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

GreyQueen

Gawd bless us an save us, I pootle around in the arms circa 6pm yesterday evening, get dragged away by RL, come back early afternoon and it's gone mental, and on 2 threads. I've been reading for over an hour and have only just caught up.

I need a cuppa, or possibly a stiff drink and an optician's appt.

So many great recipes and other stuff to try that I'm staggered to know where to start. But I shall have fun finding out.

Got a knitting tip which may be of interest if you have 4ply for machines but don't have them/ want to handknit. Mum and I have regularly combined two four-ply threads using a double-knit pattern. Resultant jumper will be a bit thicker than standard DK but extra warmth is no bad thing. You can have great fun combining colours for either drama or subtlety.

I so agree with the poster who said how encouraging these threads are. I was raised OS without much money and the brilliant career (heavy irony) was scuppered before it ever appeared by chronic ill-heath, so I started with nothing and still have most of it left. :rotfl:I think it's important to engage with the challenge of reduced income, not to wring your hands or feel self-pity (not that we would up here on MSE. By definition, we're do-ers)

I regard it as my job to get as much life out of as little money as possible - see my sig and take it as a mission statement.;)

This year, I'll be looking to sow some freebie flower seeds among my allotment veggies so'd I can have cut flowers for my titchy flat and some to share. They're all date-expired so I have no idea what will happen but I'll enjoy finding out! Affordable luxuries are scouring the odds-and-sods baskets at the c.s for facepacks at 10p each and lounging in a hot bath. I always bear in mind that kings and queens have for millenia have had to do without such a luxury as hot water on tap.....I think it's really important to have grace notes in life, whtever that means for you as an individual.

Sunday night, I'll be having a regular meet up with friends. We take turns to cook a meal in each others' homes and spend a riotous evening playing viciously-competitive board games whilst (ahem) under the influence. Cost is minimal, fun is maximal.

If you're able-bodied, you can have a ruddy good time playing kickabout or rounders in the park with a large group of mates. If temperament or physicality are a limit on that, for a book group, or a film club, some cheap snacks or h.m. goodies and a rental film or library book go a long way.

Just think, being OS was something I used to do furtively, afraid of mockery, and look at me now, what a brazen wench I am.

Been OS into Mt T today with a Spend £20 get £3 off voucher and buying their basics porridge on 3 for 2 on cereal. Have temporarily desisted from the tinned tomatoes and branched out into loo roll........:rotfl:Tomorrow, if this miserable rain stops, it'll be slithering around the bootsale looking for suitable things for my OS-ing like dyes, haberdashery, tools for the lottie and other bits and bobs.

Keep up the good work, one and all.

BusyGirl

I love this thread!:D I have been following the various versions of it and thought I'd finally join in.

Whenever I go shopping in the city centre which isn't very often, my 2 girls (14y and 10y) always ask if we can go to Poundland and the charity shops. They realise their pocket money goes a lot further when buying 2nd hand books, dvds, and PS games and Poundland often has books and dvds that they like.

I must also confess to being a stockpiler/food hoarder!:o;) I can't help it as it goes back to the time when DH was on a much lower income and I was a student on £40pw grant (in the old days-20yrs ago when students still received grants) and we had a very small weekly food budget and didn't own a freezer. Since then I feel happier if I have enough food in the house to feed us for about a month. I do shop around for bargains and keep to a low grocery spend each month.
I make a weekly meal plan after looking at what we already have in and then making a shopping list and sticking to a weekly budget. Most of our shopping (food and toiletries) comes from Aldi, Asda, Home and Bargains, B&M, Poundland or anywhere there are special offers etc.
Most of our meals are cooked from scratch but on fridays we always have a 'Lazy Tea' which is usually Aldi pizzas/vegeburger/fish and oven chips. That is our low cost/lower fat alternative to a takeaway.:)

My mum makes me laugh as she admitted the other day to having 14 large boxes of PG Tips tea bags stashed away! She bought them when they were on offer in Iceland...her and my dad do drink a lot of tea!:rotfl:

wrinkled_english_rose

I would just like to say that I am glad you are all back in your proper place. I did follow you to the arms but I felt out of my comfort zone.
I am sorry so many of you are experiencing real difficulties. I remember the 3day week, very high mortgage rates and little money. At the moment OH & I can manage if we don't go daft but with minium pensions we really need a better return on our savings.
So thank you Jackieglasgow for starting this thread.
WER

[Deleted User]

Gosh 5 pages since this morning, wow and so many new faces. Oh its so lovely to be back here. Jackieglasgow thank you so much for getting us going again

Its such a lovely sunny day again and I have been planting loads of seeds yet again, trouble is that I am going to be running out of spaces for all the trays and I am in and out depending on the weather. I mean I already have stuff hardening off but I am not trusting the weather. I love this time before the bugs get going

I had a stack of costco baking potatoes that I just had to deal with, so I baked half and roasted the other half in left over goose fat. The roasties went into the freezer and I made cheesy boats with the baked spuds and they are now in the freezer. They are absolutely lovely heated from frozen, with a nice salad

That tomato saga has a lot to answer for, aches and pains through delving into the inaccessible ground level corner cupboards. Everything came out and I have put big stuff in now, like cake tins and (thanks to lakeland )I bought shelves so my tins are no longer sliding everywhere. All spare food is now more accessible in normal cupboards. I think I must have been crouching awkwardly just so I could find my tube of puree

I decided to make an effort to reduce some of the foodstuffs in my storecupboard so have just cooked a whole bag of pinto beans in my tall pressure cooker. It was very successful and I was able to go full blast as the pan is so tall and the beans are now getting bagged for the freezer. I think I`ll hang fire re buying more dried beans as replacements, I`ll wait until autumn

I just read about the ginger beer and I remember lots of families brewing it when I was young and I`m going to get prepared to make elderflower champagne and the cordial as the flowers will be out in about 10 weeks

I confess, I have never made twinks but am off to find the recipe. I know it will be my downfall

Butterfly_Brain

Just got back from town and bought loads in Wilkinsons sale it is mostly quilt covers, sheets, towels etc, so I have bought DD sheets, pillowcases, duvet set, 6 bath towels and a wicker unit (£40 the lot:)) for her hope chest plus a couple of single duvet sets in blue for £2.25 each - bargain . I bought now because anything made of cotton is set to double in price this year :eek:
I also got a raised toilet seat as well reduced from £25 to £12.50

Puddleglum

Hi Folks,

So glad to see you all back on the OS thread. I didn't follow you to the Arms as I find life a bit hectic down there and was really missing you all and the thread. Popped in this afternoon to see if there was anything which would hit the spot and lo! 9 pages in less than 24 hours.

We have had a great day today. Scouts table top sale this morning. DS and I cleared out a load of books and a few other bits and pieces making £9.50 in total, 25% of which went to the Scouts and the rest was divvied up between myself, DS and DD.

This afternoon I decided that as I have 2 days off work next week, saving 80 miles in petrol money, I would go for a drive. Inspired by a tours of Britain guidebook which includes a tour which goes past my front door I drove about 60 miles of Somerset scenery and included a mooch around a garden centre. Got home thinking about afternoon tea and found the family raiding the icecream - first time this has happened, so cut a piece of marzipan and pretended it was battenburg cake alongside a cuppa.

mardatha

Is now thick horrible freezing mist and the snow is still lying. Sigh.
I think thats a good idea re buying towels now. I will have a think on that, got plenty but some are pretty holey I have also divided food into groups.
Tins & Jars
Dry Goods
Meat &Dairy
House & Laundry
Aim is to get one bulk buy thing from Costco for each group each week.

zarazara

On Monday Panorama on BBC looks interesting, its about the crash of the Irish econmoy.

D&DD

Mardatha cant remember wether you have a sewing machine or not but I chop up our old towels and overlock the edges to reuse them as rags for the greenhouse/outside work,cleaning floors that sort of thing.

BB thanks you've just reminded me I need some sheets for the boys beds and some pillows.

I reuse the old ones as padding for the cats beds.

dollydaydream07

have made mincemeat flapjacks with DD to use up the last of the mincemeat from xmas........ they smell delish

i am thinking of doing a 3 course meal for tea tonight, for no other reason than, i have loads of stuff on it's way out
so the plan is to have prawn cocktail starter(to use up the lettuce that's been in the fridge a week lol)
mash, pork steaks, carrots(again in fridge for a wk) leeks(this might have been there 2 wk) and sprouts and gravy
with the flapjack for pudding and might have custard with it

think i need to do a proper meal plan so i know exactly what i have in as i had completely forgot about the lettuce

still haven't heard from my sister but nevermind, i can't be bothered with her at the minute, she has had everything handed to her on a plate but yet still manages to **** it all up and expects my parents to bail her out :mad:

right i better go and get the prawns out to defrost or we won't be having no fancy 3 course meal lol