rosettastone
member
Reged: 11/03/2008
Posts: 452
Loc: Kent/Surrey borders
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Hi,
OH and I have been married for 25 years and in our reminiscences we have realised that things have changed a lot over the last quarter century. When we got married, there were no mobile phones (remember the bricks?) no CDs or DVDs, computers were only getting going. Microwaves were not common and there was no air conditioning in cars. What else has changed ? For the better or worse do you think?
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carpe diem - seize the day!
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gyp
member
Reged: 15/04/2008
Posts: 536
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I was paid monthly and OH was paid weekly, just loved that.
I remember worrying about the gas bill that was due, now I don't worry to it as it's by direct debit (maybe I will come this winter's fuel rises).
And I was looking at my friend's daughter's prom photos and they all had such lovely dresses and I said if we had them in our days we wouldn't be able to afford dresses like that, we would have had to make them or borrow something. I don't remember it being so competitive as it is now.
gyp
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debenjane
member
Reged: 11/01/2008
Posts: 585
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I was married and earned a full time salary of £3,500 per annum and thought I was so rich. We had no tumble drier, no computer ( our first one we saved SO hard for and it cost a staggering £3000 - unbelievable), we thought we were really swanky having a car with tinted, electric windows. How wonderful it seemed with two full time wages coming in and 3 holidays a year. Then it all changed - for the better, as I had two wonderful daughters and was 'richer' than I had ever been.
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cornish_girl
member
Reged: 28/12/2007
Posts: 76
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Like you rosettastone I too have been married 25 yrs. We had a wedding video done by a friend all jumpy and shakey one of the first of our friends to have one. No such thing has professional video! Mother in law had a betamax copy!!!! Remember saving for a microwave thought we were really lucky to have one. AH the good old days.
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sue11
member
Reged: 22/08/2007
Posts: 129
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Hi All, I've been married 30 years. Not sure how come!! My OH & I bought a house & lived together for 1 year before getting married and when my mum met the neighbours she apologised for me and said that I had been brought up properly. The shame I brought to her of living over t brush. Can you imagine that happeing now? The same mum has said nothing about her grand daughter "living in sin". Oh how times have changed. Sue
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Vicky123
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Reged: 22/02/2008
Posts: 2132
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In 1977 I left school on £18 per week (office junior). I took home £15.65 and gave mum £3.50 for my keep. I went to London in 1978 and earned £2600 p.a. in my first job as a junior for the Kuwait Government. In 1982 I bought my first house with ex-husband Two bedrooms, near station, big garden. £19,995! I would never have moved in before marriage (my mother would have been so upset)
Yes how times have changed!
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sue11
member
Reged: 22/08/2007
Posts: 129
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Hi Vicky, Glad someone appreciates the shame I brought on the family. Good grief you must have been very rich to buy a house for that price. We paid £13,750 for our first house in Newbury and even though I worked for Abbey National with a cheap mortgage rate the mortgage was deducted from our salaries & it was nearly a year before I actually had an excess to take home!!!
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cupcake
member
Reged: 15/02/2008
Posts: 2878
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I remember being in Dorothy perkins with OH when his mobile phone rang. It was about 1985 and was quite an early model...it was massive! I was SO embarrassed i walked out of the shop.
And talking of shame...I had my son in 1971....unmarried and only 17 years old...sad really.
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Vicky123
member
Reged: 22/02/2008
Posts: 2132
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When I bought that house the mortgage rate was 15% so our repayments were massive compared to our income. I remember getting a phone bill for £26.50 and my ex-hub wanted a prinout from BT because he couldnt believe it! If only he knew what my phone bills were these days!!!!
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OzzieKez
member
Reged: 21/06/2008
Posts: 1893
Loc: Queensland, Australia
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Cupcake, it must have been so hard for you. My MIL had my husband "out of wedlock" in 1958. She had no support whatsoever. Her family insisted that she not keep him or they would disown her. She worked (as a nurse) up until a fortnight before the birth and said she has never known such heartache as walking out of that hospital with empty arms. There was no counselling, just forget about it and get on with things. She didnt meet OH until he was 45... What cruelty...
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sue11
member
Reged: 22/08/2007
Posts: 129
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Cupcake, You were very brave to go it alone but I'm sure it the benefits were well worth it. My parents let me go on a school trip in 1971 which was a two week educational cruise. It was amazing but my spending money for two weeks was £5!!!!
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Glitterqueen
member
Reged: 11/01/2008
Posts: 1233
Loc: Essex
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There were only 3 TV channels up to 1982 when Channel 4 began broadcasting - now we have so many to choose from! Oh and of course there was no internet so we wouldn't have been able to chat like this 
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carrieb
member
Reged: 07/08/2007
Posts: 1922
Loc: Ireland
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Good for you Cupcake keeping and bringing up your son in 1971. If you lived in Ireland in '71 it would'nt have been possible. It happened to a friend of mine at the time and she was made give her baby up for adoption. Thankfully now they have been reunited . 
I laughed out loud when I read your post Sue11 about your mother and the neighbour.  I'm sure you did'nt laugh at the time but when we got married in '77 we had our house about six months before the wedding and there was NO question about moving in together before the big day. 
How times have changed. For the better in my opinion. 
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anne1005
member
Reged: 09/01/2008
Posts: 1063
Loc: manchester
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There was no way my dad would have allowed me to move in with my boyfriend before we were married - but my lovely grandma, who thought she was ever so broadminded, gave me a key to her flat just in case the 'urge'  (her words LOL) overcame us!!!!!!!!. Needless to say, we never used the key! 
We had a tumble dryer - OH parents bought as a wedding present - and a twintub washer.
Anne xxx
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sue11
member
Reged: 22/08/2007
Posts: 129
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Hi Everyone, I'm starting to realise what a hussy I was. Sadly it was needs must, not NEEDS must, but poverty forced us to buy a house as we were both living along way from family. We just couldn't afford to both rent separate bedsits. Do bedsits still exist? Or they now called studio apartments?
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wisp1
member
Reged: 14/09/2007
Posts: 108
Loc: Derbyshire
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Hi,
My first job as an office junior gave me the princely sum of £3.5shillings per week! (Not going to tell you how many years ago that was!).
When I married my first husband we had known each other for 2 years and been engaged for one and there was no way we could have lived together first, both families would have disowned us! I've been living, not married, with my current partner for 13 years and these days nobody bothers.
The first house we brought was a detached 3 bed and cost us £3,950!! It seemed a fortune to us then, wish houseprices were the same now!
In the main I think things have changed for the better, computers, mobile phones, etc have their downside but are very useful tools for communciation. I like the fact that there are less taboo subjects these days too, talking about sex, relationship problems and even death is acceptable and that must be a good thing.
I qualified as a nurse in 1980 and the changes in my job since then are unbelievable. When I talk of how we used to nurse and the equipment we used, the new students look at me as if I nursed with Florence Nightingale! Not all the changes are for the better however. Patient care has gone down and the amount of paperwork has increased.
Enjoyed this thread it has been me think about how much has changed over the years, Perhaps we should start separate threads on changes in fashion, cooking, housework and changes in womens place in society!
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feathers
member
Reged: 20/05/2007
Posts: 496
Loc: Tyneside
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I think we are a lot more affluent but regret that people are so much more acquisitive and have to have everything straight away. Maybe the credit squeeze will make people think about spending within their incomes again. I was desperately hard up - overdrawn and had to make Christmas pressies - when I first had this house exactly 25 years ago, but I didn't rush out and buy new everything. I am only now contemplating my first 'new' dining table!
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Lorca
member
Reged: 12/04/2008
Posts: 534
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I got my first bedsit in 1978, 12 pounds a week(my pound sign wont work???) I had to share a shower/toilet with three others, used to take bleach and rubber gloves with me, they were not clean!!! Eeewww.
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