Cost of living

[Bayleaf]

It was much easier to get work "back then" - unskilled (although frankly any job is skilled in my book), part-time, two jobs etc. You could just walk into an establishment and often start work the next day! Now it's all so regulated ...especially in France. Apprenticeships don't seem so popular either. Not everyone is cut out for Uni, and so many jobs require people with common sense and initiative rather than a string of diplomas.

Edit add-on (I just thought of!) And don't forget all those jobs that have been taken away from humans, as it's cheaper to have a robot/computer do them ......

[hughnique]

Married in 1969, rented the top floor of a house owned by the nosiest cow on earth, when she found out OH was pregnant we got our marching orders. Went back to live with my parents for about a year, then OH went to her parents 3 hours away, with the baby, and I stayed at my parents house, living nightmare. Went to the council with a sob story about having to part so they gave us a flat in a notorious area of the borough, after about 2 years we got out of there on medical grounds, and moved to a better maisonette, there about 5 years, after which we got a council assisted mortgage, as we were vacating a council premises, they paid all the legal fees, moving expenses etc, so all in a good deal. Finally we had a place to call our own. Think again, neighbours from hell he was a lecturer at a college and she was, well lets say Indian, with an enormous great chip on her shoulder, you couldn't take a crap without them informing the council. Upped sticks and went to a nice detached chalet bungalow in Bexleyheath, another short lived dream, three opposite were all old wrinklies, and the worst bit was neighbour at the rear had a right of passage on my driveway, even worse they were both coppers, he was like a bloody kid, had some old Zodiac which he had fitted an illegal exhaust on, used to do car repairs and spraying in his side of a prefabricated garage he had knocked the rear out of. Every time you went in to the garage it stunk of cellulose. Came out of there, eventually found some mug to buy it for less than we paid and went to Sevenoaks, finally not too bad but next stop was France, now it's back to the UK, after 20 years, providing we can find a buyer for here, been up for a year, no interest, dropped 50K€ off the price and still no takers, oh well such is life.

[beejay]

I was discharged from National Service on my 21st birthday. Three months later I had met the girl I was to marry. We bought a new build house n a village development in September 1961 for £2600 on a fixed interest of 6¼% and paid it off 25 years later. It now sells in the £45k range if we ever decide to move. Our neighbour moved in the same day as we did and is still our neighbour as are others who moved in over the following few months.

[demi]

Do you mean 45K or 450K??

[hughnique]

Do you mean 45K or 450K??

Same thought??

[beejay]

Yes, my error of course it's £450K

[Liz]

At 21 I was a student at uni, living in shared uni-provided flat, working in the holidays in bars and Christmas at the post office, and some part-time occasional term time cleaning jobs. All declared so when I left uni jobless I could claim unemployment benefit, and as my parents welcomed me home I didn't have to worry about rent etc until I got a job a few months later. No student debt to worry about.
OH had quit uni and took any job going whilst he got himself on track for life.
We each lived in shared houses with other young adults until I got a job with a key worker rented flat near his work.
Saving money whilst paying rent was hard, and it is so much harder now especially in more expensive areas.

[basquesteve]

"I wonder where people on this forum were living when they were 21 ? At home ? In digs ? Renting a bedsit ? Sharing a rented flat ? In your own property and paying a mortgage ?"

Living in a hotel at the end of Oxford street Tottenham Court road Working as a banker in the city

[Polly]

I was in my final year at college when I was 21, spent each of the 3 years in a hall of residence. On leaving college I rented a room in a shared house of women, my future husband was one year ahead of me and had a room in shared a house of men after graduating.

I was very lucky to be asked to spend 3 months in Paris during my first year of teaching, as part of an experiment teaching primary school children to speak French using the Nuffield programme. There was a grant as well as my monthly pay, so my pay was transferred straight into a savings account, providing much of our deposit for our first house purchase, aged 23.

Just to note that my command of the French language wasn’t brilliant, but I had an interest in it (much preferable to playing sport on Wednesday afternoons!). We didn’t actually speak French to the children most of the time, but mouthed the words on tapes, acting out situations, role playing and singing.

[Loup-garou]

most of the time, mouthed the words on tapes, acting out situations, role playing and singing.

Are you sure you weren't at Greenham Common?