The Modern but Old Style Homemakers Club

life_in_termoil

We have a leisure centre/library in town and they do some fab exercise classes (even though ive not done any yet) but I fancy doing Zumba on a Friday morning but because I dont know anyone im abit dubious about going on my own (plus im so unfit I dont want to make a prat out of myself lol) We also have a family centre which run adult courses but most of these are in the evenings when I cant go but at least the options are out there if you look.

Anyway im out of my black dog mood, I went into the city and bought the kids school uniforms, (now £178 lighter!) bought a project book and sat in a cafe and had a toasted tea cake and a coffee watching people go by. I love people watching

lessonlearned

Hi Julia

I was just about to mention courses etc when you pipped me to the post. Think it's a great idea, if you are on certain benefits you to do get discounts.

Going back to the getting your head round Homemaking. I think it is a perfectly valid career choice - it's amazing how in just a couple of generations it came to be looked down on.

I think however, that the wheel is starting to turn again. I think people are beginning to realise how important building and maintaining a warm, comfortable, efficient and well run home is. It's cost efficient - all that mending and making do etc, it frees up time at the weekend for family activities/time to spend on your relationship without all the hassle of fitting in laundry, cleaning, diy etc.

I am lucky I suppose in that I am very practical - diy, cooking, sewing, gardening etc. I feel that over the years I ran our lives so freeing up my husband to concentrate on his career and not feel too pressured into doing "his share". In actual fact he was always more than happy to help and contribute but he never felt "obliged" if you catch my drift.

I think it made for a happy, harmonious and stress free relationship. My children also benefitted hugely.

When my youngest boy was about 12 I decided it was time I went back to work full time. I noticed his schoolwork began to suffer and whilst he wasn't doing anything wrong as such I was a bit unhappy with his choice of mates, his lack of direction and lack of progress at school.

OH and I discussed it and I decided to put the career on hold for a while longer. It was the best thing I could have done, DS2 was much happier with me being around, he went on to achieve very good grades and on to university.

I think that my supervision and the stability my being at home after school and school holidays etc made a very real difference to him. He could have so easily gone the other way and ended up in trouble.

Being a Homemaker can be very stimulating, you are your own boss (this bit really suits me). You can always earn a little money - either working part time or setting up a little business you can run from home.

Over the years I've done just that. I tried working full time but missed my children too much, part time was ok, but for me the best bit was being a full time Homemaker, using my talents to save money where possible i.e. diy, etc and running a couple of little businesses as and when.

Anyway time to cook dinner ..............

oldtractor

This modern OSer has just had HM bread with delicious rich old fashioned "cooking cheese" and tomato for dinner followed by HM fruit loaf and butter baked this mmorning. already 2 loaves half gone. and 1 lemon drizzle cake. eaten. oh, and a batch of scones too. it was HM veg and lentil soup for lunch with HG veg and herbs. really lovely.
lessonlearned, brilliant post,sums it all up really.

life_in_termoil

Cooking cheese?.......

In my house cooking cheese is anything ive found at a good price.

Is it labelled cooking cheese?

Chipps

I have done meal planning in the past - keep meaning to do it again but haven't got round to it...

The great advantage is that you don't waste money buying food not needed - I don't know about you, but I can't count the number of times I've been shopping, got loads of stuff but nothing that would make a whole meal!!!!

Also, as Janeym8 said, it is helpful for others in the family to see what's for dinner - and DH has been known to take over on occasion (which I see as an advantage!)

Hopefully this thread will give me the impetus to do a meal plan for the week ahead!

life_in_termoil

Are there any other single homemakers here?

I tend to get bored on a Friday and Saturday Evening, what do you do to kill the boredom? Sunday to Thursday evening seem different (if you know what I mean!)

Careful_with_that_Axe

life_in_termoil wrote: »

Are there any other single homemakers here?

I tend to get bored on a Friday and Saturday Evening, what do you do to kill the boredom? Sunday to Thursday evening seem different (if you know what I mean!)

A fellow singleton here. :wave:
I rely on watching films to get through Friday and Saturday evenings. That and pootling around online. I have a panic attack if I don't have some decent films stockpiled to while away the hours.

How do you fill Sundays? I get the Sunday blues most weeks. Hate the day with a vengence and have been known to resort to housework. :D

Question. Many years ago when I was first married I had a figure in my mind that 50p per head was a good value home cooked meal. What do y'all think a current value would be?

p.s. Good, easy peasy bread recipie:
http://joannasfood.blogspot.com/2006/12/slow-but-simple-bread_07.html

life_in_termoil

Sundays I usually stay in bed till 10 then if the kids are at school on the Monday I make sure they have everything ready for the following week. I check my meal plan and do an online shop, catch up with whatever housework I havent been bothered to do. Friday or Sunday evening (depending on my work rota) is treat night when I spend my time pampering myself (soak in the bath etc)

Ive just realised that X Factor starts again tonight so I wont be as bored. I dont really watch that much TV I really enjoy just sitting here in peace with chief woofer sat at my feet. Kids are at home but I only see them at meal times really as they all do their own things.

jetbag

Hello all
Can I join you.

I left work last October because the hours were getting much more than I wanted to do, I was working 40 - 50 hours a week and 1 weekend in 4 (both saturday & sunday) with no days off, so each month I was working 2 x 5 day weeks then 12 days in a row. so I quit my job and am now a homemaker, although I do some of the admin work for my husbands business.
My 2 sons are 20 & 24 and both still live at home.

I already had 1 dog & 1 cat but since leaving work I rescued another dog so we get to go on long walks.

I do love being at home, I think I have always been fairly OS because I married and had children quite young and didn't have much money when the children were small. And now without my income we have to watch the pennies, I hate wasting money so always look for good value, I believe that quality is usually cheaper in the long run for most things so I have brought some good quality furniture that should last a lifetime and be an heirloom for generations to come.

We have not lived in this area very long so I do not know anybody here yet. I need to look for something to do where I can meet new people and make some friends locally.
Now I am going to catch up on reading this thread as I have only got a few pages in so far.

juliapenguin

I've realised that one of the things I loved about my English teaching job was being creative with materials and activities, and if I don't do creative stuff I'm going to be an unhappy homemaker.

I don't sew, I used to love knitting but don't like wearing knitted things (weird, I know) but I do love making cards. So today I decided that I would start designing and making the Christmas cards - I know it's early but I couldn't think of anything non-Christmassy to do and I wanted to get the ball rolling. They are jolly fine cards, actually, very simple but I think effective, and I feel really proud of them.

The other thing I'm doing to make peace with the idea of being 'only' a homemaker is to invest more of myself into my apartment. It's rented furnished, so there's a sense in which we're just camping out here. However, this is my HOME. If I'm going to be a homemaker, I need to focus on today and not thinking that there's no point in buying the few things we need because we'll be moving on in a year or two. I know it sounds daft, but I really needed some doorstops - modern flats all have heavy fire-proof doors which close automatically, so when I'm in they need to be propped open or they bang shut and drive the neighbours potty. I've never got round to buying them, and use the metal filing box and a pillow and a big book on the three rooms and it looks such a mess. So today I invested the grand sum of £1.79 and bought three rubber door stops. It sounds daft but it's really significant. If I'm going to be a homemaker, I'm going to be a BRILLIANT homemaker if I possibly can.

Similarly, the divan beds look 'unfinished' to me without one of those pleated sheet thingies over the base (they're called platform valances, or so I discovered today). So I bought a single and a double one off Amazon. Job done. It's only taken me 10 months. If Squeaky is reading, this is NOT off-topic, as it's all about me accepting that I deserve to have a lovely home, even if it's only a rented apartment, even if we'll be moving on sooner or later and I might not have divan beds in the next place.

All this activity may have something to do with the fact that my last week of supply teaching is exam and course work marking, and I've got fifteen essays to mark. They are terrible in quite a hilarious way, but some of the kids have put their heart and soul into them and I have to be scrupulously fair in my scores. So I'm procrastinating by thinking about being a homemaker!