Easier to be OS in the olden days?

thriftwizard

Hmm... if your kids want clean PJs every night, are they old enough and/or willing to take on some of the burden of washing/drying/folding/putting away? If not, I have to say I'd put my foot down & say, twice a week or whatever strikes you as being enough.

I was a small child in the early 60s, and my memories are not so very different to MrsLurcherwalker's, though we did have a twin-tub washing machine, a fridge and an indoor loo - as well as a 2-hole outdoor one! I too was completely responsible for keeping my clothes & room in order, and helping in the house & with the cooking, from so early on I can't remember not being. So it came as a bit of a surprise to me that my OH (same age) was horrified to find I expected my 5 kids to help me in the same sort of way! I should seen this coming - I literally once saw his mother take the socks of his feet, take them away & wash them (by hand, no machine, she didn't want one as they "didn't do a proper job") and return them to him an hour later dry & so clean I'd have sworn they were a different pair. And that gulf in expectations has wreaked havoc down the years; he still thinks it's completely unreasonable of me to expect help or rent from them (now aged from 19-25 though not all still living at home) and naturally, they do too!

So yes, get aboard it now, so that real life doesn't come as too much of a shock to them later! I'm pleased to report that the two of mine who are now living independently are coping well with the domestic side of things, and that one of those who isn't is very helpful & the other two will do things when nagged enough.

And yes, I do think it was easier, because the choices just weren't there. But now they are, it's up to us to make those choices sensibly and know where to draw the lines.

lostinrates

PenniesMake£s wrote: »

This is so true, if I find myself out without a drink I do wonder "where can I get a takeaway coffee or bottle of water?" Often I do resist to be OS and wait until I get home but the thought is automatically there! My mum who is in her 70s (but not particularly OS) is always shocked when I have spent money on a bottle of water...WATER!! haha.

Well its not particularly NOT old style to get a drink out. Coffee houses were in England long before afternoon tea, something we often forget!

Plus buying things keeps people employed.

And we know more about the importance of staying hydrated.

But, personally I take water out with me because I feel an expensive drink from a chain retailer is too huge a chunk of my budget and not where I want it to go. hOWEVER. I know that if I am tired and doddery, the independant cafe in our somewhat not chic covered shopping mall does a cuppa for about half the price. ( i haven't been out there for over a year......Christmas shopping calls again though ) A friend less doddery but more tea driven than me tells me some of the takeaway gaffs do takeaway tea in polystyrene cups for much less still.


Fwiw, I wouldn't choose an OS life without a washing machine or a freezer if you paid me. Otoh in the fifties many more 'middle class' families still had daily help.

mardatha

It's all about commonsense yes! Pennie, I would go mad if I had 50 mugs in my cupboard.. to me that's clutter. I cannot abide clutter lol

PasturesNew

If visitors come to my house they're told: I've got Lidl coffee granules and sugar and milk. That's it. Feel free to bring anything else/different that you feel you can't live without.

I also tell them: I've about four assorted mugs, but feel free to bring your own/favourite drinking vessel if you wish. Some people don't like, say, drinking the wine they brought, in a mug or plastic beaker - and I have no glasses.

In the 50s not all women stayed at home. My mum was married, but he had left, and she had one child (not me) - and she worked every day, a "term time only" job, in a shop about 1/2 a mile from her house, popping home at lunchtime on her bike to feed my sibling who sometimes had to sit on the wall and wait for her to turn up.

candlelight_2013

As MLW and Kittie have said, I don't know whether it was easier, because we didn't know any different.

I was born in 1945, and we lived with my grandparents until I was just past 5 and somehow mum and Dad managed to find a deposit for a new build, 3 bedroomed house.

So on the day we moved in, there was Mum, Dad myself and younger sister. After the removal men were paid Mum said they had 5 shillings to last them the week.

Of coure we didn't have central heating, just a coal fire with a fire guard round it. Our PJs were warmed on that at night, and we had a bath once a week because we had an immersion heater and this was expensive to use.

Mum had a copper in the kitchen where she washed our clothes and a mangle outside. A few years down the line she was able to buy a spin dryer.

Dad was a skilled toolmaker and worked in a local factory. but he didn't earn a lot despite his skill We didn't have a car so he always walked to work (about half an hour)

In the winter we had a paraffin heater on the landing upstairs, which just about took the chill off the bedrooms, but not much. Needless to say when we woke up in the morning all the windows had a pretty snowflake design on them, and that was on the inside. It was a quick dash to the bathroom for a quick lick and cleaning of teeth.

We were very lucky in that our Nan was a wonderful knitter, so we always had a new jumper or cardigan to start school each year, and hats and scarves. My younger sister came shortly after the new house,so now there were 5 mouths to feed.

Being the eldest I had to do my share of the housework and the cooking. To be honest I was a better cook than Mum, although her pastry was much better than mine. When we came home for lunch from junior school we would have a tin of watered down Heinz tomato soup and 2 slices of dried bread. That had to last us until teatime. The only day we had a pudding, if we were lucky, was a Sunday.

I can remember in the depths of winter not havng enough blankets on the bed and I had my Dad's old army coat on mine, just to keep warm.

We didn't have much furniture in the early days and Dad made me a bedside cabinet out of an orange box. He covered it with wallpaper and Mum made a curtain for the front of it. It had a shelf in the middle where I kept all my "treasures" such as they were. That Christmas I had begged for a bedside lamp, that was all I wanted, and I received a lovely blue and white shaded lamp with a silver base. None of the bedrooms had an electric socket, there was just one on the landing. When I think about it, it was quite dangerous, but Dad must have found a way with some sort of extension lead. probably nothing like we have these days.

Memory is a funny thing, but I know our winters were colder and longer, but we always had warm clothes for school. We had a gaberdeen (sp?) raincoat, which covered all weathers and long grey socks, which only stayed up if you wore garters.

I often think of those days, particularly now both Himself and I are pensioners, and think how hard it must have been for Mum and Dad.

There you go, those are memories of long ago

Candlelightx

Bobarella

Hi Pennies
Just to say you can definately reprogramme kids if you put a bit of effort in. When we had more money id think nothing of buying my son a kids magazine once a week and sometimes more than that. You know the sort. Same content over and over & a free toy. After we had our LBM which roughly coincided with me going self employed I cut it out cold turkey. He moaned for a bit but now I have a 5 year old who is very savvy about money, asks me whether "I got a bargain today" sells toys he no longer wants on ebay happily, & generally is a pleasure to take to the shops. He gets just as excited as we do about window shopping in places like Toysrus trying the bikes out looking at things but I can't remember the last time he in seriousness asked for an item whilst there.
He wants a bike for Christmas. I told him if he's prepared to wait until after Christmas for the sales to begin I will do it. He's fine with that.
I also do not wash clothing daily, unless it is filthy. Often items just need damping down to sponge a stain.
Good luck with your kids. It's your choice how they behave, don't be scared to put your foot down.
Bob

candlelight_2013

Meant to say we had Izal toilet paper, like MLW says very much like tracing paper, non absorbant.

I can remember Mum having a bottle of Camp Coffee, but that was used for high days and holidays. If people came to the house, it was a cup of tea or nothing.

Candlelightx

mardatha

Candlelight I had the same kind of childhood as you - but I was an only one and we had holidays twice a year. My dad was a miner and so we always had a big roaring fire

PasturesNew

PenniesMake£s wrote: »

... 50 years ago it seems I would have had a quick cup of tea probably in the same mug I used year in year out, then given it a quick wash and got back to peeling potatoes for tea or whatever.

That's pretty much my lifestyle. I stick to ONE mug for myself - and I rinse it out each time. I'd only allow myself to use a second mug if I had coffee in my usual mug and also wanted to have a mug of water alongside... although since I bought my little plastic beakers I use those for cold drinks (I think they're kids ones, from Ikea, 6 for 80p - and they're all cheery and bright).

candlelight_2013

Mar, we didn't have many holidays, they were always in a caravan, but we enjoyed ourselves.

I remember one year we went to Burnham on Sea in Somerset. We had saved our pocket money, and our grandparents had given us some money as well. Burnham had an icecream parlour, something we had never seen in the Midlands, but we had heard about a knicker blocker glory. Now these were 2/6pence (twelve and a half pence in new money) and Dad said we could either have it at the beginning of the week or at the end. Well of course we wanted it at the beginning, so on the Friday all we could afford was a cornet It did teach us a good lesson in managing our money though.

Candlelightx