Old Style in 2014?

Frugalsod

sparrer wrote: »

Another for the weird/funny farm, I cook everything from scratch including making my dogs biscuits at home, use vinegar/bicarb/salt etc for cleaning, buy my clothes and very often presents from cs's, shop at the yellow stickered shelves and the markets, and hardly ever use the oven as the sc, steamer and mw are much cheaper. Thanks to MSE I'm sure I can get still more frugal, there's bound to be something else I can tweak

I use the same cleaning methods. It is so much cheaper. I picked up that trick from Superscrimpers and then researched it further. Next year I plan to look into making my own laundry detergent. I still have lots of brand cleaners to use up. I use my microwave a lot, but I still bake my own bread in the microwave (in convection mode).

By cooking from scratch I have slashed my shopping bills. I bought an expensive food mixer but reckon that it will only take two years to pay for itself as I use it so much, and I still have so many more things that I could do with it. My general principle is that if I can make it I do not buy it. When I see something I like in the store I look for recipes to see if I can make it cheaper. Soon I shall start to make my own crispbread though branflakes would be not cost effective to make.

Frugalsod

nobodyspecial wrote: »

I'm fairly OS, cook mostly from scratch, can make do and mend, and will turn my hand to a variety of DIY tasks, but also buy new goods and employ tradesmen as appropriate. If OS takes off and progresses as some would like, I hope those people with carpenters, plumbers, shop assistants, decorators, factory workers, food production, electricians etc in the family won't be complaining about increasing redundancies. If everybody goes "self sufficient" there will be much less need for these people. Just a thought.

Yes but many people will use the savings from going OS on other things. Some will simply save which will keep interest rates low for those businesses wanting to invest. Others will use those savings to spend elsewhere. Some might buy more clothes or take more holidays.

Frugalsod

paulineb wrote: »

This year Ive used every coupon Ive been able to lay my hands on. I also shop in home bargains as well, love that shop. Ive started using vinegar and bicarb of soda, I have very sensitive skin and a lot of chemicals dont agree with me.

How do you find it? I have no problems but my mum is very sensitive.

Goldiegirl

Frugalsod wrote: »

Yes but many people will use the savings from going OS on other things. Some will simply save which will keep interest rates low for those businesses wanting to invest. Others will use those savings to spend elsewhere. Some might buy more clothes or take more holidays.

That's very true.

I'm working towards a slightly more frugal old style life, as I want to live a fairly simple day to day life, and to save some money in some areas which won't comprise my life to a point which I find unacceptable.

But, I'm also doing it so I can fulfil my holiday and travel plans after retirement.

Any money saved now, will be used later as part of a visit to Scotland, for example, or a cruise somewhere interesting. I'll be boosting the travel industry, rest assured!

Frugalsod

My savings this year are going to debt clearance. Next year I am taking loads of holidays so will be using the savings to pay for them.

Fruball

dandy-candy wrote: »

I learnt to cook too at about 13/14. The first thing I learnt was to make cakes because we never bought them and I'm rather fond of sweet things.
My mum never did the cooking at home save for 2 times - she made a beef stew from very cheap meat that was awful so we gave it to the dog - who wouldn't eat it either, and she made a pizza too wide for the oven so put it in at an angle. All the toppings slid off and caught fire to the oven. I came in just as dad was shovelling in spade fulls of soil from the garden to put it out!
Luckily for us dad was a very good cook, self taught by the cordon blue part works, but he did serve very small portions.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Love the image in my head of that story!

I am so glad I can cook! I am early 40s and we didn't learn how to cook nutritious cheap meals at school. I think we did cakes, flapjacks and jacket spuds! Lazy HE teachers!

I am a self taught cook but can make anything I put my mind to. Sadly I have a tiny kitchen so I don't make as much use of my skills as I would like.

Knitting confuses me. I make more stitches than I started with I used to be able to crochet but can't remember how so I recently bought a crochet hook and my colleague is going to show me and I will spend time doing that with my girls so they know how.

I can sew and can do the basics on a sewing machine - ie blinds and curtains but have never done dressmaking.

Lots of my friends are really moving towards second hand items, make do and mend and crafts

chirpycheap

I think that some of the craft revivals are not necessarily prompted by necessity as they were for my mum's generation.
Knitting was done because it was cheaper than buying at a time when clothes were relatively expensive. Now the cost of wool and knitting patterns means that knitting can be an expensive hobby.
Ditto the fashion for cup cakes and cake pops: after you have bought all the overpriced bits and bobs in various shops those cupcakes can become very expensive and Mr K becomes an exceedingly cheaper (if somewhat tasteless) option.
Real old stylers manage to knit and bake and save money but you have to be able to avoid the temptation to give in to the latest fad with its accompanying celebrity book and long list of required ingredients!

katkin

^
I do agree chirpycheap, that a lot of the revival of crafts and make do / mend have become "trendy". Kirsty Allsop is a wealthy lady! The cost of buying the latest craft kit(s) seem outrageous to me, but maybe that's because I'm a bit tight haha.

I like to recycle, live simply and frugally because life is complicated, stressful and wasteful enough. Living like this is also very creative - making things, mending, inventing, improvising and growing are all so good for my soul. It feels like a more nourishing, healthy way to live than buying my way into "lifestyle" and fleeting fashion choices. Never mind all the clutter and rubbish those choices create.

The living creatively is key for me.

Happy New Old Style 2014 peeps.

Frugalsod

chirpycheap wrote: »

I think that some of the craft revivals are not necessarily prompted by necessity as they were for my mum's generation.
Knitting was done because it was cheaper than buying at a time when clothes were relatively expensive. Now the cost of wool and knitting patterns means that knitting can be an expensive hobby.
Ditto the fashion for cup cakes and cake pops: after you have bought all the overpriced bits and bobs in various shops those cupcakes can become very expensive and Mr K becomes an exceedingly cheaper (if somewhat tasteless) option.
Real old stylers manage to knit and bake and save money but you have to be able to avoid the temptation to give in to the latest fad with its accompanying celebrity book and long list of required ingredients!

I do not think that OS is going to be a short term fad. Wages are still being squeezed and the sooner most people adopt a more frugal way of life they will get into a state where their incomes cover their expenses. How much people adopt into their lives is an individual decision.

I think that you can make cup cakes so much cheaper than you think. If you add all the fancy toppings then yes you can go over the top. It is quite easy to make cupcakes for a lot less than the stores, just avoid the excessive toppings. I do agree about over the top recipes. Only the other day I tried making a Cream of tomato soup but missed out a pile of the ingredients and it was still just as nice. If you added all the ingredients it would be more than the canned soup.

With knitting it is also therapeutic and that should never be undervalued. For many it can be a great way of making unique birthday and Christmas presents all while watching the TV in what would be unproductive time anyway. If you were going to make a business from it then you could not charge enough to cover most overheads like rent. As a hobby I do not knock it.

Broomstick

For me, born in the 1950s, 'Old Style' means living simply, within our means, mending rather than replacing with new, making where it is possible to make, minimising rubbish. It's how I've tried to do things for much of my life and definitely isn't something I equate to a Kirsty Allsop style.

My mum and her mum sewed and knitted clothes for everyone. They let down hems and put up hems and adjusted clothes to pass them down. Jumpers got unravelled and reknitted. Curtains were made at home. Some of my biggest pleasures are that I have inherited knitting needles from both my mum and Gran and have my mum's workhorse of a Singer sewing machine which I should think must be about 60 years old. I learnt to machine sew on it and still use all of this equipment.

When I make stuff it's almost always for practical use - not as part of a hobby craft revival - very much harking back to my 1950s and 60s memories.

I'm making the shift into using green cleaning materials like bicarb/vinegar etc, but not because they were something I was aware of as a child. The brands I remember from my childhood were things like Vim powder, Brillo pads, Daz washing powder, Dreft soap flakes, and things like Fairy or Pears soap for personal washing and, as a treat, Matey powder to sprinkle in the bath to make bubbles. Green cleaning just seems to make sense now in terms of not adding unnecessary chemicals to the water supply if it can be avoided.

B x