Ask yer Granny!

Cheapskate

This is a brilliant thread - thank you mardatha!

One set of grandparents had been bakers, had their own bakery and shop for a number of years, so mum and then her children learned to bake well. Both my parents were war babies, so grew up with little money and LOADS of make-do-and-mend, wasted virtually nothing and became hoarders (the idea of saving things "just in case"!). Mum remembers grandma killing the chickens at the end of their laying lives - wringing their necks as grandad was such a gentle man he couldn't do it, bless him!

I learned all sorts from my parents, great aunts, elderly neighbours etc as much as from grandparents - scratch cooking, basic DIY, not wasting things, buying quality so it would last, sewing, being inventive with food/handicrafts/etc, too many to list right now. Being on here, with some virtual grannies, have given me more ideas and skills, and rebuilt my confidence in doing these things! :T

One Christmas from my childhood sticks in my mind - we had even less money than usual, so mum made EVERY single thing herself, from stuff she had in the house. She made dressing up clothes for us, a matching outfit for a doll for each of us (all out of old dust sheets), dressed-up peg dolls (using scraps in her sewing basket), the cards, wrapping paper (blank newspaper from the chippie) - they were fabulous and I still have my outfit and the peg doll. It was the best Christmas presents I had, probably because of all the hard work she put into them!

Mum never bought any food items ready-made, and we often had what would have been odd meals for other people back then, lots of vegetarian things, meals cobbled together from odds and ends, home grown veg - all the things it's now trendy to do we grew up doing.

This year, I have made chutney for the first time, blackberry vodka, sloe gin, am making various sewn things for Christmas presents, have bought a SC to make meals even more cheaply, buy even more in charity shops and use freecycling sites more, etc., and am enjoying the challenges - but without prior knowledge it would have been more difficult!

Gosh, what a lot of waffle - sorry, but I'm all fired up by this thread - sorry! :rotfl: Will pop back later with more ideas and to pinch some from you all!

A xxoo

[Deleted User]

a lovely thread mardatha, truly os and uplifting

I never knew any grandparent (drat the war!) but do have flashbacks to the old days. I remember cutting strips of old fabric for rag rugs and that was after the original had been recycled several times, first a dress then a skirt, then an couple of child dresses and then a rug. Mum used to sprinkle the rugs with old damp tea leaves to freshen them up and then they had a good beating on the line

We didn`t have a fridge for many years and mum used to put milk bottles in a bucket, half filled with water and a tea towel draped over the top. I remember the communal wash house and the long queues waiting patiently for the polio vaccine. The lovely old lady who had a tiny tv and who put rows of chairs out for local youngsters, I couldn`t see a thing as I was so short sighted before I had john lennon glasses but I didn`t care, I was part of the group

The lovely angora cardigans knitted for best, oh but they were so soft and fluffy but didn`t half make us sneeze. Paper cut outs from folded newspapers, which magically turned into row of dolls. Us children cutting newspaper squares to string together for the outside toilet. All the free home made games, jacks with stones, cats cradle with string, a button on a string made a whizzer. Two balls on a wall, adventures on a bomb site

mardatha

Oh wow I remember this, my dad did this and taught me and I did it with my kids. You fold a bit of paper into a square, then again then again. Cut the corners off, then cut crosses in and holes all over, then open it out and you've got a doiley (dono how to spell that!). For the dolls, fold paper in a rectangle and draw the outline of a doll on it, jsut a stick figurey type thing. Then cut round the outline but leave one edge uncut, then open out and yuv got a line of wee dollies . God, not done that for ages ! Ok girls, dont make a mess and mind the scissors. Bring your work to my desk when you finished and NO SQUABBLING.
I find it very sad that they knew so many moneysaving & interesting things that we don't. They probly hoped like hell we would have better lives and never need them. My sons kids are ok, not allowed to watch much tv or play computer games at all and always outside, camping and biking -but my daughter's lot are on FB or in McDonalds 24 hours a day. Boringggg :mad:
Innit funny to think these same grannies are right now reading these posts? - If you feel a wee pat on the head then you'll know she's proud of you

Gracie_1827

kittie wrote: »

a lovely thread mardatha, truly os and uplifting

Paper cut outs from folded newspapers, which magically turned into row of dolls. Us children cutting newspaper squares to string together for the outside toilet. All the free home made games, jacks with stones, cats cradle with string, a button on a string made a whizzer. Two balls on a wall, adventures on a bomb site

This made me remember and smile...we also use to cut out head and shoulders from catalogues, then dresses with tabs and hook them over the models, just like Nora and Tilly from Woman and Home (I think it was) We also laid out newspapers and glue cutout furniture so we had a dolls house.
For race tracks we used to chalk on the pavements and play with Dinky cars and for a sand pit we dug a big hole on some waste ground and got a garden sieve and made a fine tilth.

squeaky

My parents are now great grandparents - so do they count?

My dad was a whizz. One weekend I wanted to paint but couldn't find a paint brush - so he cut off a small lock of my hair, bound it to a dot of wood and hey presto - a paint brush!

But the thing I remember most was my fishing rod...

Two garden bamboo canes, the joint made using a piece snipped out of a tin, the handle made out of wood. The only things he bought were the line, the eyes the line runs through and some hooks. He made the the reel out of the inner bit of those old elastoplast reels - remember those?

And yes, I did manage to catch some fish with it!

flissh

Patchwork_Quilt wrote: »

Well my Grandma was famous in the family for her frugal ways. Most of all, her motto was 'Keep Busy'. The house was spotless, the veg patch (where Grandad got sent every day) was a showpiece. She was always baking, she mended everything and never threw anything away. She even made rugs.

The other tip she would have offered was to buy well. They never had anything fancy, unless she made it, but everything was good quality and sturdy. Then it got polished to a high sheen every week, or nicely pressed, or whatever. They never had money for extras so she had to make sure that what they did buy would last.

Lastly, I think she would have said 'Be Inventive'. Things got made out of other things, presents were often home-made. It's amazing what the human mind can come up with in a tight corner.

This post has really inspired me! Now days we are all a bit guilty (or me at least) of not looking after what we have. I feel moved to try a bit harder with what I have and not keep buying more.

mardatha

I spent all my time climbing trees, didn't play with dolls. We had a ganghut up a tree on top of a hill, and we could see the whole Firth of Forth and the lighthouse on the May Island at night. We had another one deep in the woods near a limeworks... quite spooky butI loved it. I think it's sad that kids now are missing all that.
Where I lived was all miners, everybody's dad worked down the pit. As somebody else said already they all had budgies or canaries & some had pigeons. Absolutely everybody grew veg in the back garden. I always got sent to the shop for "half a stane o tatties please" and then "half a pound o mince please" LOL can still mind it off by heart :rotfl::rotfl:

mardatha

Squeaky, did you catch anything over 3" though? LOL I never did!

grandma247

OO Mardatha this is a brilliant idea. I agree with those who said about learning new "old" skills .
This age we are living in is wonderful for that. The internet is a very rich resource for learning almost anything.
If you do a search for a particular food you would normally buy ready made it is almost certain you will find someone on the net who has made it from scratch or at least a passable substitute.
utube and video jug have tutorials for how to's and there are probably others.

squeaky

mardatha wrote: »

Squeaky, did you catch anything over 3" though? LOL I never did!

Yep!

But the BIGGEST thing I caught was...


ME


!!!!


My hook came free as I was on my way to the pond and it swung about and hooked into my cheek! So I just knocked on the nearest door and asked the lady to unhook me. She dotted a bit of antiseptic on it... and off I went to carry on fishing