I saw something the other day that made me literally stop stock still in the middle of the high street. I was staring at a poster in the window of the only local white goods supplier and the wording surprised me. It actually offered rental of various domestic appliances! This was something I had not seen since living for a short while in the north of the country. Up there at that time, it was very much the way to go when furnishing a home. Bearing in mind they were very much renters and not purchasers and this was houses, flats etc. No-one in my immediate social group had ever considered owning their house – there was an overriding feeling of intitlement. The council was there to house them of course. Everybody assumed they were owed a home. I never found this in the south where I was brought up.
Once a couple was installed in their council house, then they would furnish it with rented goods. Especially the white goods in the kitchen. I also remember that most folk would rent their televisions – this was a completely new concept for me as I had never seen such an idea. I worked in an office for a few months and my immediate colleagues always spoke of having to gather together the money together to pay the rental on this and that. To have this facility today means that folk do not always have the money up front for domestic goods. So the reliance on credit cards is not quite what it was some years ago.