SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE: Our grandparents' frugal habits make sense today
But for all the privilege my grandparents enjoyed, they did not splash out like middle-class South Africans do now
My maternal grandparents' home, in which they lived for six decades, had a patch of lawn and a flower bed in the front and a courtyard at the back. It was a small, well-cared-for house and a happy home. My mother's childhood bedroom had a narrow, freestanding wardrobe. In the sitting room stood a small couch, two armchairs and a radiogram. On the enclosed verandah were three wicker chairs and a short bench, which my sisters and I had to squeeze onto when we visited as children. My grandfather - known as the Fellside Fixer because neighbours brought all manner of items for him to repair - renovated the house himself, wallpapering the passage and extending the dining room. And while new furniture was occasionally bought, my grandparents were frugal. Fast-forward to 2017. Now middle-class homes have wall-to-wall built-in cupboards and floor-to-ceiling kitchen cabinetry that must be filled. It's easy to do so with shopping malls sprawled across our cities. With the extension of credit, ...
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