Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Hard_Up_Hester

Tights!
When I started work tights were 19s 11d, or £1 near enough, my weekly wage was £3 & I gave my mum £1 & my train fare was 25 shillings or £1.25.
I had to wear tights as I was working in a very trendy hairdressers in Knightsbridge & the uniform we wore a very short smock.
Hester

chickadee

I bet you washed those tights very carefully Hester. Imagine spending nearly a third of your weekly wage on tights now. Unthinkable!

meritaten

Shampoo, we used to buy sachets of it for pennies and it was intended for one wash - but we got two or three out of it! and conditioner was something only hairdressers had access to. then in came 'Crème Rinse' - also in sachets.
my dad worked in the mines - and in the canteen 'shop' you could buy bottles of 'Palmolive' shampoo sometimes. mum would save her pennies and threepences up for when the shampoo was in stock. but usually it was 'sachets' - remember one brand as 'Sunsilk'. in greasy, dry or normal. another was Silvikrin.


The men however, thought it was 'sissy' to use shampoo in the showers - they used soap!


edit - I just remembered! Hint of a Tint! the old ladies loved that! for grey hair at first you had hint of silver (I used to do the next door neighbours hair with that), and hint of gold and hint of blue (rofl - use too much and they looked like Punks).

mrssnowy_2

Rose_Wood wrote: »

Evening All

I remember my Mother unpicking jumpers and having to hold the hanks of wool after they'd been washed whilst she rewound it into balls.

And we got a set of bright pink brushed nylon sheets as another present from some distant relative which were horrendous but got used on the spare room bed as they were all we had.

Rose

Oh my goodness -what a lot of memories, but thrifty mothers turn out thrifty daughters.
Do you remember the sparks from the sheets if you got out of bed quick in the dark and the caggy feet picking threads !

Oh heck meritaten,yes I tried hint of tint,looked as if I had a bronze halo-never used a hair colour since .

mrss

meritaten

my mother thought she was thrifty - but she wasn't. my Nan was thrifty and taught me a lot.
mum counted the pennies a lot - but wasted pounds buying 'modern'. Nan had good quality 'old' furniture and cared for it.
Nan liked cooking and cooked completely from scratch - mum couldn't care less about food and had a 'set menu' of very boring bland dishes.
I learned from Nan as we lived with her until I was ten - then after a year of mums cooking I offered to cook a few times a week, which she gratefully accepted. she never ate my offerings - too adventurous for her - but dad and my siblings loved my 'cook nights'. mum had her usual - chips.

kittydfw2012

Hello everyone, I'm coming out of lurkdom to say Hi and thank you for all your tips, stories and support in MMMing. Like everyone here, I don't like consumer waste and am really trying to not buy things I think I need. I also support a menagerie of animals (all rescue or needed the home) and so I really need to stretch my pennies as far as possible.

Was thinking today as the weather warmed up (a little bit although Countryfile forecast looks a bit chilly and blustery later this week!) and that I ought to get some midge/fly spray. Then I remembered that A*on do a dry body spray oil called so soft that people swear by. Was nearly on the A*on website to do an order when I remembered a bottle I had hidden away in my drawer of beauty stuff - pleased that I hadn't spent when I didn't need to. It's such a good habit to have that second thought when the 'I need a ....' pops into our heads!

Enjoy your bank hol Monday come rain or shine

mrssnowy_2

My father was a public health inspector and used to bring home the stockinette that the lambs were wrapped in,Mum would boil them to make dishcloths (not soup!),still hate the smell of boiled lamb.

We used to have a lot of furniture auctions in our town when I was in my early teens,it was exciting to come home from school and Mum had gone to the auction,she always left us (me and 2 younger brothers) sandwiches on a big meat plate covered with a damp teatowel!
Then whatever had been bought would arrive after the auction carried by the 'porters',often on wheelbarrows. Dining table and 4 chairs,2 carvers came with the next sale,along with the corner cupboard and blanket chest.Always seemed to be a chest of drawers with each sale.
The furniture is still going strong-50 years on.I remember a very large 'indian'rug that I helped to cut up to fit one of the bedrooms,a piece of it is still on the floor of the cupboard under the stairs!!
When DH and I bought our first house,we bought lovely royal blue wool carpet,ex-army,and that I cut up and laid as stair carpet,always looked fantastic-when it was just hoovered-but didn't half show the bits.
I was taught to cook from scratch,and it has been passed on.

janb5

Rose_Wood wrote: »

Evening all


I hope the meet up with everyone goes well this week.

Rose

Hi Rose- if you were referring to the Meet in London, it`s at my house and not until June 12th. If that wasn't the one, then it`s crossed wires and I`m sorry!

[Deleted User]

jan5b have just pm'ed you

Not much MMM going on today as I am off out to buy two birthday presents for two of my DGS as I may still be in hospital on their birthdays I hope not as the youngest, especially wouldn't be a happy boy. Almost finished another charity blanket though and tonight I will do the edging all the way round in white .
Hope you all have a good bank holiday, weather keeps changing by the minute atm, one minute bright then gets overcast again.Typical Bank Holiday weather.I do feel for the shop owners at the coast as they rely on the sun to bring out the crowds
Cheers chums
JackieO xxx

camelot1001

My Mum used to turn the sheets sides to middle until she discovered Brentford Nylons - we lived near their factory so we had stuff from their factory shop. Now for a girl with quite bad exzema this was some sort of nightmare, and yes I do remember the sparks too! We didn't have quilts either as Mum thought they were a bit silly and too continental!

My Dad was the chief engineer of a very large biscuit company so we always had lots of goodies from the factory shop, probably why I was a little podgy as a child! Tunis cakes were always a favourite, chocolate for my brother and I and the sponge part for the dog!!