I'm older generation and we did do things differently. Married in 1974 and rented, in those days rented accommodation was scarce. Remember going to see a rented cottage down Church Street in Sutton and there must have been 50 people in the queue outside waiting to view. This led to gazumping. My first rent for a flat on Park Avenue in Hull was £16 a week, and twice as much as my first mortgage for a two up two down house. My wife earned £15 a week working full time at Reckitts in those days, just enough to pay the rent. We save £10 a week for months to be able to put a deposit down for the mortgage, which was £300 then bought a very cheap run down house and 'did it up', moving up the housing ladder that way, a bit at a time.
We bought second hand furniture, a second hand telly, no central heating, no double glazing, and besides the mortgage, no debt.
Worked all the overtime possible, even took on a football pools round, and did odd jobs for people. The wife did part time jobs, even selling Avon door to door, whilst bringing up three children.
A takeaway was fish and chips, a treat, maybe once a fortnight and you went for it yourself.
We never had a car for the first five years of married life and our first one cost £50. Credit was available but I was brought up not to take on that sort of debt. 'If you cannot afford it, you don't need it' .
I sold City fireside bingo tickets and later the City scratch cards and used the 10% commission made on them to pay for my football on a Saturday.
Because we knew no different. That is how it was.
Que.....'we lived in a shoe box in a hole in the road'......