Lots more Sneaky Ways to save the pennies

monnagran

She also wrote a book about living in the fifties.  I have all three of them.

Uniscots97

angela110660 said:

Oooh Nella Last - Housewife 49 with Victoria Wood. What a beautiful programme if it gets repeated on tv. I have read the book too. Fascinating.

Housewife 49 was amazing. I also love Wartime Farm (factual documentary where the presenters live as though in the time but show various things that people during world war 2 would do to save money) with Ruth Goodman

Herbyme

Primrose said:

"Also, when I am travelling for work, I will always pack what I need for the journey and not buy food items from the stalls/kiosks in the stations."

I suspect that if everybody who did this or who bought their lunches at cafes were to tot up how much this cost them over a year they would be shocked if they realised how much this could contribute to paying off their mortgage, saving for a house deposit or some other goal.  Just opening up a separate savings account and paying these savings into itmight be an eye opener.  

DH did this, 5 days a week train breakfasts, city eating and coffees … even he was shocked at the monthly totals… but it didn’t stop him, it took a pandemic to do that. He’s still WFH 3 or 4 days a week and saves a fortune. 

I prefer to take my rations if I can/ if I have time to get organised. I confess to being a bit obsessive about finding the best travel mugs etc etc. Luckily one of the best I’ve found is from IKEA ie cheap. I take a little flask lid/ cup to pour the tea into, so it doesn’t go straight from being  too hot to drink to too cold, which I find can happen if it’s all  poured out in one go IYSWIM, and lasts me ages on a train. And these days there are more water fountains around to top up water bottles, and some cafes will top up free too. 

Herbyme

Gem-gem said:

PipneyJane said:

Gem-gem said:

PipneyJane said:

Brie said:

Meanwhile I've realised that I'm officially old as most of the youngsters at work seem to thing that every meal comes in a packet and it either has to all be eaten or thrown away!   But they always ask me what I'm having for lunch as my leftovers always smell so tasty! 

Welcome to my world.  

We’ve recently moved into a new office, in the middle of of a field.  While most of us are working from home several days a week, when I am in the office, it seems as if I am the only person who brings in a homemade lunch to microwave.

- Pip

When I worked for my last employer, there was two of us in the team who would bring our own lunches in. The rest use to go and buy it from the cafe on the site. I always worked on the basis that I go to work to earn money, not to spend it at work. 

Also, when I am travelling for work, I will always pack what I need for the journey and not buy food items from the stalls/kiosks in the stations. 

In my old job, I used to regularly take the train up to Manchester to visit colleagues.  I worked out very quickly that it was cheaper to travel First Class, get fed and get the free WiFi than it was to travel standard class but to buy a drink and the WiFI separately. That also meant I could work on the way up/prepare for my meetings.  I'd travel back standard class, because I could rarely get a cheap First Class ticket home.

On one memorable occasion, my entire department went to Manchester for a training session.  They all insisted on fly from Heathrow, while I took the train from Watford, travelling First Class as usual.  I beat them to the office by 3/4 hour and my journey was cheaper than theirs.

- Pip

I sometimes have to travel to Birmingham - I was talking to a colleague the other day, who does the same - goes first class on a slightly slower train - and get a nice breakfast - which is cheaper than second class on the fast train. 

Gosh one needs to be savvy these days to get the best train ticket. It should be a GCSE subject 😉

back on brown paper - can one buy the kind of big rolls shops used to use? Lots of rolls now seem flimsy (and short) whereas brown paper used to be really sturdy

annieb64

Nella Last's books are much better than the film.

monnagran

I am slightly amused at people's interest in how we did things during the war.  Having lived through it I remember it all too well  and have no wish to go back there.
Having said that, some of the making-do ways are part and parcel of my make up.

One of the paper-saving things that used to be suggested is well left to history.  Many people used to write a letter from left to right of the paper, then turn it round and write over it from top to bottom. Do that on both sides of the paper and it took a code-breaker to decipher it.
My father had an aunt who used to do it, but she was notoriously mean and kept it up long after it was necessary.
In her nineties she took a winter coat to pieces, turned it and sewed it together again.
Sneaky ways to save the pennies?
She wrote the book.

Primrose

Yes I recall as a small child my mum icing a small cake for my 5th birthday.
The icing dried like concrete and was a big disappointment. For years afterwards I would never touch the icing on a piece of cake which was given to me.

Years later when I was an adult I recalled that incident to my mum.  She  told  me she had boiled and mashed haricot beans for hours to make it and then added a drop of almond essence.  She had wept with despair when she had viewed the end result. Apparently hard dried semolina was another cake icing alternative!    And let's not mention the dried ground acorn coffee! 

clyndu

back on brown paper - can one buy the kind of big rolls shops used to use? Lots of rolls now seem flimsy (and short) whereas brown paper used to be really sturdy

My OH buys large rolls on ebay, they are very heavy and difficult to move though.

Wraithlady

monnagran said:

One of the paper-saving things that used to be suggested is well left to history.  Many people used to write a letter from left to right of the paper, then turn it round and write over it from top to bottom. Do that on both sides of the paper and it took a code-breaker to decipher it.

Hence why a lot of 1930's magazines had a note that they would not accept 'crossed' letters - which is what this style was called, due to the grid-like appearance of the writing.

sheilavw

My Oldest Daughter's  best friend had a small part in housewife 49, a shop keeper at the beginining. Victoria wood later recommended her to work alongside with her in a stage show in Manchester. She said that she was a really lovely kind person and great to work with, I have read housewife 49 but will now look for the other books