Super Scrimpers

lostinrates

terra_ferma wrote: »

There are people on the OS forum who can't afford what you are talking about, maybe someone lost their job etc.
To come here showing off what you can buy is not very nice.

I appreciate your postion, BUT, is it showing off when people talk about what appliances they use in their OS ways? I don't think so personally, even though I don't have some of them (I long for a dehydrator!) Or when people who have paid off their mortgage say they don't have to facor for housing costs, compared to younger people renting or paying heavy ''young'' mortgages? There are examples of things that I could point at for hours that can't apply to me as money svang solutions because they require a specific location type, a specific family set up, a reliably able body etc etc.....but it would plainly be ridiculous for me to do so, and not because you perceive me to be boasting (which I was not, though I'm sorry you perceived it to be a boast).


We all have different amounts and different priorities, for example, one of my main haunts on this board is the heating thread...because I don't have any working central heating: sharing the (good natured) moaning with others who don't, or who can't afford heating, is one of the ways we cope, and people with heating post there too...they are in the majority, I don't think any of us scrimping or without for...and whatever reason accuse them of boasting: its just their circumstance or priority is different. If you work out what most OSers are going to spen on gas over winter and compare it to mygrocery spend my guess is, even with the occasional bottle of wine, my spend will be not so different.


fwiw, something the debate board have covered more throuroughly than we have here in this thread is the super scrimper £50 lunch is compared to an average published this week as being in the region of £170. Now whether or not OSers find those two costs ridiculous, someone routinely spending what to them is an unaffordable £170 could genuinely be helped by a £50 guide, while the way some OSers choose to spend Christmas will be uncountanacable to them. sometimes in sharing what OSers rightly say is possible it can blind us to what else is credable and really happening out there.

Almo

I still pop in to the OS board every now and then but my enthusiasm has started to wane recently as it seems the focus has changed.

People have different incomes and expenses, different priorities and different personal tastes; it is not a competition to see who can spend the least.

If someone here cannot afford to spend £50 that's fine.
If someone here does not want to spend £50 that's fine.
If someone here has spent £50 that's fine.
If someone here wants to spend £500 that's fine.

The other thing worth bearing in mind is that the money being spent is going into the economy, towards keeping businesses going. I don't have rose-tinted glasses, I'm sure a lot of that is going into the pockets of corporate executives but even if it all goes to Tesco, if that stops Tesco staff being laid off, isn't that a good thing (as long, of course, as no one is going into debt to buy this food)? Equally, this board often laments the increasing lack of traditional butchers/greengrocers/local producers etc - they need business to survive!

[Deleted User]

missychrissy wrote: »

Christmas really doesn't have to be expensive. The only important meal is Christmas dinner and that can be done easily on a budget. When I was a child, chicken was a great treat for Christmas day.

I agree in fact in the early 1950s Chicken was the only meat for Christmastime, and we ate our chook after my Dad had wrung its neck.Never had chicken the rest of the year at all.My Mum would pull its feathers off and go over it with a tiny candle to burn the stubbly bits off.Feathers were kept to be used after cleaning in cushions.I never tasted turkey untilI was grown up and married in the 1960s

lostinrates

Almo wrote: »

The other thing worth bearing in mind is that the money being spent is going into the economy,!

this is something else the Debate board touch on a lot, the balance between personal spend and ho his impacts on the economy. I tend to think the topic covered are sometimes not that different but the OS board is a close up personal view while the Debate board on the same topics is a longer distance view, considering the impact of our individual spending decisions. Its terrifying when we pause to think that in some cases the best MSEers are the most damaging to the economic situation. :eek:. tbf if we were to think bout that all the time heads would explode, so I don't expect people to start trying to find a debt free £5 extra a week to spend, but the points you raise are familiar to me from the other board and, IMO true.

[Deleted User]

MY DD and I have decided that as the kids aren't keen on turkey anyway we will have either beef or Lamb for Christmas dinner she has 7 to feed including me as her DD is away for Christmas and we are all going to a family 'do' in the evening so it will be like a slightly upgrade sunday lunch and certainly won't cost £50.00 I will provide the meat and she will get the veg.None of us are much of drinkers and I won't as I will be driving that night anyway.DD may have a V&T with her OH at lunchtime and the boys have soft drinks.Ben who is 16 will have a budweiser 'light' and thats all.We all enjoy Christmas and don't need wine or spirits to get merry .We are all happy enough just to be togehter as a family.We don't like mince pies or Christmas cake but DD will make her chocolate cheese cake which is to die for and take with us to her sisters on Christmas night I shall make several dozen sausage rolls and thats about it. You don't have to spend a fortune to have a good time

MandM90

terra_ferma wrote: »

There are people on the OS forum who can't afford what you are talking about, maybe someone lost their job etc.
To come here showing off what you can buy is not very nice.

I think she was just disclosing what she spent, for comparison (and LIR did say that bottled water was a special treat; hardly trying to push extravagance in others faces). Isn't one of the best things about MSE that we can disclose our financial situations openly and honestly? Old Style is about using old style methods to save money; there may be some millionaires lurking around here who just like OS ways and there's no reason why anyone should be excluded!

As LIR said, many people can't afford a breadmaker/dehydrator/sewing machine; should we tell those who can not to post about them!? :eek:

gailey_2

I think lost in rates wasent boasting just talking about their xmas and spends

bottled water and half decent bottle wine not that much anyway.
Aldi has both.

I think since credit crunch peoples habits have changed.
More people shoping in the discounters
see a few nice cars outside lidls these days
Aldi and lidls promote their premium range well at competative prices compared to the big boys!
Lots of middleclass/wealthy people choose to shop there.

Yes they may have greater income
different outgoings but when everythings going upo people look for a counterbalance and gricery budget I can control.

But xmas happens once a year

some people save money on cards/stamps
some people buy few bits throughout the year
some people dont eat turkey other meats or being veggie works out cheaper.

if average is £170 then maybe this programme will help people cut back.

But for us osers we experts and could do cheaper if we wished to do so.
Also you can work out cost of day but one bird can feed us for 3-4meals bringing cost per head down .

Like I say for us its about making our grocery budget stretch little further so we eating balanced healthy meals with variety and not cdomprimising on taste/quality with a few little treats to keep us sane.

Each year last 3years we spent slightly less.
dont know how much will spend this year but wont be much as set £250 for decembers grocery budget and that includes xmas day, boxing, new years.

chirpychick

I also dont they were boasting.

If you have the money to spend and want to treat yourself and your family then there is nothing wrong with that.

We all have different priorities and different likes and dislikes too.

Id never spend £5 on a tin of quality street but i know dozens of people who do. I dont think its worth paying for £5 worth of a non nutritional food item because a) we cant afford it and b) it seems like a waste as undoubtedly everyone ends up receiving some form of chocolate at christmas but that doesnt mean those who buy it are wrong.

We are all here to share our tips and read and learn others we dont need to be mean to each other.

I am genuinely shocked people spend £170 for 1 dinner and if they are getting into debt for it then i think they need to learn how to cut back but if they actually want to spend that and have it i dont see why they shouldnt.

But i dont think id call a super scrimper someone who spends £50 on a meal either to be honest maybe a "scrimps more than the average" lol.

play fair peeps after all.... it is nearly christmas :P

lostinrates

thanks to all who have said they understood that I wasn't boasting, merely putting accross a different perspective. I'd appreciate letting the matter drop as sometimes in defending someone the person who made the, um, lets say ''quick'' comment is made to feel quite bad. That's certainly not what I'd want.

I was just trying to put a bit of perspective on this with the other figures and show how people can spend more than £50 without being exceptionally profligate, thoughtless or grandiose, and that while my ine bill might be untolerable for others, my alcohol consuption on average might be less, and other bills might be less or not exist at all!

I think sometimes OSers are so good at what they do that they perhaps become a little removed fromwhat in this case are the average figures (the £170) and perhaps even average expectations, which is fine unless it turns nasty. Perhaps even in trying to either keep heads above the water, or just plain old minimise our outgoings we also often close our eyes to the bigger picture and economic impact, something which I accept is not a cofortable thought, and soething that MSE has really taught be about in the last few years.

curlytop12

as above really!;)