How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

mardatha

"I suppose what I'm saying is it's harder to get your head to the right place than to stock your store cupboard."

That's very true BB. At first you feel very silly and self conscious but after all you are providing for your family - and that matters! Previous generations always did this, they knew that at any time things could - and did -go wrong. Now we're used to things running like clockwork, but life is very complicated and once the wheels fall off then thats that eh ?
We should prepare for disruption to food supplies, money supply, water going off , power outages, and extreme weather. If at the end of the day nothign happens then you eat the stash and carry on. If things do go to custard then you are the one person in the road who doesnt have to run round madly in a last minute panic.

grandma247

elisamoose wrote: »

My Gran used to stock up on household stuff like sheets and also underwear for their retirement.
When she died we found boxes and boxes of unopened sheets and towels and loads of brand new unworn enormous knickers!

:rotfl:Don't worry I am not planning to buy enough for the rest of my life or my childrens but just enough so we can ease into things in the first few years. Unless of course I get Alzhiemers,I hope i will not be responsible for any sheet or towel mountain then.
My gran did have it and when she died her wardrobes were bursting with new dresses that she had never worn.

article of washer fire in january this year. I had an old bendix that caught fire some years ago. frightened the life out of me but glad I was home and it was daylight.

[Deleted User]

I was just thinking about what could really be scraped of what we already consider the very basics of living today, in a sense of push comes to shove.

It would have to be internet and telephone and meat. Not using toothpaste or replacing moisturiser and so on. It is like taking another layer off life

JIL

On the subject of appliances catching fire, a couple of years ago my daughter was at a sleepover at her friends house. During the night the fire alarms went off, the fire brigade were called and the kitchen was very badly burned. It was found to be an electrical fault in the tumbledryer. I had always put our tumble dryer on before going to bed and before leaving the house but this made me think again. A couple of weeks later, whilst watching the football, I smelled burning and was shocked to see smoke coming from my tumble dryer!!! I know based on probability it would not happen again but if you can take steps reduce risks I think you should.

grandma247

Mardatha I don't think you need to worry too much it was just stuff we all know already. Prices rising and buying while they are still affordable to save money. We are all or most of us are doing the storecupboard,growing, make do and mend thing anyway.

Pitlanepiglet

On the subject of appliance fires, we had an amusing episode the other day, I was microwaving sausage rolls for me and the old people (my Dad who we care for and OH's nearly 91 yr old mum who was staying).

I failed to notice that I'd put the microwave on the grill function rather than medium and it started smoking - at which point I yelled "Daddy" and the old boy had to hobble to the kitchen to rescue me and point out my mistake :rotfl: A timely reminder that he might be old, he might be a bit forgetful and he might have quite a lot of joints that don't work but he's still my Dad and he can still rescue me in a crisis

mardatha

Or a daily shower ? We grew up with weekly baths and we lived and did not smell LOL!
Basics toothpaste is fine, its the brushing that cleans not so much the paste.
Maybe buy shea & coconut butters and use them on skin and hair and kids.
Don't buy wipes and use bits of old towels, does exactly the same job.
Would go mad without the internet though .....!

mama67

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Morning all, we're in the process of moving nearly 91 year old MiL into supported housing (kind of halfway house between living on her own as she does now) and a home. It's lovely, all meals provided, only 8 residents and right in the middle of a town which is great for her as she loves to potter around but can't get too far.

I want to get some name tags for her clothes - I've been looking at Cash tags £8.15 for 36 tags. I think I'd rather have sew on rather than iron on but that's probably because that's what I've always used. Can anyone suggest other suppliers and give me their views of iron on tags?

The washing is blowing on the line and the bread is cooking in the bread maker so it's a very OS day so far...

Try here £7.30 for 36 sew in ones inc p&p. I used this company when i wanted label for the boys for school.

When my dad was in a nursing home they asked for sew in as the iron on used to come away sometimes.

hth

[Deleted User]

I`m just watching waterloo road. Some of the female teachers wear tops that are beyond ridiculous. They wouldn`t get away with that in schools in real life and I liked that canal boat thingie, another easy prog like victorian farm

charlies-aunt

We do a pretty mean sloe gin although we are finding sloes increasinly scarce in this neck of the woods - damsons are a good substitute in a sloe shortage.

We make elderberry and elderflower wine - although the elderberry bushes grow in profusion around here, we buy dried elderflowers, which are cheap, as according to most of our winemaking books,you have to be very careful when picking the fresh flowers to avoid producing a potent wine that unfortunately smells like cat pee! ....and the more flowers - the more elderberries!

If you enjoy elderberry wine - try exploring the recipes for hm port - we make this every year with elderberries and brambles . . . . the downside is, like all hm wine, its quicker to drink than make

My dear old Mum and Dad were keen wine makers - nothing was sacred for them! Over the years they made wine from parsnips / carrots / sugar beets / goosegoggs / tea / dandelions / rosehips - no visitor could get out the house until they'd had a glass of whatever was on the go . . . in my minds eye - I can see Mum stood in the yard on a freezing cold morning, headscarf firmly knotted into a turban, with her pinny on dishing out hm hooch to the lads who rode on the back of the dustcart "to keep the cold out" :rotfl:

Did anyone elses Mum hang the washing out in the freezing cold ? - and bring it in hours later as stiff as a board ? - trousers so stiff they could nearly walk in on their own! It was always cold in the house on those wash days as the massive clothes horse got the prime spot in front of the fire :rotfl: Hard but happy times