Do you miss anything from your "old life?"

larmy16

I love JackieO's posts. Simply wonderful! I forgot to add that I am also a born OS'r probably heavily influenced by my mother, who really knew how to stretch the pennies.

She used to go to jumble sales, buy up stuff, do it up and then put it in the small ads and make a great profit on it. She was hugely resourceful and we never went without any home comforts. We were clean and well fed and somehow she managed to scrape the money together to send my sister to private school! I won a scholarship luckily so they did not have to pay for me.

It brings a tear to my eye to think of my Mum working so hard to care for us all.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

jackie0 .. i love the phrase 'happy cash' and your way of using and looking after your financies is so simple but VERY effective.

i must admit if i am stressed with work, kids etc i do tend to slip back into our old ways, not much as spending on material things, but on food, take aways and convienience foods...:cool:

Larmy16 i can soooooooooooo relate to waht you have written..

i am on the budget and os thing at mo...lol... cooking my little butt off here today, and ging to try and organise a folder with my weekly budgets and meal plan etc tonight... ooo ye and in between list some things on ebay, do the washing, clean the chicekns out, ooo and watch the grand prix, which JUST started...lol...

Hardup_Hester

The only thing I miss is magazines, lol.
Surely Reverbe if you're flatmate loses his flat you will be eligible for help with housing?
Hester

larmy16

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

The only thing I miss is magazines, lol.
Surely Reverbe if you're flatmate loses his flat you will be eligible for help with housing?
Hester

He he. I know what you mean. I quite like having to wait at the doctors or dentists so I can read the magazines! I allow myself one newspaper a week. I do get to read some magazines second hand too.

taplady

I dont miss anything from my pre-OS days if anything I'm far happier now living within my means and enjoy the satisfaction of a nice home cooked meal or something salvaged or done up. I've had some wonderful bargains from carboots and little by little have managed to make a nice home for us all without spending a fortune.
I think its all about being happy with what you've got not what you havent.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I too don't have a former lifestyle to miss. We have alwasy had to be quite frugal. In fact I am better off now than when my eldest 3 were at home.
When I had the first 2 kids I made all their clothes and blankets. We had no heating in the bedroom of the flat and the babies had to wear hats and mittens to bed to stop them getting blue.
I have always liked cooking and trained as a cook when I left school.
Though over the last couple of years I have loved foraging for free fruit and making jam and chutney. I keep finding new trees which is great.
Our holidays are all done via Ryanair or train to rellies.
We always have tried mending things before buying new, and don't see any point replacing something if it works well enough.
Hence no fancy tv's. The kitchen units are 20 years old, but they are still hanging on the wall. Most of my furniture is second hand, but well built.

smartandshrewd

That's an interesting question.

The one thing that I miss, but only occasionally, is no longer having a car to go for an impulsive drive. I live in a city so realised I can get everywhere using public transport with much less hassle than battling through morning traffic, and hire cars or pre-book buses when planning weekends away. We decided to get rid of my car and OH's car too.

However, the upside is that by not having cars, and using OS ideas for bulk cooking, home baking etc., we have freed up a lot of money (must be at least £6k a year) and now have the money to travel much further than I've ever been able to. For example, last year I went on an 8 week trip to Nepal / India and spent just £1.5K in total, including flights. In the past I've readily spent that much for 2 week holidays which haven't been particularly good or memorable.

I can also save a little money from my wages, for the first time in my life. And I'm much healthier too with walking more. Overall, OS has made me feel much better off.

HariboJunkie

Reverbe wrote: »

I could become homeless soon if flatmate goes bust and has to lose his flat cos he can't afford the mortgage so right now I guess I am feeling lucky every morning I wake up and still have somewhere to lay my head.I will also miss the football if I have to give this up.I am covered for this season but might have to give up going if I become homeless.

But maybe you need to see this as a blessing in disguise? I know you've been doing it for years but sleeping on someone's floor while they sleep on a sofa just can't be good long term (or any longer than the years you have been doing it). You'll be entitled to help if you are made homeless and might actually have a bed which would make you better off than you are. Maybe you need to look on the bright side and see it as an opportunity to move and be able to see the "OH" you say you haven't seen for at least a year because they live too far up the motorway? I know you say you have no friends or social life but you refer to friends and going out often in your posts and I'm sure none of the people you go to the pub with will see you stuck. You are confusing OS with poverty. Giving up football isn't because you are being more old style but because you can no longer afford it which is a shame but sounds like a necessity.

My life is OS because I hate waste, not because I need to scrimp. I'm a creative person who likes to be busy so knitting, sewing, crafting, gardening and cooking are my hobbies anyway. I have no previous life that wasn't OS though since discovering MSE I am better at finding bargains.

Aril

Very occasionally not buying all the books that take my fancy- but then once the initial buzz had worn off probably only 1 in 10 continued to give me satisfaction. Now I get round it by borrowing from the library to get that same buzz or by spending a couple of quid on one that takes my fancy in the charity shop like I did a few weekends ago. I'm still drooling over the Country Living style photos in it:D
Before OH lost his job fresh flowers and wine were a regular purchase and a takeaway on the spur of the moment if we fancied it. Other than always been pretty frugal. Now get round it by having a takeaway with friends every couple of months and enjoy it loads more because it's a real treat, we still buy the odd bottle of vino but OH is going great guns making our own this year and flowers I'm either given them or bought an incredible dark purple bunch of gladioli at an eco fair I went to yesterday.
I personally still need a splurge every once in a while but it's more likely to be a £land purchase or successfully bid for something off freecycle. I'm much more easily pleased these days!
Aril

dreaming

I love reading all the different ways people have of being OS and their reasons. I was married for many years to a man who was very impulsive with money and I was always worrying over bills etc. Since divorce, despite having to set up on my own, I have never been so well off. So I keep an eye on bills, love cooking and gardening, and try not to spend on impulse buys. This means my only debt is my mortgage (which I am chipping away at to pay off as soon as possible), but also allows me to spend money on what is important to me rather than getting to the end of the month and wondering where it is all gone. I think of myself as a "mindful shopper" - sometimes I have a splurge, but it is always a planned splurge.
However I remember the times when I had very little money, and funnily enough it seemed harder to economise then as life was so depressing that it was very tempting to just say "to hell with it" and buy things just to cheer myself up (not that it worked). It is much easier now that I have more choice.