how OS were your parents?

shezza

My parents were quite OS while I was growing up, dad had a greenhouse and a fruit and veg plot, mum always cooked from scratch and she was always knitting, but then the 21st century caught up with them and it all appeared to stop.

However, since I've started to go OS, my mum and dad are taking notice, the greenhouse was sorted out and they grew tomatoes again for the first time last year, mum borrowed my knitting needles and knit herself a scarf and she has started to bake again, so hopefully some of the values they used to have will come back. When I applied for an allotment (not got one yet though) they got really excited and they want to share it and start growing fruit and veg again, so maybe as a family we can bring the OS back for good.

Bronnie

Awww! What a nice thread this is!
My mum made all the clothes for my sister and I when we were growing up in the late fifties and sixties. Lovely brightly coloured cotton summer dresses and pinafore dresses for school in the winter. I remember she made us woollen pleated plaid kilts in the winter which were painstakingly pressed every Sunday evening. Hand-knitted cardies, woolly hats, scarves and mittens. Stripy jumpers made using all the oddments of wool! She bought flanelette and made our petticoats with a little ribbon tie at the back of the neck, which often got in a bit of a knot! Mum had a treadle Singer sewing machine which folded out of a cabinet. It had a long flip-open drawer at the front in which you could store the reels of 'Sylko' thread. My parents often struggled for money, but like many families of the time, it was a matter of pride to send your child out clean and smartly turned -out, even if the clothes were hand-me-downs.
When my daughters were young, she knitted all their 'woollies'. Sadly, I had no real motivation to knit as my mum was so good at it and so quick. I remember how upset she was towards the end, when she had to give up knitting as she was ill. "I never thought I'd see grandchildren of mine wearing shop bought cardigans" she lamented, when I bought them school cardies from M&S.Little did she know my kids had been saying for years, "Why can't we have cardies from a shop?!" That's life!
My mum and those of earlier generations were real heroines, I think!

luxor4t

My parents were born pre-war & married just as rationing ended in 1950s: people had to be OS in those days!

I grew up with Mum's HM clothes & HM food, but Dad took it further and we had HM furniture and he built our garage too. Grandad grew lots of veg & one Gran knitted & sewed.

Being ungrateful, I used to dream about going to shops... especially after an incident with knitted woolly bathing costume!

mum2g1b

My parents were definitely OS!
Dad sold his business when I was born and retired! he was very very careful with money. He alwasy always mended stuff instead of replacing it- toasters were disassembled on the dining table to be mended. Most of my clothes were hand me downs.
Mum used to knit but didn't sew except to repair stuff.
We had very old cars but they got us about and I lived in the sticks so cycled a lot!

dad bought a 2nd hand caravan and that was our holidays for years.

Mum did lots of baking and cooked everything from scratch- she doesn't now though- everything is convenience food!

We didn't have central heating til I was about 8 or 9- I used to get dressed in front of the wood burner in winter!! I regularly remember ice on the inside of windows in winter when I was little. Heating was a luxury not a necessity!!

My Dad would not spend money even if he had it- still like that now- sometimes to extremes.

I would like that- I am a lot better now but my 20's and early 30's were spent "rebelling" and acquiring CC debts- all sorted now and am much better money manager!!

savingforoz

My parents weren't really OS at all. We did had a largish garden and grew rhubarb, apples, gooseberries and strawberries, and Mum and Dad were careful with money and had no debts, but that was about it. Mum was a poor cook and everything came from packets and tins - tinned carrots, peas, Fray Bentos minced beef etc. I was never taught any cooking, sewing or knitting skills apart from basic embroidery and how to cast on/do plain stich knitting (but not how to progress and turn it into anything!)

Alos - how could I forget - SMASH packet mashed potato!!!!

I am turning more and more OS, but I'm not sure where it comes from!

abaxas

1/3 acre, chickens and a cortina estate.

:>

mancbird

I think I'm probably more os than my mam and dad these days!

Growing up I do remember my mam cooking, baking and knitting but that seems to have gone by the wayside a lot as time has gone on. We didn't have loads of money when I was little so my mam had to be a bit more frugal but now they don't seem to care! She can be os when she wants to but I don't think she wants to, iyswim?

Other members of the family were os. My auntie made all her children's clothes and some of ours and my nanna was a wonder in the kitchen.

I've had to teach myself how to be os but I'm glad I did!

furball

My mum was amazing, managed the housekeeping budget every week and still managed to put a bit aside. She cooked the best stews and meat n' tattie pies. She knitted my most treasured teddy it grew with me everytime it was washed:D She make doll's clothes for my sindy doll, i drove her mad asking if the doll's wedding dress was ready one afternoon. My wonderful dad taught me how to knit, he was really good at knitting belts.;) I remember when the back garden was a veg patch and eating tiny raw swede straight from the garden. My grandma knitted all our school cardigans and for best we had knitted and crochet poncho's. They bought their house late in life and i remember mum telling me the day dad retired she made the last payment on the morgage and gave dad the bank book as a suprise. They only ever got 1 item on tic that i remember, a washing machine, and that was paid off in a few months. Dad waited months to get the best buy on expensive items reading everything he could so he got the best quality, he waited 4 years to get a really top quality hi fi system (it's all in the speakers). I had the most wonderful childhood and never remember being cold or hungry or punished unfairly. Dad was always there to help with homework. Mum was always first up in in the morning breakfast made, room warm ( no central heating) and at home with tea cooking before we came home from school. Mum was the best at giving advice though, nothing fazed her she never blew her top, when i think what i put her through i would have been pulling my hair out.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

My parents were very OS, poor as church mice but strong work ethics and hard working people. Dad spent his childhood in occupied France (mostly queuing for food and no schooling) Poor guy always worked in low paid manual jobs.

We had no car, dad grew veg, reared rabbits and my job was to go round the hedgerows collecting dandelions to feed them on. After a day grafting he would spend his spare time on the allotment. Mum worked, made all our clothes and cooked from scratch too. She didn't have a washing machine until her 2nd child was out of nappies (cloth ones too)

We are so lucky aren't we? No matter how bad things get I still think we are well blessed.

beemuzed

My parents were married in the late 1940s and money was always very tight. OS was a necessity for them, but was a way of life their own parents had followed. I remember being thrilled the first time I was allowed a shop-bought coat, and not one created from someone else's castoffs! Food was always cooked from scratch, and loads of fruit and veg grew in the garden.
When we were first married in the 1970s we were OS too as money was very short...but as I worked more and money became less of a problem, our lifestyle changed and time was more important than saving money.... and yes, the debts grew. My parents would never have purchased anything on credit - if they couldn't afford it they either went without or saved until they could. Luckily, our debts were always manageable and now we are debt-free and enjoying having time to be more OS again. My sewing machine is out again and we are growing more veg again! My parents would have been pleased to see a return to their values, I'm sure.