What changes have you made to become OS?

Austin_Allegro

I think the main change to becoming O/S is a mental one. You can darn as many socks as you like and use more vinegar than the local chippy, but unless you make a mental adjustment you'll never really see the benefits. Amy Dacyzyn in the Tightwad Gazette has a lot of articles about this, she calls it 'creative deprivation'. It's basically escaping from the 'Matrix' of the contemporary consumer society/debt culture and realising that you don't have to have the latest, flashest tat, rippoff designer clothes, house out of Footballer's Wives or a 4x4 with the latest reg number to be happy.

MATH

I've seen the peely bin in the Lakeland book (I only flick through to laugh at the prices) It's very nice but I picked up a decorative tureen with a missing lid at the carboot for 10p which does the job just as well IMO and looks just as nice.

brokenwings

Austin_Allegro wrote:

I think the main change to becoming O/S is a mental one. You can darn as many socks as you like and use more vinegar than the local chippy, but unless you make a mental adjustment you'll never really see the benefits. Amy Dacyzyn in the Tightwad Gazette has a lot of articles about this, she calls it 'creative deprivation'. It's basically escaping from the 'Matrix' of the contemporary consumer society/debt culture and realising that you don't have to have the latest, flashest tat, rippoff designer clothes, house out of Footballer's Wives or a 4x4 with the latest reg number to be happy.

:T :T :T :T :T

Rachie_B

Austin_Allegro wrote:

I think the main change to becoming O/S is a mental one. You can darn as many socks as you like and use more vinegar than the local chippy, but unless you make a mental adjustment you'll never really see the benefits. Amy Dacyzyn in the Tightwad Gazette has a lot of articles about this, she calls it 'creative deprivation'. It's basically escaping from the 'Matrix' of the contemporary consumer society/debt culture and realising that you don't have to have the latest, flashest tat, rippoff designer clothes, house out of Footballer's Wives or a 4x4 with the latest reg number to be happy.

i dont think im quite there yet then lol

i still like to buy designer clothing and handbags,nice car,household things etc

but if i can save money in other areas OS,then i do

also i buy 2nd hand from ebay too not just brand new in stores and try to get bargains in the sales so hardly ever pay full price for clothes etc

i think im part way between stingy and a snob :rotfl:
but way better than i / we were before

used to have takeways all the time and not think anything of it,buy tonnes of stuff in tescos yet rarely be able to concoct a proper meal out of it etc

we used to WASTE a lot of money i think ,so we are getting there

slowly :rotfl:

recovering_spendaholic

Cooking from scratch, microfibre cloths and stardrops for cleaning, home baking (might have to cut back on that a bit as my rear end is looking very much back of bussish lately!!), making do and mending - I have painted and fablonned an old chest of drawers for DD's room, using a variety of local shops instead of the supermarket all the time. Since starting to OS at the beginning of the year I am walking more, spending less on food and generally getting out more and meeting more people!! Before you know it I will be buying a chic shopper (but then DD2 will leave home she says...)

exlibris

MATH wrote:

My Mother isn't very OS at all and even BUYS here cleaning cloths:eek: as if she can't lay hands on an old pair of pants. LOL

All my cleaning cloths are old pants except the micrcloths I bought before I found this site.

Should we start a campaign Math - Down with microcloths up with knickers and pants?

mummysaver

exlibris wrote:

All my cleaning cloths are old pants except the micrcloths I bought before I found this site.

Should we start a campaign Math - Down with microcloths up with knickers and pants?

I'm not going to say it, I'm not .....

Since finding the OS boards I have really begun to think more about how we live. When the children were tiny I was very very cost concious, as we simply didn't have the money to be much else! But as salaries increased we began to spend more and more, and not have a lot to show for it :eek:

Now I meal plan, which has made a huge difference, probably the biggest difference of all to us, as it means that I have everything I need to make a meal - I've pretty much always cooked from scratch - and therefore don't go to the supermarket as often, so am not tempted by any "bargains" or "treats"!

Reading the OS threads has also made a difference, as everyone who posts on there always inspires me - thanks everyone! :T

nabowla

I'm not very OS compared to most people here but I do cook from scratch 90% of the time. I think the biggest changes I've made since discovering MSE is setting a weekly grocery budget and actually thinking about what I buy rather than randomly chucking stuff in the basket. I regularly buy yellow-stickered reductions now, would never had looked at them in the past.

Gers

lottiegirl wrote:

... does anybody know where to buy a small container for vegetable peelings to take to the compost heap?

Just the other day I blagged a bucket from a cafe I was using - they had a pile of catering sized plastic containers with handles and I just asked for one! Bloke gave me one immediately. I got a load of biodegradable bags from Sainsbury's and use them in the bucket. My (free from the council) green compost bin is almost full but I haven't got a garden or even a veggie patch. I reckon that once the compost is 'cooked' then I can give it away and start again. Just because I haven't got a garden doesn't mean that I shouldn't compost kitchen waste.

As to the original question - I've done not as much as others but a whole load better than I had before. My imperative hasn't been one of need so much as one of becoming aware of my spendthrift ways which had frittered away my salary each month and, whilst I was never overdrawn I certainly wasn't as saver aware as I could have been.

Now I no longer buy ready meals; have dusted down my breadmaker and am the envy of my neighbours; bought a new slow cooker and now come home to great smells and even better tastes; use a lot more cash for spending (apart from petrol) and question more why I am buying something. I am fortunate that my OS is a matter of choice and reading those for whom it is a matter of necessity helps me strive to do the same.

I've begun to use freecycle; am using up the vast pile of rice and pasta; resisting the inner drive to buy potatoes until the European mountain of rice and pasta is gone from my cupboards; I'm moving away from the compulsion to have a large stockpile of food 'just in case' (cos I don't know what the case would be anymore!); gone back to baking which used to be a love of mine; use soda crystals in the washing machine; use vinegar in the washing machine; have stopped spending on impulse and ensure that all possible electrical applicances are turned off at night. No standby in this house.

What I have yet to conquer is the desire to buy and consume alcohol - don't wait for this to happen as I'm not convinced it's imminent!

:j :j

tee_pee_2

sorry to be an idiot but what are these micofibre cloths that everyone is talking about?