What's the essence of old style?

Chipps

I agree with most of what's been said so far. It is more about a whole lifestyle rather than just things one does.

One other thing I would like to add is the sense of freedom.

Freedom to (in my case) stay home to home educate my children
Yes we live on a low income, but we do not feel the need to be under pressure to conform to someone elses ideas of what we should have etc.

Freedom to choose to go shopping on a less busy day

Freedom to choose not to buy a whole lot of packaging, which I will only put in the rubbish/recycling. I like putting out a 1/2 empty bin fortnightly, cos to me that says that I have not spent a whole lot of money buying things just to bin them!

I know that living on one low income is not always a matter of choice, and for a lot of our time as a family we have not really had the choice either - I have been OS out of necessity! But we could choose to send DS to school & me out to work now, so although we don't feel that would be the best for him, it still counts as a possible choice that we could have made.

ladygrey_2

exlibris wrote:

The essence of Old style?

The smell of vinegar

that's what I thought when I saw the thread title :rotfl:

recovering_spendaholic

I am still fairly new to OS, but I would say that it is about contentment. For years I have had this acquisitious drive to have the best of everything and I really do think that I, and my children, really did know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Since being made redundant I have had a complete re-think and feel much more contented and appreciative of what I have around me. My cupboards are emptier, but I am making more nourishing meals from scratch and buying according to need instead of on impulse and for the first time I am starting to save some money! Can't say its worked with my kids though - they just think I've gone nuts.

exlibris

ladygrey wrote:

that's what I thought when I saw the thread title :rotfl:

Great minds think alike...........

thriftmonster

Wow, what a fanastic set of answers.

I was trying to sum it up for me and it's about questioning and Knowledge.
Questioning - whether we need it, whether we could do it better ourselves and what impact it will have on us and on everything around us.

Knowledge - to pass on skills, to know there is time "to stand and stare", to have the pleasure of trying something and it works, to create, to give

rainbowkanga

Thanks everyone that replied - its a sort of warm and fuzzy post isn't it!!!

Aril

For me it's summed up by a quote I read from Gandhi:
"Live simply so others can simply live"
Aril

Queenie

rainbowkanga wrote:

Just wondered if you had to sum up old style in a few phrases how would you do it? Here's my go (mine's defintiely not to do with cleaning with 3 children and teaching full time at the mo!):

....... I'd be interested to hear your thoughts

Last year, I summed it up like this: -

Grocery shopping, cooking from scratch,
Cook once, eat twice (freeze a batch);
Home made gifts and old style wisdom
Pass it on to the next generation.
Make your own cleaners and food (grow your own)
Pinch each penny and make it MOAN!

And then, like this:

Back to basics: cooking from scratch, homemade cleaners, menu planning, shopping wisdom. Make it, grow it, save, don't waste it. Pinch that penny and squeeze that pound.

amazon_spice

The joy of getting more or better for less.

cooking-mama

Im just wondering why we call it old style? rather than home cooking?....is there any difference,or is it just considered old style to a younger generation?..people in their ?teens/twenties for instance?..im in my 40's and dont realy think of cooking from scratch as old style..just plain home cooking,my friends(all similar ages)are the same,also most of my work colleagues cook from scratch and dont think anything different about it...dont get me wrong,i still use some convenience foods..ready made pasta,canned beans,frozen veg at times(dont realy like it)frozen oven chips,frozen breaded fish.prepacked cold meat etc,.is that the difference?Old style doesnt include any convenience/processed at all.??
Where i live it seems to be the norm to cook from scratch,just basic soups,stews,tatties etc.when my girls went to friends for dinner,they very rarely came home stating they had chicken nuggets/burgers etc..it was more likely to be roast chicken,or mince n tatties..is it perhaps a regional thing,rather than a generation thing?,or are there more people cooking Old style/Homemade than we realise?
Im off work for a week..giving me too much time to think too deeply...I think:rotfl: