Someone was chucking it out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
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Someone was chucking it out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Lol... What are you like!
Marco.
What's the point in spending money on a thing when you can get a perfectly good one for nothing? The depreciation on new furniture is cataclysmic. Makes doing something nuts like buying a big Peugeot look like a sound financial move by comparison.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
Well, you know our thinking in this area is quite different. Each to his or her own, I guess:)
Marco.
Don't get me wrong if cash was no object I'd have the place tricked out very finely. Or a better place, tricked out very finely. But if you want a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget you have to target your spending and scrimp elsewhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
It's amazing what well-off people are skipping. I have a friend, her mother gets a new suite of furniture every 2 years. Another one, the mother in law had the whole place done out Laura Ashley, ten grand, goes off it after a year, just wants rid. Dining table that cost 3 grand, 'Just take it away I've got a new one arriving tomorrow and I need the room'.
Probably been used about 5 times. Some of the chairs have never been sat in.
More like wastful idiots with no class, who probably are still paying for it on credit!:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Macca
We buy good stuff that lasts, such as (since you've mentioned it) the Laura Ashley furniture and curtains we have in the lounge, and if we ever decide to change the look of the sofa or chairs, we'll simply have them recovered in a different fabric! Nothing is ever skipped unless it's purely rubbish; it either gets recycled or goes to a charity shop.
One of the things you pay for in Laura Ashley furniture [or with other good makes] is the quality of the carcass, which is why you can get a 3-piece suite from DFS for £500, as it's shit, through and through and not designed to last. Fine, however, for superficial-minded 'trending' types, who change their sofas more often than their underpants...
I doubt we'll buy another new suite of furniture again in our lifetime, as this stuff will probably outlive us! You'll find that the truly "well off" are rather more thrifty than the kind of vulgar fashion victims/wannabe toffs you're talking about;)
Marco.
When I was in construction, I worked at a few country clubs. And I learned there are two types, the ones who are actually rich, and those who want you to think they are rich!
Those who are actually rich, they are rather nice people, who don’t mind paying you for fixing things, and treat you with some common decency.
Those who want you to think they are Rich, they are snobs, who treat you like the help and are rude and self righteous. And expect everyone to do them something for free.
Russell
You are so right Russell, this has been my experience too.
The 'really rich' have nothing to prove, whereas the 'nearly rich' are often truly awful to be around. They aspire to be rich, and looking down on the rest of us is an inexpensive way of elevating their financial status.
I have one customer in his late fifties, who sold his engineering firm a few years ago and he and his partner walked away with about £60 million each. But each morning he came out to greet us, make us a brew and have a quick chat before taking his dog out.
And earlier this year we fitted a kitchen for someone who lives in an apartment in Lytham. We were told that the old kitchen cannot be stacked outside ready for removal, but must go straight in the van. It seems that no one wants anyone to see the state of the old kitchen, lest they be judged. Also a previous workman accidentally left a handsaw leaning on one of the big planters in the gardens, and it was brought up at the next residents' association meeting!
Russell, you've probably never seen an old 70's sitcom called 'The Good Life', what with being in America, but there is a character called Margot Leadbeater who personifies this perfectly.
I just give these people a wide berth.
Nothing wrong with aspirations, but comparing yourself to others looks like a certain path to misery.
That is so true. I know people like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco
On the other hand, some mega wealthy are skinflints. The original Paul Getty, possibly the richest man in the world back in the day had a payphone in his home that others were expected to use.
IIRC that was because he got sick of freeloaders and had it installed to make a point.Quote:
Originally Posted by walpurgis