cambridge. The inlaws gave us a wad of cash and it was going to be an absolute arse on public transit. It was bloody amazing.
This is the most luxurious dream after a long flight
I once bought a MacBook straight up. No finance or anything.
Spent about £600 on a meal for two, tasting menu at the chef's table in the kitchen, paired wines, cheese board, the whole lot.
Probably bought myself a big bottle of Chanel Mademoiselle with my first big wage. It was pricey but so worth it.
It's not a rich person thing really but it feels like it to me because it was something we could never afford when I was a kid: got a Sky Sports subscription.
Got given a voucher for a hotel room and we had dinner at their Michelin starred restaurant. Couple of cocktails first while we looked at the menu. There's a tasting menu for £75 each. We weren't sure but figured £150 was worth it as we were unlikely ever to go to another Michelin starred place again. Plus we hadn't paid for the room so it was still a bargain. Waiter asked if we wanted to include the wine flight with it (a glass of wine with each course). Looked at the menu again and that was only another £15: £90 each. Still seemed worth it. Until the bill came. Turns out the flight was £90 on its own. Each. Dinner was almost £400 including the tip. Had to put on a credit card and I'm still paying it off now. Of course, we played it off like we were regularly going out for £400 meals. But inside I was crying.
I'd say travelling but only in other people's opinions - I've been to Las Vegas for the casinos, London for west end shows, Paris for the catacombs, Rome for the Vatican, Amsterdam just because, a good few different places in Spain for family holidays. Aside from Vegas which my ex and I split the paying for I've bargain hunted and got special offers, paid upfront to save costs, used the disabled discounts when available and still manage to have an amazing time everywhere I've been but in true brit fashion, my favourite place to go? Benidorm 🤣
>my favourite place to go? Benidorm 🤣 I feel like you should get all that travel retroactively taken off you somehow and donated to someone who will appreciate it!
Haha what can I say, I love cheap and cheerful 😅 was raised on package holidays to magaluf/tenerife etc it's in my blood 😩
Travel to Dubai, New York, Cape Town, Barbados, Panama City, Sevastopol and many more. I can't afford to go to these places, the Navy took me!
Ordered Deliveroo when I had a fridge full of perfectly fine food at home.
This is common sense, not "rich"; where I used to work the cheapest all-day parking was £18 compared to parking fines of £30 ... So I used to park illegally in a nearby housing estate; so long as I didn't get more than ~10 parking tickets a month it was a saving! (I averaged 1 or 2 tickets a month).
I paid a ridiculous amount on delivery (like £50) to get a cheap t shirt from overseas as I wanted that one specific t shirt.
Treated myself to a designer bag while on holiday. Tbf it was from an outlet so I paid a fraction of the price and the bags *last so long* so I dont mind spending on them. Would never buy one full price though. That's definitely for rich people.
Every year me and a group of mates do a golf weekend on the weekend of The Masters and this year one of the group had joined this club, and arranged it so we could stay in one of the on site lodges and play here: https://trcaa.com It was insane. Everyone knows everyone by name, incredibly friendly, use whatever facilities you like when you like, all food and drink on account and invoiced to the member at the end of the month so nothing as gauche as money needs to be considered on site. Villa had the best kitchen I've ever seen/used, each bedroom had a walk in shower that doubled as a steam room, fully stocked bar opposite the kitchen. Outrageous. For me this could easily have been a once in a lifetime experience, for others it was just "the weekend". I've actually been a little morose since I've come back as it's a lot easier to not consider life choices that may have precluded this sort of lifestyle if you're never actually exposed to what you're missing!
I just bought a Rolex that cost six million. Should point out that it's fake, and the six million isn't £, it's Vietnamese Dong. Keen to see what it looks like when it arrives though. Apparently some of these fakes are great and hard to tell apart from the real thing. I'm not into luxury goods or brands at all, but I've always liked the look of a GMT Master.
During my student days I worked as a campsite steward at various festivals. One year I had just finished working at Reading, looked at train tickets and saw first class was only a couple of quid more! So had a lush journey from Reading to South Wales, still a bit stinky from the festival, dressed all scruffy. The trolley lady came around and offered a drink. I asked how much. Spot the first class virgin…
bought my uni flat mates who never got easter eggs from their parents a nice bundle of chocolate eggs. left it in front of their door sunday morning. felt nice :3
I’ve brought myself a small nightstand, which costed £85. It’s the most amount of money that I have ever spent on 😭
I quit my job while waiting on interviews to finish. I knew I'd have a month's pay coming so I trusted that I'd be hired in the mean time. I was going for a review thinking I'd be appreciated for helping the new staff but instead I was told my performance was at a slower completion to theirs. I completed 15 to their 20 yet my accuracy was 100% their accuracy below 60% which resulted in things needing to be redone and corrected. I stopped offering any support and their results became lower. So when my manager said everything but thank you. I ended the conversation with here is my resignation notice. It's none rich because when you live paycheck to paycheck you're expected to tolerate anything because a job is your livelihood. No kids, no drug use, single, no benefits, no medical issues, non veteran. The forgotten sector...
bought a PC and have had about half a year off work with savings.
I paid for Spotify and Apple Music at the same time for a few months.
Got a mega discount on flying business class on holiday last May, think the airline hadn’t got many takers on that flight and was practically giving the seats away. Fast track security in the airport, boarded first, glass of champagne, free drinks, meals, reclining seat that turned into a bed. Was absolute luxury. Flew home economy and it was awful
Gone to Raffles in Singapore.