Old Style Skills

Sarahsaver

My boys do have gameboys - but gameboy color from ebay less than £20 each including cases and games.
Their friends think they are so cool cos its something of a retro masterpiece.
My lot all know how to look after plants and vegetables which will serve them well when they are older, and DS 1 (coleslaw boy ) likes cleaning the sink with vinegar and bicarb 'cos it fizzes'

jetcat

growing up in childrens homes as i did, i left 'care' at the age of 16 not knowing a thing!! We werent allowed in the kitchen to cook ("there are staff for that") and all th food was kept under lock and key! Even food economics at school was a no go, as 1 - the home wouldnt provide the ingredients, and 2 - if i provided them myself, the other residents werent allowed to eat anything for fear of poisoning lol!! Not so funny at the time though :mad:

As a result, at 16, i couldnt even use an automatic washing machine! Over the years, and especially since i had my daughter, we have kind of learned together - we are trying to make a patchwork quilt from all her and DD2's old clothes - kind of as a keepsake. it is taking some organsising........

mary43

One of the first things I put into practise when I take the young people into my care is to make sure they either know (if not they're shown) how to mend clothes, iron, cook on a budget etc. They seem quite happy with that but when it comes to clothes the majority of them seem to want a 'name' on trainers/t-shirts etc. which all comes at a cost so when they get to around 16 they have to be responsible for buying their own clothes.....amazing how quickly they decide the 'names' arent so important.
They love ps2's but have also got involved with board games (think they see it as a bit of novelty...........lol) and we've haunted the charity shops to see what games are about to try.
Sadly the two I have at the moment would very quickly find they had to 'be somewhere' if I suggested a board game..................what they don't realise is how much they can learn in literacy from playing something like scrabble.
I despair sometimes at what they're taught (or not as the case may be) in schools now.We were taught the three R's, spelling had to be correct, handwriting neat etc. Now it doesn't seem to matter so much which is an awful shame. Job application forms become a nightmare.

HelenYorkshire

I seem to be one of these in-betweeners. I can feed myself (sometimes cook brilliantly, sometimes inedible), I have a bash at gardening, I can sew on a button, but that's about it.
I used to be able to knit as a child, but only got as far as scarves have since forgotten how and my gran (who taught me) has passed away.
I'd love to be able to sew properly - make curtains at the very least! But then I don't want to waste money on a sewing machine if I'm going to make a mess of things :mad:
Generally a case of if someone was here to show me things and to take an interest, I'd give most things a go, but some things can't be learned from books.

Oh, and if anyone can sew their own bras, I'd love to know!! £20-30 a go for my size!!! :eek::eek::mad::mad:

Blue_Elephant

I've been reading the forum with interest, and it is so true that all the the old skills needed to survive on less money have pretty much died out, especially for younger people.

What are the skills you think are necessary to survive in this ever more expensive world?

I mean I can cook and I can hem trousers but other than that..

What are your thoughts?

Pink.

Hi Blue Elephant,

I think budgeting, learning how to make do and mend, cooking/bulk cooking from scratch, learning about nutrition and shopping wisely are all very important skills to have at the moment.

We have an earlier thread on this topic that may give you some more ideas:

Old Style Skills

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the suggestions together.

Pink

valk_scot

I got taught basic household management at school back in the 70's. I can turn a sheet and darn and know half a dozen different mending stitches! I also know how to sew on different types of button, turn a hem and replace a zip. All very useful stuff. Except the sheet bit...

I also know how to sew and dressmaking, which comes in useful for curtains and such and I used to make all my own clothes which was useful in the days I was a skint student and clothes were relatively more expensive than now. Today though it's mostly cheaper to buy clothes. Though it's handy to be able to make charity shop clothes fit.

I got taught all the usual cooking and baking skills at school, which definately have been useful.

I can knit and crochet, though they're not moneysaving tbh given the cost of new yarn. I can also spin so theoretically can take a fleece straight from a sheep's back and take it all the way to sweater stage! That is cheap (a full fleece can be had for a couple of pounds) but not if you cost in your time.

I'm a self taught gardener and look after a full allotment as well as my own garden...that's a useful amount of produce.

I can do basic DIY and decorating, and a small amount of woodwork. I'm perfectly capable of changing a fuse, a plug, a lightbulb, a tap washer etc. I can also build flatpack furniture, something which eludes my OH! Oh, and I can drain out the washing machine when it gets clogged. That's a very useful skill and saves a lot of money belive me.

I know how to clean things, though have to admit to not doing it often enough. And I can do laundry and I admit to a theoretical knowledge of ironing.

I know how to make jams, preserve produce and how to store produce correctly, this last being something that seens to be generally unknown amongst the younger generation who have grown up depending on fridges, freezers and supermarkets.

I can count. Now this might be a daft sounding skill to need but if you don't have a decent grasp of arithmetic how can you shop cheaply or budget?

I have a sound basic knowledge of nutrition, also dating back to my school days when I did a Food & Nutrition O level. How can you feed a family properly if you don't understand nutrition?

Actually I think if any of us here sat down and thought about it we'd surprise ourselves with the amount of skills we do have. Yet what surprises me sometimes is the skills otherwise perfectly intelligent people seem to lack. My two nieces have both recently graduated and neither of them have a clue how to meal plan, do anything but the simplest of cooking, sew on a button or change a lightbulb. They both say they're going to come and live with me if we ever go back to the Make Do & Mend conditions of WW2. Hah...dream on, girls!

Margaret52129

Perhaps if necessary it's know when it's necessary to say NO when out shopping! I find that friends why buy things on a whim, or think that it looks a bargain, only to find that it isn't what they wanted and then it's wasted - to me that's shocking!

I'm not saying I've never done this, but when I have, I've tried my best to salvage the situation. I have friends who will just throw the stuff away (food) or put it in the back of the wardrobe (clothes), don't attempt to take it back, or they think they will do next time they're in town, then they forget or they lose the reciept and so it just gets left - an unwanted purchase. One friend of mine did this so many times it was unbelievable. No amount of telling her that she was wasting her money was heard - it just fell on deaf ears and she constantly repeated the action. She had a clear out when she was moving and I ended up with loads of clothes (many with labels still on) for the jumble :eek: I did take out stuff which fitted me, or I gave them away to friends

Get's my goat, especially when the same people cry that they've no money at the end of the month!

Blue_Elephant

Hehe thanks Val,

I can do basic DIY/decorating,


I started this thread just to find out what sort of skills I don't yet have and may well need and somehow find a way to learn, so thank you for your help!

You're right about the storing produce and understanding when food is fine/going off/past redemption, and as a result I rely on use by dates and somehow get frustrated when there isn't one and am then lost.


Thank you!

Margaret52129

valk_scot wrote: »

I got taught basic household management at school back in the 70's. I can turn a sheet and darn and know half a dozen different mending stitches! I also know how to sew on different types of button, turn a hem and replace a zip. All very useful stuff. Except the sheet bit...

I also know how to sew and dressmaking, which comes in useful for curtains and such and I used to make all my own clothes which was useful in the days I was a skint student and clothes were relatively more expensive than now. Today though it's mostly cheaper to buy clothes. Though it's handy to be able to make charity shop clothes fit.

I got taught all the usual cooking and baking skills at school, which definately have been useful.

I can knit and crochet, though they're not moneysaving tbh given the cost of new yarn. I can also spin so theoretically can take a fleece straight from a sheep's back and take it all the way to sweater stage! That is cheap (a full fleece can be had for a couple of pounds) but not if you cost in your time.

I'm a self taught gardener and look after a full allotment as well as my own garden...that's a useful amount of produce.

I can do basic DIY and decorating, and a small amount of woodwork. I'm perfectly capable of changing a fuse, a plug, a lightbulb, a tap washer etc. I can also build flatpack furniture, something which eludes my OH! Oh, and I can drain out the washing machine when it gets clogged. That's a very useful skill and saves a lot of money belive me.

I know how to clean things, though have to admit to not doing it often enough. And I can do laundry and I admit to a theoretical knowledge of ironing.

I know how to make jams, preserve produce and how to store produce correctly, this last being something that seens to be generally unknown amongst the younger generation who have grown up depending on fridges, freezers and supermarkets.

I can count. Now this might be a daft sounding skill to need but if you don't have a decent grasp of arithmetic how can you shop cheaply or budget?

I have a sound basic knowledge of nutrition, also dating back to my school days when I did a Food & Nutrition O level. How can you feed a family properly if you don't understand nutrition?

Actually I think if any of us here sat down and thought about it we'd surprise ourselves with the amount of skills we do have. Yet what surprises me sometimes is the skills otherwise perfectly intelligent people seem to lack. My two nieces have both recently graduated and neither of them have a clue how to meal plan, do anything but the simplest of cooking, sew on a button or change a lightbulb. They both say they're going to come and live with me if we ever go back to the Make Do & Mend conditions of WW2. Hah...dream on, girls!

Apart from the spinning and gardening - this is me too! We're not related are we!!! LOL