How do you keep up your Old Style motivation?

ginnyknit

We have never really been comfortably off and often been really really hard up so I cam to terms with pennypinching very early on. I am very lucky that I have a talent for making things and with OH's input can still fix those things he can no longer do himself.

Our luxury used to be a long weekend away when the kids had grown and flown but circumstances now, with his health problems, have reduced that to the occasional day out.

As for treat money, if we have a little cash left and theres something we would like, we buy it after a short discussion. However a 'considered purchase' as they call it may have to wait.

Popperwell

Mistral001 wrote: »

I can understand how the Op feels.

When I started to cut back on everything when my income shot down over two years ago I had quite a bit of resolve. I was quite proud of all the money-saving things I did. Now it is just everyday living. No novelty. Nothing clever or special. Nobody is going to praise me for doing it. In fact, if anything I get derision and tend now to hide my money saving ways as much as possible.

One thing I have noticed is that I tend to give more to others. Maybe this is just another way of trying to hide my lack of money and frugality, but I would also like to think it is also because my lack of money has made me appreciate other people's problems more.

That is a very good answer and it is amazing the different reaction you will get from others so it makes sense why you say what you do about hiding your money saving ways...

[Deleted User]

I think being OS is ingrained in me from my Mum.I grew up during and after WW2 and things were very tight for many people .Not only because of money, but the actual lack of stuff in the shops you could buy even if you had the cash.The austerity of the 1950s was far more than it is today and the money I have per week now my Mum would have thought I was rolling in it.

I look at things sometimes and wonder what she would have thought of them had she been alive today, and echoing at the back of my mind is her soft glaswegian accent saying
" What a waste of good money that is hen" She had a pretty exhausting life really bringing up three children during the war and my Dad was away a lot of the time, and with rationing it can't have been easy.No modern things like washing machines,fridges,freezers or even a tea bag :)but she managed it, and we never went hungry (sometimes the food was a bit bland and stodgy though) but she was always there with a cuddle and time to talk.She taught me everything I know about cooking and fixing things, recycling isn't a modern thing, many women of her generation had to recycle though necessity.I live, by her standards, a very cushy life with central heating at the touch of a switch,freezer,fridge,telephone a car and all mod cons Not for me the lugging of wet washing out to the back yard to mangle it into submission:) or sweeping the carpet with a brush and having to do the hours of housework she did. But I enjoy baking and knitting and looking after my grandchildren I have taken from the past the good bits, and left the cold lino in the bedroom behind me.I am OS because that defines me as a person and I don't think I could ever change I don't go without, yet I use any thing spare to help my two DDs and 7 grandchildren, and I'm happy to do it .My youngest DD yesterday was talking about how life has changed for women over the past 80 years and how hard it would be for many women today to 'go back in time ' to those days.She's right, and to be honest I wouldn't want to. I enjoy all the modern equipement and inventions but I also enjoy being creative and making do and mend, and when I go away on holiday with my tribe we have quite an old fashioned holiday by most standards, but enjoying the children and seeing how they learn about new things and teaching them to share and be there for each other is more important than designer clothes or the latest mobile phone Their standards are being set at the moment, and hopefully will,last them until they are my ancient age, and they can tell their grandchildren what a tough time it was in 2012 :)

Popperwell

An elequent post JackieO,
I see the PM is now saying the austere times we are in could last until 2020.

Is it that bad or cynically by saying this, it gives an excuse to carry out unsavory policies or before the next election, if they can so something good we'll say, that wasn't as bad as we feared and they will hope that changes into votes at the ballot box.

Time will tell...

prepareathome

I am like you Jackie. Os is ingrained in me, I didn't realise how much till I started using this forum properly last year.

So many times I hear others say do this or use that for this or that and I think but I have done that all my life, never considered it being OS.

What I find hard is to give tips because of this, I do not realise I am being OS until someone mentions something and by then its to late, which is annoying as I could have helped earlier if I had realised.

Before I go and buy anything I always look around and see if something else will do - I can think laterally which is a big help in being OS, not seeing something as only being useful for the thing it was made for.

Of course mind has gone blank for examples, but nearly every day I go to do something and realise i don't have the right tools, material, food, etc., so automatically look at what I do have that will do.

Oh I know on tougher thread people are talking about emergency stoves for heating food outside and sharing links of some lovely stoves which I would love but I know it would be a waste of money as I have a nice big tin of potatoes I bought for 99p oh about 6 years ago - bought two, not for the potatoes but the tins. They are what I guess would be catering size but I think a bit bigger. I bought them to make camping stoves with - they are wide enough to take a pan or kettle comfortably without it wobbling and would not take long to convert to one. To me this is just normal, i want a camping stove what have I got or can I buy that will save me money and I spotted those tins to make a hobo stove. Just checked they hold 5000g of potatoes. I have never needed it so never got round to making a stove but tins are in perfect condition most likely potatoes would be as well, but use by date was 2007.

I know this is a silly example but at gone 2am I am sorry best I can come up with, as I said its hard for me to think as I just do it automatically make do and mend is just ingrained on my soul.

I should point out I don't do it to save money, I am not frugal enough by any means, money flows away from me like water out of a running tap, but still I will look for alternatives and only buy if I have to. I can though be frugal if i need to and have done so when I must in the past.

zippychick

Here are a few threads which may help. There may be more - pink? can you help? For me, the benefits heavily outweigh the inconvenience if that makes sense. It's inground now and just the way i live. I balk at the thought of buying shop b ought pasta sauce, and am slowly converting my other half to think the same way.!!!!

falling off the OS wagon

how to organise everything in my life OS

Whats the most OS thing you have done?

moneysaving gone too far

Ill see if i can think of more links, and merge this later

Zip:D

Greenqueen_2

At around the age of 7 or 8 I was taken on a school day trip to the local council dump and watched horrified as the dustbin lorries were emptied into a cavernous pit. From that day onward I vowed to avoid throwing away as much as possible. Ok I do hoard some stuff that probably should be tipped, but mostly it means I dont buy anything unless it`s essential and the things I do have get used until they die. Recycling, making do and mending has been second nature. Over the years I have saved a small fortune by not being drawn into consumerism, and although my family officially lives below the poverty line we feel comfortably in control of our finances.

Mistral001

I think as several people have said OS is engrained in many of us. For instance as a boy growing up in the 60's and 70's I got my shoes repaired up to maybe three times before they were replaced. However, shoe repair has almost dispaired today as far as I can see.

Last week my shoes that I bought for £16 at Asda last November sprung a leak while walking the dog. The hard plastic sole of these fairly standard Oxford style leather shoes had worn down until holes had apearred. The shoes were perfect apart from the holes so I just bought stick-on soles on ebay for £4-50 and now have a completely good pair shoes. I would not have considered this if I had not remembered back to my school days when I would take my shoes along to the repairs and ask for "half soles" or "heal and half soles"

I wonder how many other people today repair their own shoes or even get them repaired.

Stephen_Leak

My bank account. Bills. An empty fuel guage.

Finding a bargain. A pile of full freezer tubs. Home made bread.

Thistle-down

I found myself in need of motivation today and came across this post, I think it's some of the best advice I've read in a long, long time and wanted to bump it up for anyone else who may be struggling at the moment!

fuddle wrote: »

The best frame of mind to adopt to get you through it is the defiant attitude. I am not going to let this beat me, I am in control, I am gong to do what I need here, i'll find a way. Yes, when the chips are really very down it is hard but it's all about positive mental attitude, determination and grit. If you can do that with a smile on your face and still enjoy life well then you have life at a level that it should be. All work and a little play. Both are very good for the soul.