How OS was your mum?

THIRZAH

My Mum and my Grandma were both very OS. They probably didn't have much choice. We lived in the country with only a few shops nearby.

They both cooked from scratch although they did buy bread from the baker. We grew all our vegetables and most of the fruit we ate-we did buy a few tangerines at Christmas.Fruit was bottled or made into jam. Beans were salted for the winter.I think Grandma was the first person in the village to get a freezer (my Grandad was very OS too).

All our clothes were home made or handed down from cousins or from the jumble saleI really envied the girl next door , her jumpers came from the shop!.Most toys and books came from the jumble sale too although we did get one new book a year as a Sunday School prize.

I still have a lovely eiderdown topped with Italian quilting that Grandma made just after the war.

In the early 1970s Grandma made me a poncho. When I went off to uni and ponchos were no longer fashionable she took it back meaning to unravel it. She never got around to it so when my daughter was about three I got presented with the poncho again with orders to unravel it and make DD a jumper.

Kiwisaver_2

Judi wrote: »

hahaha our kitchen wallpaper was bright orange, lime and yellow swirls. Very trendy.

Ours was similarly psychedelic; washable vinyl with bright orange, lime green and brown flowers.

MrsGSR

My parents were very OS when we were kids (still are if I'm honest) which is why I think my brother and I are a bit OS!
They became vegetarian in the 80s when it wasn't trendy. Mum was a full time house wife and cooked everything from scratch, we grew all our veg. Only now have I learnt how hard my mum budgeted and scraped together so we were always fed and clothed well. Mum also made us clothes and dolls clothes for my dolls, Dad made me dolls houses, a pony trap for my dolls and my brother a garage and a dinosaur base.
They may not have had the money to buy us extravagant presents but instead gave us wonderful experiences and made us toys, that's more loving than just buying "stuff"

System

Kiwisaver wrote: »

Ours was similarly psychedelic; washable vinyl with bright orange, lime green and brown flowers.

Ours was washable vinyl too. Was a sod to get off. I didn't decorate for ages after moving back in because i'd got me hands full with the two under 3s.

Clothes, well I remember Mom making me a couple of gingham school dresses and she made my brothers pyjamas. He got to wear his handmade clothes to bed, I had to wear mine in public.:D

We didn't wear hand me downs and Mom didn't go to jumble sales but what we had, had to last. We didn't have much of a selection either. I had 3 dresses, 3 cardigans plus one set of school clothes/uniform.

sonastin

I think when we were little (too little for me to remember) my mum was very OS out of necessity. As we got older and she was able to resume her career, money became easier and she had less inclination to spend her free time "working" at being OS so convenience options crept in.

Its only now that I'm learning to be OS myself (also out of necessity!) that I'm realising how much she used to do until she didn't need to do it any more. She still has some OS hobbies - knitting (which I've picked up), sewing (which she has to do for me because I'm useless no matter how hard I try!), etc. But these are done because she wants to do it rather than because she wants to save money whereas for me, OS is still about saving money.

fiftyeighter_2

My dear old mum was very OS too. Out of necessity though. She had 15 children of which 13 survived. She was born in 1919 and had an extremely hard life, but I expect a lot of that generation did. Myself when I was older went through a few years of spending willy Nilly Thinking I deserved to have this and that, got myself in to bother and regretted it. Now I,m more OS than ever. Difference I enjoy it. I may get laughed at by a few people but I know who really is better off.

iris

My Mom was born in 1913 (she died 3 years ago), but I am an only child. My Mom made a lot of my dresses when I was small, as she was into smocking. I only ever remember having very plain meals and she used to call a stew a boiled dinner, because it sounded better:cool:

I am sure she was OS, but I really don't remember.

Possession

My mum was very OS I now realise. They didn't have much money so needs must I guess.

lynsayjane

I don't think I'd consider my mum to be very OS, there were some home cooked meals but I remember as many pre prepared meals too. I know she got a sewing machine when I was a child as I now have it but I also know it 'broke' and was in a cupboard for most of my life (worked fine when I got it haha).
It wasn't a wealth thing as mum was a single parent to two children, working part time and putting herself through university. I think maybe a convenience thing?

I wasn't overly cautious money wise until a chance encounter viewing Martin on tv made me look at this site and realise I had a problem. Cue learning to budget, meal plan and getting myself out of debt! Been a bit lax the last few years but still living within my means (no credit but little savings) a house move and bigger mortgage brought me on here to get me back into the right frame of mind.

Lovely reading some of your tales,
LJ
x

tesuhoha

My mum was the most OS person that ever lived. She used to grow all her own vegetables including potatoes. She never bought a cake. Everything was baked at home. She cooked pies, cakes, puddings, flans. She made her own bread most of the time. She even made home made sweets such as toffee and coconut ice.

She used to brew tea wine and marrow whiskey. I thought it was pretty disgusting though.

She made all my clothes when I was young and always had knitting and crocheting on the go which she used to do in the evenings for amusement. All our clothes were patched and mended when they developed holes. My dad used to bring home game (he was a forester) and she would skin/pluck/ gut anything that could be cooked and eaten. We would often in the autumn be out with her blackberrying along the lanes so that she could make her blackberry and apple pie (apples from the tree in the garden). Or she would make gooseberry fool from the bush in the garden.

She used to save newspapers, either to light fires or to use as toilet paper :eek: and we used to go into the woods and pick up kindling for the fire. Even tea was recycled and used several times, then I think something else was done with it - compost or fertiliser for plants. It was necessity in those days. We did not have a fridge but any milk that was off went into a pudding. Nothing was wasted. we had a compost heap in the garden which eventually got put on the vegetables..

Even when we lived in a less remote place she used to grow things in a tiny greenhouse like marrows, cucumbers and tomatoes and make clothes. I could probably think of a lot more if I had the time.