Do people ever think you're 'odd' for being old style?

miss_emmajane

I thought it would be interesting to hear the reactions/opinions of others about being old style which we don't hear on these boards as we're all as thrifty as each other

My MIL laughs at my old style ways (not in a mean way, she just finds it funny as it is 'different') and will regularly have to run out because they have ran out of toothpaste or toilet roll ... something I never have to do. I feel like the 'weird' one for the way I organise/have things yet it seems like the smart choice if you think about it. Also all my friends, bar one (who I think has come over to the thrifty side finally!) aren't old style at all, they think the fact I meal plan is funny but they always have nothing in to eat ... :rotfl:

None of it has been said in a mean way, it just makes me laugh that I am seen as the 'different' one for being old style. My mother must of taught me well!

Does anyone else get this from their loved ones/workmates/friends?

Popperwell

Being mostly on my own it doesn't get talked about so few know that I buy reduced or food on offer. Have a food store, buy clothes mainly from a charity shop etc...

However, when it has come up in conversation the two reactions I get are "What a good idea!" and they say they will do likewise or they admit they are doing similar to a greater or lesser amount.

It is not as unusual as the media would probably have us believe. It will be less so as the austerity hits many more of us. It could end up those who do not economise, meal plan, buy in bulk etc...could end up being thought of as being unusual.

Older people have done so most of their lives and now the young are having too as well.

Steve059

A good friend, with a very well paid (40% income tax) job, used to be like this, albeit in the nicest possible way, with me. Then she had real problems (a bullying manager, sexual discrimination, etc.) at work and her earnings plummeted to my level at the time for a while.

Popperwell

Also as Steve proves it is not necessarily an age thing or by choice, circumtances often dictate why we end up being thrifty/frugal.

iris

My husband used to tease me about being so thrifty, but nowadays he just goes with the flow.

He jokingly tells friends that we have more on our shelves in the garage than our village shop.

My husband was made redundant at 52 and couldn't find another job, so we decided to try and live off what we had coming in/savings and you know what we managed it and also went on several holidays.

That was 20 years ago (how time flies) and I am still thrifty. I meal plan and always use up leftovers. I use coupons and love freebies (I haven't bought any dishwasher tablets/hair shampoo or toothpaste for years). I also do surveys and test products and am a member of TCB. If there is a 'glitch' I am willing to give it a go and have got several presents this way, which I put in my store for when needed.

It used to iritate my husband when we went to several supermarkets, but now he just takes it in his stride:rotfl:

This site and its members has helped me no end. Long may it continue.

good_advice

iris wrote: »

My husband used to tease me about being so thrifty, but nowadays he just goes with the flow.

He jokingly tells friends that we have more on our shelves in the garage than our village shop.

My husband was made redundant at 52 and couldn't find another job, so we decided to try and live off what we had coming in/savings and you know what we managed it and also went on several holidays.

That was 20 years ago (how time flies) and I am still thrifty. I meal plan and always use up leftovers. I use coupons and love freebies (I haven't bought any dishwasher tablets/hair shampoo or toothpaste for years). I also do surveys and test products and am a member of TCB. If there is a 'glitch' I am willing to give it a go and have got several presents this way, which I put in my store for when needed.

It used to iritate my husband when we went to several supermarkets, but now he just takes it in his stride:rotfl:

This site and its members has helped me no end. Long may it continue.

This person sounds just like me.
I write lists and meal plan. My sister laughed when she came to stay last year.
I use coupons and voucher codes. Get freebies.
Washing on line and home cook.

BitterAndTwisted

I don't consider myself truly "Old-Style" but I take what I need and disregard what I don't. It rarely comes up in conversation but when it does, meal-planning and shopping using the cheapest deals I can find marks me out as some kind of freak. I expect I mix with people who have too much money and/or are just bone-idle/don't care enough. A serious drop in income really concentrates the mind, however

fiftyeighter_2

I,ve been quite OS most of my life but still always learning something new. Then again I,m almost 63 and come from a family of 15 children so a lot was learnt from my DM.
Friends often laugh at me (but not in a nasty way) when I tell them things I freeze ie cooked too much, left over gravy, glut in fruit, veg. I,m astounded when people tell what they have thrown away. I remember at Christmas a friend saying "we'll I,ve emptied the fridge ready for shopping trip" me...."why was it all off?" Friend..... "No, bored with it all now, need something different" oh my goodness, more money than sense springs to mind.

TDMum

My own mother! Which I find odd as they've always struggled for money and she is of a certain age and upbringing where it would have been the norm to be thrifty. I was telling her how I wasn't buying puds, cakes or biscuits anymore and just baking my own 1.because of cost and 2. because there would be no hidden nasties in them and also how I had made my own pizza dough for the first time. She seemed to think I was wasting my time and costing myself a lot of money. She didn't believe me when I said I think I had managed to shave £50-£100 off my shopping budget. She also thinks I'm nuts for bulk buying YS items and freezing them ... again I don't understand her thinking but hey ho each to their own

sonastin

I give my brother and sister-in-law tips and suggestions of easy OS things to do because my mum always tells me how hard up they are. They don't seem to pick up on the ideas and my mum also trys to tell me how they wouldn't have time to do the things I suggest might be a way of saving money. As its a bit of a chinese-whispers thing, I don't know if they actually have enough money to splurge on the convenience lifestyle or if they really do think it is so much quicker to open a jar of pasta sauce than it is to open a tin of tomatoes and then throw in a handful of herbs and save themselves £1+ on the cost of dinner. Either way, I have little sympathy for their financial hardship if they'd rather take their girls out to expensive activity centres and buy them sweets and biscuits than spend a morning baking fairy cakes with them at home.

midnightraven3

i think pretty much everyone gave me strange looks and probably talked about "our ways"
i think they though we were a bit like The good Life:D

they couldnt work out WHY we lived the way we do, making/canning/dehydrating etc, because we didnt NEED to, we wanted to

now they ask regularly for tips & hints & recipes
gladly shared

welcome to MY world :rotfl: