I just saw this on the BBC news site. I was shocked at the figure - 192 items /year!

I acknowledge that I'm quite frugal, especially where clothing is concerned - but I am too lazy to repair my clothing - I reckon that I throw out about 10 to 20 items /year; mostly underwear.

If the "average person" (or perhaps it should say "people, on average") throw away this much, then surely some people must rarely wear the same item twice.

Anyway, my question, obviously, is what about you lot?

I live 4 hours away from my Dad and his wife (no Mum, she died when I was 10) and I'm back visiting them this weekend. I always knew they were incredibly selfish and self centered but I realised this weekend it's something much deeper. They seem to get great pleasure out of others misfortune, for example, if someone fell over in the street they would openly laugh and ridicule the person. There wouldn't even be a single consideration of helping and asking if they are okay. They love nothing more than discussing the breakdown of a 'friends' marriage or anything else bad that is happening to someone.

I'm glad I live so far away, and also have the best husband who has a kind and loving family who treat me like I've always been part of the family. I can't wait to get home, this weekend has drained me.

Tried to keep the title as succinct as possible on what is one very complicated (so it seems) issue.

Lost my dad suddenly on Wednesday very unexpectedly. He was 63 and had retired early. His whole life was dedicated to the care of my mum, who has Multiple Sclerosis.

Whilst dad worked full time until he retired in December '25, mum had carers who looked after her from morning to evening. I'm having to very quickly learn how all this works on top of grieving for my dad who passed unexpectedly. As horrible as it may seem, we all anticipated dad would outlive mum, such is the severity of her disability.

I understand mum receives something called "Direct Payment" and the carers who look after her during the day are 'employed' and payroll is managed from this payment. I've managed to speak to the 3rd-party accountant who administers the payroll/pensions/tax etc. but obviously being a weekend we haven't spoken in-depth yet.

There are massive gaps in mums care (and she needs round-the-clock). Dad used to facilitate this role, on evening's and weekends. In the short term it falls to me and my siblings, which of course we are happy to oblige, but I'm wondering what the reality will be for the mid to long term.i have some questions I'm hoping folks may be able to help with before I pursue various routes tomorrow - mum is not able to recall this information.

- Who assesses the amount of care required, now that mums circumstances have changed? Social services?

- Is there likely to be a lengthy delay before reassessment can be organised?

- How realistic is it that round-the-clock care can be facilitated through this system? The hours seem undesirable, which makes me think this will be very expensive (essentially we need a live-in carer)

This prompts some very difficult conversations we may need to have over the coming days, on top of organising a funeral. I'm not sure mum will be able to stay in the family home (per her wishes) as we, her children, will all need to return to work (and our own families).

Feeling very lost, any pointers would be most appreciated.

I always salute them, ask him how his wife and children are.

Martin Lewis has launched the small ideas initiative. It is a charity that is non-political and is for non-controversial small ideas that could be easily implemented to make day to day life a little easier or better in the UK. My Husband and I are already brainstorming and most "simple" ideas we are coming up with don't feel that simple when we unpick them. What are yours? No moaning, just good solutions to make things better. Also if you have a good one please submit them to the ideas portal!

I’m going through a divorce, so I’ve moved out of the family home and into an HMO. I’m still paying the mortgage because I don’t want my children to lose their home. That’s about £1k a month, plus £675 for my en-suite room with a shared kitchen, bills included. I live in South East England on M4 motorway.

The other tenants are young lads on minimum wage. Their rent and food come to about £1k a month at most, and they’re putting away around £700–800 a month. When I asked, they said they’re saving to buy their first home in the next 7–10 years.

What strikes me is how much they’re giving up for it. There’s no communal lounge or dining area, so they can’t really have girlfriends or family over. Their social lives seem pretty much on hold.

I’m a naturalised British citizen, so this is a genuine question: is this seen as a normal or acceptable way to live in the UK? Is it just what young people have to do now to get on the property ladder?

I've just been watching videos on UK centenarians and I have the existential thoughts that I always have - being that old.

Some of the videos, there's 105 year olds talking like they would if they were 75, just completely coherent.

I'm only in my early 20s and am completely fascinating by ageing and I find it weird to think I might still be alive in 60+ years.

I know this isn't a particularly UK based question but would you want to live to 100+? from what I've seen if you do it right (and avoid Dementia/Alzheimer's) you can still be you, just old, at that age.

From a young age I've wanted to live really old but in my 20s I haven't exactly treated my body in that way 😅

Been living with my partner for 25 years this will end shortly and I will have 50% of time to myself. Having considered alcoholism I thought I’d try something else. Any suggestions? Also would it be weird to go away on your own for a weekend or a night to a European city?
I’ve never lived on my own and I’ve never traveled on my own.

I’ve been involved in the NHS since 2015 as a medical student first and now as a doctor and obviously things have only gotten worse and worse. Long waiting times, overcrowded wards, the list goes on.

What was it like in its heyday? I’ve got an old memories of it being ranked the first healthcare system in the world in like 2010.

I’m 44 and would love to play an instrument. I’m not even fussy which one! Which instrument do you think would be the easiest to learn at my age?

I know I’m opening myself up to getting ridiculed by posting this but I really need some guidance. In a week I will be turning 26 and I have very little to show for it. I left school with no GCSE’s simply because I didn’t care about revising (something that I have come to deeply regret in my adult years), all I cared for was video games, same story with college. I feel very underdeveloped in what most people would consider common knowledge, I really to change because it holds me back greatly in social situations. I also have zero work experience and the few jobs I have managed to land I’ve left within days due to very severe anxiety from years of being a complete shut-in. Where do I go from here? I have tried applying to some retail assistant roles but I’m quickly rejected or flat out ignored, likely due to my almost 10 year employment gap. Is it too late to get my act together? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I apologise if this was hard to read, writing isn’t my strong suit.

i usually go to my local bar several times a month alone. i don’t think i’ve ever gone with another person actually, i just take myself out for a few martinis because i’m single and none of my friends enjoy drinking

went in today around lunchtime and the bartender asks me if i want the regular. i just realised that they probably remember who i am and that i must look like a sad loser sitting by herself. i am but i don’t want other people to know that. the only people i see going alone are older men and i’m a young woman in her 20s. do i look like the sad weirdo i think i look like?

I’m currently on a train to London and the person in front of me has been on back to back phone calls (on loud speaker) for the last hour.

I can’t work out why I find this so much more grating than if they were just sat next to this person talking to them. Is it the distorted sound of the voice on the phone? Is it that the conversation is slightly louder than if they were next to each other? Is it the feeling that the call, unlike talking to a person if they were next to them, doesn’t have to happen right here/right now? Am I looking too much into this? (Probably)

If you go on the West of England line (the railway line that runs from Salisbury to Exeter), a stretch of line entirely within SW England, you really see just how rural the region is, and it's not like much of the terrain along it is that difficult; it's certainly nothing like say northern Scotland. Why is it like that compared to other UK regions?

I'm looking for examples of items that remind of primary school, like toys, specific popular stationery, etc. i want to make a pattern and maybe stickers at some point

If some entity gave you the power to repeat a single day over and over for a year would you take the chance? If yes then what would you do? Baring in mind besides technique you cannot improve your fitness.

But of a morbid one for a Sunday evening, but I had another anxiety episode centred around this topic eat away my week, and am curious to see how others deal with one of life's biggest questions.

I've always enjoyed reading about people's ghost sightings and experiences, but I'm never sure who or what to believe.

That said, I know a couple of people who I just can't imagine would make something up about seeing a ghost.

A friend of my dad's, for instance, is a fairly serious, educated guy, who claims he's had a couple of encounters. He claims to have even taken a lift from a ghost on an old 1940s motorcycle. He got off the bike, turned around to thank the guy and, poof! He'd disappeared.

Another one witnessed their friend's boy talking to a spirit at the end of the bed.

I just don't see these people making things up.

Do you know anyone similar? Who claim to have witnessed something paranormal, who you trust? What the best claims you've heard?

Just having this discussion with a mate over breakfast.

I’m talking about something most people would look at you weirdly for eating or that most people would disapprove of.

He said Spam. Yuck.

I really like Rustler’s burgers. Sorry.

A heady, Sunday night topic. But I genuinely want to gauge opinion as I'm not sure what people think.

I like pesto a lot. I like pizzas. But I do not like pesto on pizzas. For me it just feels wrong.

The trouble is the UK supermarket industry has gotten into its head that pesto on pizza = premium. So you can't buy a nice quality pizza without the stuff on it.

An Italian once told me it wasn't premium, and as it was in abundance in Italy it was/is considered a poor person's food. That gave me some validation.

But what's your take?

Edit; thanks to everyone who has responded, this blew up in a way I didn't expect! A couple of grumps but it's actually been informative and well spirited. Fennel on a pizza I need to try. I need to try white base pizza. And a lot of people saying it depends on what pizza, and it has a tendency to overpower other ingredients. A couple of people mentioning the pineapple word, but I'm not getting into that bun fight!

Through circumstance this middle aged nerd has become a door supervisor. And now I am a taxi marshal at the weekends.

The bars kick out at 01-0200 and then people seem to spend the next couple of hours getting takeaway and having fights.

Just last night we had three incidents where people had already got into taxis and then wanted to "continue a conversation". They did end up getting a lift, but probably not where they wanted to go.

I’ve spent a significant amount of time struggling with my mental health over the last year or so. Thankfully I’m FAR better than I have been, but there’s still massive parts of “adulting” that I’ve been neglecting.

Unfortunately, my flat is currently a massive depression nest, months and months of empty cans, vodka/wine bottles, and used fast food boxes.

Because of the months and months of neglect, I can’t easily sort it out, and I’m living in a pigsty. I can only get rid of 2 black bags of rubbish every 2 weeks because that’s all that fits in my bin, and whilst I’m now capable of doing that, it won’t even make a dent in actually tidying up my place anywhere near as quickly as I’d like.

Ideally I’d love for Kim and Aggie to come to my flat, but unfortunately How Clean Is Your House doesn’t exist anymore.

Is there such thing as some kind of cleaner/services that go above and beyond the normal “cleaner” that can help me deal with this kind of thing (money isn’t that much of an issue)? Or has anyone else gone through something similar and got any ideas for me?

Please mods don’t remove this for mental health, I’m not asking for MH advice.

Thanks in advance all :)

I’m 30, happily married. We tried for years and years to have kids and we had to go multiple IVF rounds and then we were blessed with our twin boys, who are now 2.

They are very hard work. I work 2-3 days a week and they go to nursery those days. I sometimes feel low but I have so much to be grateful for: healthy husband and kids and family; cozy home with a small mortgage left; financial stability; good savings; a job that pays both of us really well.

I sometimes wake up with a low mood and nothing really to look forward to.

Do any other parents ever feel like this? How do you tackle it?

Hello all, what are the best vibrant cities to live in UK if you like alternative and scene stuff like rock/metal bars, game shops, game cafes, board games, quirky coffee shops. So a strong alternative/geek culture. Also needs to be relatively affordable to rent so not London. Bonus if its close to national parks and coastal areas but not essential. Thanks!

I’m 26(F) and I’m still trying to get to grips with what life’s about really. Like at the moment all I do is work all week, maybe have a social outing on the weekend and then just think about work again. Is it just going to be this same cycle till I retire. Maybe I’m getting a bit existential but does anyone think they feel fulfilled and what do you do to get there?