It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Hardup_Hester

Purple works for me, I have a pair of purple sparkly shoes that I wear regularly, I love them.
I too lived in a house with no inside toilet, tin bath by the fire, no electricity, the house was gas lit & this was after 1951. Coal was delivered by horse & cart, no ready meals, no meals at all a lot of the time, lol, my Mum was too young & a very bad manager, the not so good old days.
At least I've taught myself how to cook & how to manage on very little & I have my family who are worth more than all the money in the world.

knithryn

If you like purple, have you seen this wool rich purple coat in Asda for £7.50
http://direct.asda.com/george/last-chance-to-buy/women-s/formal-jacket/GEM19045,default,pd.html

And on the 'I remembers'....I remember when we got a bathroom, but dad was a farmer so the dairy got hot water before the house did, and the dairy was on the other side of the yard. Hot water was carried in buckets to the bath. I recall one steel bucket having a tiny hole in it (yes we used to sing 'there's a hole in my bucket') and it always left a little watery trail up the yard.
Electricity strikes and using candles and oil lamps...
Being snowed in and my dad using his tractor to clear the road so the milk tanker could come to collect the milk as it had to daily...
Freshly butchered chickens being gutted ready for the freezer...
Collecting eggs from my grans hens in the orchard where they were kept...
And my mother doing a huge batch of baking on a Sunday morning as we were sent out to Sunday School and church, to return to roast dinner, apple crumble, victoria sponges, fairy cakes, fruit cakes...and we got changed from our Sunday Best into our 'old clothes'. We had school uniform, old clothes (about 2-3 each of tops, trousers etc) and one Sunday Best outfit.
And shoes being polished in front of the coal fire on a Saturday night...
And timing myself to get dressed in less than one minute as there was no heating in the house except for a coal fire which was downstairs and I was upstairs in an uninsulated attic...

I so desperately want to move back to the countryside. To me, that's the first big thing that will enhance my standard of living, even if I have less money...

leed

You do know that those who read this thread when ever they see anyone wearing purple is immediately going to think that person a) reads this thread b) is feeling bolshy!!!! :T

elizabunny

Evening all, have spent most of the weekend batch cooking from scratch. I find that this is the only way we have a hope, of making ends nearly meet at the moment, but it just takes so much time. By the time I've foraged round the garden looking for everthing I need and then cooked it all, the day has nearly gone.

I found my mind wandering and I was thinking about the two meals deals etc. that you see everywhere now. I suppose this does represent good value, but when I think of today's sunday roast that I made, I think the lot cost me less than £5. We had the remainer of some HM soup with some crusty HM bread, followed by Roast Pork (£2 odd and it was more than enough for the 2 of us)) from my local butcher, sprouts,Yorkshire Pud and Roast Potatoes, with HM gravy. Too full to eat pud, but made some drop scones for later. All a bit comfort foody but really delicious and cheap. I even managed to stretch 1lb mince to make 10 individual portions of Lasagne for the freezer. Of course this it what our DMs would have done in the 'old days' I don't suppose there were too many meal deals in those days! and stre...t...ching was common.

I think tomorrow I'm going to look into making 'proper' bread without the use of commercial yeast -love the idea of this, as I always make my own bread, but usually rush to get it done as quickly as possible. The positive side of winter is that you can spend so much more time in the kitchen as there's not so much going on in the garden;)

I'm going to put all my herb pots in the GH this winter and hope that some of them will keep going. We're still picking apples, leeks, kale, cabbage swiss chard and beetroot at the moment. Tomatoes and Beans all finished now, but we have a store of onions in the garage, 'strung up' as my dear Dad used to show me.

I've also realised I'm just not making the best use of our 'off peak' cheap electric. I've gotten out of the habit of putting my washing machine on overnight since it once caused a flood, but if we start it off at 6am we're almost getting up then and we still have cheap electric until 8am, I could almost make a loaf in my BM in this time and also switch on the dishwasher. I try not to use the tumble dryer at all times unless absolutely necessary.

I'm afraid we're not out of the recession woods yet and so belts must be tightened a bit more.
Hope everyone else is doing ok.

PS I love purple

taplady

I think we are living in luxury nowadays when I read some of your stories!
I am old enough to remember some of it:D
I think I must be passing some of my OS ways on though cos when my sons partner asked if I'd got some 'proper' window cleaner I said you dont need that and then me and my son said in unison 'you need soapy water, vinegar and newspaper!':D am glad something has rubbed off.

They are just about to move into their first flat and have virtually no belongings so I have pointed them in the direction of freecycle and will be getting them a few bits to start off with. They have rescued a sofa someone was putting out for rubbish(a good leather one) .

I have just finished doing up a freebie pine chest of drawers that was heading to the skip and just this afternoon DH sent me out to a neighbours(he was too embarrased:p) who had put some furniture out with a sign saying'free' and we ended up with a good quality pine bedside cabinet(3 drawers) that just needs a sand and wax.:j
It always amazes me just what some people throw away when it could be used by someone else.

PS I love purple too and Knithryn that purple coat is lovely! I want one!

Rummer

I wear a purple hat and have a purple handbag!

BigMummaF

Perhaps I shall teach myself to knit so I can have a purple beenie too
I found a lovely little lamb joint in MrM's last week & at the time, thought I would do it in the slow cooker first. In the end, I put the obligatory red lentils & some pearl barley into my biggest saucepan, then added the lamb & various root veggies to bubble away for a few hours. Plenty of herbs & a bit of gravy powder helped thicken & it was delicious with mash & greens--a bit like a nude shepherd's pie
Then yesterday we had the bit that was left over with a lush suet crust on top to make it go further, with more mash & greens :T That £2:80 piece of lamb fed 10 very hungry mouths, where once I would have walked passed without another thought. SIZE=1]I could have made a stock from the bone, but I've some sitting in the fridge from last week's chicken to use first![/SIZE

Thats_me

I have not been able to read every post on this HUGE thread but my word, there is plenty of sound advice here! As with a lot of you good people, me & OH have had to cut our cloth. We are now total penny pinching, OSers who find pure JOY in finding new and unusual ways to save a few coppers! I work full time (job is secure thank goodness) and OH took early retirement (mainly due to stress) so we are in no way loaded. But by being careful, frugal and by thinking around any problems we get, we are doing OK. I always say that if you have a roof over your head, fire in the grate and food on the table, you are in the top 5% of the worlds population. We have. Makes you think.

Kittie, thank you so much for starting this thread. It has been a godsend for us and for so many others. I also love Avoid using gas and electric and Sneaky ways to save the pennies............... you can see a pattern here can't you!

elizabunny

Hi Thats me.

Yes this has been a great thread, a shame really that's it's gone much quieter now because there was always useful tips and lots of support to be found here. I suppose alot of posters have moved on to other threads and for some of course the recession may be coming to an end and people are looking ahead to the future.

ceridwen

elizabunny wrote: »

Hi Thats me.

Yes this has been a great thread, a shame really that's it's gone much quieter now because there was always useful tips and lots of support to be found here. I suppose alot of posters have moved on to other threads and for some of course the recession may be coming to an end and people are looking ahead to the future.

...and we've "lost" Kittie (ie the founder of this thread). Fingers crossed - one way or another - that Kittie will come back to Old Style at some point:A:D - At the moment I know/understand that she is still angry and upset.....